Grassroots Corner - October 11, 2019

Where is this political fundraising event taking place?  At an undisclosed location in New Jersey.  Why the big secret?

The 7th Congressional District of New Jersey is represented today by Freshman Democrat Tom Malinowski.  The Republican challenger for 2020 is a candidate with name recognition in New Jersey, Tom Kean, Jr.  Kean is the State Senate Minority Leader and son of former Governor Tom Kean.

The NJ 7th Congressional District is a district the Republican national organization thinks it can take back.  Republicans are pouring money into the race.

The fundraising started early, and the event needed a big name to kick it off.  Enter House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, pictured below with me.



The venue was undisclosed for security reasons. The memory of Steve Scalise remains fresh.

The Minority Leader was impressive but not all smiles when I handed him my FAIRtax business card.  Candidate Tom Kean let the Minority Leader know, approvingly, I was with The FAIRtax organization.

Brief as the encounter was, the Minority Leader was tagged with The FAIRtax in a northeastern state.

But FAIRtax is ecumenical.  We visit Democrats, too.  We scheduled a meeting last month with Representative Malinowski’s Chief of Staff Mitchelle Drulis.  First on the meeting agenda was the page below from a mailer to constituents.




You will note the Representative highlighted his efforts to restore the full SALT deduction to today’s income tax.  The SALT deduction is a political winner in the state with the highest-in-the-nation property taxes and in a Congressional District with the 5th highest median income in the country.  Our opening gambit was, if one does not tax income in the first place, the SALT deduction is superfluous.  Drulis took that point under advisement.  Future meetings are planned.

Let me hear about your encounters with office holders, politicians, and their staff.
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