Scott Garrett

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Scott Garrett

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 7, 2003–
Preceded by	Marge Roukema
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	July 09, 1959 (age 47) Englewood, New Jersey
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mary Ellen Garrett
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

E. Scott Garrett (born July 9, 1959 in Englewood, New Jersey) is a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a Republican and has represented New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District seat since January 2003 (map).

Prior to being elected to the House, Garrett served in the New Jersey General Assembly (the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature) from 1990 to 2002 representing the 24th legislative district, which covers all of Sussex County and several municipalities in Morris and Hunterdon counties.

Garrett earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Montclair State University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Rutgers School of Law in (Camden) in 1984.

1 Election history
2 Recent votes and statements
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Election history

Garrett unsuccessfully ran for Congress against incumbent Congresswoman Marge Roukema in the in 1998 and 2000 Republican primaries, falling short both times with 48% of the vote.^[1] He received support from several groups who saw Roukema, a leading moderate Republican, as a Republican in Name Only (RINO).

In 2002, Roukema did not seek reelection and Garrett won a contested five-way primary with 45% of the vote over State Assemblyman David C. Russo (26%) and State Senator Gerald Cardinale (25%), who had received Roukema's endorsement.^[2]

In the 2002 general election, Garrett faced Democrat Anne Sumers, a former Republican, in the general election. Roukema didn't endorse Garrett in the general election; in fact, she suggested that with Garrett as the Republican nominee, there was a chance that the district could have gone Democratic. This was very unusual for an incumbent of the same party, even though Garrett and Roukema had faced each other in bruising primaries in past years. However, she didn't endorse Sumers either, even though part of Sumers' strategy was to portray herself as a "Roukema Republican" and win support in Roukema's old Bergen County base (Bergen County is the biggest county in the 5th). Sumers' chances decreased significantly after she made several ill-advised comments about the U.S.-Taliban conflict on an Internet message board. The race essentially ended at that point, and Garrett won in a rout (60% to 38%^[3]).

Garrett was reelected in 2004 with 58% of the vote. He declined to debate his opponent Anne Wolfe, several times, claiming to have conflicts with his schedule in Washington D.C. Eventually he debated her twice.

In the House of Representatives, Garrett serves as a member of both the House Budget Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.

Garrett has a very conservative voting record, which is unusual for Republicans from New Jersey. He received perfect 100 ratings from the American Conservative Union in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, only 38 congressmen nationwide and only two other congressmen from Northeastern states — Bill Shuster and Joe Pitts, both from Pennsylvania — scored perfect 100s.^[4] New Jersey's five other Republican Congressmen have ACU rankings ranging from 60 to 76.^[5] He is probably the most conservative congressman to represent New Jersey in several years, and is considered to be even more conservative than Bret Schundler.

Garrett led a drive to demand the immediate resignation of Governor Jim McGreevey after he admitted to an extramarital affair with a male state employee. McGreevey announced that he would stay in office until November 15, 2004. Had McGreevey resigned before September 8, 2004, there would have been a special election at the same time as that year's presidential election. A petition on Garrett's campaign web site demanding a special election received 10,000 responses, but it is unknown how many signatures were actually from New Jersey.

Although Garrett promotes himself as a "mainstream tax-cutter that President Bush needs in Congress," he has broken with the Bush Administration several times. For example, he was one of several House conservatives who joined Democrats in opposing the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003.

In 2006, Garrett defeated his Republican primary rival, Michael J. Cino of Bergen County. In the November, 2006 election, Garrett defeated Paul Aronsohn (a former employee of the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration) and Independent R. Matthew Fretz to maintain his position as congressman.

[edit] Recent votes and statements

Recently, Garrett was the only congressman from New Jersey to vote against the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.^[6]

He was the only member of the NJ delegation to vote for oil and gas drilling off the shore of New Jersey.^[7] Garrett was the only member to vote against restrictions on "price gouging" by oil companies,^[8] to vote against mandatory child safety locks on handguns, and to vote against an additional appropriation for Hurricane Katrina victims.^[9] He was the only New Jersey member to vote against Federal aid for household pets in case of a disaster.^[10] He was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to vote against an extension of unemployment benefits.^[11]

Garrett also wants public schools to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution.^[12]

According to the non-partisan vote-tracking website Issues 2000:^[13]

Rated 100% by National Right to Life Committee
Rated 0% by NARAL Pro-Choice America
Rated 17% by the National Education Association (NEA)
Rated 10% by League of Conservation Voters
Rated 22% by APHA
Rated 13% by AFL-CIO
Rated 20% by the ARA
Rated 87% by Club for Growth
Rated 100% by the American Conservative Union
Rated 88% by Americans for Tax Reform

Garrett recently received the endorsement of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

[edit] References

^ Roukema retires, County News Online, November 26, 2001
^ Barnes Pleads Guilty, Primaries, & Georgia Scott; 38th Column dated July 5, 2002
^ In Jersey, Conservative and Moderate Republicans Vie for Control of Party, accessed July 31, 2006
^ U.S. House of Representatives Standouts: 2005 - Best and Brightest, accessed July 9, 2006
^ ACU Rankings by State Delegation, accessed July 9, 2006
^ The unending struggle for voting rights, The Record (Bergen County), July 18, 2006
^ House votes to lift drilling ban for offshore natural gas and oil, Star-Ledger, June 30, 2006
^ Garrett hit for vote against gas price-gouging ban, The Record (Bergen County), May 6, 2006
^ Roll Call: Further Emergency Supplemental Appropriations, Hurricane Katrina, 2005, September 8, 2005
^ Roll Call: Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, May 22, 2006
^ Bush Signs Extension Of Federal Unemployment Benefits, KOMO-TV, January 8, 2003
^ Garrett backs lessons on intelligent design, The Record (Bergen County), September 30, 2005
^ On the Issues: Scott Garrett, accessed July 20, 2006

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by Marge Roukema	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 5th congressional district 2003–Present	Succeeded by Incumbent