The Morning After

"As I was coming into the parking lot, I saw a car with a bumper sticker that said 'Fair Tax'," remarked panelist William J. Pascrell, III (son of Congressman Pascrell, NJ-08) as his introduction to his part of a program "The New Jersey Economy & The Election Results." The car, of course, was mine.

The program on November 4, 2009 was sponsored jointly by the Gateway Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Union County Employer Legislative Committee. The moderator was Frank Robinson, Vice President of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. The panelists were Dale J. Florio, Esq., Republican, and Bill Pascrell, Esq., Democrat, both from the Princeton Public Affairs Groups, Inc., Trenton. The gentlemen are pictured here at the head table, l. to r., Robinson, Florio, Pascrell.

The quality of the program was excellent, and both panelists gave astute answers to well-chosen questions from the moderator. A short question-and-answer session followed from the audience.

After the program, I went up to Bill Pascrell and, after advising him I was the guy with the bumper sticker, told him our District Director for the 8th Congressional District (Tom Freeman) briefed his father's staff. I said we would like to meet with him, to which he readily agreed. I will contact Bill to set up a date and ask Tom to come along, which he said he would be glad to do.

Jim Coyle, the President of the Gteway Regional Chamber of Commerce in Elizabeth, has lectured several times about having a tax that is more broadly spread around to the public. The FairTax, I told him, accomplishes this in a way that is fair.

I exchanged cards with four others and will follow-up with the two-page piece. My representation of FairTax to the attendees sparked interest and good questions.

~Jim Bennett