Democrat Tom Wyka is attempting to unseat the incumbent Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District this fall. At first, Frelinghuysen, who has been in office since 1995, wouldn't debate Wyka, but he has agreed to a debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, that is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 9 pm, at Morristown High School. We appreciate Wyka taking the time to answer our questions on the important issues facing New Jersey, unlike so many of the other candidates running for Congress this fall.
City Belt: There are more than one million New Jerseyans without health insurance. What will you do to advocate for the uninsured? Do you believe health insurance is a fundamental human right? Would you support HR 676, John Conyers' plan for a transition to a national single-payer universal health care system?
Tom Wyka: All Americans are entitled to health insurance coverage and I would support H.R. 676 as sponsored by Congressman Conyers. It's about time we joined every major industrialized country in providing for our citizens. Mr Conyers's proposal includes paper work reduction clauses and the eventual integration of the Department of Veteran Affairs health program - one of America's few medical insurance success stores - into the plan. It's fiscally sound - and I will apply that same fiscal responsibility test to all legislation I sponsor or support.
CB: Do you believe that the federal minimum wage is high enough? If so, explain. If not, what will you do to increase the minimum wage and to what amount? What is the lowest hourly wage you have worked for and what was the job?
Wyka: Acting Governor Codey signed New Jersey's minimum wage act in April, 2005. We Jerseyans were stuck at the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour since 1999. We went to $6.15 in October, 2005 and as of October, 2006 our state mandates a $7.15 minimum wage. We'll have annual reviews focused on cost of living and purchasing power guidelines. I'm proud that our state looks out for workers and if it's possible in New Jersey why can't it work for the rest of the country?
Why not bump Congressional salaries back to their last increase and restore whatever raises they voted for themselves only when the federal minimum wage goes up to the realistic level we enjoy in New Jersey? I made $5.00 an hour in after school jobs when I was in high school about 25 years ago. How can someone help raise a family today on only $0.15 an hour more?
CB: What is your position on net neutrality?
Wyka: I'll be on the side of fighting against new surcharges Verizon and Comcast put into place when they make changes to benefit the corporations that pay for the most favorable treatment.
CB: Forty-five NJ military personnel and at least 40,795 Iraqi civilians have died so far in the Iraq War. Do you agree with the initial decision to invade Iraq? If so, why? If not, why not?
Wyka: I would have voted for the war because I was doing what every American ought to be able to do -- I trusted my President. Now it's time for everyone who shared in this trust to hold him to account.
CB: Do you think Iraq is better off or worse off today than when we invaded over 3 years ago?
Wyka: Iraq is in the midst of a civil war and it's not better off today. I'm sickened by the numbers of deaths our fighting men and women have incurred and of the $300 billion of our money spent, and the untold amounts of that money lost to corruption.The arrogance of the Bush adminisitration in lying to us to get us into war and continuing the claptrap, "we're fighting there to prevent us fighting here" is appalling. My Republican opponent still feels free to advocate "staying the course." Maybe he's like his president and he doesn't read newspapers or if he does ... maybe he can tolerate seeing the death notice of another 20-year-old Marine just about every day. I can't!
CB: What is your position as to when and how our troops should leave Iraq? Would you co-sponsor Rep. McGovern's (D-Mass.) legislation to end all funding for the war, except to remove our troops?
Wyka: I support a timed withdrawal of our troops from Iraq to neighboring nations close enough by so we respond if needed. I support our presence in Afghanistan - it's where we should have been concentrating since 9/11. We might have caught or killed bin Laden by now.
CB: What is your position on immigration?
Wyka: Our immigration policy was set up more than 50 years ago. I support the report of the Independent Task Force on Immigration chaired by former congressman Lee Hamilton and former senator Spencer Abraham. They advocate smart border enforcement, protection of the rights of immigrants, the disbanding of border vigilante groups, employer pre-certificatiion, appraisal of shortage occupations, and a plan to studying methods to give legal status to unauthorized immigrants already in the US.
CB: How do you think we can best protect ourselves from any real threat, yet not sacrifice our constitutional rights and civil liberties? Please use specific examples.
Wyka: We can't suspend our constitutional rights and we can't allow a one party government to snoop into our lives without legitimate judicial and congressional oversight. That's why it's so important to boot out as many Bush gang fellow travelers in November who have rubber stamped their OKs on un-American legislation passed in congress.
CB: Would you vote to make the Bush tax cuts permanent? If so, why? If not, what would you propose instead?
Wyka: I couldn't vote to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Middle class Americans need tax breaks a lot more than Paris Hilton. Extending tax cuts to the less than 1% of America's most wealthy is obscene when you think of the fatalities and numbers of disabled our armed have forces have suffered in Iraq. Doing away with breaks for the very wealthy and studying at what point to keep the estate tax at could allow for needed tax breaks for hard working Americans whose earned dollars have shrunk in value over the past few years.
CB: Would you characterize the devastation of Hurricane Katrina as a natural disaster or a failure of government?
Wyka: Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster made worse by the indifference and the inability of the Bush gang to cope. If we can't rescue Americans from rooftops how can Karl Rove's followers still claim that only Republicans know how to keep this country safe?
"You're doing a heckuva job - Brownie" will surely end up going down in history as "your doing a helluva lousy job - Bushie!"
CB: What, if anything, is your energy plan?
Wyka: We need a modern day Manhattan Project backed by intensive private and public funding to free us from reliance on foreign oil. Wind power, solar power, hydrogen fuels, ethanol mixtures, gasoline and battery hybrids, cleaner more efficient diesel engines, rigid government attempts to raise fleet miles per gallon requirements -- are all the fields we should be looking into. We'll create more industrial and research jobs too.
CB: Are you in favor of women's reproductive rights (abortion rights, making Plan B over the counter for women of any age)?
Wyka: I'm in favor of the right to choose as far as abortion is concerned and I'm for making plan B an over the counter option for women of all ages.
CB: Do you believe in the death penalty?
Wyka: I don't believe in the death penalty. Two wrongs don't make a right.
CB: Would you sign on to articles of impeachment for George W. Bush?
Wyka: I'd have to support widespread and detailed investigation first.
CB: What song best fits your campaign?
Wyka: Bruce Springsteen's "Land of Hope and Dreams"
CB: If you could have the endorsement of any person -- living or dead – who would it be?
Wyka: I'd want Paul Wellstone's backing.
On the Web: Tom Wyka for Congress
Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
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Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
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