Chris Smith Afraid to Debate One of Our Own--Stephanie Schmid

Chris Smith hasn’t held a town hall in 27 years, and won’t commit to debating his opponent, Stephane Schmid. Why is Smith so afraid to face the public?

There are lots of pressing questions constituents could ask which would help everyone differentiate between the two candidates.

People could ask why Smith voted against the HEROES Act, which contained extra unemployment funding, state aid we desperately need, and repealed the SALT cap. Schmid knew it was the best deal for NJ, and now the GOP says state aid is a non-starter.

Someone might ask why Smith voted against expanding the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic while millions lost employer based insurance, and voted against the law every chance he got until 2017. Would Smith like to tell us where all those newly unemployed people should find insurance in a world without the ACA? What about those who now have preexisting conditions due to the after-effects of COVID? Schmid supports legislation that automatically enrolls underinsured and uninsured Americans into a safety-net program while allowing people to keep their own insurance.

Someone might inquire why Smith has said nothing about Trump and the GOP’s lies about vote-by-mail, attempts to sow doubt about the election results, or why he opposed renewing the Voting Rights Act in 2019. Schmid, a former Foreign Service Officer, who lives in Little Silver, has worked to strengthen democratic institutions internationally.

Voters might want to know why Smith stayed silent while Trump lied that Democrats, the CDC, and the FDA were deceiving Americans about coronavirus to hurt him electorally, or retweeted articles claiming the real COVID death toll was only 9,000. Especially since we now know that Trump was aware of how deadly COVID would be in February, deliberately misled the American people, and his appointees were pressuring the CDC to alter it’s reports so as not to “hurt the president.” Schmid would not sit quietly while vital public health institutions are politicized and life-saving science is suppressed or ignored.

Many would ask Smith why he believes women shouldn’t make their own reproductive choices, why he repeatedly voted against the Violence Against Women Act, why he tried to codify the concept of “forcible rape” into federal law, and why he feels LGBT people aren’t deserving of their civil rights. Schmid worked for the Center for Reproductive Rights, and believes in equal rights for all.

It’s clear why Smith is afraid to face his constituents, but making yourself available to the public and providing an opportunity to compare candidates are the bare minimum of the job. If Smith is unwilling to fulfill these basic functions, it’s time to elect a representative who will.