A Fond Farewell to One of a Dying Breed

I've been interested in politics basically my whole life, and as a child I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. My grandfather was on the Pohatcong Township Planning Commission for decades, and I got to know Warren County Politics as a result. Throughout my entire childhood, and into my young adulthood, Marge Roukema was the Congresswoman that I remember Warren County having. For twenty-two years she represented North Jersey, as the last of a dying breed of moderate Republicans. She faced numerous primaries from the current, extremist Congressman Scott Garrett, in 1998 and 2000. She decided to retire in 2002, when she was going to face a third Garrett run, and was losing subcommittee chairmanships, and not receiving any chairmanships of full committees. Her retirement left New Jersey without a single woman in Congress until this past election day, when my boss Bonnie Watson Coleman was elected in CD-12.

My grandfather was a New Deal Democrat, and basically voted Democratic his whole life, though he did re-register as an independent around the 1980 election. I'm pretty certain he voted for Roukema once or twice though at least. She was hard to object to. She voted for the assault weapon's ban, helped push through the Family and Medical Leave Act, and welfare reform. She was a little too moderate for her party's leaders, who passed her over for the chair of the House Financial Services Committee early in President Bush's term. That's ok. She got to keep her dignity, get things done, and represent New Jersey well. She'll be remembered for those things more so than what House GOP leaders thought of her.