Frank Lautenberg has cancer

Yesterday it was reported that Frank Lautenberg the second oldest U.S. Senator has stomach cancer. From a personal standpoint, I wish the Senator well and we should all keep him and his family in our prayers.

That being said, the Senator should step down. As we posted here many times in the past our Senator has not represented the taxpayer of this state. When Lautenberg entered the Senate the first time in 1982, one of his key campaign promises was to improve New Jersey's net federal taxation/spending ratio. At the time, New Jersey only received 72 cents in benefit for each dollar sent to Washington. Now, 28 years later New Jersey receives only 61 cents in benefit for each dollar sent to Washington. By any objective standard, Lautenberg has been a complete failure using his own argument for his candidacy.

Add to that his complete refusal to even campaign during his last re-election effort. They hid away from the press and the voters of the state of New Jersey for fear he would appear out of touch or make a major gaff. He represents the interests of Harry Reid and the most liberal elements of the Senate while ignoring the needs of the citizens of NJ. In this climate, he would clearly not be re-elected if he were to run today.

Isn't it time to restore representative government to New Jersey? Let the Senator retire gracefully and worry about his health. And let someone else worry about New Jersey.

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