The Record: Cho in the 5th District
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Cho is a political novice. He does not have Garrett's decades of government experience. What Cho does have is a fresh look at government. He speaks of the need for inclusive debate. When asked what his highest priority would be as a freshman congressman, the answer was transportation.
Bergen County residents are at the mercy of aging, inadequate infrastructure. Light rail still does not extend into Bergen County. There is no funding in place for new trans-Hudson tunnels. While the state has a role to play in light rail, and New York with New Jersey have roles to play in new tunnels, the federal government is an essential partner for both.
Cho wants to bring private money into the transportation funding mix, a challenge, but one worth exploring. Garrett spoke of his utopian solution for transportation funding – allowing states to keep almost all of their transportation dollars that now go to Washington, D.C., and use that money as they see fit. But many infrastructure projects – like the Hudson tunnels in the Northeast corridor – are multistate in scope. The federal government has more than just a role in these projects; it should be the leader.
The most effective legislators are not the ones who say "no" but the ones who ask, "How do we both say yes?" Scott Garrett is not that kind of legislator. He remains a dogmatic conservative first, a legislator second.
The Record endorses Roy Cho in the 5th Congressional District.
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