New Jersey’s 8th congressional district– most of Hudson County, parts of Essex and Union counties and includes Hoboken, Elizabeth, Weehauken, West New York, half of Newark and parts of Jersey City, Kearny, Harrison, Belleville and Bayonne. The district is 55% Hispanic, 44% foreign-born and strongly Democratic. The PVI is D+27. Republicans don’t even try. Hillary beat Trump 75-21% and in 2018, the Democratic incumbent, Albio Sires took 78% of the vote. Sires had no primary.
This year he does. On Monday, in a post comparing the two political party establishments, I asserted that all but one of the New Jersey incumbents suck but, unfortunately, the challengers I had spoken to weren’t likely to win— while noting I hadn’t yet spoken with Sires’ opponent, Hector Oseguera and that he may be the exception. Since then, I have and… he is. What a great candidate! And with a perfect platform for his hard-pressed district (and America)!
We asked him write a guest post about an issue New Jersey voters he talks to are concerned about enough to make them switch their allegiance from the party machine candidate to an actual reformer. Hector chose corruption, tragically fitting in his state, particularly in machine-controlled Hudson and Essex counties. Please consider contributing to his campaign by clicking on the Blue America congressional thermometer on the right and giving what you can.
Corruption In Congress Needs To Be Fought– Hard
by Hector Oseguera
It’s become a national joke that the political establishment in New Jersey is corrupt, but there’s nothing funny about corruption. Political corruption robs opportunity and resources from the communities that need them most. This working class community desperately needs funding for schools, roads, hospitals, public transit, all manner of social services that our government should be providing. Yet resources for those basic services always seem to be lacking.
If you ask yourself why, look no further than my opponent, whose district director, Richard Turner, is also simultaneously: the mayor of Weehawken, North Hudson Fire and Rescue Chairman, and a “consultant” for the town of West New York, where my opponent was once mayor. Richard Turner pulls in four public service paychecks. Those are four jobs, four opportunities, that should be available to qualified candidates, but instead become casualties of North Jersey political patronage. My opponent takes money from Exxon Mobil, and so it’s no surprise that he does not support a Green New Deal; he takes money from the insurance companies, and so it’s clear why he isn’t a proponent for Medicare-For-All; he receives contributions from the luxury real-estate developers, so we know why he doesn’t have a strong stance on affordable housing. On issue after issue, the reason why the people of my district are denied the representation they deserve boils down to the corrosive effects of corruption on our political system.
My experience as an anti-money laundering attorney puts me in a unique position to root out the corruption that has nested in North Jersey. I’ve investigated international scandals such as the Panama Papers in Panama, the Russian Laundromat in Estonia, and Operation Cash Wash in Brazil; each time diving deep into the financial networks of shady shell corporations and illicit schemes that involve bribery, money laundering, and corruption. I’ve proposed the most ambitious anti-corruption platform of the 2020 election cycle, and have the tools necessary to realize those proposals. I’ve spent my career combating corruption in our financial system, and am now ready to do the same for our government.
The reception from the community has been tremendous, and we find ourselves in a one-in-a-million chance of truly knocking out this corrupt political establishment. Given that the progressive slate drew Column A, the premier ballot position, we’re not asking voters to do anything other than what they’ve done for generations, “Vote Column A All the Way!” While for years this slogan has been the calling card of the establishment, the coveted spot on the ballot that virtually guarantees electoral victory, this year voters looking for change will, for the first time ever, know that a vote for “Column A” is a vote for integrity, transparency, and progressive values.
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