Frelinghuysen Won't Represent Bernards in 2013

With the recent U.S. Congressional redistricting, Bernards Township starting in 2013 no longer will be in the 11th district now represented by Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, but instead will join other Somerset Hills towns and all of Bridgewater in the 7th district now represented by U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, also Republican.

Both Frelinghuysen and Lance are up for re-election this November. But this year, Bernards will be deciding whether to return Hunterdon County resident Lance to office, rather than Frelinghuysen, a Morris County resident.

The recent redistricting based on the 2010 census puts the township squarely in the seventh district.

After years of working with Frelinghuysen, local Republican elected officials spoke well of the service the U.S. representative had provided during that time.

"Rodney Frelinghuysen was a solid voice for Bernards in Congress," said Bernards Township Committeeman Scott Spitzer. However, Spitzer added he believes Lance will represent the township well. "He has a distinguished and consistent record of fiscal conservatism and advocacy for environmental preservation," he said of Lance.

"My entire adult life I lived in a district represented by either Congressman Frelinghuysen or his father, so it's a personal disappointment to me," said Township Committeeman John Malay, who was township mayor in 2011.

Frelinghuysen was very supportive of, not only Bernards, but the Veterans Administration facility in the Lyons section of the township as well, Malay said. Malay said the congressman was instrumental in 2006 in working with him to get in-house Emergency Medical Technician coverage at the VA, taking much pressure off the Liberty Corner First Aid Squad.

But Malay added he also in previous years has worked on projects with Congressman Lance, while Lance was a state senator. He said he found him to be "very generous with his time and a very smart, capable man. He will represent us well."

For the remainder of the year, Frelinghuysen will still be representing Bernards Township and other towns that will be part of the 11th district through December.d

“Of course I will continue to represent all of Morris County and parts of Somerset County for another year, and that means listening to the voices of the people and carrying their views to Washington,” Frelinghuysen said. “I will continue to fight for lower taxes, government accountability, stronger national security and more economic security and freedom."

Frelinghuysen has in the past worked with Community Hope, among others, to establish a program to support and house homeless veterans at the VA in Lyons.

“I’ve enjoyed a warm working relationship with elected officials, civic leaders and residents of so many wonderful communities in Somerset County over the years,” Frelinghuysen said. “Congressman Lance is a good friend and excellent congressman, and I’m pleased that his future service will include several towns in Morris and Somerset counties that I’ve been privileged to represent.”

Frelinghuysen said he will now begin to get to know the new townships added to the 11th district in Essex and Passaic counties.

Lance said he will continue through the rest of the year working with Frelinghuysen and other representatives on issues that concern townships through Somerset County and the state as a whole.

“Number one is the state of the American economy,” Lance said. “Even in a county like Somerset, which is largely affluent, the number one goal is to have greater employment because of the unemployment rate in the country and in New Jersey.”

“The focus will continue to be on trying to help strengthen the American economy,” Lance added.

The change in districts has also lost New Jersey as a whole a congressional seat, lowering its numbers from 13 to 12, again beginning in 2013, Lance said.

“That’s unfortunate,” Lance said. “We gained in population by 4 percent, but the country grew by 8 percent.”

And with the redistricting, Lance said, the seventh district itself has grown from 54 municipalities to 75, and includes the loss of Woodbridge and the gain of Millburn Township.

“Beginning next year, the municipalities will be more cohesive, and it will be slightly more area,” he said.

The newly reapportioned seventh district includes much of Somerset County, excluding Manville and Bound Brook. It will include Bernards along with such Somerset Hills municipalities such as Bernardsville, Far Hills and Bedminster, along with towns such as Hillsborough, Somerville, Warren and Branchburg.

“Rodney has done a tremendous job, first elected to Congress in 1994,” Lance said. “But the new district lines across the state have more compact districts.”

Somerset County, Lance said, will now have about 285,000 of the about 730,000 residents in the seventh district. “There are more residents from there in the seventh district than from any other county,” he said.

Lance already has a declared opponent for his seat in the 7th district. Oldwick resident and businessman David Larsen announced early that he will be running in the November elections to represent the seventh district in Congress against incumbent Leonard Lance, according to a release from his campaign.

Larsen, who calls himself a conservative Republican, is the chairman of Right Direction Organization, which, according to the organization's website, is devoted to restoring Movement Conservatism in the country.