The Seton Hall University College Republicans welcomed Chairman Jay Webber of the Republican Party of New Jersey yesterday to speak to students about the gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's campaign.
Candidate Christie appointed Webber to be his chairman in June of this year.
"My goal as the chairman is to win elections but to always remember why we're winning elections and to promote those policies and candidates who best spouse the principles upon which our nation was founded," Webber said.
He spoke about how Christie and the Republican Party are attempting to create a change in the State of New Jersey.
"The Republican Party and Chris Christie are working hard this year to win an election because we want to accomplish something, we want to make New Jersey important again," Webber said.
Christie's main focus is to make New Jersey more family and business friendly by cutting taxes in order to keep families in-state. Webber explained that Christie believes that balancing the budget of the state will be the start of better lives and more jobs for citizens.
"If you can get the budget under control and cut spending, then we can start to go about the business of making New Jersey more tax friendly to families and businesses. The ultimate aim here is help people live better lives and to create jobs without having to leave the state to go to work," Webber said.
In order to start balancing the budget, Webber stated that once Christie wins, his number one goal will be to get the state out of the 9 billion dollar budget defecit that he said the Democrats have created.
"Unbelievably, with a budget that's only 29 billion dollars, the Democrats have somehow created a 9 billion dollar hole that we are going to have to plug next year," Webber said. One thing that Christie wants to do in the future is review all the regulations that are issued by bureaucrats in Trenton to figure out which regulations are working and eliminate those that do not.
"Even though those changes don't cost any money, they can result in a lot of productivity for the state and it's the beginning of the process of turning around New Jersey's tax and business climate," said Webber. Webber and the Republican Party invite anyone who is interested in helping make a difference to join the campaign.
"Yeah we want to win elections and we're going to be judged on the elections that we were able to win, but, that's not enough and too often people in politics think that's where it stops but actually that's where it starts," Webber said. "With that I want to ask you to join us. We have what is the most well funded, most sophisticated and most enthusiastic grassroots campaign the Republican Party has ever put forward in New Jersey."
Those who want to get involved with Christie's Campaign can contact Kelly Smoke, the Essex County Field Director for the Victory 2009 program (Christie's campaign).
The College Republicans Chair Gary La Spisa invited Webber to speak to College Republicans about what's going on around them in the state and how they can be a driving force in the election.
"It will get them interested and ready to campaign for Christopher Christie and contribute to the election in a positive way and a voice that is heard on campus," La Spisa said.
"The goal is to target the youth because the key thing to remember is whatever money (state legislature) spend is our responsibility because the current politicians have spent money for their generation but now it's our money, so we should have a say in what they should spend it on," La Spisa said.
The College Republicans do not have any other approved speakers at this time but plan on having them in the future. Their plan for the year is to bring more speakers on campus, work on campaigns, organize non-political events and to perform community service. The College Democrats were contacted for information about their organization but did not respond.
Jacqueline DeBendetto can be reached at jacqueline.debenedetto@student.shu.edu.
