Leonard Lance pledges fiscal responsibility

If there's one thing state Sen. Leonard Lance wants to make very clear to the people he hopes will vote for him this November, it's his vehement opposition to new taxes in any way, shape or form.

Leonard Lance When asked if he means he won't support new types of taxes but would be OK with raising already existing ones, he said no. When asked if he means he won't support increases on existing taxes but would be fine with imposing new kinds of taxes, he still said no.

"I don't want to increase taxes," Lance says matter-of-factly. "I think congress has spent too much money in recent years and this has been the fault of both Republicans and Democrats, and I think we have to do a better job in the future."

To Lance, currently running for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Hunterdon, Union, Somerset and parts of Middlesex counties, including parts of Woodbridge and Edison, keeping taxes low and spending down is an extremely high priority. He said that it's been a priority during his work in the state Legislature and, if elected, it will be a priority in Congress.

When asked about examples, Lance names two right off the top of his head. One was the $300 billion farm bill, containing numerous subsidies to the agricultural industry, which he said is just the type of thing that illustrates congressional irresponsibility. Lance also feels that the country can do a better job with "military procurement" as well.G

oing along these same lines, Lance said that earmark spending, where money for various local projects, the most infamous of which being the Alaskan "bridge to nowhere," needs to be reformed as well. The specifics of reform, Lance said, mostly go along the lines of increased transparency, which he said will create accountability in the process and enhance scrutiny. The state senator said that he would not vote for earmark legislation unless there was a compelling need, even if it meant rejecting federal money for his own district.

"Any earmark for the district has to be fully justified, and I would not ever support an earmark for anywhere in the country unless I felt there was a compelling need, and I'd need to look at that item by item," said Lance.

Controlling earmark spending, to Lance, dovetails into the overall goal, his stated reason for running for Congress, of reducing the national debt, currently running at about $10 trillion.

"I think we need more members of Congress who have a fundamental grounding in fiscal issues, as we do based on my experience in New Jersey, who believe deeply that we have to get our financial house in order, particularly with levels of federal debt and who can work across the aisle in a bipartisan [effort]," said Lance.

One thing that may demonstrate Lance's bipartisan identity is his opposition to offshore oil drilling, an issue that many on the Republican side have come out in strong support of. He favors letting each state deciding whether or not

to allow such operations from happening, but said that it would not be a good idea for New Jersey, with its strong tourism industry along the shore. He expressed similar reservations about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), another issue that has typically fallen along partisan lines.

"I think that [offshore drilling] would be damaging. We have a very significant tourism industry in New Jersey. I would not want to drill off the New Jersey coast, and if Congress passes legislation in this regard, I would want the ability of each state capital to determine whether or not that is appropriate for that state. I also oppose drilling in ANWR. I have been called the strongest environmentalist in the state Legislature. I am very much pro environment," said Lance.

Another area where Lance tends to cross partisan lines is on stem cell research. He expressed support for the principle, though he said he didn't favor the borrowing the state had proposed for it during the last election. He did say, though, that he would support federal funding, which is currently restricted under the Bush administration.

Health care is another issue Lance has emphasized in his campaign. While he is against single-payer heath care, which he said is "one size fits all," he would want to use the tax code to make it easier for small businesses to provide health insurance for their workers while having states create measures that would allow them to cover the people who don't qualify for private insurance.

A large part of making this affordable, though, is tort reform, cutting back on what he called frivolous lawsuits against the medical industry.

On foreign policy, Lance said that he would favor more caution when it comes to future military action, especially if it's of a preemptive nature.

"I would be very reluctant to engage in preemptive action. There might be some situation, but I would certainly want a full justification first," said Lance.

As for Iraq, Lance would support moving out of the occupation by the end of 2009, based on what he says is the success of the troop surge, which he favored.

The methodology of the overall war on terror is something that Lance feels should be reformed as well. While he supports the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a bill laying out the surveillance powers of the U.S. government, he explicitly came out against waterboarding, saying he does not support torture, and feels that the U.S. should close Guantanamo Bay prison.

Overall, Lance feels the people of the 7th District should choose him because his views represent the people there.

"I believe in fiscal responsibility, I'm a social moderate and pro choice, and I'm also a strong environmentalist, and I think those are the views of the overwhelming majority of people in central New Jersey," Lance said.

Contact Chris Gaetano at

sentnorth@gmnews.com.