Troy Talk
CAP Team
Earlier this year, I put out a call for people who were interested in serving their neighbors to join me on special community boards that we instituted to gain your insights on the issues affecting our communities. One of the highlights of my job is the interaction and feedback that I get from folks like you....my bosses. That is what led me to start the CAP (Citizens Advisory Panel) Teams. The CAP Teams are every day men, women and children who have committed some of their time to meet with me to discuss the issues of importance to our communities. The CAP Teams focus on economic development, education student, veteran and women issues, with an eye towards adopting common sense solutions to problems in these respective issue areas.
We had great success with this program during my first term in office. Initiatives such as the law to create the NJ Helmets-to-Hardhats Program in the NJ Turnpike Authority, ideas to refine the transformative New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act and the proposal to create benchmarks of performance for teacher preparation programs were all born out of discussions led by the CAP Team.
March 31
Over the last few months I have been working with different groups to ensure that New Jerseyeans know about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to sign up by the March 31st deadline. I am one of those folks who believe that our "unalienable rights.....life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are made far more possible if we're healthy enough to enjoy them. Call me crazy, but I believe in an America that looks out, rather than looks over one another.
Proud to be Union
I was raised in an union household. My father is a retired Teamster and instilled in me early on, the value of honest work. My childhood was spent learning the value and benefits of organized labor from my dad. His involvement in the union provided our family with a solid middle-class upbringing that valued an honest day's pay for an honest day's effort. Those values shape my life as an elected official, carpenter and as a citizen.
How I got here
I have always wanted to be an elected official. I think it may go back to my man, Michael J. Fox. See, Michael J. Fox played a character, "Alex P. Keaton", from the show Family Ties....Man, I loved that show! Anyway, his political aspirations and admiration of Republican political leaders caught my attention. I either smartened up or missed the boat (you can decide) since "Alex" was a pretty staunch Republican and I walk a more progressive path.
Am I My Brother's Keeper?
As the face of poverty has continued to evolve and morph into the faces of our families, friends, and neighbors a sober imperative, with respect to this dilemma, confronts our state and our nation. Is my neighbor's prosperity or ability to get ahead linked to my own? I believe that answer is yes.