Ocean City Man Inspired by Bernie Sanders Challenging LoBiondo in Second Congressional District

Ocean City, NJ -- Steven Fenichel first met U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) in 2006, after he was among a group of people arrested for protesting the exclusion of a single-payer healthcare plan during a Senate Finance Committee hearing led by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) in 2009.

“The next day, we all received a letter inviting us to meet him (Sanders) in his office,” Fenichel said. “It was U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and he said, ‘Some day, Americans will appreciate what you tried to do for them today.”

Fenichel is once again looking to turn attention to America’s healthcare system, this time via his campaign for the Second Congressional District seat in New Jersey.

Fenichel, of Ocean City, is one of four independent candidates running in the Nov. 8 general election. The others are Eric Beechwood, Gabriel Brian and James Keenan.

Republican incumbent Frank LoBiondo is seeking his 12th term in Congress, and is being challenged by Democrat David Cole. Libertarian John Ordille is also on the ballot.

Fenichel is among the wave of politicians motivated to run for office by Bernie Sanders’ efforts to win the Democratic nomination in this year’s presidential election. Sanders appealed to many potential voters with his policies concerning income inequality, college tuition reform, health care reform, climate change and campaign finance reform.

Fenichel looks to keep Sanders’s messages alive.

“He legitimized the issues that were important to me,” Fenichel said. “He was denied the nomination, but I don’t want to see those issues go away.”

Fenichel said he was hoping the Democratic National Committee (DNC) would support those issues, and although the DNC is calling its platform “the most ambitious and progressive the party has ever seen,” there are some who disagree with that assertion.

When it comes to the local race, Fenichel points to LoBiondo’s 93 percent ranking from the National Rifle Association (NRA), and his standing as a member of the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus, including his stance on drone registration. Fenichel has been a vocal opponent of drone use.

“I’m concerned about privacy, our personal rights and mass surveillance,” Fenichel said.

He’s also opposed to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) because he feels they are counter-productive to free trade.

As for health care, he doesn’t believe the Affordable Care Act should be expanded. He believes it should be scrapped in favor of a true one-payer system.

On the topic of income inequality, he says that in 1970, the top CEO in the country was making 45 times what the average worker was making, and that number has increased to 844 times what the average worker is making in 2016.

“They could afford to buy 45 cars that the average worker could afford. Now, they can afford 844 cars the average worker can afford. The top one-tenth of the one percent have more wealth and assets than everyone else.”

Fenichel ran for the Third Ward council seat in Ocean City in 2012. He also ran for State Senate in 2003.

The physician is also a former member of the Ocean City Ethics Board. He is former Peace Corps volunteer, has worked with the Community Action Now (CAN) after-school program in Ocean City, worked in a free clinic for people without insurance or money and is a member of the Physicians for a National Health Program.

He has lived in Ocean City for 31 years, and is married to Georgina Shanley. They have two children together.
Fenichel is looking to keep the message alive, and isn’t necessarily concerned about winning, but those looking to keep Sanders’s message alive have some hope.

Earlier this week, Zephyr Teachout became the first “Bernie Sanders Democrat” to win a Congressional Primary when she defeated Democrat Will Yandik in New York’s 19th Congressional District.

The attached image of Steven Fenichel was provided