5 Questions With 5th District Congressional Election Candidate

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Jim Tosone is the Libertarian Party's candidate facing off against Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat, and John McCann, a Republican, represent voters in New Jersey's 5th Congressional District.

Gottheimer is a Wyckoff native, former Microsoft executive, and was a speechwriter for President Clinton. He is a first-term congressman. McCann is a powerful lawyer from Oakland. He defeated Mayor Steve Lonegan, an ex-gubernatorial and senate candidate, to win the spot on the Republican ticket.

Patch sent five questions to Gottheimer and McCann's campaign. Gottheimer answered them in an interview for a previous article. McCann's campaign declined to answer the questions. (See related: 5 Questions With 5th District Congressional Election Candidate)

Patch: Why do you want to represent the 5th Congressional District?

Tosone: “Voters in the district recognize that the two old parties have, over the past 18 years, failed to address our spending, tax, and debt issues. Part of the reason is because the size, scope, and power of the federal government has far exceeded its primary role. Democrats want use the federal government to impose the nanny state on us, while Republicans want to use it to impose the daddy state. As our representative, I will work to bring about legislation that protects our personal, civil, and economic freedoms — while opposing legislation that violates those freedoms.

Patch: What are the three top issues you intend to fight hard for in Washington, D.C. if elected?

Tosone: “Reforming the big-ticket spending items in the Federal budget (entitlements and the military and using the savings to lower income taxes and begin paying down the Federal debt. Returning the United States to a less-interventionist foreign policy, which will enable us to bring our troops home from the perpetual wars that we’ve been involved in for the past eighteen years. Eliminating federal involvement in K–12 education and return power to schools and parents, thereby letting taxpayers keep the $80 billion per year that the federal government spends on K–12 education.”

Patch: What experience in your background has prepared you to be an effective leader?

Tosone: “I’ve had a 30-year career at a Fortune 50 healthcare company as a director of business technology. I now consult with leading organizations to help them enhance their innovation, collaboration, and communication skills. I have served on several boards, including the: New Jersey Libertarian Party, vice chair (2016-2017) and Bergen County representative (2013), Society for Information Management, vice president of national programs, New York metro chapter (2011-2015), advisory board governance, New York metro Chapter (2016-2017), regional leadership forum visiting expert (2010-present). In 2017, I was the Libertarian Party's nominee for the State Senate in Legislative District 39.

Patch: What three words would you use to describe yourself to someone who has never met you?

Tosone: “Defender of Freedom.”

Patch: How would you describe the current political climate in our country right now? And if you view in a negative light, what steps would you take towards improvement?

Tosone: "We are in a hyper-partisan, “team red/team blue” world, in which issues and challenges we used to address through civil society and local/state government have become Federal issues. This creates a winner-take-all mindset, in which each of the two old parties attempts to control the federal government in order to impose its worldview on the entire country. I would address this by returning the Federal government to its traditional role of exercising only those limited, enumerated powers granted it in the Constitution. Specifically, I would work to eliminate any Federal program that collects income tax dollars only to return the money to the states. Federal income taxes would be reduced by the amount of those programs, so that 100 percent of the money stays in the state. This eliminates the need to relay on gimmicks, e.g., pretending that property taxes are ‘charitable contributions’ in order to ‘claw back’ money from ‘moocher states.'"

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Photo: Jim Tosone, Libertarian Party candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 5th Congressional District (Courtesy of Jim Tosone)