Group will spend $1 million against MacArthur

A New Jersey group will launch a million-dollar independent expenditure today aimed at educating voters in New Jersey’s 3rd district about Rep. Tom MacArthur’s record on health care and the Republican tax bill.

New Jersey for a Better Future has ties to a grass-roots group that fights for social and economic justice, a public employee labor union, and the NAACP.  They picked today – the 8th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, to launch an attack on MacArthur, a two-term Republican congressman from Toms River who was the only member of the New Jersey congressional delegation to support the GOP tax plan.

“Tom MacArthur voted to put the lives of millions of Americans at risk,” said Ann Vardeman, Program Director of New Jersey Citizen Action. “He voted to abandon those with pre-existing conditions, slash Medicaid funding, and shift health care costs onto families in order to give massive tax cuts to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. Tom MacArthur does not represent New Jersey’s working families or New Jersey values and his constituents deserve to know that.”

The group’s advisory committee includes: Seth Hahn, the New Jersey political director of the Communications Workers of America (CWA); Amanda Devecka-Rinear of New Jersey Organizing Project; Bruce Davis of the New Jersey NAACP; Dan Preston, the owner of a small business; and Vardeman.

The ad campaign seeks to highlight MacArthur’s role in passing The MacArthur Amendment, which critics say would have denied health care to 469,500 New Jerseyans, including nearly 30,000 in his congressional district and 396,000 3rd district residents who might face challenges obtaining health care due to pre-existing conditions.

“No matter how hard he tries to fool the public, Tom MacArthur is no moderate,” said Hahn. “MacArthur single-handedly revived health care repeal, making health insurance more difficult to afford for thousands of people in his district.  He was New Jersey’s only Congressional member to vote for Trump’s tax cuts for the most wealthy individuals and corporations. At every turn, Congressman MacArthur puts his political ambitions and Trump’s priorities ahead of his constituents. We look forward to a robust conversation with residents of Burlington and Ocean Counties about the real MacArthur record that is hurting New Jersey’s families.”