June 30, 2016
Scott Applewhite/AP
House Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises subcommittee Chairman Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., the subcommittee overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, talks about his proposals to restructure the market for buying and selling mortgage loans, known as the secondary mortgage market, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Visitors lounging at the Jersey Shore this weekend may see an unusual airplane banner waving through the sky in the run-up to Independence Day. That's because a Democratic group is calling out Republican New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett for his avowed opposition to gay candidates running for office.
On Sunday and Monday, from Belmar to Sandy Hook, the House Majority PAC will have a plane fly a banner with the following message: “SCOTT GARRETT: ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY WON'T FLY.”
According to The Huffington Post, the group is targeting Garrett over comments he made last year to fellow Republicans threatening to stop paying dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee unless the organization withdrew its support for gay candidates.
At the House Majority PAC's new website, Stop Scott Garrett, the group links to several articles in which corporate donors skewer Garrett for his beliefs.
Garrett has represented New Jersey's 5th Congressional district since 2003 and currently serves on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. Previously, he was a member of the New Jersey Assembly from 1992-2003.
Earlier this year, as banking PACs began to temper their support, Garrett attempted to clarify his views.
“I said I support anyone’s right to run for public office and will support those people who support positions that [are] in the Republican platform,” Garrett told NJ Advance Media. The Republican platform holds that "the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard" for marriage.
The House Majority PAC has been running an aggressive local ad campaign to take down Garrett and clear a path to victory for Democrat Josh Gottheimer, a White House speechwriter and public policy advisor who previously served as a corporate executive and has worked for the Clintons.
Internal polling, according to Politico, shows Garrett trailing Gottheimer by double-digits.
The cost of the Jersey Shore banner ad was not publicized, but a TV ad running from June 14 to through July 12 came in at $320,000.
