BEACHWOOD – When Andy Kim was on the campaign trail, he said he heard a lot of similar worries. Job security was a big one – people wanted to make sure that their jobs would still be there in the future.
That’s why he said on Dec. 19 that he wants to address this issue. He was meeting residents at Democrat events in the area, and stopped at the Beachwood Community Center.
He said he applied to be on the House Armed Services Committee and Committee on Small Business. These are two places he feels he could do the most good. The committee assignments were not made by press time.
These committees encompass two large realms: entrepreneurs and the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which is one of the region’s largest employers. He said he wants to make sure that it remains strong in coming years. The base has occasionally wound up on the list for Base Realignment and Closure.
Outside of the big, most pressing issues, there are individual problems that he wants to be responsive to. These are the constituent concerns. They might not make headlines, but they greatly impact the quality of life of a household.
“That’s going to be my top priority,” he said. He wants to dedicate the bulk of his resources to that. He’s not allowed to hire anyone until he’s sworn in on Jan. 3, but he’s in the process of lining up “strong staff that will be quick and responsive to the issues people care about.”
The locations of his offices have not yet been chosen, but when they do, he said they will have an open door.
Kim unseated two-term Congressman Tom MacArthur in a narrow election. Kim’s 153,473 won over MacArthur’s 149,500. It was a tale of two counties, as MacArthur won the more Republican county, Ocean (MacArthur: 78,221; Kim: 46,564) but Kim won the more Democrat county, Burlington (MacArthur: 71,279; Kim: 105,909).
