Congressman Jefferson Van Drew a lifelong advocate for South Jersey, Jeff is delivering results for veterans, seniors, consumers and children. On November 5th, 2024, constituents in New Jerseys' Second Congressional District elected Jeff Van Drew to represent them in the United States House of Representatives for his fourth term. He was sworn in on January 3rd, 2025 and before getting elected to Congress, Congressman Van Drew previously served three terms in the New Jersey General Assembly and four terms in the New Jersey State Senate. Congressman Van Drew received his B.S. degree from Rutgers University and his D.M.D. degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He recently retired after owning and operating a dentistry practice for 30 years in South Jersey. Congressman Van Drew is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR Now, the WOR Saturday
Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Here's Larry Minty. Good morning, and welcome to Saturday Morning.
Let's start with Congressman Van Drew, who is thrilled that
the offshore wind turbines are going away, but not so
thrilled about the Chinese involvement with the new Jersey Turnpike.
Thank you, sir for spending some time with us, and
(00:26):
congratulations your efforts finally paid off.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Oh, thank you, Larry, and it's great to be with
you again and good to be on your radio show.
So yeah, this was a lot. It was a lot
of years, and you know, it started out I was
like everybody else, so you know, we should evaluate these things.
It's what about some beautiful windmills in the ocean. I
really don't I try to remember not to even call
them windmills anywhere. They're winds, fur mines. They're big industrial units.
(00:52):
They're over a thousand feet high, and they would really
dominate the ocean. In the landscape.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I wish there were so many problems. That was
just part of it. I mean, the way they were
going to dominate the landscape was a big deal. But
it turns out. Almost everything we were told about those
wind turbines was untrue. They were going to be costly,
they hurt the environment, and go no, you can go
through the list better than I can. It was a
(01:22):
bad idea from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Its very bad idea, So right from the very beginning,
once you really started to look into it, they would
we would have had the highest windmills anywhere in the world,
the highest number of them. It would have dominated the landscape.
But even more importantly than that, what it did to
the fishing industry. And of course they were very concerned,
they were involved, they worked shouldered or shoulder with me.
(01:46):
What it did to tourism, what it did to the whales,
what it did to the ocean and the environment, what
it did as far as concerns with national security, because
they really could potentially interfere with radar, and then of all,
I mean, it's all terrible, but what it would do
to the ratepayer. So understand that the ratepayer advocate is
(02:07):
somebody in the state of New Jersey who it really
advocates for the people who have to pay the utility rates.
It's not a Republican, it's not a Vanjou person, it's
somebody I put there by the administration. The ratepayer advocate
who was part of the Board of Public Utilities, said
that our utility rates were going to go up a lot.
And I want everybody to understand that would be in
(02:29):
North Jersey, and in South Jersey and along the East Coast,
it would be everywhere. These things are extremely costly. Many
of them have failed in Europe. There was just no
reason to do them. And when I say rates would
go up, our im talking about doubles crippled, maybe more.
And they just kept going to shoving down our throat.
And we would have been beholding to foreign countries because
(02:52):
most of the companies involved in this process were foreign,
and we would have been beholding to them for our energy.
It was not. It was really bad, so we bought
the fight. It was the whales that really got everybody focused,
when the whales started dying when they were doing the
sonic testing. And then my friendship with President Trump, and
(03:13):
you know, he agreed to do something, So the combination
of all was a one two punch against him. And
I literally do think, honest to God, not just for
people in South Jersey, but for people on the entire
coast of the United States, and for folks that just
loved the ocean, love the beach. This was a major victory, something.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That I never heard about before until I saw a
press release from you. And so you've exposed this and
it is stunning, and I'm sure people in New Jersey
are going to be upset when they hear this that
the New Jersey Turnpike has a contract with a company
that is run out of communist China. How did that
(03:55):
happen and what can be done about it?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, this gets filed under you know, I guess partly
it only could happen in New Jersey and you just
couldn't make it up. I mean, you can't make this
stuff up. So you know, there was the major company
that does the easy pass systems for the entire country
and of course for New Jersey as well, was sold.
(04:19):
That was mistake number one, and it was bought as
so many things are being and we have to pay
more attention to this and this case was bought by
a country known as Singapore. And on the board of
the company in Singapore that bought this American company, our
Chinese communists, people with deep connections and ties to the CCP,
(04:41):
and you know, would have access to all of the
information that the easy Pass system has. So our contract
ran out with the American company went out to bid again.
And the weird part is this company, the Singapore company,
but the TURNPIPO Authority O awarded them the bid. Why
(05:02):
am I concerned? The New Jersey Turnpike the Garden State
park Way are some of the most trafficked roads in
the entire country. Almost everybody at some point in their
time has been on the turnpike. And you know, it's
all our graphic patterns, all the millions upon millions upon
millions of people, their personal information, their pictures, their driver's license,
(05:24):
et cetera. All this information that easy Pass has, all
that would be easily accessible to and will be to
the Chinese Communist Party. Why in God's name would you
ever do that? Number one? Why didn't we go by
to the low bidder? I don't know, though, you know, Larry,
in this process, the lower bidder an American company is
(05:48):
now has an appeal on this because of the very
same that's how I found out, the very same concerns
I have. They believe that it's a national security issue.
Not only does it show our graphics and people's personal information.
You know, folks don't realize sometimes military equipment, when it
has to get to one spot to another, also has
to travel along these roads. It's bad for national security.
(06:12):
I've asked the Termpike Authority in as strong a way
as I can to rethink this and to rebid this,
or at least to do something different in the process.
This isn't good for America.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Absolutely, it's a big local story. Thank you so much
for exposing that, and thanks for coming on. Would love
to have you on again, especially on this story. If
something happens, please let us know about it. Congressman Jeff
Van Drew, congressman down in South Jersey. What do you
represent Atlantic County?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
No, I represent the biggest district in the state and
represent geographically Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, dalem County,
Ocean County, Gloucester County. So it's a big district. It's
probably about a third of the state, and I'm proud
of it. And you have still ties up to northern
and central New Jersey where I grew up many years ago,
(07:06):
and New Jersey is a great state. He would just
give it a chance.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew. This has been a
podcast from wor
This is a podcast from WOR Now, the WOR Saturday
Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Here's Larry Minty. Good morning, and welcome to Saturday Morning.
Let's start with Congressman Van Drew, who is thrilled that
the offshore wind turbines are going away, but not so
thrilled about the Chinese involvement with the new Jersey Turnpike.
Thank you, sir for spending some time with us, and
(00:26):
congratulations your efforts finally paid off.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Oh, thank you, Larry, and it's great to be with
you again and good to be on your radio show.
So yeah, this was a lot. It was a lot
of years, and you know, it started out I was
like everybody else, so you know, we should evaluate these things.
It's what about some beautiful windmills in the ocean. I
really don't I try to remember not to even call
them windmills anywhere. They're winds, fur mines. They're big industrial units.
(00:52):
They're over a thousand feet high, and they would really
dominate the ocean. In the landscape.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I wish there were so many problems. That was
just part of it. I mean, the way they were
going to dominate the landscape was a big deal. But
it turns out. Almost everything we were told about those
wind turbines was untrue. They were going to be costly,
they hurt the environment, and go no, you can go
through the list better than I can. It was a
(01:22):
bad idea from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Its very bad idea, So right from the very beginning,
once you really started to look into it, they would
we would have had the highest windmills anywhere in the world,
the highest number of them. It would have dominated the landscape.
But even more importantly than that, what it did to
the fishing industry. And of course they were very concerned,
they were involved, they worked shouldered or shoulder with me.
(01:46):
What it did to tourism, what it did to the whales,
what it did to the ocean and the environment, what
it did as far as concerns with national security, because
they really could potentially interfere with radar, and then of all,
I mean, it's all terrible, but what it would do
to the ratepayer. So understand that the ratepayer advocate is
(02:07):
somebody in the state of New Jersey who it really
advocates for the people who have to pay the utility rates.
It's not a Republican, it's not a Vanjou person, it's
somebody I put there by the administration. The ratepayer advocate
who was part of the Board of Public Utilities, said
that our utility rates were going to go up a lot.
And I want everybody to understand that would be in
(02:29):
North Jersey, and in South Jersey and along the East Coast,
it would be everywhere. These things are extremely costly. Many
of them have failed in Europe. There was just no
reason to do them. And when I say rates would
go up, our im talking about doubles crippled, maybe more.
And they just kept going to shoving down our throat.
And we would have been beholding to foreign countries because
(02:52):
most of the companies involved in this process were foreign,
and we would have been beholding to them for our energy.
It was not. It was really bad, so we bought
the fight. It was the whales that really got everybody focused,
when the whales started dying when they were doing the
sonic testing. And then my friendship with President Trump, and
(03:13):
you know, he agreed to do something, So the combination
of all was a one two punch against him. And
I literally do think, honest to God, not just for
people in South Jersey, but for people on the entire
coast of the United States, and for folks that just
loved the ocean, love the beach. This was a major victory, something.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That I never heard about before until I saw a
press release from you. And so you've exposed this and
it is stunning, and I'm sure people in New Jersey
are going to be upset when they hear this that
the New Jersey Turnpike has a contract with a company
that is run out of communist China. How did that
(03:55):
happen and what can be done about it?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, this gets filed under you know, I guess partly
it only could happen in New Jersey and you just
couldn't make it up. I mean, you can't make this
stuff up. So you know, there was the major company
that does the easy pass systems for the entire country
and of course for New Jersey as well, was sold.
(04:19):
That was mistake number one, and it was bought as
so many things are being and we have to pay
more attention to this and this case was bought by
a country known as Singapore. And on the board of
the company in Singapore that bought this American company, our
Chinese communists, people with deep connections and ties to the CCP,
(04:41):
and you know, would have access to all of the
information that the easy Pass system has. So our contract
ran out with the American company went out to bid again.
And the weird part is this company, the Singapore company,
but the TURNPIPO Authority O awarded them the bid. Why
(05:02):
am I concerned? The New Jersey Turnpike the Garden State
park Way are some of the most trafficked roads in
the entire country. Almost everybody at some point in their
time has been on the turnpike. And you know, it's
all our graphic patterns, all the millions upon millions upon
millions of people, their personal information, their pictures, their driver's license,
(05:24):
et cetera. All this information that easy Pass has, all
that would be easily accessible to and will be to
the Chinese Communist Party. Why in God's name would you
ever do that? Number one? Why didn't we go by
to the low bidder? I don't know, though, you know, Larry,
in this process, the lower bidder an American company is
(05:48):
now has an appeal on this because of the very
same that's how I found out, the very same concerns
I have. They believe that it's a national security issue.
Not only does it show our graphics and people's personal information.
You know, folks don't realize sometimes military equipment, when it
has to get to one spot to another, also has
to travel along these roads. It's bad for national security.
(06:12):
I've asked the Termpike Authority in as strong a way
as I can to rethink this and to rebid this,
or at least to do something different in the process.
This isn't good for America.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Absolutely, it's a big local story. Thank you so much
for exposing that, and thanks for coming on. Would love
to have you on again, especially on this story. If
something happens, please let us know about it. Congressman Jeff
Van Drew, congressman down in South Jersey. What do you
represent Atlantic County?
Speaker 1 (06:43):
No, I represent the biggest district in the state and
represent geographically Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, dalem County,
Ocean County, Gloucester County. So it's a big district. It's
probably about a third of the state, and I'm proud
of it. And you have still ties up to northern
and central New Jersey where I grew up many years ago,
(07:06):
and New Jersey is a great state. He would just
give it a chance.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew. This has been a
podcast from wor
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