Potosnak Campaigns Alongside California Congressman

Seventh District Congressional Democratic nominee Ed Potosnak welcomed U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Cal.) to New Jersey Thursday.

The pair of Democrats had two private meetings before arriving at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison to address a crowd of press and residents about education in New Jersey.

"If you vote for Ed, you will get what you want," said Honda. "You'll get a person that will serve you, make the right decisions, and think on his own."

Potosnak took aim at Gov. Chris Christie and his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon County). He criticized the Christie administration's handling of the $400 million Race to the Top education grant to the federal government, which was filled out wrong, costing the state the grant and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler his job.

Potosnak also criticized Lance's failure to vote for the Education Jobs bill that would send $268 million to New Jersey for use in education and send 56 teachers in the district back to work (the bill passed in August by a vote of 247-161). According to Potosnak, Lance said the impact of the bill would be "negligible."

"One teacher impacts many, many students," said Potosnak. "The architects of our future are not negligible."

Lance has explained that he voted against the bill saying that the funds were a one shot deal which would average only one teacher per town in the congressional district. He also questioned the funding of the bill, saying sponsors had not come up with an adequate funding source. The Republican also said he opposed the decision to cut food stamp payments to fund the teacher hires.

Potosnak vowed to fight attempts to cut education spending and says the key is spending smarter, not more. He says that if Americans can close the national educational achievement gap between America and countries with a stronger education system, the gross domestic product could increase by as much as $2.3 trillion, or 16%.

Both Potosnak and Honda have backgrounds in education. Honda, who represents Silicon Valley in California, spent his early life in a Japanese interment camp in Colorado during World War II before becoming a science teacher and then a principal. Honda was first elected to a local school board in 1971 and served as a county supervisor and state legislator before winning a congressional seat in 2000.

Potosnak was a chemistry teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan High School and an associate professor at Rutgers. He worked in Honda's office as an Einstein Fellow, writing and researching education policy. Potosnak and his supporters play up the fact that he is not a career politician. Lance was first elected to Congress in 2008 after an 18-year career in the state legislature. The event was the first Potosnak staged since CNN dropped the race from their list of the top 100 congressional races to watch in the country

"We need a new face in Washington," said Woodbridge resident Stephen Alterman, who came out to support Potosnak. "There are too many lawyers. We need real people."