MORRIS COUNTY — Congressional District 11 Candidate Paul DeGroot, Esq., held a cocktail reception at The Mansion in Mountain Lakes.
Paul DeGroot comes from a blue-collar family with conservative values. Born and raised in Passaic County to a firefighter dad and a homemaker mom, he went to public schools in Clifton, commuted to Montclair State College, and went on to graduate from the University of Maryland with a degree in political science. While there, he joined the College Republicans and did a six-month internship on Capitol Hill for a local congressman.
DeGroot attended the Widener University School of Law in Delaware while earning his spurs as a businessman, working as a sports equipment distributor for two major sporting goods companies which helped pay for his tuition. He was awarded his JD in 1993. In 1996, DeGroot found his calling as a prosecutor for the State of New Jersey. “For 25 years, it was a beautiful career,” he states. “I developed the skills needed to debate, argue, persuade, and negotiate. I did close to a hundred trials and I resolved thousands of cases.” DeGroot ultimately was promoted to Chief Prosecutor for the Homicide, Narcotics, and Internal Affairs Corruption units.
Here is Paul’s speech which he delivered to a room of supporters:
Good evening and thank you for coming. I appreciate your support and hope you like what you’re about to hear enough to talk me up to family, friends, and neighbors; because that’s one of the most important ways to get my message out.
One of the questions that I’ve been asked repeatedly is why do I want to run for Congress? To answer that question, you have to go back to my childhood and how I was raised.
I was raised in a blue-collar union household, firefighter father and a homemaker mother. I was born and raised in Passaic County and went to public schools.
I had a wonderful childhood with caring parents, but like all good parents there was discipline and THE RULES– do what mom and dad say, play fair, work hard, and CARE about others…. It could be small things like helping your neighbor paint her steps, helping your dad shovel snow, …or related to my career as a Prosecutor helping the victims of crime, helping bring justice…it might be in relation to a once in a lifetime event like helping deliver 9/11 Red Cross supplies to Ground Zero or even helping chase down a mugger in NYC and holding him for police. Then tonight I am reminded by a dear friend about a day in our youth when he was drowning and I was thankfully there to help. Ken, thank you for your support and for bringing me back to that day when all I cared about was getting to you in time.
Now America Needs Help, and I care enough to do something about it!
In one year’s, time under the Biden administration, we have seen:
- Inflation goes through the roof.
- China and Russia growing stronger militarily and economically.
- Gas prices rising because of energy dependence.
- Food costs skyrocketing.
- Illegal immigration flooding our Southern Border.
- Education that turns from the brilliance of our founding fathers and descends into an endless abyss of self-reflection, doubt, and division of children on their race.
- Rising crime rates and Law Enforcement being murdered and made to be the villains instead of the heroes they are.
Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill is an enabler. She is the bartender that keeps on serving drinks to the alcoholic at the bar. She will keep signing off on all the failed decisions and policies of Biden until we stop her and tell her NO MORE.
On the campaign trail, a gentleman asked me “how much does a congressman make” I replied, “I don’t know”. He asked me “but you get a pension don’t you” again I replied, “I don’t know”. Astounded he asked “What, you never looked it up?” I replied, “NO because it’s not the reason I am running, I am running because I care.”
Too many times candidates run on what they are against …I am running on a platform of what I am for.
I am an American first policy. It’s the first question we should ask of all policies, is this what is good for America?
I am for getting the government off the backs of small businesses through deregulation. Having been and being a small business owner, I know that they are the engine that can fuel our economy if we just stop setting up unnecessary roadblocks. I care about the men and women who get up every morning, devoted to their small businesses.
I am for legal immigration, heck, I married it…or her as the case may be. lol My wife, Sharon, waited for two years to come to our county and when she did she became a citizen, put herself through college and entered the business world….a true success story However, I do forcefully oppose those who try to sneak in through the back door. I care about the millions of legal immigrants that help make up the backbone of America and play by the rules to do so.
I am for common sense energy independence. Energy independence allows us to control foreign policy, and lower prices at home, which in turn lower the price of all things that touch upon transportation. However, I will always look for protecting the environment that our children will grow in. Having camped across the county and seen almost 40 states I appreciate and love all the beauty that our national parks represent. I care about striking the right balance to ensure a bright future for our children…and theirs.
I am for the break up of big tech…these monopolies can not continue to exist in the way they do. They stifle free speech and competition. I care about ALL voices being heard and ALL entrepreneurs having a chance in this industry.
I will always look to cut pork-barrel small-minded projects. Once elected, I will care about the American wallet as if it was my own…and being of Dutch heritage, being frugal is cooked into my DNA.
I will urge our Congress to tackle the big picture of getting seniors hearing, vision, and dental care; not by spending more taxpayer money but by cutting wasteful spending on things like:
- Funding Model UN competition I Afghanistan
- Funding Research on Zebrafish on Nicotine
- Buying statue of Bob Dylan for Embassy in Mozambique
- Studying the connection between drinking alcohol and going to ER
- Bring Servian cheese up to international standards
I kid you not, these are all items funded by Congress
I will demand that Veterans are treated with more respect and better medical care. I saw firsthand the troubles of eldercare as I assisted in placing my 90 year old uncle into assisted living and watched my father struggle to pay for long-term care when my mother had a stroke. I care about our senior citizens because I believe how we care for them shows who we are as a people.
As a 25-year career prosecutor who was chief of homicide, narcotics, and government corruption, I will always support the men and women of law enforcement. When streets are safe, communities thrive. Children go to school and people go to work. I represented the victims of crime and I know firsthand their feelings of helplessness and loss. Mikie Sherrill has never taken the 3:00 a.m. phone call regarding a tragic murder, worked a wiretap trying to stop a shipment of drugs, or prosecuted a government employee for stealing $345,000 from the very people they should be helping at the Board of Social Services. I have!
I am for a limited better government that HELPS its citizens care for their families, the elderly, and Veterans. Not the abuse of government by the liberal left. I’m crazy enough to believe that government should be a helping hand and not an open wallet.
Finally, as a husband to a beautiful wife Sharon who is also a working mom, we understand the challenges facing our children: our son, Alexander, four, and our daughter, Jordan, one. With a vested stake in CD11 where I live and in the country, I love, I want to make sure all children have the benefits and opportunities I had. I care enough to throw my experience, my knowledge, my very self into this race to ensure a better tomorrow.
I hope, with your help, that on November 8 we can together change the future of CD11 and write a new, wonderful tomorrow. I hope you’ll join me in my mission.
I am Paul DeGroot, your next congressman for CD 11.
