KHAN COUNTS DOWN TO DEMOCRATIC VICTORY Says Democrats Committed to Health and Science
Parsippany, November 4 —As Election Day approaches, Democratic candidate for State Senate in the
26th District, Dr. Wasim Khan, says he looks forward to the final push towards November 6, and will put the people of the
district over politics if elected to serve in the State Senate.
“People are starting to take a different view of politics,” said Dr. Khan, D-Parsippany.
“Politics today is not like a football or baseball game, where you choose one team that you like, and you are happy
when they win and sad when they lose, and you enjoy watching the game in either event, but in the end it doesn’t really
affect other aspects of your life. In the political arena today, we are dealing with questions that affect our children’s
health today and the world that they will inherit tomorrow.
“It’s time for people to stop thinking in terms of whether they grew up cheering for the elephant
or the donkey. Now we must think about our tax system. Is it fair? I have argued that the shift from income tax to property
tax to pay for the state’s expenses has raised taxes for most low- to middle-income families. This is not fair, and
it creates pressure for the state to cut spending on services that would really make a difference in people’s lives
and benefit our society. So the question for the voter is, what party is working to solve this problem, and what party is
trying to make it worse?” Khan added that, if elected, his first priority would be to work on finding fair and reasonable
funding solutions for the state budget, which is projected to face a shortfall of more than $3 billion at the end of the current
fiscal year.
“We live in a world of sometimes
harsh realities. As a medical doctor, I know this. I also know that you have to face these realities and practice preventive
medicine, or the realities only get worse. One of these harsh realities is that fossil fuels are becoming more and more expensive,
and that our overuse of them may cause serious problems with our planet’s climate even within our or our children’s
lifetimes. That’s why we must make investments in research into alternative energy. But we don’t need research
to know that electric powered public transit projects, such as electrified rail and light rail, is extremely energy efficient
and improves quality of life and property values in the neighborhoods it serves. We must give a high priority to projects
of this kind, and public transportation planning in general. We must also seek more federal funding for these projects in
New Jersey, because the entire nation would benefit from the reduced consumption of fossil fuels. It would be like striking
oil in New Jersey, but without the messy oil wells. Now I ask you, which party has been showing concern about fossil fuels,
global climate and transportation infrastructure? Voters must think about that on Tuesday, when they vote.
“As a doctor, I know that my ability to help patients depends on what
we have learned through medical research, through science. That’s why I became a medical researcher. As a doctor and
a scientist, I know that some diseases cannot yet be prevented or cured because they still have unsolved mysteries. Perhaps
the biggest mystery is why the different kinds of cells in the body behave so differently, even though they all have the same
DNA. Why can’t we get damaged spinal cords to heal themselves? Why can’t a diabetic child grow new insulin-producing
cells? Why do some cells lose their self-control and become cancer? Stem cell research holds enormous promise for answering
these questions. So I ask you, which party wants to promote this research, and which party wants to obstruct this research?
Which party wants to listen to our climate scientists and take heed of their warnings, and which party wants to prevent those
scientists from being heard?
“This is not a
time for partisan loyalty. This is a time for working together to solve the problems that affect us all, and that will otherwise
plague our children in the future. The voters’ responsibility now is to think about what the individual candidates stand
for, and to vote their conscience.”
Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6. Polls will
be open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
