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Updated October 07, 2003

Phil Passantino

for

NJ Assembly - District 40

(Cedar Grove, Franklin Lakes, Little Falls, Mahwah, Midland Park, Oakland, Ridgewood, Ringwood, Verona, Wanaque, Wayne, Wyckoff)  

Phil talks about his life and interests:

 

My name is  Phil Passantino. I'm a Senior Clerk Typist in the Facilities Department at William Paterson University in Wayne (I pay the bills for the carpenters, plumbers, etc.). I'm a member of CWA Local 1031. I am also a musician. And I’m running for State Assembly in District 40 (Wayne, Wyckoff, Wanaque, Ringwood, Ridgewood, Midland Park, Verona, Cedar Grove, Little Falls, Franklin Lakes, Mahwah, Oakland).

I grew up in Wayne. I lived just off Church Lane near the Wayne Hills Mall. I attended Don Bosco Prep Catholic H.S. in Ramsey and received a B.S. in Sound Recording Technology in 1994 from SUNY College at Fredonia (near Buffalo,NY).

I joined the Green Party of NJ when it was founded in 1996, after Ralph Nader's first presidential run. I’ve long been concerned about New Jersey’s shrinking open spaces; about pollution; about water supply contamination. A recent report on the front page of the Bergen Record decried New Jersey tap water, brooks and rivers as containing “epilepsy drugs, deodorants, traces of antibiotics, flame retardants, artificial colors, and fuel additives. Carbamazepine, a painkiller; AHTN, a fragrance in consumer products; and prometon, a herbicide, were most common.” (“NJ Water Contains Traces of Daily Life”, March 5, 2003).

Is anyone shocked by this? I know we all have to stay so busy nowadays to make ends meet, we’re always driving here or there, and there’s really no time for outrage, or for taking stock of the effect that modern living and conveniences are having on our air, our water, our food, our cancer rates, our increase in allergies even among folks who never had them a few years ago. But I would like to address these issues. I would like to make it more affordable to choose more ecological natural products; products that have a minimal role in contaminating anything. I would like to make it possible for a normal working person to purchase organic foods without breaking the bank. I would like people to know that simply eating more brown rice, miso soup and whole grains is a remedy for diabetes, for cancer, and many other ailments. I would like to raise New Jersey’s consciousness of other options for life. We don’t have to be stuck in the 20th century; this is the 21st! Time for new ideas.

I am very interested in alternative energy and sustainability. Last summer I attended Solarfest, an annual solar energy fair in Poultney, Vermont (www.solarfest.org).  If you have the chance, GO THERE this July 12-13 and see how Vermont is different from NJ. People there recognize that WE ARE NOW ENTERING THE AGE OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY. SOLAR POWER, WIND POWER. This is the new way to live. It is more peaceful, less destructive; it’s clean and THERE’S A MAGIC ABOUT IT. When you go to this festival and see two days of outdoor concerts, two days of dozens of informational workshops on alternative ways of living in harmony with nature, and you realize the whole thing is being run on energy from THE SUN, it’s an inspiration. And I don’t see why New Jersey can’t move forward in the same direction.

Please vote for me, Philip A. Passantino, for State Assembly in District 40, on November 4, 2003.

My door will always be open to your concerns and perspectives. The Green Party means new ideas. Even in North Jersey.
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