Mikie Sherrill met with Morris County residents at local diner. Here's what they told her

With inflation weighing heavily on New Jersey residents and Congress due back in session next week, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-Montclair, spent much of Thursday on the road in the 11th District meeting with constituents.

One such roundtable discussion was held at the Morristown Diner.

"We're all concerned about it but I wanted to hear directly from people in the district, how it's impacting their lives," Sherrill said. "Hearing it on the ground, not from polls, not from statistics, has always been the most effective way we understand how to legislate in Washington for the people here."

Several of the participants in the invitation-only roundtable, who ranged from a career firefighter and teacher to a military veteran and a small-business owner, said they did not necessarily get solutions during the gathering, but said they came away with the understanding, as Meghan Tavormina put it, "that it's a priority for her. And I think it begins there."

Tavormina owns Learning Path Nursery School and Day Care in Chatham and is president of the New Jersey Association for the Education of Young Children. She said she specifically asked how federal dollars and policy can be leveraged to "affect the compensation issue in early education."

Mike Cirelli, a career firefighter with the Morristown Fire Department and member of the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association used the opportunity to express how inflation hurts public-service and "blue collar" workers who "didn't take these jobs to get rich."

"She was very receptive and talked about legislation they are bringing forward to reduce food prices, which is what we want," Cirelli said.

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Sherrill said she gets it and described the tone of the meeting at times as "a little sad."

"People have stopped buying red meat," Sherrill said. "People who in the past would have gone to the Shore and rented a house for the week, now maybe they take their kids for the day. Overtime pay that might have been fun money is necessary to pay for the cost of living. It was tough going through COVID, and then to come out of COVID and have these struggles has been difficult."

Solutions rest in legislation such as the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which she said will help lower costs at the grocery store, reduce gas prices, strengthen food supply chains, and increase competition in the American meat industry. The act was passed by the House on June 16. Sponsors hope to see the Senate pick it up in its next session.

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"We also have meetings coming up with energy companies about what they are doing," Sherrill said. "Why is the price per barrel not commensurate with prices at the pump, historically speaking? Why is the cost always seemingly passed on to the consumer?"

She believes part of the problem with gas prices are domestic energy companies that "historically have reacted quickly to rising gas prices and produced more, and they've been left holding the bag on some of those investments."

"So now we're looking at how to make them feel more secure in making more investments, decreasing our reliance on oil from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and spurring job growth here while supporting other countries with energy protection," Sherrill said.

Other participants in the roundtable included Brian Adams, a 20-year teacher in the Rockaway Township and co-president of the Rockaway NJEA.

"Some of the topics we brought up were pre-COVID issues," he said. "We're having trouble finding teachers, substitutes, staff assistants, custodians. Many of the things that were considered reforms ack in the day have driven people away from the profession."

He suggested loan-debt forgiveness to attract people back into teaching and address "the disparity between how much somebody has to pay to go to college to be a teacher, and the starting salary."

Gilbert Carpeta, the owner of High End Barber Shop in Morristown, said supply-chain issues are hurting his business.

Earlier in the day, Sherrill attended a first-responders breakfast where she gathered more than 40 police chiefs, fire chiefs, EMS leaders, county sheriffs, prosecutors and detectives to discuss efforts to secure federal grants, community-project funding and gain more support through constituent services. She also met with her Veterans Advisory Board at American Legion Post 238 in Woodland Park to discuss veterans' needs.

Kevin Gardner, spokesperson for the campaign of Paul DeGroot, Sherrill's Republican opponent in the November midterm elections, said the discussions show "the hypocrisy of Mikie Sherrill oozes from her veins."

"Only during election season is she concerned about the economy," Gardner wrote. "Since she's been elected, gasoline prices are through the roof, food shortages are rampant in local grocery stores, parents can't find baby formula and the economy is in tatters thanks to the Biden/Pelosi/Sherrill agenda. She's a failure for the pocketbook issues affecting this district."

"I think if there was an easy answer, we would have it already," Tavormina said. "But to know it is at the top of her agenda gives us a little more faith we will eventually see the needle moved for our industry."

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Mikie Sherrill hears NJ residents concerns at Morristown diner