The congressman from the 11th District is Rodney Frelinghuysen (FREE-ling-high-zen), a Republican first elected in 1994. He is the scion of one of New Jersey’s most durable political families. The Frelinghuysens emigrated from Germany near the Dutch border in 1720 and settled in what is now the 11th District. Four Frelinghuysens served as senators from New Jersey, starting in 1793 and as recently as 1923. Theodore Frelinghuysen was the candidate for vice president in 1844 (spawning the memorable chant, ‘‘Hurrah! Hurrah! The country’s risin,’ for Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen’’). Frederick Frelinghuysen was President Chester Arthur’s secretary of state. Peter Frelinghuysen, Rodney’s father, was elected to the House in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1974. History tends to repeat itself, and Frelinghuysens have been involved in every presidential impeachment. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s great-great-grandfather Frederick voted to convict Andrew Johnson in 1868, and his father, Peter, after the revelations of July 1974, would have voted to impeach Richard Nixon if the president had not resigned. The current-generation Frelinghuysen voted to impeach Bill Clinton in December 1998. Read More

The congressman from the 11th District is Rodney Frelinghuysen (FREE-ling-high-zen), a Republican first elected in 1994. He is the scion of one of New Jersey’s most durable political families. The Frelinghuysens emigrated from Germany near the Dutch border in 1720 and settled in what is now the 11th District. Four Frelinghuysens served as senators from New Jersey, starting in 1793 and as recently as 1923. Theodore Frelinghuysen was the candidate for vice president in 1844 (spawning the memorable chant, ‘‘Hurrah! Hurrah! The country’s risin,’ for Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen’’). Frederick Frelinghuysen was President Chester Arthur’s secretary of state. Peter Frelinghuysen, Rodney’s father, was elected to the House in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1974. History tends to repeat itself, and Frelinghuysens have been involved in every presidential impeachment. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s great-great-grandfather Frederick voted to convict Andrew Johnson in 1868, and his father, Peter, after the revelations of July 1974, would have voted to impeach Richard Nixon if the president had not resigned. The current-generation Frelinghuysen voted to impeach Bill Clinton in December 1998.

As a child, Rodney Frelinghuysen lived in the large brick house on Georgetown’s N Street that was later owned by former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, Sally Quinn. He attended St. Albans preparatory school with the future Democratic vice president, Al Gore. After college, he served in the Army in Vietnam, where he built roads in the Mekong Delta. In 1972, he was an aide to Morris County Freeholder Dean Gallo, who was later elected to Congress from the 11th District. Frelinghuysen was a freeholder himself from 1974 to 1983, and was elected to the state Assembly in 1983. Frelinghuysen ran for Congress in 1990 in what is now the 12th District but lost the primary to Dick Zimmer. In August 1994, Gallo retired from Congress because of illness, and Frelinghuysen was chosen to be the Republican nominee at a September party convention. He was elected with 71% of the vote.

Frelinghuysen has taken moderate and even liberal stands on some issues, but is more conservative on defense and foreign policy. He supported President George W. Bush on the war in Iraq, and stuck with his party in opposing President Barack Obama’s major initiatives in the 111th Congress (2009-10). He refused to join fellow New Jersey moderates Frank LoBiondo, Chris Smith and Leonard Lance in supporting the cap-and-trade bill aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, calling it a “job-killer.” He also cited numerous objections to the health care overhaul. But he was one of 92 House Republicans who banded with Democrats in February 2011 to reject the conservative Republican Study Committee’s proposed $100 billion in spending cuts on the fiscal 2011 continuing resolution.

He showed his insider skills by winning a seat on the Appropriations Committee while still a freshman, a rarity. Because New Jersey had no senator on the Senate Appropriations Committee between 2000 and 2006, Frelinghuysen became the go-to guy for the entire delegation on projects benefiting New Jersey. He concentrated on big projects: construction of the Hudson-Bergen light rail, dredging of channels in the Port of New York and New Jersey, millions to slow erosion on the Jersey Shore. In 2010, he secured $20 million to improve facilities at two Veterans Affairs hospitals.

As Frelinghuysen has gained seniority, he was able in 2011 to claim the gavel of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, making him a critical gatekeeper in Obama’s plans to significantly boost clean-energy research. He sounded an ominous note for those plans in February 2011, when he said that in theory, he supported the arm of the Energy Department that conducts such research, but that “I’m not sure in these times I’d find that many members who would agree.” During debate on the fiscal 2010 energy and water bill, he expressed concerns about the need to protect and maintain the nuclear weapons stockpile, which the bill also funds.

Frelinghuysen initially opposed the government bailout of the financial markets in 2008, but then voted in favor of it, he said, because Americans needed protection from “economic shockwaves from problems they did not create.” He also was among 32 House Republicans to back the bailout of the major automakers that year.

Frelinghuysen is best known nationally as the sponsor of the “Know Your Caller” law, which bars telemarketers from interfering with Caller ID systems of customers seeking to avoid such solicitations. Another of his pet projects is environmental cleanup in his district, which he says has more Superfund sites than any other. He tours the sites annually with environmental and local officials to get updates on cleanup progress. Frelinghuysen has not been seriously challenged for re-election.