No, that’s not a typo in the headline. Peter Frelinghuysen Jr. was a congressman from New Jersey from 1952 to 1975. He was also the father of Verona’s current congressman, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ11th). At a February town hall organized by NJ 11th Change, a grassroots group that has been seeking to make the younger Frelinghuysen (who was not present) more accountable to his constituents, a question was raised about Peter Frelinghuysen’s courage during a particularly dark time in American politics. Pam Wye, a Verona artist, captured the moment then in the cartoon below.
This past Friday, Rodney Frelinghuysen, the new chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, found his Peter Frelinghuysen moment, when he announced that he could not support the Republican health care plan. In breaking with his party, Frelinghuysen also broke the plan’s back, and it was pulled from a vote. We thought it was good time to kick off a presentation of Wye’s cartoon work, which we are choosing to call “Wye Not”.
Brilliant. Thanks for the inspiring cartoon.