Politics & Government

District 26 Senate Candidate: Wasim Khan

Patch asked each to answer a questionnaire. Here are Khan's answers.

With the Nov. 8 election fast approaching, Patch takes a look at the candidates for District 26 Senate, incumbent Republican Joe Pennacchio (Montville) and Democratic challenger Wasim Khan (Parsippany).

Patch asked each candidate to fill out the questionnaire below. Here are Khan's answers. As of this article's publication, Independent candidate Joseph Scafa (Rockaway) had not responded to requests.

For Pennacchio's responses, head here.

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Wasim Khan (D-Parsippany)

Age: 56

Occupation/Background: Medical research/physician epidemiologist  

Find out what's happening in Parsippanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Previous elected or appointed positions: New Jersey State Senate and Parsippany Town Council 

Any other current elected or appointed positions: None.  

Other community associations: People of Peace and Justice, a Presbyterian Church initiative and American Multi-faith Association with members from various faith groups which was officially recognized by New Jersey State Assembly by a proclamation. I have very proactively promoted peace and harmony between communities and addressed all local faith communities at Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples and National Conference of Churches of Jesus Christ (an umbrella organization of 200, 000 protestant churches) over the years. As a member of Network of Progressive Muslims acted to countervail against growth of religious extremism in pre- and post-911 world which finally seems to be bearing fruit as we see Arab Spring flower into a paradigm-shifting secular force to reckon with in the middle east. A John-Dewey inspired group named Nation Builders and Civilization Movers, established with my Republican friends. Life member of American Association of Physicians from India (AAPI) which has local and New Jersey chapters.

What town do you live in, and how long have you lived there? Parsippany, 14 years.  

How long have you lived in the district (if different)? 14 years since leaving Boston in 1997

What do you see as the most pressing issues in a coming term, and what would you do about them? Job growth and how to lower the tax burden in Morris County without mangling the delivery of education from which every society grows its future and its economy. My immediate priority in January 2012 would be the passage of many a bills to spur the jobs growth. NJ public was deprived of this opportunity due to lack of two-thirds majority earlier in the year. Passage of these bills with my ‘YES’ votes shall be focus of my highest legislative priority. Republicans had voted with Democrats on these bills before they reversed their vote. Many of these or similar bills shall be re-introduced and passed immediately if we get the two-thirds majority with a gain of two to three seats with election of yours truly. I will keep the businesses in-state with their employees and encourage new businesses by promoting the great possibilities in New Jersey via passage of A3353 or similar bills. I will offer tax credits to companies investing in emerging technologies. I will put more money into the pocket of college grads who are hurting badly due lack of prospects of employment via forgiveness of student loans by re-introduction and passage of A2544. I will promote business partnerships between educational institutions like Princeton, Rutgers, UNDMJ, NJIT and College of Morris County and New Jersey businesses via  passage of S2398. I would offer loans to businesses owned by women and minorities and low-interest loans for green buildings, energy and reducing the carbon footprint. I will put more money in the pockets of our citizens via passage of acts for tax exemptions on retirement incomes and pensions. I will put some of the savings from these programs into a low-interest rate voucher program that can be used only to buy locally products manufactured in New Jersey. Let us call these "NJ Vouchers." These vouchers shall further spur the consumer demand in New Jersey leading to higher production and promote hiring. These "NJ Vouchers" shall expire if not used within the stipulated time frame to ensure the re-circulation of the money back into our local markets and not into a bank.

Additionally, as one published on women’s health issues from Harvard as recently as 2003, I find it  sad to see the healthcare services for many of our vulnerable groups, particularly women, slashed. I’d like to reverse those cuts. Maternal and child healthcare is of particular interest to me as a trained pediatrician. In 2007, I ran a crusade against Bush’s veto of SCHIP which was eventually reversed. Currently, we do not have a physician in our state senate. As a physician intimately associated with a major industry in our state’s economy, the pharmaceuticals and healthcare, I will provide a uniquely relevant combination of insights to help develop policies that could have a substantial impact on the management of health care cost via robust and critically relevant public health program.

Sustainability implies "sustainable development" which Brundtland Commission of the United Nations defined on March, 1987 as: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Therefore, I will also propose lowering the voter’s age to 16 for greater inter-generational participation in our political process because our current generation has miserably failed in protecting the interests of 20-some generation who are protesting at Wall Street, today. In fact, an influential proportion of Republican party even today refuses to acknowledge the nature of challenge that we face in our sustainability.

United Nations Environment Program in a report proposes a "green economy" defined as one that "improves human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities" and "does not favor one political perspective over another but works to minimize excessive depletion of natural capital." This report finds that "greening not only generates increases in wealth, in particular a gain in ecological commons or natural capital, but also (over a period of six years) produces a higher rate of GDP growth."

But more significantly in the transition to a green economy, new jobs are created, which in time exceed the losses in "brown economy" jobs but it requires "investment in re-skilling and re-educating the workforce."

That’s why my campaign slogan is "Jobs & Education!"

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development asserts that "business cannot succeed in societies that fail." We cannot succeed as a society without critical emphasis on education.

I will propose carbon footprint tax-deductions for the individual, households and businesses. The smaller carbon footprint the better you do on your tax refunds as well as for sustainable development. By changing the pattern of our consumption and production we can develop a new more eco-friendly sustainable green economy while creating more jobs and healthier environment which will consequently reduce health care cost too, e.g. in reducing the incidence of cancer from pollutants and thru food chain.  

What's one fact about you that most voters probably don't know? On the advice of a Rhode Scholar physician friend of mine, I approached Harvard Business School (HBS) for a PhD in health care cost. The HBS advised me to go for an MBA instead. Because in those pre-Clinton years they did not have a faculty to guide me in such a topic for such a PhD thesis in which they had no expertise. Harvard at that time was not the only institution devoid of such faculty, no other business institution in or anywhere else in the world thought of such a subject worthy of study. So I decided to go back to medical research by working on prevention and treatment of catastrophic illnesses that reduce the cost of health care to the individual and society. That is why I co-authored two long-term studies on cancer prevention that are still continuing at Harvard, and have since used medical research in New Jersey as a key member of teams that lead to FDA approval of at least five anti-cancer medications that are used as standard of care in all major cancer clinics in and the world. The subjects of the two long-terms studies are health professionals such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

But despite being a professional medical scientist published in peer reviewed medical journals from Harvard Medical School, I am not limited to my silo. I am an avid amateur photographer, having photographed wild flowers from Mount Monadanock in New Hampshire to verdant valleys of Pennsylvania, and a front-patch gardener who is defending a rose-vine driven case of political expression all the way to the Supreme Court of our Garden State! Dig that? Not that bed of roses.  

What enticed you to run for State Senator? “You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget this ...”  These inspiring words were uttered exactly about a hundred years back, in October of 1913, by President Woodrow Wilson, who was the president of Princeton University, before he started his political career as a progressive Governor of New Jersey.

We suddenly find ourselves in these extra-ordinary times which call upon the people of goodwill from all walks of life to come forward and offer solutions to our seemingly intractable problems which are rooted in the self serving ethos of the winner take all which is quite the inverse of what we need in our public life today.

I happen to have a good grounding in critical thinking, having been exposed at an early age to writings of philosophers like William James who enunciated pragmatism (he happened to be a Harvard trained physician but made such critical and original contribution to philosophy that a Chair of Philosophy is named after him a his alma mater), Bertrand Russell’s skepticism and logic to progressive philosophers of education like John Dewey–the 1916 publication of his "Education & Democracy" is pertinent even today! Inspired by John Dewey, I registered a bipartisan think tank called "Nation Builders & Civilization Movers" in 1998 in New Jersey which fell victim to anti-intellectual ethos of catastrophic Bush years or what is called "the lost decade."

Growing up, Mahatma Gandhi, inspired me to public service with his autobiography "My Experiments with Truth" presented to me as a best-student prize in high school. "See your self in service to others!" is my favorite Gandhi quote that inspired me to establish a volunteer clinic for the slum dwellers of New Delhi with other junior doctors. If elected, I will serve for a salary of $1 saving nearly 50,000 dollars of public funds and more in benefits as long as I remain productive in my professional life.

How do you feel about living in Parsippany/District 26? Coming from hubbub of Boston, I fell in love with this quiet and sprawling township that offers a fine balance between the attractions of Manhattan, where one of my sisters used to live, and of the suburbs of Pennsylvania, where another sister and brother live with their families. Parsippany is a great place to live and raise a family with high quality of life and good schools, that does not require my certification. However it is worth noting that most of the period I have lived in Parsippany, has been under three terms of Mayors Mimi Letts and Michael Luther who happened to be Democrats and did such a great job of keeping Parsippany among the best places to live in USA among the larger towns with population over 50,000. Later, I was pleased to discover that I was not alone in such high evaluation for my hometown.

As we all know, it has been established by third parties like Money Magazine who assess such matters professionally. Another town in our District 26 that enjoys such reputation is Montville , among the top 20 best places to live in among towns in population less that 50,000. As a State Senator I would aspire to bring high quality of life to my entire district and hopefully for the great Garden State at large.  

Do you live in the district with your family? Provide information on your experience (i.e., kids in the local schools, ages/names of spouse/children): I have lived with my wife of a dozen or so years often accompanied by dozens of members of extended families of brother, sisters, sisters-in-law and their children. We have frequent visits from the members of our extended family and their relatives. Our nephews and nieces from Pennsylvania who stay with us for weeks during summer or spring breaks enjoy the vicinity of the town to New York City and easy access to Poconos and Lake George.

One of my nieces goes to U Penn and she loves Manhattan too so is a frequent visitor. It enriches all of our lives and adds to the warmth of our household ensuring that we make compulsory trip to Manhattan to enjoy a musical or a museum when we have company. Most recently, my sister made a trip from Pennsylvania to Vermont to watch the fall colors to celebrate her husband’s birthday who landed at Newark airport from his consulting trip to Virginia. On the way back they were treated to lunch at The View (which surprisingly they had never been to despite having lived in Manhattan for years) followed by "How to succeed …" which my niece, who having grown up on all of the Harry Potter magic, thought she was in heaven looking at God’s own un-spectacled son or something. Who knew one homeless woman had such a bedazzling imagination to change the theology of an entire generation? But then there is always another Broadway spectacular like the "Book of Mormon." If my district was not at such a cross road to the Northeast, we would not have been so lucky to be everywhere and yet in the same place called Parsippany. Our district is a home to us, but to our friends and relatives, a holiday resort of the sort or a stopover to one. Which is tons of fun.


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