Attends Holt fund-raiser at Green Valley Farm
By:Jennifer Potash
President Bill Clinton and at least 400 people Wednesday evening squeezed into the tent on the grounds of Green Valley Farm on Carter Road, the Hopewell Township home of Robert and Lisa Stockman.
The president was on hand to boost the candidacy of Rep. Rush Holt, the Hopewell Township Democrat who represents the 12th District. Guests were asked to contribute $1,000 per head to attend the late-afternoon event, which stretched into early evening.
Guests milled about to the music of a jazz quartet while sipping champagne and dining on grilled tuna while waiting for the president’s speech.
Mr. Stockman is a venture capitalist who invests in new businesses and his wife is a stay-at-home mom to their four daughters, said Neil Upmeyer, director of Rep. Holt’s finance committee. Neither is active in Democratic Party affairs. Rep. Holt is being challenged for his seat by a former 12th District Congressman, Republican Dick Zimmer.
Rep. Holt’s campaign didn’t want the typical hotel ballroom as the location for the fund-raiser, Mr. Upmeyer said.
"They’re friends of mine and they have a beautiful place," Mr. Upmeyer said.
Once the president arrived, Jon Corzine, the Summit businessman who is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, introduced Rep. Holt. He praised the congressman for the "use of his talents and his character for the good of everyone else’s good."
Rep. Holt in turn praised the Clinton-Gore administration for its achievements such as adding 100,000 officers for community policing and for its school construction plan. He congratulated President Clinton for preserving more open space than any president since Teddy Roosevelt.
The president then asked the crowd to continue to send representatives such as Rep. Holt and Mr. Corzine to Congress. It’s important to keep Rep. Holt in the House, President Clinton said, because he understands the issues of emerging technology such as the Internet and the implications of the decoding of the human genome project.
"Most of us in Congress are lawyers like me, so we really need scientists like Rush," the president said. Rep. Holt is one of the few scientists serving in the House.
When the president finished speaking, supporters surged forward to a roped area to shake his hand and be photographed with the chief executive.
For the Stockman daughters, a whirwind week of anticipation came to an exciting close.
Meeting President Clinton "was amazing," 15-year-old Hope Stockman said. "He was very polite and very interested in what I had to say."
Lily Stockman, 18, admitted that hosting the president was "exhilarating" but it was a week of "intense preparation."
Phoebe, 11, said it was "awesome" and Grier said she will cherish the photo of herself, her Chicken Run character Peeps and President Clinton.
The invited guests were asked to park ahead of time at the adjacent ETS facility and were bused to and from the event at the farm, which features rolling fields and a pond. No one was allowed to leave until the president had departed after 8 p.m.
The president arrived at the Trenton-Mercer Airport via a presidental jet at noon Wednesday and spent the day in central New Jersey. He toured a mobile classroom and discussed his proposals for additional school construction funding at the Crossroads School in South Brunswick before arriving by helicopter at Educational Testing Service in Lawrence Township.
There was a three-hour gap on the President’s official schedule between his arrival at ETS until the event at the Stockman’s farm. A spokeswoman from the White House press office said the period was private time for the president.
President Clinton, who lunched at the Nassau Inn, stopped at Starbucks on Nassau Street for a blended fruit and herb tea drink and to greet a gaggle of passersby. Numerous Secret Service agents were around the perimeter and sharpshooters were spotted on the roof of the inn.
President Clinton’s day in New Jersey did not end with the Hopewell Township event. He returned to ETS to pick up helicopter Marine One which was to ferry him to Garden State Park for a fund-raiser for Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin, who is challenging incumbent Republican Jim Saxton to represent the 3rd Congressional District.
Reporters Jeff Milgram and Jane Karlicek contributed to this report.