NFIB

State Sen. and U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean spoke to a group of supporters at Warner Automotive Repair in Collingswood, N.J., recently. Kean is challenging New Jersey incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez, who has a consistent record of opposing small-business issues. As a U.S. senator, Menendez voted against all NFIB Key Votes.

"New Jersey's Main Street businesses struggle," Kean said. "New Jersey has the second-worst climate for small businesses."

Kean says that New Jersey's tax code makes it cost-prohibitive to open a business in the state. He said as a U.S. senator he would vote to make permanent federal tax cuts to help relieve the burden on business owners.

Kean's strong stance on issues important to New Jersey's small-business owners, including tax relief, tort reform, permanent death-tax relief and the enactment of Small-Business Health Plans, stands in stark contrast to the record of incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who has not been a friend of small business in Congress. During his 13 years in the U.S. House before his appointment to the Senate last January, Menendez earned a poor 13 percent lifetime small-business voting record, never voting with small-business owners more than 25 percent of the time in any Congress. In the Senate this year, Menendez voted to block Small-Business Health Plans and permanent relief from the death tax.