TCNJ

25 SPRING 2022 Chris Smith '75 U.S. House of Representatives MIKE MORGAN Chris Smith doesn't recall if he was assigned to defend the "rights of the unborn" or if he chose the topic himself; the issue had not previously been on his radar, he says. But in his public speaking class at Trenton State, the freshman knew he'd struck a chord by the vehemence of the pushback he received from some fellow students. " If you can find common ground, you ought to … We need to reclaim that, for the sake of our democracy." — U.S. Representative Chris Smith "That's where it all started, right there," Smith says; both the unborn and their mothers were victims who needed advocates, he decided. Before long, he was running a Right to Life campus organization. Smith had planned to study business administration, with the idea of taking over his parents' sporting goods business. In addition to his degree, he emerged with a lifelong passion — as well as a girlfriend, Marie, a fellow student who became his wife. By 27, he'd won a seat in Congress, on his second try, in part as an anti-abortion candidate. Still debated today, the "right to life" has been Smith's signature issue through four decades on the Hill. But it's just one of his many efforts to defend society's "most vulnerable," he says: veterans, people with autism or Alzheimer's, victims of human trafficking, and more. "It is rooted in my faith," he says. "We need to have their back." Frequently "bending into the wind," Smith champions the rights of people who face persecution all over the world: Muslim Uyghurs in China, victims of genocide at the hands of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. When Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, Smith did not hesitate to label Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and call for his immediate indictment. He's one of the House's most prolific authors of legislation and claims his staff has handled 94,000 constituent cases over the years, helping individuals navigate government. In one of his re-election campaigns, an opponent dismissed him as "an overpaid caseworker." Smith took it as a compliment. "Casework and policy- making are the two jobs" of congressional members, he says. Though he is steadfast in his opposition to abortion, Smith is known for crossing the aisle on issues and hopes that the practice makes a comeback. He loathes "deceit, bickering, and mockery" and regards personal attacks as "tragic." All are far too common in D.C., Smith says. "It is a bipartisan, bicameral process here, and if you can find common ground, you ought to," he says. People with opposing views "are not the enemy," he says, and "We need to reclaim that, for the sake of our democracy." Kari Osmond '09 Chief of staff, U.S. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman Kari Osmond groans, recalling a moment from her time at TCNJ. She was "obnoxiously" challenging the grade she'd gotten in a political science class when the teacher, Reed Gusciora, made her an offer. "He says, 'you have so much to say: Would you want to take an internship with me?'" she says. Until that moment, Osmond was unaware that Gusciora was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly at the time. Working in Gusciora's office she was "hooked immediately" on public service, she says. "I thought, 'this is how you make a difference. This is how people's lives are changed.'" Osmond stayed on after graduation, rising to become Gusciora's chief of staff before going to work for Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, whom she now serves in the same capacity in Washington, D.C. When Osmond wed her wife in 2018, it was possible in part because of gay marriage legislation she had worked on with Gusciora, who's now the mayor of Trenton. Both he and Watson Coleman officiated the ceremony. Working on the Hill in today's "crazy partisan" atmosphere is "a battle," Osmond acknowledges, but her idealism is undimmed. "It's a shame that we have to use violent terminology to describe politics and government," she says. "There are some really knockdown, depressing days where you're like, this isn't worth it. But at the end of the day, it's all that matters."

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