{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://kean.house.gov/media/press-releases/kean-joins-local-mayors-meet-small-business-owners-downtown-chester", "Kean Joins Local Mayors to Meet with Small Business Owners in Downtown Chester", "2023-10-06", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Thomas H. Kean, Jr.", "K000398", "kean.house.gov", "kean", "https://kean.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Contact: Dan Scharfenberger\n\n(October 6, 2023) CHESTER, N.J. \u2014 Yesterday, Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ) met with small business owners on Main Street in Downtown Chester, N.J. to hear from them directly about the issues facing them and how he can continue supporting their efforts to help the community, grow the local economy, and create jobs. Chester Borough Mayor Janet Hoven, Chester Township Mayor Mike Inganamort and Congressman Kean walked Main Street to visit 7 small businesses.\n\n\"Small businesses are the backbone of the Garden State\u2019s economy,\" said Congressman Kean. \"I am working in Washington to help break the back of inflation, cut burdensome regulation and lower taxes. I will continue to champion these priorities in Congress so that we can give the support small businesses need to thrive.\u201d\n\n\"I was so appreciative of Congressman Kean making the most of his unexpected time away from DC by visiting with small business owners on Main St in Chester Borough,\u201d said Mayor Hoven. \u201cHis interest in their businesses and sincere offer of assistance from himself or his staff is what makes him such a great Congressman.\u201d\n\n\"Small businesses are the drivers of our local economy,\" said Mayor Inganamort. \"I'm proud to work with Congressman Kean to ensure that these small businesses have an environment in which they can thrive and propel our community forward. When you speak directly with small business owners, as Congressman Kean does regularly, you understand what challenges they face and what support they need.\"\n\n\"We haven\u2019t had a congressman walk around my town until today. We like to see more elected officials be more interested in our downtown,\u201d said John Vucetaj, Owner of Bella Pizza and Benito\u2019s Trattoria. \u201cI am happy to meet him. I know it\u2019s a small town but we have businesses here just like any big town. I\u2019m glad he stopped by. We need more people like him.\u201d\n\n\u201cEverything is made in America in my store,\u201d said Monica Naselli, Owner of Dainty Dandelion. \u201cAs I told the Congressman, it\u2019s been a really tough year. I understand that everything with the economy is so expensive, and it impacts small businesses. I was happy to have a conversation with Tom. Sometimes the small business gets lost and our voices aren\u2019t heard. I\u2019m glad that he came out.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://kean.house.gov/media/press-releases/kean-joins-local-mayors-meet-small-business-owners-downtown-chester"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0805409401655197, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}