It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH  talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to legislative work.  

This week, freshman Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., tells us about his favorite beaches outside of Jersey, and his preferred music not including Springsteen (Spoiler: He couldn’t keep himself from mentioning his love of the Jersey Shore and Bruce Springsteen). And since we wanted to clarify something, we threw in an extra (bonus!) question.  

Q. What’s your favorite thing to do on the Jersey shore — and where do you get the best boardwalk food and experience? A: [The Seaside Heights] boardwalk is … in my view that’s the place to go to go to the boardwalk. I love boating, I love to be on the water and that’s my favorite thing to do for sure. Food; I like to cook in the summer. I like to barbecue and, you know, I’ll cook scallops and, you know, various kinds of fish. I especially like cooking scallops.  

Q: Do you catch your own seafood? A: As I said, I love to boat, and my boat is outfitted for fishing, but I think I probably prefer just to cruise here or there and we’ll find a restaurant on the water and have dinner and, you know we just enjoy that. They’re called dock-and-dines where you can arrive by boat, as opposed to by car, and there’s a lot of them in my district. They’re not in the ocean; they’re in Barnegat Bay.  

Q. What’s your favorite movie? Why? A: Well, I have a few. I love the movie “The Natural.” It’s an older Robert Redford movie, it’s a baseball movie. I love it because it’s about second chances. … So that’s a favorite and the other is “The Godfather.” I just love it because it’s terrific drama. I like them all but the first one, probably, is my favorite. I hesitate to say that one because I don’t want to have people think I admire the Corleone family but I just love the movie, it’s a terrific movie, very well done.  

Q: You liked all of the “Godfather” movies? Even the third? A: (Laughs) The third one was a little over the top.  

Q. 
What is your favorite musician or musical group? You can’t say Springsteen. A: Well, he is one of my favorites. I really do like Bruce Springsteen a lot. I really like NeedtoBreathe. I like Coldplay.  

Q. Where are the best beaches outside of New Jersey? A. Outside of Jersey? Well, that’s a tough one. I think the Jersey beaches are absolutely my favorite and I love the beaches all along the Jersey shore. I also like the Long Island beaches, like Jones Beach is a pretty beach in Nassau County, New York, but my absolute favorite is the Jersey beaches. Those are the ones I hang out on.  

The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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