About Nathan
We’ll acknowledge it right up front – in any other year, in any other political environment, Nathan Brinkman probably wouldn’t be the obvious choice for Mayor of Hoboken.
He wasn’t born and raised in Hoboken.
Nor is he a veteran of the Hudson County political wars.
And he’s a – gasp! – Republican, in a city where Republicans are outnumbered by almost 10-to1.
On the other hand, he’s never voted for a tax increase, he’s never passed a budget that grows the size of government, he’s never seen the inside of a jail cell, and he’s never had his palm greased by a developer looking for “help” with a zoning variance, either.
It seems to us that maybe, just maybe, Hoboken may have had enough of the same old, same old.
And it seems to us that maybe, just maybe, Hoboken is ready to try something different.
Hoboken, meet Nathan Brinkman.
Nathan was born and raised in the Midwest, the eldest son of an auto executive and a schoolteacher. While his parents met, married, and chose to raise their family in the Midwest, Nathan’s mother and her parents were born and raised here in New Jersey.
Nathan’s interest in the politics of freedom began early – in 1990, while still in high school in Carmel, Indiana, he addressed a rally at the first National Taxpayers Action Day, sponsored by Citizens Against Government Waste, a national spending watchdog group. Having seen how grass roots activism can make a difference, he began volunteering for political campaigns.
After beginning his studies at Hillsdale College, Nathan decided to take a break from school, and moved to New Jersey in 1997.
First he set up in the Ironbound section of Newark, where he taught Brazilian immigrants how to speak English. Then he moved to Union, and returned to school, to study at Seton Hall University. After graduating from Seton Hall, Nathan moved to Edgewater, and worked in Manhattan for a telecommunications firm.
In 2001, Nathan moved to Hoboken. After a brief job-related return to the Midwest, he was back to Hoboken for good in 2003, working first for a pharmaceutical firm, and then, most recently, for a political campaign here in New Jersey.
Nathan is a newlywed. He and his wife, Ting Yan, just had their first child.
Nathan’s motivation to run for Mayor of Hoboken is simple – he believes Hoboken deserves better.
Like many of his neighbors, he came to Hoboken for the quality of life. But over the last several years, he’s noted with dismay the seemingly never-ending political disputes, the ever-increasing property taxes – up by more than a third just in the years between 2005 and 2008, and up an astonishing 47 percent in just one quarter, as a result of the state’s takeover of the city’s finances – and the out-of-control spending.
And, like the angry newscaster in “Network,” he’s decided he’s had enough, and he’s not going to take it any more.
If you’ve had it up to here … if you believe Hoboken can do better … if you’re determined to be part of the change Hoboken needs … then Nathan Brinkman is your candidate for Mayor.