The meaning of "grassroots" is "pertaining to, or involving the common people." Grassroots is not like anything else in politics. Today's major political movements tend to ignore the grassroots and focus almost exclusively on the use of media to gather winning support at the polls. But "grassroots" efforts are needed if we are to make enduring improvements to society.
Grassroots is a testimony to what we can do when we "get involved." During the past two months the officers of the NJOA; Ed Markowski, Pete Grimbilas, Jerry Natale and Cory Wingerter, along with countless volunteers, traveled the length of the Garden State to speak at sportsmen's clubs, hand out flyers at retail stores and talk with customers at bait & tackle shops in an effort to rally the common people and bring attention to the decaying condition of New Jersey's outdoors.
Their efforts ended with the Rescue Our Outdoor Rally (R.O.O.R.), an initiative that highlighted the need to reverse the trends that are weakening the condition of our forests, waters, fish and wildlife. It was also a forum for Mr. Chris Christie to announce his commitment to reverse these trends.
So, I'd like to thank all of you - the common people - for being involved, for your efforts to get out the vote and for caring enough to make a difference. Change does not come easy and the election of Mr. Chris Christie as New Jersey's next governor is only the first step in many that we will need to take in order to improve the condition of New Jersey's outdoors.
As we take these steps and encounter challenges we now have a history of success to look back on for inspiration. In 2007 we, the "common people," voted two state legislators opposed to fishing and hunting out of office and two pro-outdoor legislators into office in District 12. In 2008 we unified to elect Congressman John Adler to federal office. Now, in 2009, we helped to elect the next governor of New Jersey - Mr. Chris Christie.
Again, thank you. There are 650,000 anglers, hunters and conservationists in NJ. Our numbers are nearly 30% of the people who voted in yesterday's election! We can control the future of conservation in New Jersey - in fact, we have already begun.
Anthony P. Mauro, Sr.
Chairman,
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance: "We've got your back!"
JOIN NJOA:
http://www.njoutdooralliance.org/support/njoa.html 
