GOP candidates for governor share plans

Three candidates running for governor in the June 10 Republican primary described actions they would take if elected during a forum Saturday, May 3 at Sussex County Community College.

In separate interviews with Rich Zeoli, a radio host and former chairman of the Sussex County Republican Committee, candidates Jack Ciattarelli, Bill Spadea and Jon Bramnick outlined how they would deal with issues such as affordable housing, public education and the rising cost of electricity.

While none of the three explicitly promised to support the primary winner in the fall election, they agreed on the need to unify the party for the general election campaign.

Spadea, who stepped down from his radio show on NJ 101.5 in January to campaign for governor, said 91 percent of state Republicans support President Trump. “We’re already a united party.”

Six Democrats are running in the primary. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is finishing his second term; New Jersey governors are limited to two terms.

All three candidates agreed on the need to cut state government spending and reduce taxes. They also oppose the current requirements for affordable housing.

Ciattarelli, a former Assemblyman and the GOP nominee for governor in 2017 and 2021, said high-density affordable housing belongs in cities near infrastructure, mass transit and jobs, rather than in the suburbs.

Spadea agreed, saying that if he is elected, he plans to sign five executive orders to stop the sprawl of “unaffordable subsidized housing that is gauging our small suburban communities and rural communities.”

Ciattarelli promised to appoint highly conservative judges to two seats on the state Supreme Court and other posts “because the Mount Laurel housing doctrine and school funding have not served our state well.”

Support for president

Spadea emphasized his support for Trump. “We have to embrace President Trump 100 percent.”

He said he is the only candidate who has spoken with Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” telling him, “On day one, we’re going to energize and engage State Police assets. We’re going to mobilize the National Guard, and I would like to be on that first cruise into Paterson to start rounding up criminal aliens who shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Asked about whether he would assist with Trump’s deportation policies, Bramnick, who represents parts of Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and Union counties in the state Senate, said he follows the law.

“Even if I saw a sympathetic case, as a governor, I don’t have the right to overrule the president of the United States or the Congress.”

However, if Trump’s policies are bad for New Jersey, he would tell him, he said.

Ciattarelli praised Trump for halting wind-energy projects off the Jersey Shore and for opposing New York City’s congestion-pricing plan, adding that if he is elected, he would charge New York drivers coming into New Jersey and use the money to fund NJ Transit.

He favors building a new nuclear reactor in South Jersey and three more natural gas-fired electricity-generation plants.

Spadea supports PSE&G’s two proposed nuclear reactors, although he pointed out that it takes 10 years to open a reactor.

He would run combined cycle power plants in the state all the time, rather than only when usage peaks, to supply electricity and export what’s left over.

New Jersey needs to buy energy directly from providers only, he added, predicting a rate reduction of 20 percent within the first nine months.

Experienced politician

Bramnick, who has been in the Legislature for 20 years, said his experience would help him reach deals with Democratic legislators as governor.

He noted that people want an experienced electrician and an experienced surgeon but not an experienced politician.

He knows how to get things done in Trenton because he knows the legislators and their leaders and what they want, he said.

If they won’t work with him on solutions, he would use the governor’s line-item veto to remove funding for their favorite projects from the budget, Bramnick said. “Money talks in Trenton.”

To deal with learning loss because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ciattarelli favors using a high-impact curriculum that focuses on basic reading, writing and math skills for students who are behind grade level.

He also supports a European model, which puts students who plan to pursue a trade after high school on a separate track from those who plan to attend college.

Bramnick said he believes in an age-appropriate sex-education curriculum.

If school staffers believe that a transgender student faces violence at home, they are required to report that to police but they may not withhold information from the parents, he added.