Alfred Doblin Addresses Top Issues for NJ's Next Governor

Alfred Doblin, Editorial Page Editor of The Record, breaks down some of the most important issues facing candidates, Phil Murphy and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, in the race to become New Jersey’s next governor including the pension crisis, school funding and property taxes. Doblin also offers his insight on the type of governor New Jersey residents are looking for.

7/8/17 #114

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"State of Affairs is pleased to welcome our good friend Alfred Doblin, editorial page editor at The Record. Also, check his stuff out on www.northjerseymedia.com. Good to see you. Good to see you. We are taping this in the Summer of 2017. We have a huge race for governor. One of only two in the nation. New Jersey and Virginia. Why does it matter Alfred? Well, obviously, we need a governor and there's a lot of dissatisfaction with the current governor. I mean, is it 15% is the latest approval rating? So there's an opportunity now for someone new to come in. And the first thing they need to say is, "I care about you. This is not a stepping stone to be somewhere else," and I think that's at least an interesting dynamic. No one gets the feeling that Kim Guadagno wants to run for president or that Phil Murphy wants to run for president or wants to be Secretary of the Treasury in a couple of years if there's a change in the White House. So the first thing that's really important for both candidates and for voters is to have a sense that whoever you're going to elect as governor actually wants to be the governor, completely for the next four years. Alfred, while in some cases people like yourself and others may argue it's a lot about Chris Christie or what happens beyond him, these candidates have to stand on their own. And both of them sat right where you are right now here on State of Affairs and talked about specific issues. They have to decide and have to tell people how they're going to deal with the pension crisis. How they're going to deal with school funding. How they're going to deal with property taxes. Let's take the pension crisis. Tens of billions of dollars in debt. Kim Guadagno? Phil Murphy? Where do they stand? Well, when Guadagno met with our editorial board, she was talking about wanting to get all the sides together and have this conversation and that's nice. I like kumbaya. I'm sure you like kumbaya. I'm not sure, and this is true of both of them, that unless you do something radical... That was the thing that assemblyman Ciattarelli. Jack Ciattarelli? He was talking about, you know, we need to have this sort of three tier system. When new people come in, we'll have… new public employees come in, they have one deal. Those who have been there for a while have some protection and then those who have been there..."