At a gubernatorial candidate forum Friday night, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Republican Jack Ciattarelli touched on transit, taxes, and the controversy surrounding Sherrill’s discipline at the Naval Academy.
Sherrill was asked about NJ Transit’s annual 3% increase in fares and whether she would continue that policy. She said she aims to implement a dedicated source of income for NJ Transit, to keep costs lower for farepayers, including by increasing transit-oriented development.
“I’m not sure how quickly we can get some of this done and when that will start, but I want to get a dedicated source in so we can begin to level off,” Sherrill said about ending fare hikes.
Ciattarelli said he thinks he could avoid a fare increase with a thorough review of rail and bus routes, as well as by improving efficiency by putting the state’s transportation authorities under a central agency. He also said he would be open to keeping NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri, saying he has “great faith in Kris’s talents.”
The forum included 25-minute segments, with Sherrill interviewed first and Ciattarelli second.
Moderator Dan Mannarino also pressed Sherrill on whether she would release her disciplinary records from her time at the Naval Academy. Sherrill, who was not allowed to walk at her graduation, has said she wasn’t involved in an infamous 1992 cheating scandal, but instead was disciplined for refusing to turn in her classmates. Only Sherrill can authorize the release of her disciplinary records, and she has declined to do so.
Sherrill said she won’t release the records because they may contain personal information about her classmates. She also said the Ciattarelli campaign possessed the records, a claim they denied. (The National Archives improperly released unredacted personal records from her time in the Navy to an ally of the Ciattarelli campaign, but those records did not include the Naval Academy discipline records, according to CBS News.)
“The problem here is he’s getting access to personally identifiable information, and now his response is he wants to get more,” Sherrill said. “I mean, I think it’s pretty clear to voters, which is why, again, I’ve had so many people reaching out.”
Ciattarelli shrugged aside attacks from the Sherrill campaign that stem from comments his running mate, Morris County Sheriff Jim Gannon, made in the lieutenant governor debate earlier this week. Moderators asked Gannon whether a Ciattarelli governorship would consider increasing taxes on millionaires; Gannon said it’s on the table, but said he would be “careful” of such taxes, arguing that millionaires employ many New Jerseyans. The Ciattarelli campaign has said Gannon meant tax cuts are on the table, and Ciattarelli himself suggested Gannon misspoke, as it was his first time on a major debate stage.
“He’s lieutenant governor. I’m the governor,” Ciattarelli said. “There will be no tax increases in New Jersey. I have a very specific plan on how to reduce income taxes and property taxes.”
A new Sherrill ad includes the Gannon quote, which includes him saying “taxes are on the table.”
PIX11’s Dan Mannarino moderated the forum, hosted at Kean University. The full forum can be viewed here.
