Fiscal Mess Topic At First District Debate

COURT HOUSE — First District legislative candidates faced off Tuesday evening at the Middle Township Performing Arts Center in a debate sponsored by the Cape May County League of Women Voters.
Voters will go to the polls Nov. 6 and choose two state assemblymen and one state senator.
Senatorial candidates Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta and Democratic challenger Jeff Van Drew spent approximately 50 minutes, from 7:10 p.m. to 8 p.m. answering questions from moderator William Skinner, of the Camden County League of Women Voters.
The 1st District Senatorial race has been called one of the most closely watched New Jersey races this electoral season, as Democratic Assemblyman Van Drew seeks to unseat Asselta for the district’s sole Senate seat.
Democratic Assembly candidates Nelson Albano, the incumbent, and running mate Matthew Milam, along with Republican Assembly candidates R. Norris Clark, Jr. and Michael Donohue took the floor from 8:10 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The League solicited questions from the public in the days leading up to the debate.
Senatorial candidates were given nine questions and Assembly candidates eight questions with time for rebuttal. The questions encompassed a broad range of topics including how to provide a better health care system, stances on immigration policy, how to address the state budget deficit and whether to consolidate school districts.
Each candidate also gave a brief opening remark.
The first question dealt with pending bills to repeal the hotel/motel room tax.
Van Drew supports the bills.
“I believe we do need to repeal the room tax,” he said. “At the same time I believe it very essential we maintain a funding stream for culture arts history and tourism itself.”
Van Drew said he voted against the room tax, but that a direct stream of funding should be guaranteed for those areas. The funding stream is not enough, too much money goes out of South Jersey and never comes back.
“The state has to fund tourism at a much higher level than it does,” he said. “All the states around us fund tourism better than we do.”
Asselta shot back.
“Tourism is the most important industry down here especially in Cape May County. My opponent would lead you to believe there never was a funding stream to fund tourism.
To the contrary, there always was before that tax. It was called a priority in the state budget. We in the ’90s, felt that tourism and the arts should be fully funding without a tax. What a novel idea, without a tax,” said Asselta.
Van Drew rebutted.
“The way we funded the tourism industry and the way we funded many different items during that time, we borrowed more and we raided the state pension fund to do it,” he said. “That’s wrong … you can’t spend more and get less revenue and expect to have a balanced budget.”
The moderator asked the following about educational funding, “After nearly 20 years the original school districts taken over by the state are not ready to operate autonomously; is there anything about the state oversight and funding you would like to see changing?”
“They need to be held accountable,” said Van Drew. “What doesn’t work should be removed, what doesn’t work should be changed…we need to be flexible. New Jersey has some of the best test scores in America…in many ways we’ve done well.”
Asselta said government’s main responsibility is funding education.
“The number one priority for government is to fully fund public education,” he said. “Five consecutive years they haven’t done it. That’s why your property taxes are going up.
There’s no secret to that,” he said. “Education should be fully funded every year.”
Van Drew responded.
“The issue is not wanting to fund education. The issue is the fiscal structure in the state of New Jersey. That was left from the increase debt and the raiding of the pension.”
A question concerning New Jersey budget “gimmicks” asked for candidates’ views on how to achieve a balanced budget.
Asselta said his seat on the budget committee puts him in an excellent position to help and insisted that there is enough money to balance the budget.
“About six months ago I was appointed to the budget committee and as my colleague knows, the budget committee is one of the most important committees in the state legislature,” he said. “We have enough money. We have no discipline, that’s the problem.”
Van Drew responded.
“I think we need to cap state spending,” he said.
Van Drew cited both parties for the failure to balance the budget.
He suggested reducing the executive branch employees by 10 percent; establishing a Constitutional Rainy Day Fund; and empowering the state Comptroller.
Assembly candidates, when it was their turn, introduced themselves and thanked the League and the approximately 300 people who came out for giving them a chance to get to know them better.
Nelson Albano emphasized the election was about each candidate.
“I’d like to thank everyone out there tonight for giving up your time tonight and having a chance to listen to all the candidates…not one individual party is to blame (for the state deficit),” he said.
Matthew Milam told the crowd what inspired him to run.
He said as a successful Vineland businessman, he was able to implement smart practices to save his company money.
“If those practices work for my business, they will work in Trenton,” Milam said.
He also said how he felt that he received a calling to serve in the state Assembly.
“I waited my whole life for a calling and got two of them within three weeks,” he said.
“Around the same time Jeff (Van Drew) asked me to run, I was planning to go to Uganda to help build homes for children there.”
He decided that he could arrange to go to Africa next year and chose to put all his efforts into running for state office to help the people of the 1st District.
Norris Clark said he wants to change the way Trenton does business.
“I’m running for State Assembly because I want to put South Jersey first for a change,” said Clark. “I’ve seen our tourism taxes go up and our tourism funding go down. I’ve seen governments shut down I’ve seen casinos close, we can do better than that.”
He said he wants to change the way Trenton does business because the state is on a collision course for bankruptcy.
“The crisis is so bad in this state that the governor is actually looking to sell our toll roads,” he said comparing it to selling the floorboards in your house to pay the mortgage.
Michael Donohue said his goal is to rescue New Jersey from fiscal ruin.
“Forty years ago I was born here in Middle Township youngest of seven kids of an Irish-Italian Catholic household,” said Donohue. “Twenty-two years ago I was walking the halls of this very high school.”
“We stand on the verge of fiscal ruin in New Jersey,” he said. “We must change. We must drastically shrink the size of government. We must put a cap on state spending.
We must develop a fair school funding formula and return excess revenue to the people. Imagine a New Jersey where these things are done. Where my children and your children have a bright future not this bleak one we’re talking about. Imagine a New Jersey where we can get this done. That’s the New Jersey I imagine. That’s the New Jersey I want to help to build if I am elected to the Assembly.”