Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion across the partisan divide? The answer is yes, and we prove it every week. Julie Roginsky, a Democrat, and Mike DuHaime, a Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for their entire careers yet have remained friends. Here, they discuss the week’s events with editorial page editor Tom Moran.
Q. The state’s largest teachers’ union, the NJEA, just gave $2 million to a political fund supporting Sean Spiller, the union president and Montclair mayor, who is considering a run for governor. Should teachers’ dues be used like this? And would he make a strong candidate?
Mike: I would think teachers would love one of their own in higher office. People vote for someone they have things in common with, someone who shares their life experiences. A business leader may like a business leader. A teacher may vote for a teacher. A union member might like a union member. Candidates often stress things about their bio, like where they live, their job, their kids, if they volunteer for their church, etc. because it helps other relate. People want to vote for someone just like them, only smarter, but doesn’t act like it.
Julie: Sean Spiller is a former teacher, mayor and powerful union president. He is as strong a candidate as anyone else running. From the perspective of the NJEA, having union negotiators sit across the table from a governor who was previously an NJEA president is the best possible outcome.
Mike: Spiller will be formidable when he runs for higher office. He is well-liked within one of, if not the, largest and most influential unions in the state, which has given him important local relationships in every county. He has executive experience as mayor of a marquis town in perhaps the most important county in a Democratic primary battle. And he’s likable, good on the stump, a Rutgers alum, a teacher, a coach, has a great young family – all things other people can easily relate to.
Q. Sen. Chuck Schumer said he will fast-track a vote next month to protect access to contraception nationwide by statute, citing fears that the Supreme Court could strip away that Constitutional right. This came after Donald Trump hinted that he was considering a policy restricting rights to contraception, or allowing states to restrict it, and after GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed legislation to protect access to contraception in Virginia. How’s this going to play politically?
Mike: If Republicans fall into this trap, as Trump almost did this week, electoral ruin will follow. Trump quickly reversed course. The nanny state cannot begin to police contraception. Those who are pro-life should do everything possible to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and that means access to contraception. As for the politics, it is smart for Democrats to try to paint all Republicans with this broad brush, even though most Republicans support this access.
Julie: Smart move by Schumer, if only to bring attention to the fact that Republicans, including Donald Trump, have publicly mused about banning contraception. A contraception ban, combined with a national abortion ban that looks increasingly likely if Trump wins and Republicans seize control of Congress, will create the reactionary paradise that Pope Pius IX could only have dreamt about 150 years ago.
Q. In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Curtis Bashaw, the Cape May hotelier, has the endorsement of most county organizations, but Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner won the endorsement of Trump at his May 11 rally in Wildwood. Bashaw, who is more centrist and has supported Democrats like Sen. Cory Booker, is refusing to debate. Smart move? Is his position that strong?
Mike: I’m supporting Bashaw. He is a strong business leader who transformed Cape May into the jewel it has become, attracting tourists from all over the Northeast, Midwest and Canada, all while employing over 1,000 people. The Trump endorsement is no surprise given the family relationship Glassner has with the former president, and she has been willing to say whatever necessary to get the endorsement, including joining the chorus of election deniers. Andy Kim would love to run against Glassner, a far weaker general election candidate, hurting all the Republicans running for county and local office. Curtis earned the endorsement of two-thirds of the county parties in democratic votes of thousands of county committee members, because he will be strong on the border, is a business leader, and can raise the resources necessary to wage a strong campaign in the Fall.
Julie: At one time or another, I have been part of debate prep for every statewide elected Democrat in the last twenty years, so I am probably shooting myself in the foot by saying this: Debates are worthless for anyone running for any office in New Jersey today. Not one undecided voter watches them, because mainstream media organizations like this one long ago stopped sponsoring them and carrying them. Candidates waste untold hours of time preparing for debates, with zero upside to themselves and only downside in the form of screw ups that their opponents can use against them in paid media. Refusing to debate will not cost Curtis Bashaw or any other candidate – Democrat or Republican – one solitary vote.
Q. Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark and Steve Fulop of Jersey City both urged Gov. Phil Murphy to veto the bill on his desk that would impose tough new restrictions on the release of public records. Nearly every progressive group, along with the press, has urged the same. What impact would signing the bill have on Murphy’s legacy?
Mike: Probably very little impact. As important as the OPRA law is to good governance and holding the powerful accountable in this state, the average voter cares more about the economy, education, the beaches, taxes, crime and quality of life issues way more than some bill about transparency with an acronym no one understands.
Julie: To paraphrase Martin Niemöller: First, Governor Murphy came for the women from his 2017 campaign who wanted to get out of their gag orders, but too many people who wave the progressive flag did not speak out because they were bought off with PAC contributions or government and campaign contracts. Then the Murphy Administration fought tooth and nail to gag a state worker who was allegedly sexually harassed and the same people stayed silent because transparency around sexual misconduct in state government apparently isn’t a priority for them.
Julie: Then Governor Murphy came for the Election Law Enforcement Commission, but too many of those same people did not speak out because the governor cynically accused an ELEC staffer of homophobia to make them think twice about siding with ELEC. So, when the governor comes for OPRA – and make no mistake, the worst parts of this bill will become law – there will be no one left to stop him. The reason is that some of the people complaining now shamefully stayed silent when the governor actually had a re-election campaign to wage, and they had some leverage to stop him from dismantling transparency brick by brick.
Q. In the race to succeed Rep. Andy Kim in Congress, we may see if the new ballot design in the Democratic primary hobbles the power of county organizations. Assemblyman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) has all three county endorsements in the district, but Assemblywoman Carol Murphy will now get equal billing on the ballot. What are you watching for in that race?
Mike: This is a good test of the county organizations’ strength even without preferential ballot placement. Conaway should be a stronger candidate given his longevity and name ID in the district anyway, but Murphy is a solid challenger, so the county parties can help make the difference.
Julie: Mike is exactly right. Both Assemblyman Conaway and Assemblywoman Murphy are highly accomplished legislators. In both this district and the 8th Congressional District, this is a test of organizational strength without the benefit of the line. We are in uncharted waters.
Q. Finally, the New York Times reports that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flew another provocative flag embraced by the Jan. 6 rioters -- an “Appeal to Heaven” flag -- this time outside his Long Beach Island home last summer. This came two years after an upside-down American flag, a MAGA symbol, was flown outside his Virginia home. Has Alito lost credibility? Is he damaging the Court? Should he recuse himself from Trump cases?
Mike: Much ado about nothing. Does anyone think Justice Alito is going to rule any differently whether or not he had a flag? Supreme Court Justices have First Amendment rights to fly whatever flags they want on their own private property. If you don’t like the Supreme Court, blame Hillary Clinton and the Democrats for losing in 2016. She blew it and lost the Supreme Court majority with it. That’s where your anger should be pointed. Elections have consequences. You all sound like whiny losers complaining about a flag. Go win elections instead.
Julie: This is the opposite of much ado about nothing, and rather than blame Hillary Clinton for -- checks notes -- a George Bush appointee, we need to take stock of how this particular Justice is shattering every single norm in the book. Here we have a Supreme Court Justice of the United States effectively signaling to the nation that there is no appeal to the law when you think the government is acting unjustly, and that the only appeal is a trial by arms. If that is the case, what is he even doing on the court – any court, but certainly on the highest court in the land, the last stop for redress under the law? In a just world, he would not only recuse himself from January 6th and all Trump-related cases, but resign in ignominy. But I have the sense that Justice Alito believes that God put him on the court, and pesky norms – and even man-made laws – are not for the likes of him.
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A note to readers: Mike and Julie are deeply engaged in politics and commercial advocacy in New Jersey, so both have connections to many players discussed in this column. DuHaime, the founder of MAD Global, has worked for Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and President George W. Bush and is currently consulting Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw. Roginsky, a principal of Comprehensive Communications Group, has served as senior advisor to campaigns of Cory Booker, Frank Lautenberg, and Phil Murphy. We will disclose specific connections only when readers might otherwise be misled.
