12 Takeaways on Sherrill’s LG probe

Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration has opened an internal investigation into Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, creating an early test of the governor’s commitment to transparency and putting her handling of an uncomfortable matter under scrutiny.

Sherrill has not addressed the allegations publicly. Here are 12 takeaways, in no particular order:

1.  Sherrill’s own words matter: When the governor appeared at a press conference on July 21 to disclose that New Jersey had mistakenly added 6,600 noncitizens to the voter rolls 30 months before she took office, Sherrill said: “When we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies.  We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.  That’s what accountability and good governance look like, and that’s exactly what my administration is doing.” Caldwell was standing beside her when she said that, and the probe of the lieutenant governor had already commenced.  That contrast creates an obvious question about whether the same standard of transparency applies here.

2.  Dale Caldwell isn’t just any state employee – he’s a heartbeat away from the governorship:  Last Friday, Sherrill’s spokesman said the governor’s office “cannot confirm or deny potential personnel matters,” and that’s a perfectly valid argument.  But it’s also fair to question whether Caldwell, an elected official who is first in the gubernatorial line of succession, ought to be held to a different set of rules than a Clerk-Typist 3 at the Department of Banking and Insurance.  In other words, consider this: if the Washington Post disclosed that the vice president was under investigation by the Executive Office of the President, would Sherrill agree that it was just a personnel matter?

3. The probe puts Sherrill at risk of damaging her brand of accountability just as she steps up her efforts to play on a national stage: While the allegations against Caldwell are unsubstantiated and unproven, the allegations themselves are not Sherrill’s fault.  But it’s also clear that the governor will own how the investigation will play out – especially how the lack of public disclosure so far potentially contradicts her promise of transparency and her focus on ethics.

4. Sherrill isn’t the first governor to deal with Year One problems: Brendan Byrne’s Secretary of State was indicted during his first month in office; Jon Corzine’s attorney general was gone before Labor Day after a “do you know who I am?” incident at a traffic stop; Chris Christie fired his Education Commissioner in August of his first year for an error that may have cost the state $400 million in federal education funds; and allegations of sexual assault by one of Phil Murphy’s campaign staffers led to legislative hearings and firings at the New Jersey Schools Development Authority

5. This is a three-day week for Sherrill in Trenton.  The governor has no public events on her schedule today, and she’s in Lower Manhattan on Friday for the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.  That leaves Wednesday and Thursday for Sherrill to make a public statement or face more criticism over her silence.

6. New Jersey’s recent history has made internal investigations harder to accept at face value: Randy Mastro played a pivotal role in creating this skepticism.  During the December 2015 pre-trial hearings for the Bridgegate criminal case, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton issued a severe reprimand to the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and its lead attorney, Mastro.  She fiercely condemned their irregular methods of managing evidence, highlighting several critical failures.  The probe, which this writer knows well, was later widely discredited.  In 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy called for an independent investigation of a Star-Ledger columnist accused of manhandling the Hudson County Prosecutor after the newspaper completed its own probe in one day without attempting to interview the alleged victim.

7. Republicans are on this – and smell blood in the water:  GOP State Chair Christine Giordano Hanlon has called for Caldwell’s resignation; Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco suggested that Caldwell temporarily step aside until the investigation is completed.  Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-Jackson) asked Sherrill to remain in New Jersey for the duration of the probe to prevent Caldwell from serving as acting governor; and Assemblyman Al Barlas called for an independent investigation and for Caldwell to be put on administrative leave without pay until that’s completed: “He shouldn’t be collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck while using state government as his personal Tinder account.”  But State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) urged a more cautionary tone:  “A report without any specific allegations or facts states the Lieutenant Governor is under investigation.  There are calls for his resignation.  In today’s world, some don’t even wait for the specific allegations before they convict the accused.  Justice is now second to partisanship.”  No prominent Democrats have weighed in.

8. This could lead some legislators to consider abolishing the Lt. Governor position: New Jersey lasted 60 years into its third State Constitution without an LG, and the probe could cause Democrats and Republicans to reconsider the post altogether.  That would require voter approval to amend the State Constitution; the Legislature puts public questions on the ballot without gubernatorial involvement.

9. There’s an election coming up, and the voter rolls are not yet pristine.  As Secretary of State, Caldwell oversees the Division of Elections, which is responsible for maintaining the Statewide Vote Registration System; that means Caldwell is ultimately responsible for removing noncitizens from the voter list – something that was not his fault to begin with – and administering a complicated election and a possible move by the U.S. Postal Service to decline to deliver vote-by-mail ballots, while dealing with his own investigation.  Remember: election officials commence mailing ballots in eleven days, on September 19.

10. At some point, this story will go national: Sherrill is building a national profile, and a mishandled scandal involving her lieutenant governor could follow her beyond New Jersey, where competition is unforgiving, especially among members of her own party who share her ambitions.

11. Caldwell isn’t going to go down without a fight: in a text to a friend that the New Jersey Globe obtained, the lieutenant governor said he was “in a war with evil.”

12. Loretta gets it, as usual: Former Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who has seen just about everything after seven decades in New Jersey politics, offered some sage advice: “Hopefully the investigation surrounding the LG will be transparent, timely and thorough.  It needs to be shared with the public as quickly as possible.”  Weinberg, by the way, was the first Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor and takes the post seriously.