Last month, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she planned to campaign outside New Jersey for Democratic candidates she supports in the midterm elections.
But allegations that Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell behaved inappropriately toward women are keeping Sherrill captive in New Jersey until an internal investigation is completed.
Sherrill appears to be aware of the optics of Caldwell serving as acting governor in her absence while the probe is ongoing.
The New Jersey Globe has confirmed that Sherrill has put the brakes on new invitations to her travel schedule and is holding off on accepting anything for now – suggesting she is mindful of the optics of temporarily transferring power to a lieutenant governor with unresolved accusations against him.
Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said he thought Sherrill’s plan made sense.
“It’s always good policy and politics for a governor to act with an abundance of caution. She should not want to do anything that raises questions about her own decisions — after all, it isn’t her conduct that’s being investigated in the first place,” said Rasmussen. “It may be temporarily inconvenient for her to wait out the investigation, but it’s the infinitely wiser course of action.”
But Sherrill’s travel plans shifted only after the public became aware of the Caldwell probe. Caldwell last served as acting governor from August 24-26, when Sherrill was out of New Jersey. That was the week before the Caldwell investigation became public.
She left the state at least five times in July and August, allowing Caldwell to serve as acting governor while the internal investigation was underway.
Caldwell served as acting governor on August 19 while Sherrill was in Massachusetts and New Hampshire stumping for Democratic candidates in contested primary elections, even though Caldwell has been under investigation for several months.
Sherrill’s staff declined to discuss specifics of her out-of-state travel plans.
“We’re not going to speculate about the Governor’s schedule, but her priorities are always guided by the best interests of New Jerseyans,” said Sean Higgins, the governor’s spokesman.
There are exceptions to when an acting governor takes over. In 2006, when Gov. Jon Corzine spent nights at the Manhattan apartment of his companion (and now wife), Attorney General Zulima Farber issued an opinion at the request of Corzine’s chief counsel (now chief justice) Stuart Rabner that the governor was close enough to New Jersey not to be required to relinquish power.
“We do not believe that, in the circumstances you describe, an occasional, overnight stay in New York City following a workday in New Jersey and a return to this state in the morning constitutes an absence of the governor that would trigger the devolution of gubernatorial power,” Farber said in her opinion.
That means quick trips, like Sherrill’s attendance last week at ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, did not require Caldwell to become acting governor. The same parameters apply when Sherrill goes to Manhattan on Friday to speak at the Atlantic Festival, where she’ll share the stage with Olympic athletes Ibtihaj Muhammad and Briana Scurry.
In addition to her Massachusetts and New Hampshire endorsements, Sherrill and her Mission to Deliver PAC are backing Democratic House candidates, all veterans, in eight states: JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona’s 6th district; Eileen Laubacher and Jessica Killin in Colorado’s 4th and 5th districts; Bale Dalton in Florida’s 7th district; Zach Dembo in Kentucky’s 6th district; Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina’s 1st district; Cait Conley in New York’s 17th district; Nancy Lacore in South Carolina’s 1st district; and former Rep. Elaine Luria, a close friend, in Virginia’s 2nd district.