Stomping Grounds: The Budget, Shapiro & Fetterman, Transparency in the Judiciary, and Independence Day

New Jerseyans aren’t always civil, but it’s still possible for a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican to have a rational and pleasant conversation about politics in the state.  Dan Bryan is a former senior advisor to Gov. Phil Murphy and is now the owner of his own public affairs firm, and Alex Wilkes is an attorney and former executive director of America Rising PAC who advises Republican candidates in New Jersey and across the nation.  Dan and Alex are both experienced strategists who are currently in the room where high-level decisions are made.  They will get together weekly with New Jersey Globe editor David Wildstein to discuss politics and issues.

New Jersey Globe: Despite the best of intentions, budgets frequently come down to the last minute and today is no exception.  Is there a better way to do this?

Dan Bryan: Governor Murphy, Speaker Coughlin, and Senate President Scutari are putting another budget forward that is doing many of the things we were all told was impossible: fully funding our pension payment, putting forward historic education funding, setting aside a surplus of over $8 billion, and investing heavily in property tax relief to New Jerseyans in desperate need of it.

And they are doing all of that while cutting taxes on the middle class.

Now let’s take a look at how Republicans approached the budget process when they were in the Governor’s office. Pension payments were slashed, education funding was slashed, NJ TRANSIT funding was slashed, and property tax relief was slashed. 

There’s an old saying: Republicans campaign saying the Government doesn’t work, and when they get elected they prove it. New Jersey voters remember the dark days of the past administration, and they won’t let our state go backwards.

Alex Wilkes: Let’s be clear: Democrats have had complete, one-party control over the entire process here for years. They own this mess – and it’s a bad one.

At the eleventh hour, Democrats had legislators doing math by hand and voting on a budget practically no one had seen because they were too busy binging on taxpayer dollars behind closed doors. In the last few days, we have been treated to an absolutely grotesque display of greed and incompetence that ought to shame every Democrat on the ballot this year.

And yet, Nick Scutari tells us, “Accuracy is in the eye of the beholder.” Excuse me, but what? The Democrats’ hubris this year truly knows no bounds. It reminds me of Nancy Pelosi grinning stupidly after the Obamacare vote while proclaiming that the House had to pass the bill to find out what was in it – right before her party got clobbered in that year’s midterm elections. Suing parents, killing whales, dismantling ELEC, and now blowing the budget process? Keep it up, Democrats. You’re doing great, sweetie.

Want a better budget process? Start, at a minimum, by firing the complete imbeciles in charge.

NJ Globe: What does this budget give Democratic and Republican legislative candidates to run on — or against — in the fall?

Alex: Republicans will have their pick from the pork-laden feast Democrats treated themselves to this year. While we don’t know everything that’s in the budget (because apparently dignifying We the People with a written copy was simply too much for the Democrats this year), we do know that school districts will see massive cuts, while pet projects, like a French museum in Jersey City, will get an extra $1.1 billion in funding.

We’ll also dismantle the Democrats’ flimsy senior tax cut defense that’s slated to take effect three years from now and relies on more contingencies than the Apple Care plan for the laptop I’m writing this on. It’s an election year scam so bad that news and opinion sections of legacy media outlets I thought had long since mothballed into AI bots for Real Housewives coverage suddenly started asking: why now and why the wait?

I am looking forward to all of the Democrats in swing districts under our new map finally having to own the excesses and greed of their party at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

Dan: Democrats will run on their accomplishments – StayNJ, historic property tax relief, fiscal responsibility, women’s healthcare, gun safety, and education funding.

Republicans will run on empty words and empty promises.

NJ Globe: Quinnipiac had a poll this week in Pennsylvania that put Gov. Josh Shapiro’sjob  approvals at 47%-23%, with 74% saying he did a good job handling the I-95 highway collapse, but Senator John Fetterman is underwater at 39%-50%.  If you were working for Shapiro and Fetterman, what would you be telling them?

Dan: Governor Shapiro has done a phenomenal job thus far. His leadership on the I-95 collapse is emblematic of the early days of his administration: competent, assertive, and proactive in the media. If I was to give his team any advice, it would be to keep doing what they’re doing and not to take their eye off of the ball. 

Senator Fetterman has been extensively and unfairly maligned by the right-wing press for the physical and mental health issues he’s suffered from in the past twelve months. He can bounce back, but it will take time. I’d tell his team to keep their heads down, focus on their core priorities, and slowly build the Senator back up through delivering for his constituents.

Alex: First, all politics aside, the sight of the Philly mascots crossing the newly constructed roadway definitely brought a tear to this proud Pennsylvania girl’s eye.

Second, Governor Shapiro played smart politics here. He kept expectations low by claiming it would take months to repair the damage and then turned it around quickly as a competent, coordinated local, state, and federal response. In doing so, he also showcased the hard-working building trades and contractors who truly saved the day.

That’s why his poll numbers look the way they do. You only needed to watch the finishing touches of the press conference at the reopening with President Joe Biden and Senator John Fetterman to understand why their numbers are underwater, by contrast.

President Biden and Senator Fetterman were, quite simply, unintelligible at this otherwise very well-executed celebration. That’s not being “mean” or “nasty” – it is simply the truth. I can both have sympathy for the Senator as a victim of a stroke and mental health challenges, as well as concerns about his fitness to serve in the U.S. Senate.

The seat belongs to the voters – not to him personally. If your personal medical situation causes you to show up repeatedly to official proceedings at the U.S. Capitol in a hoodie and basketball shorts, you and your family have a responsibility to the voters to let someone else take on your duties. Given the poll numbers, my opinion is clearly not an outlier. The problem is that the left has run this playbook of personal “truths” and feelings over facts so many times that voters are getting tired of being told to ignore what they can see in plain sight: a man, who is not well, who deserves dignified care – not a Washington sideshow. 

Since last fall, the New Jersey Globe has been telling Superior Court judges that public confidence in elections is low; that transparency and sunlight can help restore faith that judicial decisions that potentially affect the outcome of elections are fair and lawful; and that election matters ought to be discussed in public squares and never behind closed doors.  But most judges have denied our requests.  Why are judges so frightened of the public watching their courtroom on election issues?

Alex: Sunshine is the best disinfectant. While I respect that our judiciary needs time and space as an impartial forum, when it comes to matters of public import, like elections, it is essential that we give as much visibility into the process as possible. 

Dan: All of us need to be examining what we can do to bolster faith in our democracy at a time when irresponsible right-wing politicians are seeking to weaken it every day.

While I can’t speak to the specific reasons that judges may have for dealing with media requests, in general, I firmly believe that more transparency is better. For example, the New Jersey Supreme Court live streams oral arguments, a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court should have adopted a long time ago — particularly when they are deciding some of the most consequential issues in American life.

NJ Globe: As we approach the 274th year of our nation’s independence, any thought on how our founding fathers might view politics and government  in America today?

Dan: I think our founding fathers would be shocked at our proclivity toward “originalism.” Thomas Jefferson wanted each generation to determine its own fate, rather than to be anchored to strict observance of past practice. Many of the founding fathers felt the same way.

To say we cannot regulate gun safety because of the second amendment, which was written when guns meant muskets, is crazy. And to stand by while a broken and corrupt Supreme Court instills a far-right wing agenda by fiat is lunacy.

None of the founding fathers thought they were perfect, nor did they think they got everything exactly right when they wrote America’s founding documents. But they set us on the right path to self governance, and gifted future generations with the greatest democracy the world has ever seen. Let’s honor them by working toward a government that represents the present and honors the past, rather than slavish adherence to documents written at a time when they could not have possibly imagined the problems we’re dealing with today.

Alex: Even with our country feeling more divided than ever, I am – above all – this Independence Day eternally grateful to have been born and for my children to be raised in the greatest country on God’s green earth. No other place in the world could have given me and my family the same opportunities and freedom to create this truly blessed life.

Given the tumult of its founding, the odds we faced in fighting for our independence, the deep divisions that persisted not long after, and the sheer nerve it took to stand up for some of the most radical thoughts that had ever been written against the most powerful empire in the world, I would like to think our founders would look at this imperfect union still standing nearly three centuries later with pride. Don’t forget that even in what we like to think of as the quaint colonial times, the issues were hotly debated, attacks could be deeply personal, and news sources were openly biased. Even still, we have survived and flourished.

Fidelity to our founding principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the rights given to us by God, enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights frees us from the tyranny of man and arbitrariness of the moment. This Independence Day, we should consider ourselves fortunate that we can continue to debate and interpret what that means in the courts, legislative bodies, elections, or even here on the pages of the New Jersey Globe.

America is a miracle – truly the shining city on the hill President Reagan once described. What did he mean by that? I’ll leave you with an excerpt from his farewell address: “[I]n my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”