By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
With just one week remaining before the election, Democratic state Sen. Bob Andrzejczak and his Republican challenger, Michael Testa, engaged in some heated exchanges during a debate Monday night involving all six of the candidates in the battle for the First Legislative District.
While the Democratic and Republican candidates for state Assembly were largely civil toward each other, Andrzejczak and Testa repeatedly clashed over Testa’s attempts to paint Andrzejczak as a puppet of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and South Jersey Democratic political powerbroker George Norcross.
In his opening statement, Testa claimed that Andrzejczak was closely tied to what he called Murphy’s “radical agenda” by supporting the governor in 95 percent of his votes. He went on to accuse Andrzejczak of answering to Norcross as his “boss.”
Andrzejczak responded by criticizing Testa for immediately engaging in negative attacks. He also blasted Testa for “his ignorance” while arguing that Testa has tried to distort his political record.
In his remarks, Andrzejczak repeatedly portrayed himself as an independent lawmaker who isn’t afraid to break from his party to protect the interests of the First Legislative District and the rest of South Jersey.
The First Legislative District, representing Cape May and Cumberland counties and parts of Atlantic County, is seen as a key battleground race for the Nov. 5 election. Monday’s debate, sponsored by the Cape May County League of Women Voters, brought all of the candidates together for the first time during the campaign.
Sensing they can make inroads, Republicans held a brief rally Monday evening before the debate at the Historic Cape May County Court House. They said they are eager to “flip the First” by replacing Democrats with Republicans. However, one recent poll shows the Democratic incumbents are ahead in the race.
Andrzejczak, a former state assemblyman who assumed former Sen. Jeff Van Drew’s seat in January after Van Drew was elected to Congress last year, is ahead of Testa by a margin of 53 percent to 39 percent, with 8 percent of the respondents undecided or not expressing a choice, according to a Stockton University poll.
In the First District Assembly race, Democratic incumbents R. Bruce Land and Matthew Milam are leading their Republican opponents, Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan, but the race appears much closer. Land tops the field with 27 percent, followed by Milam with 26 percent. McClellan and Simonsen both received 22 percent in the Stockton poll.
“With state legislative elections the top race on the ballot this year, turnout is expected by many to be low, which tends to favor the slightly better-known incumbents,” said John Froonjian, interim executive director of Stockton’s Hughes Center, which conducted the poll. “The Democrats have almost twice as much in campaign funding available heading into the final weeks of the campaign, giving them another potential advantage.”
During Monday’s debate, Land, Milam, McClellan and Simonsen largely agreed on a number of critical issues, including protecting the shore’s tourism-based economy, creating new jobs, improving health care for military veterans and efforts to lower New Jersey’s property taxes.
All of them also supported a longstanding proposal to extend Route 55 from Cumberland County to Cape May County. They believe the project would link the industrial hubs of both counties, stimulate economic growth and create a safe evacuation route from the shore during coastal storms.
McClellan and Simonsen, however, tried tying Land and Milam to Trenton’s long-established Democratic power structure. They claimed that the Democrats have been in control of the Legislature for too long. Democrats have been the majority party in the Statehouse since 2004.
In calling for a change, McClellan described the Republicans as younger, more vibrant and “hungrier” than the Democrats.
“I think we can do a better job,” said McClellan, an Ocean City councilman.
At one point, Simonsen, who is the mayor of Lower Township, declared that “I love my opponents” while referring to Land and Milam, But he blamed Democrats for New Jersey’s high property taxes.
“We’ve been taxed and taxed again. It is time for a change,” Simonsen said.
Land and Milam said their legislative record shows that they are willing to work with Republicans in bipartisan fashion to get things done for the district.
In his closing remarks, Milam said he wants to “advocate for everyone” while dealing with the “serious issues” confronting the state and the First Legislative District. Milam, a former assemblyman, returned to politics this year to fill the Assembly seat vacated by Andrzejczak when Andrzejczak replaced Van Drew in the Senate.
Land looked directly at Simonsen while Land was delivering his closing statement at the debate and said to his opponent, “You know it’s gotten a little better since I’ve been in.”
Hoping to show that he puts his district’s interests above party politics, Land noted that he was one of only four Democrats to oppose Democratic-sponsored legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Small business owners at the shore maintain they simply can’t afford to pay their largely seasonal workers $15 an hour. It is a complaint that has resonated with elected officials at the state, county and local level in Cape May County.
All four Assembly candidates said they were not in favor of pushing the wage hike all the way up to $15 per hour. They indicated they support the idea of gradually increasing the minimum wage to soften the blow on business owners.
Compared to the relatively low-key tone of the Assembly candidates in the debate, Andrzejczak and Testa were combative from the start.
Testa, an attorney from Vineland, blamed Andrzejczak and the Democratic-controlled Legislature for Cape May County not getting what Testa believes is its fair share of state revenue generated by a tourism tax.
Testa said Cape May County sends $550 million in tourism tax revenue to the state and gets only $1 million back. In comparison, Essex County gives $4 million in tourism tax revenue to the state and gets $6 million back, he said.
Andrzejczak countered that he was part of efforts to repeal an unpopular rental tax on shore properties that had added an extra 10 percent to 15 percent in rental costs and discouraged tourists from visiting the shore.
But the sharpest exchange between Andrzejczak and Testa came during a discussion over Cape May County Sheriff Bob Nolan’s dispute with New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal over federal immigration policy.
A new directive by Grewal limits state, county and local law enforcement from cooperating and sharing information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nolan and Cape May County have filed a lawsuit challenging the directive. Testa is donating his services for free in representing Nolan and the county in the litigation.
The suit claims that Grewal’s order prohibiting the Cape May County jail from screening inmates for immigration violations is unconstitutional and puts the public at risk.
All six candidates said during the debate that they back Nolan in the immigration controversy.
Testa, though, claimed that Andrzejczak has given Nolan only token support, in one press release and in a Facebook post. He singled out Andrzejczak for missing a recent Cape May County rally in favor of Nolan.
“Where has Bob Andrzejczak been? On the internet and in a press release, that’s all,” Testa said.
Strongly denying Testa’s allegations, Andrzejczak said he encouraged Nolan to fight Grewal’s immigration order and offered his help in setting up a meeting with the attorney general.
“I’m not going to fault my opponent for his ignorance,” Andrzejczak said in a jab at Testa.
The League of Women Voters of Cape May County will sponsor a Cape May County Freeholder debate Tuesday night at the Historic Court House Building, North Main Street, Cape May Court House. The event will be held from 7-8:15 p.m.
Candidates include Republican incumbents Gerald Thornton and E. Marie Hayes and Democratic challengers Elizabeth Casey and Joyce Gould.
