New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidates Debate at TCNJ

On October 18, the College welcomed political supporters, students, media, and a variety of guests from around the tri-state area as it played host to a 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial debate. Four candidates squared off on the Music Building Concert Hall stage in an hour-long forum sponsored by TCNJ, The League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and the Philadelphia and New York affiliates of ABC television.

The Tuesday evening presentation served as the only opportunity in the race for the voters to witness all of the gubernatorial hopefuls together at once, live on prime time network television.

Familiar candidates Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester shared the concert hall stage with independent candidate Hector Castillo, a physician from Paterson, and Libertarian Jeffrey Pawlowski, a businessman and lifelong New Jersey resident from Sayreville. Despite the strictly limited response times allowed each contender, the 60-minute, commercial-free production included questions from moderators and panelists, as well as a round of candidate-to-candidate questions, giving viewers a better glimpse into both the political platforms and personal lives of each man.

Moderated by Jim Gardner of WPVI, and Diana Williams of WABC, panelists included Leonard Fleming of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Deborah Howlett of The Star-Ledger, and Herb Jackson of The Record. Several selected student representatives of The College of New Jersey had VIP seating on stage left and were able to ask some questions of their own during the program.

Questions ran the gamut from property tax and government ethics reform to stem cell research and the teaching of evolution in schools. Jim Gardner opened the evening’s discourse specifically targeting Corzine and Forrester and the recent abundance of each candidate’s negative attack ads, which quickly opened the floor to talk of the culture of corruption in the state.

Forrester and Corzine used much of their respective response time to reinforce their plans for some of the major issues, specifically property tax reform. Corzine cited his plan for long-term relief, while Forrester emphasized the need for an immediate break by saying, “The only thing going up faster [in New Jersey] than property taxes are for-sale signs.”

Topics up for discussion changed quickly throughout the evening, going from property tax reform to each candidate’s ideal selection criteria for the choosing the next supreme court justice. TCNJ student Ravi Verma, a sophomore biology major, opened the doors to talk of science with a question he posed that solicited each candidate’s opinion on new research discoveries in the ever-debated topic of stem cell research. With the exception of Pawlowski, who believed that government “need not trample on work that would be better served by private industry,” the candidates agreed that inviting such research into the state would be a mutually beneficial relationship. Corzine compared the potential benefits of such research to the Internet and space exploration.

Candidates also touched on the topics of civil liberties, problems with the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS), and the need to replenish a nearly empty state Transportation Trust Fund.

Finally, the candidates took advantage of a 60-second allotment for closing remarks by reiterating the key policies and ideas upon which they had built their campaigns, with all sharing similar sentiments on the importance of ending corruption, relieving property tax stresses, and providing greater access to higher education.