My wife and I have been watching the Democratic Governor Debates.

[NNadir]

I came in, under general impressions, not informed by actual knowledge, favoring Gottheimer and/or Sherrill, basically because I believe New Jersey needs new nuclear plants, and both candidates seem to support it. Climate is the number one issue for me.

(I oppose wind energy, and I oppose the related natural gas, energy sisters, neither of which are sustainable and neither of which are clean.)

I like all of the candidates on general terms. All of them struck me as extremely well informed on issues.

Ras Baraka, about whom I knew very little, is clearly the most progressive and he has quite a wit, particularly when speaking about Trump. (He had a great line in the debate I watched which I have to paraphrase since I don't recall it exactly saying that Trump is clear evidence that wealth and intelligence are not connected in any way. His remark, the way he put it, was wittier than my paraphrase.) He is well informed. I liked his remarks on air pollution when discussing the work on the New Jersey Turnpike. I very much appreciated this reference to the health consequences of air pollution.

On education, I think all of the candidates did a good job on advocating for the consolidation of administrative tasks across districts to conserve resources. The focus was on grades K-12, with some discussion of pre-K. There was no discussion of higher education, which I think should have been discussed, particularly with respect to the attacks on science that the idiot in chief is executing, thus executing the American future. I am outraged that Rutgers University seems more willing to invest in football for future victims of CTE than it is on subsidizing engineering students. What we pay the football coach could fund the full educations - all four years - of six or seven engineers. That is outrageous to my mind; but there was no discussion of our University system at all. Governor Murphy denies responsibility for Rutgers policies, but if it is so, it needs to change. Rutgers is a great University, but it could be better, and it could be more accessible to our best and brightest students.

Unfortunately, on housing, all of the candidates seemed pro-development. New Jersey really is - to my surprise on moving here 30 years ago - the "Garden State," and as such, I would not like to see us become one giant Long Island kind of strip mall megalopolis. I'm seeing that happening, and its disturbing. I would like to have seen a balance about protecting our wilderness and open space.

My wife really, really liked Steve Sweeney, because he's earthy, knows very well how State government works, and appeals to her working class instincts. I do appreciate him. From my perspective he wants to build more gas plants in New Jersey, which I oppose, but he has worked for nuclear energy, a good thing. He also has something of a wit. He believes that New Jersey should be a net electricity exporter, as it once was when Oyster Creek was operating, but if that means gas plants, I'm against it.

In terms of debate performance, I'm not sure I feel all that warm about Gottheimer as I did. I am deeply suspicious of people who run on the basis of tax cuts; I am willing to pay to live in New Jersey, so long as it is not money that is squandered. It may be OK to state that you're for lower taxes, but not when you're announcing we need more money for this, more money for that. Tell us how you're going to have more money for this, and more money for that, and cut taxes, and not with a generic bullshit line about "cutting waste."

It seemed in the debates I watched this far that Sherrill was not given (or didn't seize) the attention that the others had or took.

I'm a no go on Steve Fulop, probably based on my perception of his personality, which is kind of supercilious, a claim that he's more detailed in his analysis than anyone else in the race. If so, he didn't display it, or at least that's my impression. He's a bit nerdy or tries to be so, and as I am a nerd, I can object to other nerds. (Nerds are often like electrons, we repel each other.) His response to NY congestion pricing - which by the way I don't think is actually a bad idea - is to make New Yorkers pay congestion pricing taxes in New Jersey. That, I think is a bad idea. New Jersey and New York, during the time of the Articles of Confederation, actually came close to going to war with each other. I'm glad we did not continue to live under that document, but instead lived under the US Constitution, at least until the thugs now serving on the Supreme Court recently declared the Constitution Unconstitutional and voted to empower an idiot emperor as dictator. I'm against war against New York. We breathe New York air; New York has a wonderful mass transit infrastructure, and, well, I support congestion pricing which benefits all of us in the tristate area.

Sweeney had an intelligent response: let's see if we can get New York businesses to come to New Jersey, shorten or eliminate the commute.

I think all of the candidates had a reasonable supportive approach to New Jersey Transit. I can't say that I have a lot of difficulties with the system on the Trenton line, which I use when going to New York, but apparently there are problems in the system as a whole. If it needs more money - and I think money spent on mass transit is a wise investment - let's do it.

All of the candidates noted the problems with Newark Airport. I flew out of it and into it last week. My flight was hugely delayed coming back in. I lost the next day. However, it is, I think, a Federal problem, and since we have a certified idiot in the White House, there really isn't much hope. In the next four years, flight safety will decline because the Republican party has no respect for human life. Sweeney was the clearest on stating this to be the case.

I'm still undecided, but lean toward Sherill not because of her debate performance, but more focused on her resume. Her campaign did not respond, however, to my inquiry on her position on nuclear energy, whereas Gottheimer's did, immediately, stating that he supported nuclear energy.

The other candidates did seem to be attacking her as being too cozy with Trumpism, probably because she's leading in the polls, but she denied. I'll look into that complaint by reviewing her voting record in Congress..

Attitudes about nuclear energy in New Jersey by the way, have recently been the subject of a poll: Voters Divided Over Energy Production

I was pleased with this excerpt, referring to people who will inherit the world we did so much to screw up, young people:

The support for nuclear power is most concentrated among young voters, with 46 percent of voters 30 and under saying that they would support building more nuclear plants to replace the aging plants that provide almost half of current energy production in the state. Older voters are much more likely to support building more natural gas plants. For instance, when asked about the need to generate electricity for data centers and other economic development proposed by Governor Murphy, 44 percent of voters 30 and under say that the state should build more nuclear plants, with 22 percent supporting more natural gas plants. Among voters 65 and over, this is almost reversed, with 24 percent supporting more nuclear, and 37 percent supporting more natural gas.

I am an old man, and perhaps out of my prescribed demographic. I don't know how, or why, anyone, with the climate collapsing, can endorse natural gas. It is not sustainable; it's not clean; and it is driving extreme global heating which we, especially in New Jersey, a coastal state, cannot afford.

I'm rambling, but these are my thoughts.

I'm sure I'm not representative of most New Jerseyans in placing the highest priority on energy policies in this State, but that's who I am.

Anyway that's just my comments on the debates through which I've gone thus far.

[3Hotdogs]

1. I spent an hour at a campaign q & a with Fulop.

He will get my vote next week. And his running mate, Sheila Collum is mayor in my neighboring town, South Orange. She has done a wonderful job correcting problems caused by her predecessors.

Sweeney is partially responsible for the miserable condition of our public employee pensions. He voted to allow Chris Christie to freeze the cost of living adjustments to pensioners and then voted to not contribute the state's share to the pension funs which exacerbated the problem. Fuck him.