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Third GOP candidate adds voice to debate
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EWING TOWNSHIP - An occasionally testy Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan continued to fight over taxes and other issues during the third Republican gubernatorial debate Tuesday evening, while the third candidate in the race, Rick Merkt, repeatedly told both that their election rhetoric was unrealistic if it did not consider the whims of the state Legislature.
Asked how the Republicans, if elected governor, would get reforms past the likely Democratic state Senate and Assembly, Christie said public outcry would be enough.
"That message will come loud and clear. That's the way we're going to get it done," said Christie, the former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. "Political pressure will be applied to them, and if that happens, we will be able to get that done."
"That's totally naive," Assemblyman Merkt, R-Morris, said. "That's not the way it works," he said, saying candidates needed to focus on the sizable powers of the governor instead of making promises based on legislation that may not pass.
The debate was the third between the Republican gubernatorial candidates, but the first broadcast debate to include Merkt, an attorney for a company that makes industrial computer power supplies who has been in the General Assembly since 1998.
Earlier television debates excluded Merkt because they were tied to the state public financing program that required candidates spend $340,000 by early April to qualify. Merkt did not.
In Tuesday's debate, he repeatedly involved Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, asking candidates how they would turn "Dick Codey the tax hiker to Dick Codey the tax cutter."
On Atlantic City questions, all three candidates supported sports wagering, even though it is mainly a federal question now.
When "Mark in Atlantic City" asked about how to improve the resort, Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, said the state should grow the economy to give people more discretionary money, while ending the additional tax on hotels and motels and eliminating the 8 percent casino assessment that funds the Casino Redevelopment Fund, calling the money a "slush fund" for politicians.
Merkt, a one-time Deputy Attorney General in the Division of Gaming Enforcement, said the state should modernize regulations. He pointed to the joint system that includes the Casino Control Commission and the Department of Gaming Enforcement and said the state should look for one system that is less burdensome.
Christie agreed with Merkt's regulatory suggestions and agreed the economy needed to grow.
On video lottery terminals, or VLTs, Christie said he opposed them, while Lonegan said he supported a referendum on the issue. Merkt said it was unrealistic to exclude them from state race tracks when neighboring states have them.
VLTs are essentially slot machines that racetracks have looked to as a revenue source. But casinos have opposed them strongly out of fear casinos would lose customers.
One of the loudest exchanges came over state Supreme Court appointments.
Lonegan said he would replace all four Supreme Court justices whose terms expire during the next governor's term with conservatives who believe in judicial restraint. But when he called Chief Justice Stuart Rabner "the most liberal chief justice in the nation" and accused Christie of support, Christie pounced and demanded an explanation.
When Lonegan faltered, Christie said "This is the type of foolish hyperbole that we have come to expect for you."
Tuesday's hour-and-a-half-long debate got off to a slightly late start after Lonegan was caught in traffic. He arrived shortly after 7 p.m. and was led into the studio seconds before his opening statement.
A final debate is set for 4 p.m. today on WOR 710-AM in New York.
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Posted in NEW JERSEY on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 3:10 am
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