Jack Ciattarelli is a Republican Assemblyman that represents the 16th legislative district for many years now. He has been very verbal on many subjects that the people of New Jersey care about.
Before going on I must state that I met him about four years ago and found him a good listener and intelligent. His campaign website comes up with his picture and two links. One to what he calls his ‘Contract with the Republican Party’ and the other to his Town Hall schedule. What his contract states in summary is that he pledges to restructure how the party functions and to campaign personally with all New Jersey Republicans, commit to at least one fundraiser in each county per year, bring the party together and refresh the supporter base.
This alone is very ambitious and could help the Republican Party in New Jersey to better address its weaknesses. His campaign slogan is ‘A New Direction’ shows that he is very different in the way he thinks from the Lieutenant Governor. Kim Guadagno while not totally in sync with Governor Christie is his partner in governing New Jersey. While both Ciattarelli and Guadagno seem to be more toward the center politically and both did not support President Trump, they also both share the fact that they are political unknowns to the voting public.
Guadagno has the advantage of have been acting Governor and Ciattarelli has more political experience, but my big problem is that they both need to cultivate political points from the party bosses, Ciattarelli more so than Guadagno.
The assemblyman wants to reform school funding, property taxes, employee benefits, streamline the government and encourage bipartisan cooperation of the politicians. All good things on the face of it, but can a man who does not have the support of the party do all these things? I do not think so! Holding Chris Christie up as an example, the present Governor has some backing from his party and enough political clout to bully his opponents to not get in his way. Ciattarelli at present does not have any real political clout and this could cause him trouble if he is elected Governor.
One of my big beefs with Ciattarelli is that he did not come out against the Gas Tax early on. He took his time and gauged the political consequences first. He originally wanted it, but not the drastic increase that we got. This does annoy me and I wonder how fast he can react to what the people want versus the political establishment and will he side with the voters?
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
