♪ >> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" is provided by RWJBarnabas Health, MGA insurance group, serving the insurance needs of New Jersey residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Emotional support provided by "New Jersey Business" magazine, the magazine of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, reporting to executive and legislative leaders in all 21 counties of the Garden State since 1954.

And by Politico's "New Jersey Playbook," a newsletter on Garden State politics online at Politico.com.

♪ >> It is never too early to declare your candidacy, or is it?

Hi, everybody.

I am David Cruz.

Our panel today, P. Kenneth Burns, South Jersey reporter for WHYY, Michelle Ann Sullivan, reporter for NJ Advance Media, and Dustin, editor at Political NJ.

We will hear from the panel in a few minutes but begin today with that question, how early is too early?

We saw the New Jersey mayor announces candidacy for governor this week.

Two years ahead of election day.

We are joined by a guy who knows how to time his announcement: State Senator John Brannick.

It is always a pleasure.

Welcome.

>> Thanks.

Thanks for having me on.

David Conant, let's get the obvious question out of the way.

You have a Senate race to win this year but we have been hearing about you running for governor for decades now.

How soon after someone anyone wins a state senate race should they start looking at the governor's race?

>> Well, probably 24 hours.

It depends whether or not you think you have the support, but that is something you should look at.

That is not why I'm here today.

I am happy to talk about the broad impact of somebody announcing now or how that plays statewide.

David: If you had to run against the Steve Bullock type, what would you tell potential voters about him?

Sen. Brannick: I would not talk about him, I would try to win the trust of voters with respect to Republicans and as long as people like Donald Trump is the image of the Republican Party and loyalty to him continues, we will have a difficult time and probably lose.

It does not matter who the Democrat is.

We lost Cranford, Summit, and Westfield, all Republican towns because of the image of somebody like Donald Trump and the meanest spirit that some Republicans like the fellow on the radio who is mean-spirited every day and gives a bad image to the Republican Party.

We have to change our brand or we will continue to lose statewide and continue to lose in swing districts, period, end of story.

David: You talk about how your party needs to move away from the Trump wing, but the guys making the most noise now in New Jersey are from that wing.

They call you a RINO.

Is that a battle that will be fought when it comes time to choose a gubernatorial candidate and will we see that in the Republican primary for governor in one of the main things people talk about?

Sen. Brannick: What Republicans won statewide?

Tom Kane.

Christie Whitman.

Even Chris Christie beat Steve Flanagan, and the people who win in New Jersey are not far right loudmouths, they are not.

They are people who the voters can trust.

Republicans around the country are doing things that I think will be a bad image for Republicans in New Jersey.

You saw what happened in Florida with the six-week abortion requirement.

You saw what happened in Tennessee, one of the dumbest moves I have ever seen, you throw two people out as opposed to sanctioning them for being on a loudspeaker, megaphone, and they come back the next day.

That is not a great image for the Republicans.

We have great issues and the Democrats continue to move farther and farther to the radical extreme left and we lose because they don't trust us, so we have to stop doing stuff that people in New Jersey, and I am not talking about the rest of New Jersey -- the country, this is a moderate state, and they will vote Republican but you can't be neutral on Donald Trump and stupid stuff the Republicans do, you can't be neutral on mean-spirited Republicans, and unless we show a different image the way governor Tom Kane did or Ronald Reagan did, we will continue to be in second place.

David: Let's talk about the other big news this week, the strike at Rutgers.

As we speak on Friday, the two sides are closer but not ready to sign an agreement.

How closely have you been watching this, and how much of the blame for this do you put on the governor?

Sen. Brannick: Well, I don't blame the governor for a strike.

The professors want more money and the administration needs to keep costs down.

This is traditional labor negotiations.

You know, I taught for a university, so I get it.

Bottom line is that both sides have to come to the table and they can't leave the room with the governor's people in it until they solve the problem, but I am not in the room on that.

That is for others to decide.

I can tell you right now that people want compromise, Republican candidates, and they want people not to just yell at one side or the other.

And one thing Governor Murphy is good at, he is not mean-spirited That is the reason he won the last election.

People are not crazy about Phil Murphy but don't love Joe Biden.

I mean they're not mean-spirited and the Republicans in my party who are mean-spirited continue to get attention but no votes.

How is that?

David: But labor is resurgent in this country, it would seem.

Is that a good thing?

Sen. Brannick: Of course.

Republicans are not antiunion in New Jersey.

I support many of these unions but I support reasonable pay and negotiations.

Nothing is wrong with that.

That is what made America great.

We should never be anti-union, that is for sure.

David: Let's switch to the budget.

$53 billion.

Is this drunken sailor time or is the governor investing in our future?

Sen. Brannick: The problem is that one thing about Democrats is they have never been fiscally conservative and continue to expand the budget.

[Laughter] Sen. Brannick: No one accuses the Democrats of watching the pocketbook of the people in New Jersey.

They have never accused the Democrats of doing anything to lower taxes.

We all know that.

The problem is that when we harp on lowering taxes, we have to be credible as Republicans.

It brings me back to the issue, the overspending by the Murphy administration is a bad thing for New Jersey, raising taxes, making it less affordable, but they have to trust us, and that is the problem.

We cannot just argue taxes are too high.

They have to look at us and go like, OK, maybe we will give you a shot.

That is my concern, and why Republicans keep losing swing districts in statewide races.

David: The last Republican governor was a tax-cutting governor and the credit agencies gave him 12 downgrades.

This guy has had two upgrades this week alone.

Sen. Brannick: Well, Chris Christie did not get billions of dollars from Joe Biden either, so there was a lot of money coming in, COVID money Chris Christie never had.

If he had that kind of money from the Biden administration, we would have gotten upgrades also.

[Laughter] David: All right, speaking of that money, what does it say to you that of the 6...whatever billion dollars that Joe Biden sent to Phil Murphy, only about $1 billion has been spent.

What does that say?

Sen. Brannick: It says maybe you should give some back to the taxpayers not just the anchor program, but across the board.

You have to make sure that you are supporting and reducing people's taxes by giving that money back, mainly to municipalities and the boards of education, and when you do, boards of education and schools across the board will not select one school over the other make sure everybody has the opportunity to lower their property taxes, that the answer is I think he is holding a bit too much money and spending a bit too much money, but once again...will not be hurt if all the media attention is on Donald Trump as what a Republican is, and that is my concern.

Our voices will not be heard about outlandish spending, higher property taxes.

People would just move.

They don't want to vote for the Republicans because they are in fear of the Republicans.

We need to change that before we are going to win.

You can't be neutral.

You can't be neutral on that.

David: We got it already, Senator.

All right, man, good to see you.

Thanks for coming on with us.

Sen. Brannick: Thanks so much.

David: Panel, Kenny, Sean, Dustin, good to see you.

Let's start with him at his new perch at Politico NJ.

How is it going?

Is Friedman giving you trouble?

>> Just a little bit.

It is all good.

We are having fun.

David: You are enjoying yourself?

>> Yeah, writing, editing a lot of stories, newsletters, the whole shebang.

David: Nice.

Good to have you with us.

Let's talk about the strike at Rutgers.

This one is different, it is tenured, and other professors going out for adjuncts and graduate assistants, is that right?

>> It is that.

There is full-time faculty as well and researchers, but the demands of the unions also include things for students like affordable housing and wiping away things like late fines and fees, so it is a broad ranging set of demands that the unions have, and as Senator Brannick said, there seems to be sympathy for that, because historically adjunct professors for example get paid a very low wages and as I have heard a couple of different people say, in their view, Rutgers is trying to turn the staff into a gig economy.

David: Sean, President Holloway was threatening to go to court to force the strikers back into the classrooms.

But the fact that he did not do that could end up being a big factor in how this plays out eventually?

Sean: Yeah, I mean, the fact that they backed down and communicated that they backed down at the governor's behest, it weakens their position and negotiations a little bit.

I think Governor Murphy signaled to demonstrators to a large part that he is either in their corner or at least feels like he's being painted as anti-unionist is difficult.

It is difficult either way as he's walking a tight rope here.

He does not want to put his finger on the scale so to speak, because he will have to pay for this because this is a public university.

This is a governor that has for electoral and ideological purposes been in labor's corner, so it puts him in a tough spot, presiding over those negotiations behind closed doors.

David: I'm sure you could have used a sports metaphor instead of thumb on the scale, but we'll let you pass on that one.

[Laughter] Kenny, as we go to tape ready morning, the picket lines are still up.

Do we have any sense of how long this thing might go?

Kenny: No sense of how long the strike will go, and the media reported there is possibly a fourth union that might join in on the strike, but it looks like between the administration that is that is holding to the one position, the unions are putting their foot down on their position, but the two sides are no closer.

There is no clear sign on when this will end.

David: Yeah, at least they are talking, so that is at least positive.

Let's talk politics.

Jersey Mayor Steven Fulop is out early.

All of Hudson evidently behind him, but getting out early may not be enough because there is so much money that will be out there.

Let's hear from the mayor on that and then we will come back.

>> I am sure as every campaign is across the country that you will have special entries involved.

Some people like that, some people will not like that because you have issues and advocacy, some things that people care about.

And then people who disagree with that.

My job is to make sure this $7.5 million control is done responsibly and hopefully with the new law that anybody involved in any other way discloses properly what they are doing.

David: Dustin, I mean, his wife runs one of these groups.

Everyone has one.

Does that make an even crazier than normal primary likely?

Dustin: I guess.

I think it depends on the inroads that a candidate can make with the county or organizations.

That is what it comes down to in the primary.

As you said, Mayor Stephen Fulop has Hudson County locked up.

He gets a few more northern counties, Middlesex would be huge.

Money is going to be a free-for-all, especially after the transparency act the governor just signed, so I think it is true, and what seems to be his strategy getting out so far ahead is to ward off as many potential candidates as possible and say I will try to gobble up the organizational lines and I will have these outside entries in my corner raising money and spending money for me in the meantime, so don't try.

David: And every time we talk about the governor's race, we have to mention that he is running because he is the only one officially out there, so that helps him.

Kenny, another name is coming up in conversation and others.

Do you have an early pick for us?

Kenny: No, I don't.

[Laughter] David: [Indiscernible] Kenny: Gladly.

We are a couple of years out and even still, I wonder as far as the mayor's concerned, is not he way down on the list?

We don't know what Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver is doing, still Steve Sweeney out there, so not exactly sure how the mayor will wind up in all this.

He might flesh out before we get into the 2025 campaign season.

Not to say he doesn't completely have a chance to come up but it is way too early to say he has a shot.

David: Yeah, Sean, more serious topic here.

The Attorney General was on "Chat Box" this week talking about Patterson and other stuff and said something that I found interesting, he said the Arrive Together program, which pairs a plainclothes officer and a crisis worker, that it might not include police officers in Patterson, and that is something that activists had been talking about and saying they wanted.

That is a good sign the state is listening, no?

Sean: Yeah, it signals that the complaints of the vocal activists and reformists in Patterson have been making.

It is significant.

10 years ago, I don't think you would be having this conversation about you know who should be responding to law enforcement, to mental health crises.

Should it be law-enforcement or someone else?

And now you have the highest law enforcement officer in New Jersey saying OK, maybe now the marquee program we are rolling out across the state does not need to include police in every instance.

I think what will come out in the wash is a hybrid model.

We are still talking about a guy who presides over an agency, so law-enforcement will always be part of the mix.

It certainly sends a message to the folks in Patterson who have been complaining for a very long time that the recommendations and policy prescriptions have not been heard by the administration, that they are taking that seriously now.

David: You also had a piece on the run on gun permits.

What did the AG have to say about that?

Sean: Yeah, I have been on a quest since last year to figure out how many carry permits have been handed out, and the information is hard to come by because of how it works and how New Jersey's law works in the fact that local police departments are the ones who keep this information, but so we got what I described as kind of a blurry snapshot of what that looks like here, something like 16,000 permits issued--I am sorry--applied for since the Supreme Court came out with its decision less year that opened up the floodgates in New Jersey to open carry, which previously was impossible to get unless you were a retired cop.

Now you have thousands of New Jersey citizens seeking permits to carry and what we are dealing with now is a court fight over where that will happen, but I think that if people are not already noticing there's more and more, you will see more folks in the streets in New Jersey open carrying firearms.

David: Oh, goodness.

Kenny, you have been on fire patrol this week.

Isn't it early for wildfires?

Kenny: It is, but if you have been following climate change, the peak fire season which was normally two months to three months has extended to four months to five months and then we have these extreme fluctuations in the weather, one of the wettest on record this year, and this past February, the 11th driest February since record-keeping has been kept in New Jersey since 1995, so in short, longer, drier days, and lower humidity, and longer sunlight, and then that is the impetus, because you have all the materials in the forests that will spark at any moment, and keep in mind because of the dry weather, we did not get the precipitation needed to keep the materials on the ground and keep them moisturized of the fires once bark, so climate change is quickly becoming a factor as far as an elongated wildfire season in New Jersey.

David: All right.

Time for our Only in Jersey Moment, headlines and notes that are quintessentially Jersey.

Sean, let us start with you.

Sean: I want to drop my objective journalist hat here and give a rousing defense of the New Jersey Mall food court, because I don't know if you heard -- [Laughter] --a friend of the program reported it in the record that the Garden State Plaza is banning or is restricting access to it for unaccompanied teenagers.

I understand why they are making this decision and they're saying there are crowds and social media organizations allowing teenagers to show up in these big crowds and causing disruptions and things like that, but let's look back at history and see any time where the children are the ones that are wrong, has been the side that has won out.

New Jersey in particular I feel like the mall is one of the best places for a teenager to brush shoulders with the diverse population the state has to offer and for that reason we should leave the teenagers alone.

David: These teenagers with their leather jackets, greasy hair, and rock 'n' roll.

[Laughter] Kenny?

What have you got?

Kenny: David, you know this topic, this year, I am looking at another municipal government and if you go on their YouTube page, you will see several hours long meeting of the municipal government, the city Council.

In fact, the most recent one that I saw, they were debating on whether or not to televise the meetings.

Then last week, actually a couple of weeks ago, shortly after the police department came under the control of the Attorney General, you have one councilmember taking on a member of the corporation counsel.

David: Eight hours was that Council meeting you're referring to.

That is good TV right there.

[Laughter] Kenny: That is one day.

David: Dustin?

You have one for us?

Dustin: Former Governor Chris Christie met in a forum with Senator Cory Booker the other night, and it was the return of their old bromance until hecklers started shouting stuff about Ukraine and objections to the war and yada yada, but Chris Christie, the old pugilist, got up and started giving it back to the guy, and it was reminiscent of the time he was chasing a heckler down the boardwalk with an ice cream cone and tells the guy, are you going to leave, or am I going to have to come up there and take you out?

That is vintage Chris Christie.

It looked like he was completely in his element, despite his advertisements for his Public Policy Institute as this roundtable of civility, he could not help himself but get up and challenge that guy.

It was pretty vintage.

>> Civility is objective.

David: Right.

Chris Christie and Cory Booker of the good old days.

Mine comes from the front line of the Rutgers University strike, a rally in New Brunswick produced this quasi-viral moment, shot by a striking professor and featuring Rutgers students and what I have to assume is the RU band.

♪ >> Morale is very, very high, the support from the students in the community has been overwhelming, so much so that we had the music students from Rutgers joining us consistently on the picket line.

The song is the same one we shared online from a couple of days ago, so there is sort of a festive vibe overall which speaks to the level of solidarity through the strike.

David: I mean, props to the kid who went double time with the label on the frying pan.

I hope the strike ends soon, but this week, this old former student government president was bound with the kids.

And that is "Roundtable" for this week.

Good to see you, gents.

Thanks to Senator John Brannick for joining us.

You can follow the show on Twitter @RoundtableNJ and get fresh content every day including "NJ Spotlight News" when you subscribe to the YouTube channel.

I am David Cruz.

For the entire crew at Gateway Center, thanks for watching.

We will see you next time.

Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" provided by... RWJBarnabas Health.

Let us be healthy together, NJ Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of New Jersey residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Promotional support provided by "New Jersey Business" magazine, the magazine that New Jersey business and industry association reporting for executive and legislative leaders in all 21 counties of the Garden State since 1954.

And by Politico's "New Jersey Playbook," a topical newsletter on Garden State politics online at Politico.com.

♪