♪ ANNOUNCER: Major funding for "Chatbox with David Cruz" is provided by -- the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

making public schools great for every child.

Promotional support for "Chatbox with David Cruz" is provided by Insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

♪ Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight, online at InsiderNJ.com.

♪ David: hey everybody.

Welcome to "Chatbox."

I'm David Cruz.

You may have heard the news that "Chatbox" is going to be hosting one of the Republican primary debates next month.

Leading up to that, we're continuing our one-on-one interviews with the candidates today.

We will also take a look at her new production at the Paper Mill Playhouse about a dancer who brought ballroom dancing to New York City schools.

That's in our second half, but let's begin today with our latest gubernatorial candidate.

He is a Republican, former congressional candidate, real estate executive, and radio and TV host.

He is Bill SpadEa.

Bill, welcome to the show.

Guest: Hi, David.

Good to see you.

Thanks for having me on.

David: Good to see you.

So, most of the recent news associated with your campaign is about your effort to get Mario Kranjac off the ballot.

What do you have against Mario Kranjac?

Guest: The truth is, David, it really is nothing to do with Mario.

[laughs] It has to do with election integrity.

when we heard about some of the practices going into these petitions, we thought the right thing to do as a candidate for governor is to expose an attempted fraud.

And we're satisfied with what happened.

We exposed what we suspected was happening.

There were people that signed the petition that were Democrats , that were not registered.

Even one guy that was dead.

So when you're dealing with an attempt to get on the ballot that has to do with something that puts election integrity in, I believe all the candidates should have raised a challenge.

We did.

The reality is, David, had Jack Ciattarelli raised any red flags back in 2021, we might not even be having this conversation.

But he decided to ignore what was blatant election fraud in so many places and decided not to fight.

David: Committed by Republicans?

Guest: I am going to fight as a candidate and I am going to fight as governor.

David: Fraud committed by Republicans, is that what you're saying?

Guest: No, no, no, there had been election fraud we know all over the country.

When you look at 2021 -- by, to your point, it's really important that if the Republicans are going to talk about election integrity, we better make sure our own house is in order.

And that goes for any candidate.

But when you look at what happened in the general election -- and I'm not even suggesting that there were enough fraudulent votes or mistakes or whatever to overturn the results, but when we looked at what happened in 2021, there were certainly thousands of votes that could have been challenged, could have been questioned.

And if Jack had any coverage, he would have -- they could have made the difference in some of those local elections where the margin of error, the margin of victory is only a few dozen boats.

That is something for me in my experience in launching the common sense club, helping hundreds of candidates at the local level across the state, it matters.

Every vote counts, and it's important as Republicans that we practice what we preach.

David: All right.

This primary seemed to be very much about who Donald Trump favors.

Is it, and does he favor you?

Guest: Well, I can't speak for the president of the United States.

I have had him on my radio show a few times, with Psyche had some great conversations both publicly and privately.

I am the only candidate that has been with him since the escalator.

Sure, I have been critical of a few things and I brought that to the president focus attention.

We talked about some of the areas where we disagreed right on my radio show.

It's all about who is tough enough to stand up for the policies that will right the shape in this country and under the damage of four years of Joe Biden.

We will have to undo the damage from the past seven plus years of Phil Murphy and democratic rule in Trenton.

So it's more about policy than it is a black person.

But I am a huge supporter of Donald Trump's and he knows that.

Will you get involved in this primary?

Not sure.

Either way, just so you know, I have said to the President directly to whether he gets involved in this primary or not, we want him here on June 11, because this is a state that he almost won in 2024.

There were a lot of Trump voters who want to see him bring some of the policy here, like NJ DOGE, which I have publicly promised to bring.

David: You mentioned Jack Ciattarelli.

Supporters of his running ads showing you saying that you favorite amnesty and the path to citizenship.

We have seen them, I assume.

Are we missing some context?

Guest: Two things that are important.

Number one, they must've gone through the 15,000 plus hours and all they could find was one quote from a show about pathway to citizenship.

You know what they didn't show you in the ad, David?

They didn't show the question I was asked.

The question I was asked and answered -- and I would answer it the same way today -- was whether or not somebody who came here on a legal work visa, had a family, kids in school, paid their taxes, no crimes, should they stay if they ran afoul of our absolutely disastrous legal immigration process, where many, many good people get caught in a bureaucratic hellhole where they can't get out of it?

And I said absolutely.

And by the way, David, the president agrees with that.

It's very disingenuous on Jack's part to juxtapose the president talking today, and me talking seven or eight years ago, out of context.

David: Your position then is your position now, in those circumstances?

Guest: Absolutely.

100%.

and by the way, I'm the only one who has had the conversation with Tom Homan about supporting the president's deportation plan.

But I agree with the president where you have got to have some exceptions.

The DACA kids -- 100%.

I mean, look, we have got to be humane and reasonable.

But we also have to understand that -- I have been to the border, we have talked to border security, to the Texas Department of Public Safety, their state police -- we underwent an invasion over the last four years.

President Trump has turned that around now.

We have to look at the 900,000 estimated illegals in New Jersey, and we have got to root out the criminals, and we better get our streets back.

And I'm going to cooperate 100% on day one.

David: All right.

I saw you in Newark a couple weeks ago disparaging diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and programs.

Did you say they were racist?

Guest: Well, I think what has happened is -- here is what I did say.

I said on day one, I'm going to end DEI for procurement and hiring.

David: I have a follow-up, though.

did you say they were racist or no?

Guest: I don't believe I said they were.

I remember Ras Baraka calling me a racist for not supporting DEI.

I do remember that.

David: But on the question of racism, -- Guest: Let me put it out of context to it.

Because I think it is important.

What I said was that DEI has been unsuccessful in the past 10 to 20 years helping close that disparity gap that everyone talks about.

The reality is, we have failing cities where minority students, minority families, can't get a leg up.

The crime is high, the jobs are low, the education opportunity doesn't exist.

9 out of 10 kids in the Newark school system can't do math at grade level.

We have a civil rights crisis in our cities.

Instead of checking a box on DEI to try to win votes, how about we recognize that Democratic leadership in our cities has failed the minority communities?

And as governor, I'm going to restore integrity and opportunity and positive energy into our cities by creating jobs and fixing the education system.

David: Alright, that subject, do you acknowledge the racism and other challenges that black people others have faced in the country since, forever?

Guest: Well, I think what I will acknowledge is that, if we go back to at least the last 20 years in New Jersey, the real racism is that Democratic mayors, including Ras Baraka, have not empowered the citizens in their cities.

David: that was not the question though.

Guest: But that is the answer.

You want to make it like it's institutional racism.

If there's any institutional racism, it's with the Democratic mayors in these cities that have been oppressing Black and brown populations now for decades.

And it's time to free them from this oppression.

David: So do you think that those conditions that black and brown people have suffered in this country since, as I said, forever, is that no longer the case?

Guest: Well, I think when you say "forever," -- David: Since the founding.

Guest: The time when there were thousands of black owned restaurants and hotels before the riots in the 1960's?

Should we go back to say that what the Great Society did was just throw money at a problem, and the economic disparity got worse in the '60s?

There is a lot of blame to go around.

I think the problem is that you're not going to solve any racism that exists by creating new racism through affirmative action and saying we are going to choose people based on the color of their skin.

David: Was there ever a time, Bill -- >> The content of their character, not the color of their skin.

David: You seem to suggest that Black people and brown people in the country had pretty good.

Is that what you are saying?

Guest: What I am saying is that there was a time when we had a strong entrepreneurship and a stronger black middle class than we have today.

One of the defining moments was Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats who, by the way, "the Civil Rights Act.

Democrats have a long history of racism, institutional racism.

It was Martin Luther King and the Republican who said that we have to do something about this, and they did.

David: OK, let me move on, because I'm running out of time, I got a lot of stuff I wanted to get to.

So pocketbook issues here.

, Keep them short -- your answers, that is.

I was going to ask you about energy costs and why they're so high, but we don't have any time to answer that.

Guest: I can give you 30 seconds or less on that, if you want.

David: Gave me 20 seconds.

>> we are going to pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and we're going to incentivize natural gas electricity generation through combined cycle technology.

We can deliver thousands of megawatts back into our grid within two years.

David: The exact other way of where this governor has been in that regard, yes?

Guest: I am going to end the eating mandate and the energy master plan.

David: Alright, $58 billion state budget -- highest ever.

Two billion in one-shots, a billion and a half in new taxes and fees.

Let's say this is your budget, and you are facing millions in Medicaid and other federal courts, what does a governor Spadea do to balance the budget?

Where are you going to cut?

Guest: First thing we're going to do is end the sanctuary state.

We believe that we can lower our Medicaid costs where you have so many people he is in hospitals as their primary care physician.

We could save billions there.

We're going to audit the insurance companies -- the health insurance companies.

We are going to open things up, like back surgery that could be done on an outpatient basis, can be done at our ambulatory care facilities, does not have to be done in a hospital.

We should be following their Medicaid moves.

We could probably save $2 billion of that.

David: all right, Joe Biden win re-election in 2020 fair and square?

Guest: let me say this.

I'm a baseball fan, David.

And if the umpire says you're safe, whether the ball beat you to the bag or not, you're safe.

I think we have to move on past the 2020 election.

David: It was really a yes or no.

Guest: It's not a simple question, because there are always cases of fraud in elections.

And look, I believe in election integrity.

I think as Americans, we have a right and a duty to challenge results and make sure that every legal vote is counted.

It was there enough start to overcome the results that were declared and certified?

That, no one will ever know.

David: All right.

You okay with building more immigrant detention centers in New Jersey?

Guest: We don't need to build anymore.

What we need to do is use our county jails.

That's what we need.

Five have closed under Murphy.

I'm going to reopen all five.

David: What do you think of Trump 2028?

You for that?

Guest: [laughs] Remember slurpee is constitutionally limited.

But think you have a very wide open field in 2020 A. David: all right, Bill Stadia, Republican for governor, good to see you.

Guest: Good to see you.

David: Now, for a sharp turn here -- a new musical at the Playhouse called "take the Lead."

It's based on a 2006 film with Antonio Banderas and Alfre Woodard.

Two of its stars are with us today.

We'll meet them in a moment.

Let's take a quick look at a clip.

♪ >> ♪ don't get me started though he started ayeeee ♪ David: All right.

A scene from "take the lead.

Joining us to talk about the production are two of its stars, Sevy Jackson and Vincent Jamaal Hooper.

How are you doing?

Guest: Doing great.

We just did a matinee at 1:30.

Guest: Yeah.

[LAUGHTER] Yes, we had that.

We have the post-show look on our faces.

But it was actually a really fun crowd.

We had quite a big group of high schoolers in the audience, and they loved the show so much.

David: It has got a lot of energy in it.

I saw some of those moves.

I have to tell you, I would get some back pain just looking at it.

[LAUGHTER] Guest: You would be fine, you would be fine!

David: Just get a good stretch in.

Guest: You have to correct yes.

David: So tell us who we play.

Let's start with you, Vincent.

Guest: Yes.

So, I play Jason Rockwell, also known as Rock, in the show.

The story, it is Pierre Dulaine, who's a championship ballroom dancer and instructor and he sort of has a midlife crisis and finds himself teaching ballroom dance to these kids in the Bronx who want nothing to do with what he has to say.

And through their sort of interaction, everybody sort of grows and changes and discover things about themselves.

David: Savvy, tell us about your character.

Guest: Of course.

I play Rhette, and my relationship to Vince's character, Rock -- at the start of the show, we have a family history.

Our two brothers are Celriver Road with each other in a way that, they kind of do some activity that is not necessarily legal together.

And they ran into some trouble.

And my brother winds up going to jail and his brother does not.

And we sort of have a lot of tension because of that, and because of what our brothers' friendship with each other have done to the both of us.

And through dancing in the show, we sort of workout, work through the hatred between the two of us.

David: I assume that you both saw the film, I guess there are, kind of two schools of thought on that.

You want to make the character your own, but you want to have some context.

Yes.

>> Yeah, I saw the film back that it came out and obviously we watched it gearing up for this.

It was just for the fun of it and to see the ways in which we sort of evolved the story and change things here or there, turn left when things go right.

Guest: Yeah.

I sort of am exactly the opposite.

Area notoriously just do not watch movies of things I am in.

I did the Wizard of Oz two years ago and have never seen the movie.

My classmates put it on after we did the show.

I played Ariel in the little mermaid last summer that I have never seen any of the iterations of the Little Mermaid.

[LAUGHTER] So I kind of just kept up that trend.

And it really does allow me to create my own version of the, of the character and of the show.

But I read up on the plot of the movie and have noted the differences between our version of the show, which is meant for the stage and for a different kind of audience and it is now being done however many years later, as opposed to the version that came out in 2006.

So I sort of have a love that to be part of my research and getting ready for the world of the characters.

But I am a person that I love to experience something as if this is people's first experience of "take the lead," versus it being like -- this is the movie we are basing our thing off of.

David: It's a bit of a gamble, too, right?

Because if people have seen The Little Mermaid a hundred times and you're trying to bring your own self to it some audiences may say, "Where's my Little Mermaid?"

[LAUGHTER] Guest: Guest: Yeah, yes.

Guest: Yes, and think putting myself in the position of not diving too much into what the source material was when it's like a movie, for example like there's already something that actually happened and it's being turned into something, or remakes.

But I know the story and I really know the text, I think it is really helpful for building my confidence when approaching something like that and not letting people's expectation of what they should be seeing get to me.

Because that is not even on my radar.

What is on my radar is my love for the character and the show, which in this case is my love for my character and these high-school students and Pierre and the story we're telling, as opposed to the movie in particular, which like had incredible performances.

Like Yaya, I love her so much.

I think she's so incredible, and fingers crossed I get to meet her.

But it's nice that like I didn't feel like I needed to do her performance, or like I am doing a disservice if I don't do her character, that people might want to see.

David: And the real triumph ultimately is when you bring yourself to the character and the audiences love it, then it's like, yes.

That is what you want to do.

Guest: Yeah, yeah.

And if you so far, we have been successful in that.

I feel really confident in the work that we have done, and it just feels so good to finally do a show.

David: Yeah.

It is based on the real-life work of Pierre Dulaine.

Tell me a little bit about him and what it is that he did.

Guest: Oh, my gosh.

I mean, he's a man from all over, really.

He is -- his nationality is technically British, but he has lived all over the world -- he is such a cultural mix of a lot of different things.

He created this program that was called "dancing classrooms" here in New York City and in New Jersey.

It brought dancing into these public schools and created an avenue for kids to have an outlet for things that they may have going on, or just to build community and good relationships and a skill set.

He has done so around the world.

He started with a 30 kids in New York, who were sort of unsure about what he was trying to do.

Now he is bringing people together all around the world in areas that I think you would be surprised to find folks that can find that commonality and that sense of joy and artistry.

Yeah, he is an amazing guy.

We met him.

He has been around a few times.

Here are just so lovely.

And dance -- you can tell it's just such a huge passion of his.

Like, he really believes it and breathes it and lives in that space.

It is so joyful to be around.

David: Yeah.

I imagine it was kind of unheard of.

I mean, now you see a lot some local schools want to bring arts and dance into the schools, but it maybe wasn't that popular or certainly not as common a thing back then.

Savy, I imagine that in school you were exposed to arts, dance, music in some way.

How much of an impact did it have on what you are doing now?

Guest: Yeah, it had a huge impact.

I will speak to high school.

My freshman year of high school, I went to Winslow Township high school in New Jersey.

My freshman year, the musical that we were putting on was "the wiz."

There was a show that meant so much to me.

I remember watching that movie every single weekend with my mom.

We knew every word, every line, everything that they say, every piece of choreography in the movie, we knew it.

So, I was lucky enough to play Dorothy.

It was such an incredible experience that really exposed the power of theater for me and how much it meant to me and my soul.

And I wound up doing the musicals every year after that.

It truly was my experience of doing the year in the school, in Jersey, that really allowed that -- opened up a world of possibility.

And I was just lucky enough to be sure and something that I am so passionate about know that I want to pursue for the rest of my life at such a young age.

David: Vincent, I have to imagine you know a bit about dance and so on.

How much ballroom dances in your toolbox?

And talk about the preparation, rehearsals and so on.

Guest: I had only had a fleeting knowledge of ballroom prior to doing the show, shows like in the Heights and Guy's and dolls, there was a number or two, but coming into this process, I mean, SAvy and I had been attached to the show for two years at this point, just a series of workshops and readings and developing the show, trying to get it ready for an audience.

Throughout that process, a wonderful choreographer, she would have these workshops with us, these master classes, to sort of help the folks -- because we had true ballroom dancers in the show.

So to help the rest of us who don't have that background, we had some master classes.

We would get the basics down and say OK, this is what the walls is like.

Here is what merengue is like.

Now I think we do a good job of doing it, as well as we need to for the show.

And Maria is still obviously so helpful in that regard and making sure that we stay on our P's and Q's and all that stuff.

David: I imagine that you will be a different dancer by the end of this production than you were at the beginning.

Guest: Yeah, David: Savy and absolutely.

Vincent, good to meet you both.

Thanks for taking a few minutes with us today.

Guest: You too.

>> thank you.

David: "take the lead" runs at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn until April 27th.

And that's Chatbox for this week.

Thanks also to Bill Spadea for joining us.

We're on Blue Sky now -- follow us there at @DavidCruzNJ, and keep up with the work of the news team by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I'm David Cruz, for the entire crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Norco, we thank you for watching.

We'll see you next week.

ANNOUNCER: Major funding for "Chatbox with David Cruz" is provided by -- the members of the New Jersey Education Association.

"Making public schools great for every child."

Promotional support for "Chatbox with David Cruz" is provided by Insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight, online at InsiderNJ.com.

♪ ♪