>> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" is provided by -- promotional support by New Jersey business magazine, the magazine for New Jersey business Association reporting to executive and legislative leaders in 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.

♪ David: There is blood in the water and that can only mean, Sharks!

Hi everybody.

It is "Reporters Roundtable".

Our panel today includes Sophie, Colleen O'Day, and Dustin, editor at politico.

That in a few minutes but we begin with shock waves reverberating around the state as Senator Bob Menendez pleading not guilty to corruption charges and Democrats urging him to resign and primary challengers lining up.

New Jersey senior Senator facing his second indictment in seven years.

Let's welcome Ashley back to roundtable.

Good to see you.

How are you doing?

Ashley: Great.

Thank you.

I hope you are the same.

David: Thank you.

It is tough to imagine this ends up well for Bob Menendez, right?

Ashley: Yeah.

Always and is and until proven guilty, something that needs to be stressed in any circumstances like this but the evidence is striking followed by prominent Democrats within the state and outside the state calling on him to resign.

David: We were talking about the ramifications of all this down ticket, as they say, and there are a lot of those that I want to start with those who would challenge Menendez in a primary, Andy Kim out there first and told us he did not ask anyone's permission.

Was he out of the blue, do think?

Ashley: Not out of the blue with the quickness with which he did player -- declared was surprising.

We know he is the kind of member of Congress who sees a problem at once to get things done and we saw that in the January 6 aftermath, so definitely one of the name circulating and it definitely kind of colors the rest of the picture if there are other candidates who want to presumably get in the race.

David: Yeah, he really became an iconic figure with those snapshots of him cleaning up after the January 6 craziness.

How did the Democrats beat all these bigwigs last week and did not come out with their own candidate in mind?

Or maybe the low-key choice is Tammy Murphy and they are taking time to create a buzz around her?

Ashley: This is a hard call.

There are rising stars.

Andy Kim is on that list.

Of course, the first lady herself, Tammy Murphy.

All of this will be an interesting journey down this road into 2024, especially if Menendez does not resign.

We will have an open seat or a potentially contested Democratic primary if he decides to stay in office.

David: Any sense in your mind whether he would resign?

It seems unlikely, or perhaps not seek reelection?

Ashley: You know, when we polled in his first indictment, half wanted him to resign, half felt he did not deserve to be reelected.

I imagine if we repeated those questions today, you would have the same type of results.

I don't think he will be popular and whether that translates into a different candidate remains to be seen but we know how important this seat is to New Jersey in the Senate over all and the national Democratic Party, so there is a lot of conversation that we need to go within and out of state about what happens to his seat given that there is a Democratic governor that would likely appoint a Democratic replacement.

David: You mentioned that those people.

Anyone else you think might pop up as a logical choice other than Tammy Murphy, or does she clear the field.

We heard Frank Malone mention.

Ashley: Yeah you know, there is something enticing about you know a woman senator from New Jersey and securing that Seifert woman and I think that bolsters the argument even if there is a lot of interest there for Tammy Murphy, especially given her fundraising power and her capabilities and how important she has been to state politics.

Other than what we mentioned, like I said, there are some murmurs from a person who was ousted from the Senate with this could potentially get messy or it needs to be strategic leading into 2024 if other candidates decide to challenge Menendez for some reason he decides to resign in the seat becomes open.

David: Yeah.

Let's get some panel questions.

Colleen?

Colleen: Yeah, I wanted to ask Ashley what she thought about the poll that came out yesterday and the day before, something Andy Kim was touting because it showed him doing well but also showed Menendez not doing well at all.

Is there any validity to something like that they came out so quickly?

Ashley: We need to interpret those polls carefully.

We know it is an internal poll, a campaign poll, and we know he supports veterans, so we need to be careful.

We saw a sample size smaller than one would be typically comfortable with, especially subgroup analysis that they point to Hispanic or lack of Hispanic support for Menendez within that poll.

I would say we don't see margin of error, methodology, Public policy polling is known for being a left-leaning poll organization that mainly does campaign polling and advocacy polling, and we know they do something called IVR, interactive voice response, the robotic voice calling people to get their answers, so we know this stuff makes a big impact on how respondents interpret the questions and answer the questions and the results, so campaign polling is this different beast talking about academic or news organization polling, public policy polling, so I would say we always need to be cautious.

Given that, from what we have seen and other pollsters in the state have seen throughout the years, Menendez has always had lackluster numbers when it comes to favorability and job approval ratings.

Let's not forget that someone with no name recognition came somewhat close to him in a primary and that he still lost a large portion of the general the last time he was up for reelection, so I would say take it with a grain of salt but of course it will create a certain narrative in the press.

David: This is probably the best shot Republicans will get at the seat in the best shot in decades probably.

Any potential Republican challengers showing their faces yet you think?

Ashley: We know that one person has thrown their hat in the race so far so it is an interesting shot right now.

We know one person who does not desire to take that on his former Governor Chris Christie.

He said as much.

He has been active commentating on Menendez in his own experiences with Menendez.

We know one candidate potentially we may see and what we may not.

David: Do we think that Menendez troubles will have any impact on default legislative races?

Ashley: You know, that is hard to tell because we go into these low interest on voter turnout elections, it is those voters who have a real vested interest in something when the top of the ballot is not something well-known or not that exciting, so I would say voters fall back and those who do vote I'm sure we will see another abysmally low turnout rate so it will not be that way because these are low turnout elections when the legislature is at the top of the bout.

David: Real quick, should Democrats still be worried?

They have been getting their clocks cleaned all summer?

Ashley: Definitely I think to worry about.

This has not only New Jersey applications but national implications in New Jersey is continually related and synonymous with corruption and I do not think that is something as a proud New Jersey girl the state wants to have, so that only furthers the storyline nationally when there has been so much talk about Supreme Court justices.

This is something the Democratic Party nationally wants to distance itself from.

David: It is OK if we talk junk about jersey but anybody else talking junk about jersey better step off.

Ashley: That's right.

David: Ashley, great to see you again.

See you out there.

Ashley: Great seeing you, David thank you.

David: Panel, Sophie, Colleen, Dusty, it has been a week, huh?

We have been down this road before with Menendez.

You have been watching this unfold.

Colleen you had a great TikTok on the Menendez trials and tribulations over the years.

What is the worst part of this to you?

Colleen: I think it is the cash in your pockets, in your house.

I know that he said -- this may seem strange to people -- it goes back to his thoughts about his parents, coming from Cuba but really, I mean, I hope you have a good security system if you have $500,000 stuffed in pockets and gold bars.

He did not explain why according to the indictment there was DNA and/or fingerprints from one of his fellow indictees.

David: Dustin?

Dustin: this be he got back into the game of corruption after his trial and prosecutors say he started this corrupt scheme in 2018.

That is a year after he got acquitted.

David: Yeah.

Dustin: as has not acquitted, ended in mistrial, as people I have spoken to have said most people would be careful crossing the street so they don't go jaywalking and here is Menendez allegedly accepting a Mercedes-Benz, gold bars, stacks of cash.

It is so egregious and brazen it is unbelievable and has a lot of people upset and it is almost out of a bad movie.

David: It is really movie of the week types of.

Sophie, what is the worst part for you?

Sophie: I go Dustin, how quickly he turned around from the mistrial to kind of start up with this alleged corruption again is really quick for somebody who probably if I was in that position would have been laying low, I guess, but on the other hand I do think that the gold bars are the worst part.

They are the easiest thing to make fun of and you can make Mr. Scrooge gifs of it, so that is probably the worst.

David: We have been working up a Bob Menendez Halloween costume over here.

The me, the worst thing is really the sensitive information that he passed on to Egyptian officials.

That is like, wow, man.

Is Andy Kim a serious candidate?

What impact does it a Tammy Murphy candidacy have in all of this?

Colleen?

Colleen: he is serious.

He was the first one to come out of the gate to announce as well as the first one as far as we know to publicly call for Menendez to resign.

On the other hand, you know, I don't think that a South Jersey candidate necessarily has an edge because you know, North Jersey has more people and it seems like there is more of a profile.

In terms of a candidacy from Tammy Murphy, not that it might make a difference in the state that has not elected a Republican 50 years, but I can certainly see that the Republicans coming out, the husband buying a seat for his wife.

David: Yeah.

Colleen: I can see there would be drawbacks to that.

Is she qualified?

She has certainly been high-profile in this administration, and she certainly has got some very strong ideas on the number of issues like the environment and maternal health.

David: Dustin, I feel like this is what team Murphy has been working up to all along, no?

Dustin: possibly.

I interpreted this as a trial balloon to see how the response would be to floating Tammy's name out there.

Since day one, obviously, Phil Murphy and Tammy Murphy have been a package deal.

She has always been widely viewed in those circles as somebody who has aspirations.

She is hands and has had a policy portfolio over the last six years, so yeah, you could say this all fits neatly into the long-term goals of the Murphys.

They have stayed politically involved, and beyond 2025, I think, so whether it has legs, I don't know, because as Colleen alluded to, her running, the wife of the governor running, whatever her credentials are, she will still be viewed initially first and foremost is the wife of the governor, the really rich governor, and it will be viewed as them buying the seat and it does smack of entitlement.

To the average person.

David: Yeah.

Yeah.

Sophie, I have heard from some in the Latino community who were a bit resentful of the names dropped as potentials.

None Latino or Latina.

Have you been hearing that?

Sophie: definitely.

There is sentiment among Latinos hesitant to call on Menendez to resign, but they see the dam that is breaking on what will happen in 2024 considering the lack of support from Party Chair's and people like Phil Murphy, but you are right, the short list does not include a Latino or Latina.

The action pack yesterday release the names including Senator Teresa Lily's -- Louise and others so they are trying to put Latinas out there to be on the shortlist.

I am not sure if that is getting traction just yet.

Andy Kim for sure seems to be the first person we all think of right now considering how hard he has come out of the gate.

David: Yeah.

Dustin, does that Sophie refers to comes from Latina -- PAC and includes women who deserve party support.

Multiple candidates, all senators, and another candidate, an educator and activist and head of the organization, all-powerful women, but would any of them be considered serious candidates?

Dustin: you have to go to the county bosses for that one.

I think there is more than just the senate seat that is being considered in the deliberations.

I think part of it is also the 2025 governor's race, and I believe the conventional wisdom is that two people who are both in the house right now are looking at the governor's seat and you also have the mayor for Jersey City who has announced he is running, so I would suspect that the stage they might want to cut the deal, they being the county bosses, the county chairs.

They might want to cut a deal where we take one of those house members of the table for 2025 and running them for the Senate and that would probably be a Democrat.

It should be.

David: Sophie, switching gears a little bit.

Minimum wage find a $15 an hour in New Jersey in January.

You had a piece on this this week.

$15 seems like a great deal five years ago.

Now it is like, dude, that is only 600 dollars a week.

What did you find?

Sophie: right.

This is part of Murphy's plan to gradually phase in a $15 an hour minimum wage that started in his first term.

This is $15.13, so it is one of a handful of states with more than $15 an hour, and yeah, not as much a 2018 or 2019.

I know because I went to the supermarket yesterday and $15 an hour when not go very far, so it would be interesting to see how it continues after next year.

So I'm a previously it was going up one dollar every year, and now it will be based again on the inflation rate, so I expect it to keep going up likely, but I am not sure if it will catch up as many minimum-wage workers needed to to survive.

David: Yeah.

Second Republican debate this week.

Chris Christie's chance to make a mark for himself.

Did he do it?

Chris Christie: I want to tell you, Donald, I know you are watching.

You can't help yourself.

[LAUGHTER] I know you're watching.

You are not here tonight because of holes or indictments, you are not here tonight because you are afraid of being on the stage and defending your record.

You are ducking these things.

Let me tell you what will happen you keep doing that and we won't call you Donald Trump.

We will call you Donald Duck.

David: Colleen, I wanted to ask this question in a Donald Duck voice but I simply cannot.

Funny or flat, do you think?

Colleen: flat.

I'm sure it sounded good when they were -- David: Testing it?

Colleen: yeah, and the lead up to it is great, especially from the angle Chris Christie is taking, being the anti-trauma.

He was tough, you know pounding at him.

You are afraid to be on the stage.

That's great.

And if I could do the voice, I would, but yeah.

David: Dustin, I will not ask you to do a Donald Duck voice, but Chris Christie has been funnier, has not he?

Dustin: yes.

Chris Christie is naturally a funny guy, and with anybody else, Richard Pryor and some the greatest comics, they bomb sometimes and jokes do not land, so I give him a little pass.

I think the problem for Chris Christie is that his greatest strength and Donald greatest vulnerability are not coalescing here.

They have to be on the debate stage.

They have to be mano a mano him if he will, because Christie could really exploit Trump and tear him apart on his record, but he can't do that if Trump is not there and he's just standing up there with a dozen other people who are just, it is a sideshow.

There is no other way to put it I think.

Hurt Sophie David: -- Sophie, the only ones watching this are us, right?

Sophie: the debate?

I don't know.

I was hanging out with people yesterday who watched it.

David: OK. Sophie: it was funny.

Definitely the take away from the whole debate is the Donald Duck joke, and as much as it fell flat, it is historical how much it fell flat and how memeified he has become.

I don't know there's anyone else that has as many memes as Chris Christie, so it is funny ironically.

I think that these memes will get people to watch clips of the debate, but I still don't think they are very consequential.

David: Congratulations to us not doing the Donald Duck choice.

Time for our segment, headlines and notes that are quintessentially Jersey.

Dustin?

Dustin: well, Bob Menendez can't take all the corruption spotlight.

Here comes former Mayor Torres getting indicted a second time for again, another blatant thing.

He ran for mayor again and that was a violation of his terms from last time.

He pleaded guilty, so a touch of Jersey irony.

To make it worse, the state department of education twitter account, whoever who is running that is not having a great week or a great day.

They put out this poll asking who was the first Latino mayor of Patterson, and that was Joey Torres, so.

Cringe all around.

David: That's right.

Do you have something for us?

>> The Republicans have been railing about the pork they put in the budget at the last minute, hundreds of millions of dollars, and then we have in the fourth district, just one of those kind of districts to watch down in South Jersey, you have the Republican challengers in the same press release, one saying he thinks the budget is so stuffed with pork it gives him indigestion, but how come Moriarty can't bring home the bacon?

He is the Democrat who is running for the Senate.

It just, you know, obviously, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

David: Mmm.

Take and pork.

Sophie?

Sophie: yeah, every D.C. reporter was running around asking everyone in Congress with their take was on whether Senator Menendez should resign, and a reporter asked a Democrat from Nevada whether she thinks Menendez should resign and she said she thinks it is up to the voters.

When he asked if it is a liability for the party, she responded that it is New Jersey.

Uh, I think we all know what that means.

He claimed he did not know what that meant.

David: Yeah.

Right.

All right.

Mine comes from Newark, where Newark airport once again finished last in the annual JD power North America airport satisfaction study.

It turns out not only are the flight delays, cancellations and poor communications bucking customers, but now we hear that sometimes you can still get stuck with a huge bill for a hamburger and French fries, and unconfirmed amounts of scotch.

Take heart.

Analysts say the new terminal A and other upgrades could pull the facility out of last place as soon as next year.

Call it the terminal A fact.

That is the Roundtable.

Great to see you all.

Thanks to Ashley as well for joining us.

You can follow the show on X @roundtablenj and get exclusive content and episodes when you scan the QR code on your screen.

I am David Cruz for all the crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Newark, thanks for watching.

We will see next week.

>> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" is provided by -- RWJ Barnabas health.

That's be healthy together.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey business magazine, the magazine for 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 topical newsletter on Garden State politics online at Politico.com.

♪