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- This is One-On-One.

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(upbeat music) - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato.

Jacqui Tricarico, our co-anchor on "Remember Them."

You're seeing us on "One-on-One" as well.

Jacqui, we kick off this, "Remember Them," remembering a great friend of ours, Joe Fiordaliso, who was the president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

He passed in the fall of 2023.

I mean, Joe was such a supporter, a champion of alternative uses of energy, climate change.

He was talking about it way before it became popular.

Talk about that interview because you also, I think you did an interview with Joe right before he passed.

And we never actually even aired it, obviously, but we'll see a clip from it here, Jacqui.

- Yeah, that's correct, Steve.

So we decided to take a couple clips from people who mattered to Joe, who impacted Joe's life, as well as interviews that you and I did with Joe over the years, to remember him here on "Remember Them."

So first up, we will see a clip of Christine Guhl-Sadovy, the new president of the BPU, who took over after Joe's untimely death, and she talks about Joe and what he meant to her, and how she's following in his footsteps.

And then we see an interview that you did with Joe many years ago, about the importance of the BPU, and what he's trying to accomplish.

And then, like you said, Steve, I had the privilege of sitting down with Joe at the BPU offices in Trenton to invite, it was on August 3rd, so just a month and a half before he passed away.

And we talked about a variety of different things, one of those being electric vehicles.

So you'll see a clip from that, and him talking about the legacy that he wanted to leave behind for his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren, and all the, you know, generations to come.

So seeing those three clips together next, you'll get a little bit more of a sense of who Joe Fiordaliso really was.

- So on behalf of Jacqui and the "Remember Them" team, we remember a very special public servant, Joe Fiordaliso.

Joe Fiordaliso, the late great president of the BPU, longtime friend of ours, we had him on so many times.

You worked with him, you knew him well.

We saw each other at Joe's wake.

What made Joe Fiordaliso so special and a great public servant?

- Steve, it's hard to put into words, I think what made Joe such a great public servant, a great mentor, and a great friend.

He had a wonderful sense of humor.

He was approachable, he was open-minded.

He was so committed to the goals of the BPU, and Governor Murphy's clean energy policy goals, and he was so incredibly supportive of staff like me, I was his chief of staff, among other things, and all of the staff of the BPU.

And he didn't miss an opportunity to talk about the wonderful staff of this department.

(bright music) - Describe the Board of Public Utilities, what is the main responsibility at the board?

- The initial responsibility when it was created back in 1911 by then Governor Woodrow Wilson, and I didn't help him create it.

- [Steve] You did not?

- No, no.

I just... - [Steve] What happened to his career after that?

- I don't know what he did after that.

- [Steve] Sorry.

- We were trying to get him on a good career path, but it didn't work.

- [Steve] It just never worked out.

Go ahead.

- And the primary responsibility was to provide reliable, safe, and reasonable, reasonably cost energy to the citizens of the state of New Jersey.

And that's been our mission for well over 100 years.

- Has it be, how much more complicated has that become with wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas?

- Yes.

- Not to mention this thing called global warming.

How much more complicated is the job?

- Well, the job is a lot more complicated because back in 1999, the state legislature designated the Board of Public Utilities as the Clean Energy Office for the state of New Jersey.

So, in addition to our regulatory responsibilities, we also oversee all of the renewable energy projects in the state of New Jersey, and an awful lot originate from our agency and so on.

And now we're in the midst of really a very exciting adventure, I believe.

- With the new administration.

By the way, the president, President Fiordaliso came onto the board in January, 2006.

He's been a very longstanding member of that board and now is president through several gubernatorial administrations.

If you were to describe the Murphy Energy Policy, what would it be?

- Exciting, aggressive, and doable.

(bright music) - The Board of Public Utilities has been working hand in hand with the governor's office for many years now on the Energy Master plan.

Now, this plan has a very ambitious goal of reaching 100% clean energy in the state by the year 2050.

And I know there's been a lot of programs and incentives that have come out of your office along with the governor's office to reach those goals.

One area that you and your team are currently working on is electric vehicles.

First, help us understand the amount of pollution that our transportation sector is putting out here in the state.

- 40% of the carbon that is emitted in the state of New Jersey comes from transportation.

And if you drive on the parkway and the turnpike every day like I do from Essex County down to here, it, you can see why.

I mean, we just have too many cars.

We have too many trucks, we have too many buses.

So, our area of concentration is to focus on the electrification of our transportation system.

Now, that doesn't happen overnight, Jacqui.

And just like everything else doesn't happen overnight.

So it's important that we make a conscious effort and be aggressive in our approach and that's what we have to do if we're going to reduce the carbon in our environment.

- What is the real potential of electric vehicles having a really strong role in combating climate change?

- Well, I think it's encouraging that we have a partner in Washington who believes in climate change, that the climate is altering and will alter the way we live.

And the financial assistance that we receive in each state with the Inflation Reduction Act, as an example, provides states with the opportunity to initiate programs like this.

Up until the election of President Biden, we didn't have a workable partner in Washington.

And because this has to be a total effort, you know, New Jersey is far ahead of many states in the union in our clean energy initiatives, but it has to be a total effort.

It has to be a total effort here in New Jersey.

- The Charge Up New Jersey initiative here that you have at the BPO, part of that initiative really is focusing on these electric charging stations.

- Yes.

- Right.

People have electric vehicles and especially when it comes to tourism, right?

That's a big part of this.

We have people, especially, we're in the summer months right now, right?

We have people traveling from New York, Pennsylvania, into our state to use our beaches, how important it is to have accessibility to those charging stations.

And how is this initiative helping to do that?

- It's vital.

One of the things we're trying to dispel is range anxiety.

And the auto manufacturers are actually helping us with that, because with each generation of electric vehicles, we're getting more and more mileage out of a charge.

So this is wonderful, but we don't want people to wonder, gee, where where am I gonna charge my vehicle?

And what's gonna happen if I lose my charge?

We don't want that anxiety.

And it's a real anxiety, I know even when I drove a combustible engine car, where's the next gas station?

- Of course.

- Right?

So it, so you're gonna see 'em on the parkway, you're gonna see them on the turnpike.

They're already there many.

- Right, even down I'd see, like the program is working with municipalities and different communities to make sure that they're by the boardwalks, you know, down at the, the beach areas.

- And the tourism is one of the things that we deal with.

And we're also helping, you mentioned municipalities, we're also giving incentives to municipalities to install chargers and incentives to buy electric vehicles for their fleet and so on.

You or me buying an electric vehicle is wonderful, but we need everyone to consider buying an electric vehicle.

And they're becoming more and more popular.

You drive down the road and you see many, many electric vehicles.

- Electric vehicles do seem pretty expensive, and we do see a lot more on the roads, but when we're talking about our, you know, lower to middle income families, those electric vehicles don't seem like an affordable option right now.

Do you see that shifting or changing?

- I think it's shifting and changing because we've restructured our incentive program.

Up until this year, if you bought an expensive vehicle, electric vehicle, you got more of an incentive.

We say, well, you know, we want you and me to be able to buy an electric vehicle.

Maybe I can't afford that $60,000 vehicle.

Maybe I can afford a $20,000 or a $30,000 vehicle.

So, why don't we flip the incentives and give folks the incentive who buy the less expensive one?

So, what are we doing?

We're giving everybody now the opportunity to buy an electric vehicle, not only those who can afford that $60,000 one, but everyone, and that's what has to happen.

As I said before, it's gotta be a collective effort.

All 9.3 million of us have to get together and say, listen, we know that climate change is detrimental and will be more detrimental to our way of life.

And we know that it's going to affect future generations.

I have six grandchildren.

They're gonna have children.

I'm gonna be judged on, we are gonna be judged on, on how well we mitigate the effects of climate change.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

"Remember Them" continues to remember people with a New Jersey connection who matter greatly.

This next one is particularly tough.

Congressman Donald Payne Jr., 65 years of age passed in April of, as we're doing this program, 2024.

The interview I did here is with Rick Thigpen, our great friend from PSE&G, who was like this with the congressman, a long time family and personal connection.

And you also see on the backend interview that I did with Congressman Payne talking about his dad, the late Congressman Payne Sr.

He took his seat in Congress.

Jacqui, what should, what do you believe we should remember about young Congressman Payne who passed way too soon at 65?

- Well, like you said, we see a clip of him talking about his father, and we did do a "remember them" about his dad, Congressman Payne Sr. And he really wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, and he did so much.

Another Newark native, we just saw a segment about Joe Fiordaliso.

He was from Newark as well.

A lot of people said that Donald Payne Jr. was a soft-spoken kind of guy, but he was such a respected politician, and did so much for his hometown of Newark, and so much for so many people throughout New Jersey.

We get to hear a little bit more about that through Rick Thigpen, like you said, so close with him.

They were best friends, and also had a family connection, so no better person to, to give us a little bit more insight about the late Congressman Donald Payne Jr. - People are very critical of politicians, but one public official slash politician who made a difference, who did not make it about himself, and always tried to make a difference, particularly for the people he served in the city of Newark that he loves so much, the late Congressman, Donald Payne Jr. what did he teach you about the importance of service?

- That there was nothing greater than the serve your fellow man, and that if you're in the position to make the quality of someone's life better, then it's your obligation to do it.

And that's the model that I followed in following him into public service.

- We're now joined by our longtime friend who... Well he's joined us on "Remember Them", "One-on-One" many times, because he is a historian, 'cause he understands about the past and how it connects to where we are today.

This interview, this conversation, is much more personal.

Rick Thigpen is Senior Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at PSEG.

We are remembering Congressman Donald Payne Jr. Good to see you, my friend.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

Thank you.

And Donald Payne meant the world to me.

- We did a "Remember Them" on Donald Payne Sr. We never expected to, never wanted to, do one about Donald Payne Jr., member of Congress, died way too young.

Your connection with him was deep and personal on many levels.

Talk about it, Rick.

- Steve, Donald Payne and his father have made a big impression on my life.

His father and my father, along with Bill Payne, Donald's brother, were political friends and allies and distant cousins as it turns out, and worked together for many years to kinda rise in the world of politics in Essex County, as you might have noticed, yourself.

I am the same age as Donald Jr. and so we participated in that together for many years and Donald really came into his own in the later part of his life, and I was a part of that journey with him.

But the Paynes have made an enormous impression on my life and I will miss him forever and ever.

- I wanna talk about some of Congressman Payne's accomplishments in Congress.

- Yes.

- Well-liked, well-respected, reach across the aisle, always wanted to do what was right for his constituents, particularly those in the city he loved so much, Newark, New Jersey.

Talk about that first, Rick.

- Yes, boy is that an understatement, I'll start at the very end.

At his funeral Hakeem Jeffries spoke, the House Democratic Leader, and called Donald Payne the most prolific legislator in his class.

And, you know, that was absolutely true.

Donald was a prolific legislator.

He suffered like his father in being a soft-spoken, kind of underwhelming public presence so people didn't fully appreciate all of the hard work that Donald put in.

But also like his father, people, over time, really grew to love and appreciate him.

And his legislative accomplishments are really quite significant.

He worked on a variety of topics.

You know, because he had his own health challenges, he was very active with colorectal cancer, first off, which is what took his father, and to make sure that polyps were covered by Medicare.

He worked on peripheral artery disease, which is something he suffered from as a diabetic to ensure that people didn't have unnecessary amputations, which research showed disproportionately affected poor people and people of color.

So that was something he worked on.

But also as Chairman of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, he stepped in during the famous almost rail strike in in 2022 - That's right.

- and he worked along with the White House, asked legislation to get a collective bargaining agreement approved and put into practice to avert a strike and to avert the damage to our economy.

He worked with Homeland Security on things like interoperable communications to make sure that different agencies could talk to each other during crisis.

It was something we'd learned during 9-1-1, to ensure that our government was better prepared to respond to emergencies and disasters.

And he also worked on having things like planning in Homeland Security to include kids, you know, schools and daycare centers, to make sure that people were paying attention to these basic things.

So those are just a little taste of what Donald accomplished in Washington.

I believe in his 12 years in Congress, he had five bills passed into law, which is quite significant for someone at the beginning of their legislative career.

And he was on his way to do even more when he was unfortunately taken from us, but Donald also worked on things like economic and social justice to make sure that our country in the future was going to be fairer than it's been in the past.

But he was a strong advocate for the city of Newark, which he loved so much, and for New Jersey.

He used to always say that it was not called the Port Authority of New York, but the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and that New Jersey should get its fair share.

And he was always looking for ways to better the community of Newark, a community which you're familiar with, too.

It was in his life blood, it was always in his sense of purpose.

He was so dedicated to seeing that people who had, you know, fewer opportunities were given greater opportunities going forward.

And he cared about things like voting rights and community policing and we could go on and on.

Donald really has a proud record that I wanna encourage everyone to do a little homework on because he was so quiet and humble people sometimes didn't think he was doing anything.

But in fact it was just the opposite.

- The other thing is I carry around this tiny little basketball, and you know why.

I lost count of the number of basketball games that I would see you sitting with Donald rooting usually - Yes.

- for Seton Hall University, but you were also, the last time you guys... - Always (indistinct) if they were playing.

- Plenty, and we would also critique at halftime and after the game, who should have done what?

His love of basketball, your love of basketball together, and the final time being together at the NCAA Championships with him.

Why did he love basketball so much?

And how did that connect - Oh man.

- the two of you?

- You know, his father started the tradition of us going to the NCAA tournaments, starting with the Final Four, but as we got smarter, also the earlier round games as well.

Donald and I are both sons of Pirates.

We both loved Seton Hall - Seton Hall Pirates.

- basketball, we... (Steve chuckles) The Seton Hall Pirates.

We lived and die with our Seton Hall basketball, and unfortunately, there's a few deaths in there as you're aware, Steve, but we were all about the Seton Hall Pirates and seeing them succeed.

But even beyond that we loved college basketball.

We were fans of the Big East, which Seton Hall had a real important role in creating, and was so successful.

So we'd always root for the Big East at the NCAA tournaments, but we loved college basketball and he was such an expert and aficionado.

He would teach me about so many players and we saw so many future NBA stars play in the NCAA tournaments - That's right.

- so it was really outstanding.

And in fact, as you mentioned, the last thing I did with Donald, which was just about one week before his life ended, was attend the NCAA Eastern Regionals in Boston.

We spent a weekend together up there watching college basketball.

We had a great time together.

He was moving slowly.

He had to be a little bit more methodical.

His mobility had been reduced.

But it really, really still caught me by surprise, in fact, that was gonna be the last time I saw him, you know, but we loved college basketball and that's where we spent a great majority of our time together.

We would talk politics.

We would talk family.

He made me a better father by talking to me and coaching me as well.

He made me a better man by talking to me, but we would do a lot of that talking at college basketball games.

- You loved him.

- And always (garbled) ball games.

Yes.

- You loved him deeply, didn't you?

- Yes, I did.

Donald and his father made enormous impressions on me, and his father was like a second father to me.

He really...

I used to joke with Donald about it.

You know, "I think your father likes me better."

and he'd tell me why I think your father likes me better.

(Steve chuckles) And so we used to have that little competition, but I learned so much about politics from his father and perhaps, most importantly, the enormous challenge of being a dedicated public servant.

I learned it from his father and I watched Donald, who always felt he was operating in his father's shadow, never really appreciated his own excellence in his own leadership because he was always trying to live up to his father's standards and his Uncle Bill's standards.

You know, Bill Payne was a member of the Assembly, and before that was quite active in the NAACP in a variety of leadership roles, himself, over the years.

Donald always told me he had - Right.

- something to live up to, but Donald was a really dedicated public servant who really cared about regular people.

and I always make the joke that because of Donald Payne, I have spent more time on Bergen Street than any public service executive in history.

And it really has made me a better man, I joke about it.

- Bergen Street in Newark.

Bergen Street in the South Ward of Newark.. That's right.

- Absolutely.

- Hey, Rick, what was... - That was the home of Donald.

- Yeah.

PS, go on our website, which will be up right now, look at the original.

I shouldn't say the original Donald Payne.

The "Remember Them" that we did on Donald Payne Sr., which actually also featured Donald Payne Jr. talking about his dad.

And Rick, "Remember Them" would not be what it is if it were not for your inspiration, your advice, your guidance, and you're urging me, our team, to do this.

Not that we ever wanted to do this or expected to do this about Congressman Donald Payne Jr., but he needs to be remembered for everything he was, everything he did, and his legacy lives on.

Thank you, my friend.

- Thank you, Steve, I hope I can try to capture some of the excellence of Donald Payne for people.

He really was one of the outstanding leaders in this community.

A quiet storm, a very humble man, but he cared deeply about people.

And at his funeral and the days leading up to his funeral, we heard testimony after testimony of the people who Donald Payne helped.

And it really...

I heard it from his wife and kids, that really made me proud.

And by the way, I'd be remiss not to mention Donald was the father of triplets.

He gave his wife Beatrice enormous credit for raising them while he was out chasing, you know, politics, so to speak.

But being the father of triplets is not for the faint-hearted, everybody out there, you know, but he did it with grace and dignity.

He raised three fabulous children and he cared so much about the people in the city of Newark.

And Newark will truly miss one of its greatest heroes.

- Well, said my friend.

Thank you, Rick.

- Thank you, Steve.

- On behalf of Jacqui Tricarico, our entire team at "Remember Them" and "One-on-One", we thank you so much for watching.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

And by The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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