>> major funding for "Chat Box with David Cruz" is provided by the members of the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

Promotional funding is provided by insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players and interactive forum for discussion, ideas, and insight.

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♪ David: Hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Chat Box."

And David Cruise.

It has been another tumultuous year in New Jersey and across the country with women at the center.

We will talk with Democratic strategist Julia Riggins get in a bit, but we begin with a look at Congress with 12 district representative Bonnie Watson Coleman.

How is it going in the house?

Are things coming down somewhat?

>> the more we learn about the new speaker, the more concerns we have.

We have some really important bills we need to get past.

We have some appropriations bills we need to get out to make sure the government stays open.

We have to come back in January and February and deal with that issue.

It is very tumultuous down here, and we are operating on less then we need to know in order to be able to plan and to do the things that are necessary to lower the cost for Americans, for making sure they have access to health care and to their prescription drugs and all those things we think are so important .

David: Has this speaker shown any more capacity to work across the aisle than the other speaker?

>> This speaker may be more affable but that does not make him any less dangerous.

I don't see any opportunity that he has extended to work in a bipartisan fashion.

Just the idea that he's going to try to cognitive has an impeachment against Joe Biden even absent any information that would put Joe Biden in that position, to be the trump-ite he seems to be is very disturbing, and it make it -- it makes it difficult for Democrats to want to work with someone who is so right.

David: Ukraine aid is in danger.

We seem to have forgotten about that conflict entirely.

An aide to President Zelenskyy says they face risk of losing the war without more military aid, but Republicans seem intent on blocking that.

>> We cannot understand that.

The truth of the matter is if Ukraine should fall to put in, so does the rest of Europe become even more vulnerable.

Our allies become more vulnerable.

We need to do the right thing, which is to continue to support Ukraine.

They have done a remarkable job in standing up for their rights, and they are our allies, and we have a responsibility to support our allies.

So that is very disturbing to us.

We need to be doing that before we even close down for the holiday.

David: In the Middle East, even Sudan is facing problems.

You were a no vote on House resolution 894.

Can you talk about that resolution and why you were in no vote and why it is not a simple yes or no.

>> Republicans have weaponized this whole issue of anti-Semitism without doing anything to improve the situation.

We have not extended the humanitarian aid.

We have not supported Israel in the funding it needs, so Republicans are trying to get to you in these gotcha moments.

One of the problems I had with this particular resolution had to do with the equation of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism or anti-Zionism being anti-Semitic.

I believe that you can criticize without being anti-Semitic.

I believe that you have the right to state your opinion and still love and respect that Israel deserves to be a state, a safe, secure, prosperous state.

I also believe that for the Palestinian people as well, and I dislike it when you kinda conflate Palestine and Hamas.

Another issue I have is that we have already signed on to a number of resolutions and letters that denounce anti-Semitism, that denounce Hamas, that begged for the hostages to be return, the ask for a cease-fire, that ask for more diplomacy.

Republicans are not interested in any of the things that would make the situation better.

They don't really care about the substance.

They just care about the gotcha messaging, and people need to understand that this use of this Israel-Hamas issue and this whole issue of anti-Semitism -- it is a tool.

It is a hypocritical tool that Republicans are using to divide, not to bring people together.

David: There seem to be very few areas where people can find common ground to even begin a serious discussion.

We are so bogged down by semantics and slogans and fractured historical narratives.

I mean, occupation, who is a terrorist, who is a combatant?

Is it hard to imagine peace coming out of these circumstances right now -- it is hard to imagine peace coming out of these circumstances right now.

>> without a diplomatic effort, we are not going to see it.

Without a cease firing and humanitarian support and releasing of hostages, we are not going to find it.

We are not going to find it by continuing the war.

We will only find it by engaging in more diplomacy, and we need to do this for the children of Israel and the children of Palestine.

We need to do this for our future, and as I said, Republicans give a lot of lip service but not a lot of substantive support, not unlike what they did when they were in charge and we had all these mass shootings high schools and mosques and other religious institutions, and Republicans' answer to that was we will do a moment of silence and give them our prayers and our thoughts.

We don't need prayers and thoughts.

We need substantive support.

We need the funding to get to where it needs to get and we need real diplomacy on the ground.

David: The perfect example is mass shootings just over the last couple of days that seem to have just not even attracted much attention at all.

Are we so desensitized at this point?

>> It certainly seems that way and we need not be.

My greatest concern with what is happening in our country, so many negative things are happening that people are almost normalizing this, and they don't get the sense of urgency that it is all connected to democracy or autocracy.

That's the binary choice that we have as we are moving forward into 2024.

We need people who will promote peace and substance, and we need people who are willing to work with others, not to call leaders vermin and things of that nature.

I don't get the sense that the people in my country, the country that I love, are -- have to have that sense of urgency and that are able to connect things that are happening domestically and internationally that connect to our ability to be a thriving, supportive, strong democracy.

David: I saw you posted today in support of the president making loan forgiveness for college loans, spreading that.

Still a ways to go on that as well.

>> Yet, I don't understand why Republicans are fighting us so hard on student loan debt forgiveness when we have done so much for millionaires and billionaires with all kinds of tax loopholes and things of that nature.

Having an educated citizenry helps us to have a good economy and the last thing we need to do is continue to strap those individuals who have incurred all kinds of debt simply to get an education that probably should be free anyway if it were at a state-sponsored school, and get them out of the debt that they have, and the debt is generally incurred by those of lower income.

They tend to be minority and women, and I think that if we want to perpetuate a strong and thriving economy, we need to reach down and deal with the issue where you find it and you lift those up and we are all lifted up.

David: I have to ask about some domestic Jersey issues we have been talking about.

Last time you were with us, we were talking about women's political empowerment and the challenges that they face.

Now we have a woman running for U.S. Senate who happens to be the spouse of the governor.

She would also be the first female senator in state history, but her candidacy is facing pushback over claims of nepotism and abuse of power by the governor.

Where are you on Tammy Murphy for Senate?

>> Well, I am staying out of this race because Andy Kim would be the first Asian-American from the state of New Jersey, and there are very few of those in the Senate as well.

I think both are excellent candidates.

I think Tammy Murphy has done an incredible job with the internal health issues as well as environmental issues.

I don't have any problem with her.

I just think this is a family fight -- or family dispute, not even fight, among two competent people, maybe one or two more coming into the race, and it needs to play itself out.

I think Tammy has earned her right to be considered on the merits of what she has done as First Lady.

>> What about these charges of nepotism that her husband, being the leader of the Democratic Party in the state, would be able to bring -- pressure to bear on county organizations who we have seen have all fallen in line behind her?

>> he is the governor of the State of New Jersey and with that comes influence.

You cannot ignore that.

He says he is staying out of it.

Tammy is working her way through all of those infrastructures, putting her case before them, and I'm going to take him at his word.

By virtue of his position, of course he has influence, but we cannot deny the fact that that is the fact.

David: We are hearing a lot about Congressman Menendez and if he should be judged in terms of his father.

Some Democrats have come out and supported him.

Where are you on your colleague Robert Menendez?

>> I don't believe again in the sons being held responsible for the sins of the father if there were sins of the father.

He has done a good job as a Congress representative.

I work for him.

I like him.

I respect him.

I feel badly that he is pulled in to this in the way that he is, but he is strong.

He can get through it.

I think we should judge him on his record here.

David: While I have you for another minute or so, can you talk about a bill or two that are priorities of yours going forward?

>> I have been trying to get one bill through -- actually, two.

The healthy moms act which looks at opening up health care for women who find themselves pregnant and need something different.

The paid act which would prohibit car insurances from looking at your sociodemographics, your education, your kind of job you have and how educated you are in order to determine what your insurance should be.

I've got a number of pieces of legislation that I'm working on that have to deal with income guarantees, job guarantees, you name it.

The Crown act -- I'm still trying to get it passed, you know.

I will continue to advance my agenda, and hopefully, we will have the kind of majority in the house that my agenda gets to see the light of day.

David: Great to see you.

Happy holidays to you.

>> Thank you and the same to you.

Take care.

David: We just heard about a federal investigation into hiring practices and the toxic work environment for women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community within the New Jersey State police.

It is not a shocker to our next guest who has survived the toxic political environment of New Jersey.

She's a Democratic strategist and cofounder of lift our voices.

It is a pleasure to welcome her back to the show.

Good to see you.

>> good to see you.

Thanks for having me.

David: There is an excellent "times" piece about the New Jersey state police and the environment there.

You reposted the story adding, "how many three-alarm fires on one subject can one government have?"

>> it is not three strikes you're out.

It's more like 23 strikes you are out.

The pattern has been consistent.

One thing that keeps happening over and over again, for some reason the governor just has an allergy to holding anybody who mistreats women accountable.

That happened in the 2017 campaign.

It happened when he was ambassador to Germany until there was an investigation by the State Department that called out his tenure and the treatment of women under his watch.

It happened with his soccer team are his wife's soccer team until another newspaper called it out.

It happened with Katie Brennan until it was called out.

It happened with me.

It happened with a whole host of women.

Those men were promoted.

One is working at the port authority and is running Tammy Murphy's Super PAC.

It happened in state police.

It happened with Eddie man where the governor kept his corrections officer in place.

David: Was kind of adamant about it.

>> I mean, consistently.

At some point, you got to wonder, what is the problem with Governor Murphy when it comes to these kinds of issues?

It is not complicated.

If you mistreat women, you should go.

It is not even debatable.

I know he thinks he will survive and has survived as governor because of this and of course because of the peculiar nature of our political system in New Jersey, but you cannot go through life acting this way if you ever want to run for anything nationally.

I know this because I give speeches about these kinds of issues.

The appetite for this kind of behavior just does not exist anywhere outside New Jersey.

Should not exist inside New Jersey either.

Certainly doesn't exist across the Hudson or across the Delaware.

The governor is going to find he has screwed so many women on so many different issues that eventually is going to come back and bite him.

For his own self-preservation if not for these women, he should at long last reconsider his treatment of these women.

David: It's not like the New Jersey State police have not had federal intervention before, right?

>> The New Jersey state police have had federal intervention going back to when I first started politics decades ago.

Now they are under federal investigation and yet, the governor keeps protecting Matt Plotkin, who ultimately the buck stops with him.

He is in charge of state police.

He should go based on this report.

Second, the head of the state police on the governor has protected over and over again despite numerous previous accusations because the governor just has a blind eye when it comes to white men and the way he protects them versus the way he turns a blind eye to have women and people of color are treated.

I'm a Democrat.

I was a Democrat before Phil Murphy ever darkened New Jersey's door as governor.

I will be Democrat long after he visited -- long after he bids a deer -- long after he bids adieu to New Jersey.

It offends me as a woman and as a Democrat.

He is titular head of our party and this is not what our party should stand for, and It is disgraceful that we have someone in a position of influence who acts this way and treats women this way.

It should not be.

David: I imagine you see some irony, especially in the context of your experience, in the very candidacy of First Lady Tammy Murphy who could become the state's first female senator, on the one hand questioning her qualifications leaves somewhat open to charges of sexism, and on the other hand, it's hard not to see that her candidacy is very much help by her husband.

Where are you on Tammy Murphy?

>> I will tell you, I don't think anyone could question my bona fides when it comes to women and the power of women.

I will say this about Tammy Murphy.

There are two things here.

One is when I was a little girl and I had a daughter, and what I would tell her is that if you work really hard and play by the rules and do everything you are supposed to do, you could grow up to be a senator.

Nobody has ever said, at least not in my generation, if you work really hard and Mary the governor, you, too, can become senator.

This is not an example for women as to what to do to become senator.

This is very 1920's, 1950's, where the husband serves and then passes away and then the wife gets the seat because she is Mrs. senator or Mrs. congressman.

Tammy Murphy I can tell you from my perspective, shortly after her husband got elected governor, she sent me a very nice text message thanking me profusely, and I still have the text message, saying something along the lines of, thank you for being with us when it was dark and lonely when nobody else would be in the very beginning.

That was the last time I heard from Tammy.

And it has been very well documented what his -- what her husband and his administration did to me during the course of the ensuing 6, 7 years, and I never heard from Tammy Murphy to say, I am so sorry.

As a woman, this cannot be happening to you.

I asked Katie Brennan a week or two ago, did you ever hear from Tammy Murphy after you reach out to her and ask for help and you are sexually assaulted?

Did you ever hear from her after you settled your lawsuit to say, I am so sorry you went through this?

The answer is no, she never did.

No woman has ever heard from Tammy Murphy, so for Tammy Murphy to tell you she is some sort of champion of women, I am here to tell you from personal experience and after talking to countless women, nobody ever heard from her when they were being screwed by her husband and his administration.

That's not great if you are trying to pretend to be some sort of Trail Blazer, some sort of feminist.

David: You don't consider her and Ally to women?

>> No, I don't consider her an ally.

I consider her an enabler of her husband and the men around her.

I was having dinner by sheer coincidence with a few professional female soccer players and I asked about the governor's team, which Tammy Murphy co-owned with the governor and now she runs, and they said the environment was awful.

Some are still traumatized by it and they said the only reason it changed was because of mass press attention.

The only reason they are speaking up is because the press is all over you but you are doing nothing to help women when the attention is not on you and in fact you are enabling and enabling men and harming women, I don't consider you to be an ally.

There are plenty of women who are really bad and enable men who engage in toxic behavior, and I wish that were not the case with this is Murphy, but in fact I think it kind of is.

David: You mentioned in some of your other work that so many of us do not know we are bound by NDA's at work, not to mention this forced arbitration.

Are there some numbers we can share with folks for context?

>> yeah, sure.

You should know -- and you should probably check your contract and everyone listening to the show as well -- by next year, 82% of all American workers will be bound by post-arbitration, which means if you accuse someone of gender discrimination or sexual harassment -- not sexual harassment anymore because I got that law passed, but up racial discrimination, age discrimination, chances are you will be forced to go into a secret arbitration.

The odds of you succeeding is 2.5%, which is virtually nothing.

Chances are something that happens to you, keep your mouth shut because we are not going to get any kind of satisfaction.

Already 1/3 of Americans are bound by nondisclosure agreements which means if something happens, you cannot go on a show like this because you are threatened with legal ramifications.

That is a huge problem and that is why my organization is working really hard to change the law.

We got rid of force arbitration and nondisclosure agreements for sexual misconduct.

Our next goal is to get rid of it for age discrimination.

Senator Booker has a built in to get rid of force arbitration.

We need to tell people, they cannot cover it up.

David: Democratic strategist and cofounder of lift our voices, it is really good to see you.

Happy holidays.

That is "Chat Box" for this week.

You can follow me on X @ DavidCruzand Jay -- @DavidCruzNJ and you can get more information by scanning the QR code on your screen.

>> Major funding for "Chat Box with the David Cruz" is provided by the major members of the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

Promotional support is provided by insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players and interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight.

Online at insiderNJ.com.