"Reporters Roundtable" is provided by RWJ Barnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

Rowan University.

Educating New Jersey leaders.

Partnering with New Jersey businesses.

Transforming New Jersey's future.

Promotional 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 in the Garden State since 1954.

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

♪ David: We have crossed the county line.

Now what?

It is "Reporters Roundtable."

I'm David Cruise.

Who is on the panel today?

No request necessary, I will tell you.

Nancy Solomon is a reporter for WNYC.

We have the senior writer and projects editor for NJ Spotlight News.

Sean Sullivan is a reporter with NJ advanced media.

We will hear from them in just a few minutes.

But let's begin our first show in the post line era with what comes next and what else is happening with Anthony Bucha.

Good to see you again.

>> Good to see you, David.

David: The appeals court upheld the injunction that killed the party line for this election for Democrats.

There is still a case pending on this, but most experts believe the line is probably dead.

Great decision, or one we are going to regret?

>> Look, I think many legal scholars thought the way the laws were written were problematic and the Third Circuit has now confirmed that.

The thing that I think is important, though, is this change that is going to have to be made doesn't occur through a court process.

It belongs in legislative hands.

The good news is, all four of the legislative leaders in the Senate have agreed.

We have had conversations that we are going to pursue a legislative fix.

We will probably look at other states and how they handle this process.

We are going to get advice from legal experts.

It is going to be a transparent process.

And ultimately, we will come hopefully to a bipartisan agreement as to what it is going to look like going forward.

David: The other thing a lot of people are talking about is the open Public records act.

You recently signed on as a cosponsor.

Where is that now and can you talk about some of the changes being considered there?

>> Sure, and I signed on for a reason because I thought the original version of the bill needed some amendments.

I spoke to the Senate president.

We talk often.

The prime sponsor of the legislation was open to amendments.

So we are now in the process of amending the bill to address some of the concerns that folks have and to make sure we get it right.

This is an important piece of legislation.

Does it need reform?

It certainly does.

But I think the good news is, the process has slowed down a little bit.

There will be amendments I hope we can get bipartisan support on.

Then we will move forward with what will hopefully be a good bill, something that takes the commercial aspect out of OPRA.

Folks that use OPRA as a commercial tool, that is not what it was intended for.

It continues to protect the transparency that OPRA provides for individuals, but also saves the taxpayers some money.

David: Sean, you have a question on this.

>> When they write laws, they carve out exceptions for themselves that do not apply to other branches of government.

As you know, it is hard to OPRA the legislature.

While you guys are in the process of modernizing OPRA, is there any consideration of making you guys more transparent?

And if not, why not?

>> That discussion has not been on the table at this point.

We deal with a lot of sensitive material, individuals that call us problems, negotiations of legislation.

So, it is difficult when you start looking at those issues as to how you pick and choose what should be released and what shouldn't.

At this point, we are really trying to get at the bad actors, those folks that are out there sending in OPRA requests for body worn camera videos of young women and posting them on the Internet, trying to get at those bad actors to stop that.

We are also trying to get at those that use OPRA for a commercial purpose because that is clearly what it was not intended for.

But we are also going to do our best to make sure we don't impact they transparency or accessibility that OPRA provides.

David: A little bit of politics.

We saw Zach jump into the race.

Have you made a pick in this race?

Or are you waiting for another candidate?

>> I have not.

Both John and Jack are good friends of mine.

I served with them both in the legislature.

I think they are both excellent candidates.

But it is way early in the game.

So many things change in politics within a minute's time period.

So much can change.

I think everyone should sit back, listen to the candidates, don't jump into early.

We don't even know if the field is set yet.

Good advice that I got as a young man was to wait, make sure you know who all the candidates are, listen to their policy positions, then make a decision once the field is set.

David: The U.S. Senate primary, Curtis Pasha and Christine Serrano Glassner, are what you guys got.

Nancy had a question on this.

>> Why do you think it is that we are not seeing bigger names from the Republican Party in New Jersey come forward for what is such an important seat, both for New Jerseyans but also nationally?

>> With the registration disadvantage that Republicans have here in New Jersey, statewide races are difficult.

We know that in the Senate race, we haven't had a Republican candidate since 1972.

These are difficult races.

They take a lot of money, they take a lot of time and commitment from the candidates.

It doesn't surprise me that we don't have a number of people jumping into the race.

But I will say this.

This year more than ever than in my recent memory, I think the Republican Party has a really great shot because of Senator Menendez, because of what we have seen with one party rule and what it produces, and I think the Republicans in this race will run hard.

I think both candidates are great candidates, and we will see what happens.

But I do think Republicans stand the best chance of gaining this back than we ever have before.

David: I am running out of time here.

I want to get your opinion on these fare hikes at New Jersey transit.

It seems like the governor suggested that the fare hikes are going to be permanent for riders, but the tax that is going to help pay for NJ transit operations is not permanent.

Do you have any idea how tenuous the economic situation is at NJ transit?

>> I think if the administration has really missed the boat on anything, it is New Jersey transit.

First of all, to allow a 15% fare hike to go through at this point, then a 3% increase on top of that year after year after that, plus go back on your word and put a surcharge on the corporate business tax is a disaster for the state of New Jersey.

We don't even know what the problems are at New Jersey transit because we haven't had an independent audit of the system.

People's commuting has changed.

It has changed for a few reasons.

One is people are not going to work every day of the week anymore.

So many people are working from home.

People aren't running into the city and like they used to.

Quite frankly with a fare hike, people will think, is it cheaper for me to get in my car and drive?

For us to start throwing money at a problem without knowing what the problems are I think is misguided.

David: -- Senate Republican leader Anthony Bucco.

Our panel, good to see you all.

Colleen, did you think we would ever see the day where we would be talking about the county line in the past tense?

>> I certainly didn't.

I know there was a suit that was brought a couple years ago that seems like it was going nowhere fast in the court system, but that seems like what happens in the courts.

This decision was quite surprising, and I think it shocked or rocked the political world here in New Jersey.

After initially appealing, the county clerks seemed to have been able to put these ballots together, and we are in a brave new world.

David: It is amazing how quickly some of these county clerks were like, wait a minute, everyone running for Senate could be here.

It is like, how hard was that?

Nancy, the line is dead.

Long live the new office block ballot regime?

>> Well, it is what 49 other states do.

So, I think it is -- it has been a problem for a long time and I think it is a largely undemocratic process that dates back to when the parties chose their nominees.

And now the expectation of voters and reporters is that the voters should choose who wins the primary and goes onto the general election, and that the parties shouldn't be putting their thumb on the scale and electioneering on the ballot by telling voters who are there approved candidates.

I think this is a good step forward for democracy in New Jersey, and I think it is going to have enormous impacts on politics in the state.

David: There is also the opinion that they are not going to be able to screen candidates and that you are going to have candidates with tons of money be able to impact primaries.

You don't buy that?

>> I don't think we have seen a great track record of candidates in New Jersey.

We have a lot of people who stay in office.

There are no competitive primaries against them.

Even last year when we had a huge amount of turnover in the state legislature, we still have the smallest number of competitive primaries where you have reformers and outsiders able to get in there and challenge and hold elected officials accountable.

I don't think that argument really holds up.

David: It is definitely a different playing field.

I feel like party leaders are sitting in a diner on route 3 somewhere, spitballing ways around this.

Has the concept of the county line become part of what voters are talking about, or is it just us?

Sean: I think it is a broader issue that normal folks were not aware of before.

I don't think the average person knew beforehand that New Jersey had a system that was unique to the rest of the country.

When they have a judge or district court saying this is a system that picks winners and punishes those who don't have endorsements, suddenly that is a much different calculus in voters' minds.

I think the party leaders are going to have to figure out how to change their messaging and especially regroup on how they do the endorsement process and how they do the vetting process.

David: I talked to a lot of people about this during this process and they thought the rest of the country pretty much did it the way New Jersey did it.

A lot of people's heads have been turned by the reality of the uniqueness of New Jersey.

Here is another thing most people outside of our bubble are not talking much about but affects them greatly.

It is OPRA, the Open Public Records Act.

We heard from Senator Bucco saying there are nefarious actors.

It is the bill anywhere near a committee room?

>> I think that is a very good question that we don't know the answer to.

We keep hearing about these backroom discussions.

Again, very counter to OPRA and the open Public meetings act.

We have no idea who those people are.

I haven't heard of any of the groups that came out, and individuals, and they came out in force against the bill that is pending.

I haven't heard from any of them saying, we have had a great discussion with the Senator or his staff about changing things.

We really don't know at this point.

One of the things we need to be careful about is that we have heard from some legislators -- some Republicans are again this, but we heard some Republicans may be for it.

If there are skittish Democrats out there, this might be something where we wind up with a strange bipartisan vote we don't normally see.

But I do think any legislator contemplating voting about this should consider the poll that found that more than 80% of New Jerseyans don't want to see this law changed.

I would really think that would be in the Back Of My Mind before I cast a vote.

David: I would say that it was the question itself a little tilted.

Sean, no OPRA, no problem?

Or no OPRA, no news?

>> I think the idea that OPRA is perfect and it doesn't need changing is also an idea that should be challenged, that there are real problems with the law both from a privacy perspective and from a transparency perspective.

For example, the government records counsel is toothless and that is something legislation could fix.

I think the problem is the way the lawmakers went about this, trying to rush it through until they literally got yelled at at hearings.

It has kind of obliterated any trust that the public has that lawmakers have their best interest in mind when they are doing this.

Senator Sare -- Senator Sarlow said if this was not done by April, it would be another 20 years.

I don't know if that was just being dramatic.

But it seems like any changes they are going to make will be a real tough sell.

I think it will be a difficult hurdle for them to overcome.

David: Why should Joan Q.

Public care about this?

Why is it important to the general public?

>> Right.

This is the process that reporters go through to get information.

So, it is a step behind what then emerges, news stories that educate the public about their government.

So, people might not immediately understand how important OPRA is.

But I think the outpouring of criticism from advocacy groups and reporters also about how bad this bill is and how important it is to keep records more open rather than less open I think shows it is problematic.

Let me just say one more thing, not to only be focused on the county line, but this is precisely the kind of bill that will be harder to pass when there is no county line because legislators are going to have to be looking over their backs at the potential of a real primary challenge when they vote for unpopular things.

I think these two issues are connected.

David: Colleen, the latest on the Menendez case is the introduction of the "Nadine made me do it" defense?

>> I think we should have all seen this coming when we heard there was this discussion to split the cases between the two of them.

But I have to say, if the senator is trying to rehabilitate his image, this is not the way to do it.

We hear that she is ill, perhaps seriously ill, and is going to be undergoing some treatment and is going to need some rehabilitative time afterwards.

So, is now the time to come out and say, well, this was all my wife's doing?

She tricked me into doing this?

I can see how it would happen, but the optics are really bad.

David: Sean, real quick.

You were at this hearing this week, a public hearing on guns.

Most particularly, ghost guns, yeah?

>> Yeah, the state commission of investigation held a hearing on this issue.

Gun violence overall in New Jersey is down fairly significantly, but increasingly what is happening at crime scenes in New Jersey is police are vying -- are finding 3D printed guns and ghost guns.

They call them multi-shoot guns or community guns that are being connected to multiple crimes.

The problem is that these things are made, the parts are made using 3D printers, which are widely available.

You can use them to make medical devices and toys.

You see those green devices.

They compare those to Legos.

That is a switch that can turn a handgun fully automatic.

The state commission of investigation will be issuing a report, making recommendations to lawmakers.

It will be interesting to see how they thread the needle with regulating any technology and trying to prevent illegal firearms from ending up on the street.

David: Wow.

600% increase in the amount of these types of guns confiscated.

That is no messing around.

Time for our only in Jersey moments, headlines and notes that are quintessentially Jersey.

>> I would like to talk about, we were all expecting it, the inevitable nexus between the storming of the capital and the real housewives of New Jersey.

[laughter] This week, Tyler Campanella, the stepson of cast member CD Flicker, was charged at being -- charged with being at the Capitol on January 6.

I was looking at the court documents in this case and the feds seem to have identified him based on social media posts made by his stepmother.

That is another important reminder to all of us, the parents out there, you may be very proud of your children, but be careful what you post because it may be used against them in the court of law.

David: I am waiting for the new reality series, Capitol Hill stormers.

>> There is a group known as the Highlands coalition, and their mission is to essentially try to help preserve land and the clean water in the Highlands region in North Jersey, which supplies water to more than half the state.

This weekend to try to boost information about this group, awareness, as well as celebrate Earth Day, and raise some money to help them keep doing their work, they are going to do some repelling.

They are going to be repelling down 200 feet.

They are not doing it on one of those beautiful cliffs or in a state park.

They will be going down the Hilton at the intersection of the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 3, and across from American dream and MetLife Stadium.

David: If that doesn't say it all.

Nancy, you got one for us?

>> There was a report about the Essex County vaccination, COVID vaccination program, and problems with waste and abuse in that program.

The fact that there was a politically connected contractor who double charged the county on a $110,000 invoice, submitted and got paid for it twice, that might not be only in New Jersey, but it certainly is New Jersey.

This level of political influence in the government contracting that we have at every agency across the state -- maybe not every, but so many agencies across the state, it is a real New Jersey problem.

David: Like the song says, nobody does it better.

As we approach Earth Day, it is important to point out the great lie that continues to be perpetuated by a billionaire golf course owner and his paid local functionaries.

That is that the state DEP will flood a section of Liberty State Park.

That is not true.

It is actually a restoration of wetlands that will alleviate flooding in the surrounding mostly black and brown community just outside the park.

You have heard me talk about this before.

But a video by the group that you may have recently gotten via text uses a segment from our "Chat Box" show way out of context in an effort to give some validity to their lives.

I can say dumb things every once in a while, but I know enough to never trust any news that comes to my phone from an unknown telephone number, and neither should you.

And that is "Reporters Roundtable" for this week.

Good to see you all.

Thanks also to Senator Bucco for joining us.

No "Reporters Roundtable Next week.

Next week's Chat Box will be a full hour as we welcome the Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.

We will have a discussion on the important issues facing New Jersey and the nation, from wars to recession to immigration, student loan debt, and more.

It is not a debate.

It will be informal but candid, and we hope in Lightning.

It streams April, Thursday 25th on the YouTube channel, then it airs next Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday morning at 10:00.

We hope you will join us.

In the meantime, follow the show on X and find full episodes of Roundtable and more when you scan the QR code on your screen.

I'm David Cruise.

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

We will see you next week.

Announcer: Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" is provided by RWJ Barnabas Health.

Let's be healthy together.

Rowan University.

Educating New Jersey leaders.

Partnering with New Jersey businesses.

Transforming New Jersey's future.

Promotional 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 in the Garden State since 1954.

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