- We wanna welcome back the Senator from Atlantic County, Senator Vince Polistina, the second leg... I was gonna say congressional district, but I'm not gonna promote you yet.

Guys, Vince, good to see you again.

- Great to be here, Steve.

Thanks for having me again.

- Always.

Listen, let's get right to this.

You are very concerned about, an advocate for Atlantic City.

In the most recent budget that was agreed to between the governor and the legislature, you did not vote for it.

There are increases in gaming taxes.

On whom specifically, and what does that have to do with Atlantic City?

- So it's increased taxes on internet and sports betting, so internet gaming and sports betting.

That's the one thing that has really been going well for Atlantic City since the pandemic.

Yeah, our internet and sports betting have really increased, and that's kind of the old Ronald Reagan thing.

You know, they saw something that was doing well and decided to increase taxes on it.

You know, of course, as we're trying to come outta the pandemic, trying to increase visitation and tourism to Atlantic City, we didn't wanna see any increased taxes.

So we're able to negotiate it down lower than what they had initially proposed.

But still, we don't think that this is a time to increase any taxes on our gaming in Atlantic City, recognizing that we had New York gaming on the horizon.

- You also are concerned about energy, affordability, and reliability.

Connect that, excuse me, those issues to the future of Atlantic City and surrounding communities.

- We're really struggling down here.

You know, we don't produce energy for the most part anymore.

We're buying it from Pennsylvania at higher rates.

As demand goes up in the summer and you see our casino industry doing well and tourism increasing down here, they're able to increase the rates on our energy because we don't produce it ourselves.

And so tremendous impact on our casino industry, on our businesses, on our residents.

We really need an all-encompassing energy policy focusing on how we're gonna produce energy in the state again.

- Another area where you've expressed concern, and you're not the only legislator who's talked about this, is the state funding formula or the state formula for funding public schools.

What's your greatest concern, Senator, about the state dollars that go to your part of the state and how that has to be made up for in local property taxes?

- Yeah, I think that we really need to revisit the overall school funding formula.

And I think we have to start from the baseline that we should treat every child equally and get them an equal amount of funding.

Then you have to have some add-ons for special education and some other things depending on the district.

But we have some of our suburban districts, we're getting, you know, for example, 10 or $12,000 while some of the other communities are getting, you know, $30,000.

It's just unfair, and we're not treating our children equally or we're not giving them an equal chance to succeed.

And so I would like us to revisit it, try to make things more equitable for every child across the state.

- Along those lines, there's a gubernatorial campaign that you're very well aware of that happens in November of 2025.

New governor takes office 2026.

Excuse me, January, 2026.

Senator, the number one education issue that is facing the new governor is?

- Well, I think the school funding is certainly the biggest thing.

And then getting parents more involved in children's education, I think is the second biggest thing.

We have seen it in our lifetime, Steve.

You know, as parents have gotten busier and busier trying to put food on the table, working two jobs.

We just haven't seen them as involved in the educational system.

And we all know that the education for children has to be both in schools and at home.

And so I think we need to figure out ways to get parents more involved in their children's education.

- Move to healthcare.

What concerns do you have, Senator?

You're a state legislator, but federal policies clearly impact the state of New Jersey in this so-called big, beautiful depends upon your opinion, bill that has passed and now law in the United States.

A significant amount of funding to Medicaid, those are healthcare dollars for those who are financially struggling or disabled, they've been cut.

There are estimates that hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents are at risk of losing their health benefits through Medicaid.

What concerns do you have about that as, in fact, a Republican state legislator in New Jersey?

- So, I mean, we all have an obligation to give people a hand up when they need it.

And so anyone who needs support through Medicaid or other public assistance programs, I believe at the federal level, at the state level, we need to support them.

I understand, you know, some of these are gonna be tied to some volunteer or work requirements, and so if people are able to volunteer or to work, they need to do that.

But at the end of the day, both at the federal level and at the state level, we need to make sure we're providing necessary support to give people the hand up that is necessary to get them back on their feet and get them back as productive members of society.

- I understand that, Senator, but there are those who have argued, and I'd like your response to this, that those cuts are gonna have to be made up for with state dollars, which many argue don't exist, or that dollars are gonna be taken from hospitals because the reimbursement rate will not be what hospitals need, and hospitals are potentially closing.

And after the hospital closes, it's too late.

Translation, what concerns have you expressed?

Because all three, unless I'm wrong, all three Republican members of the congressional delegation New Jersey voted for that legislation knowing that those cuts were in there.

If you were in fact in Congress, would you have voted for that bill?

- I think I would've, Steve.

I might not have it analyzed the entire bill, but you know, all of these things as they move through the process, I mean, you have to make a decision based on the overall bill.

And there were some good things for New Jersey with this SALT deduction and some other measures to keep... - Go back to SALT.

The SALT deduction was $10,000 cap, and I believe, Senator, it's been moved to a $40,000 cap, which SALT is state and local tax deductions.

We can now write off up to 40 grand, is that right?

- That is correct.

I think for a period of time, I think it actually reverts back to 10 at some point in time, but right now, you can go up to $40,000.

So it's going to help people with their state and local tax deductions.

We also maintain the tax rates from the 2017 tax cuts.

And so, you know, on balance, although there are significant concerns, as you said, related to hospitals, related to some of the Medicaid funding, I think on balance I would've been in favor of the bill recognizing that, you know, it had to go through a process.

You had to get the votes from some of these areas throughout the country, and that more work needs to be done.

But I do think it is encouraging that they were able to get the bill to the finish line.

And I'm hopeful that they all realize that we need to do more work on the federal budget and more work to support our hospitals, support the Medicaid population.

And I look forward to, you know, having those conversations with all of our federal representatives.

- You know, it's interesting, you're a very well-respected member of the legislature, perceived by many to be someone who works both sides of the aisle.

And how dare you be engaged in bipartisanship.

So along those lines, Senator, let me ask you this.

For those who argue that the political parties, the Democrats and Republicans have fragmented, what I mean by that is, there's the MAGA wing of the party and then there are others who are more moderate.

Obviously the MAGA wing has more folks in it, which is part of the reason Donald Trump is president.

And then the Democrats have a democratic socialist running in New York City and a very left wing, AOC, Bernie Sanders, et cetera, wing of the party, and then other more mainstream Democrats.

Here's the question, where the heck do you fit in the Republican Party?

- I fit in the middle, Steve.

I mean, I have always a member of the Republican party, I have always tried to take a look at the issue or the policy and not voting with a party.

So, you know, you mentioned that I have been bipartisan, I have voted for the Democratic governor's budgets when I thought they were right for Atlantic County.

And I think that everybody needs to recognize that, you know, you don't have this immediate visceral reaction if a Democrat governor is proposing a budget to automatically oppose it, or, you know, similarly at the federal level, just because there was a Republicans proposing that federal budget don't have an immediate reaction to oppose it, which is what we see happening now in many of our governing bodies across this country.

- Could you go back to education?

'Cause I know, Senator, you have been engaged in an effort to pass legislation that strengthens teachers.

What the heck is it specifically and why does it relate to people who care about education?

- So we just did a bill to allow for teachers who get paid for extracurricular activities to have that money.

They're getting paid, counted towards their pension.

Again, you know, the educational system under some stress because parents are busier, teachers are, you know, trying to get through the school day and then volunteering in some cases after or getting paid for extracurricular.

We're trying to give them, you know, the ability to have that money count to their pension.

The teachers and parents are the two most important people in children's lives.

And so we're trying to do everything we can to support both of those groups.

- And just, I wanna be clear, extracurricular activities such as?

- Such as coaching, such as, you know, doing some tutoring after school.

If you're getting paid to do this service, that it should be including your pension.

And, you know, I think also we really need to look at cost of living adjustments.

The people who have had their cost of living adjustments taken from them, that is another area.

I think is just huge for all of our workers in the state.

- Last question on my end.

I'm up here in northern New Jersey, you're down in beautiful Atlantic County.

Are there times in the legislature, given the district you represent, 15 communities, if you will, in Atlanta County, that you feel as if we're really not we one state of New Jersey, but rather these sections of the state advocating for their section of the state and the issues they care about?

Long-winded way of asking, are we really one state?

- We're really one state.

Everybody has their parochial interests.

And of course, there are more people, more legislators up in North Jersey.

And so, you know, you do see a lot of money, you know, when they're going through the legislative process focused on North Jersey as opposed to South Jersey.

We are one state, we're parochial as well.

You know, when it comes to Atlantic City, we're very parochial trying to protect Atlantic City and do the things that are necessary for Atlantic City.

So we all have our, you know, interests based on geography, but we are one overall state.

- Before I let you go over your left shoulder, POW/MIA, prisoners of war, missing in action, tell folks why that's always there every time we interview.

- That's just one of the things we have in the office.

Of course, our military, our service people, you know, so important to this country to provide our freedom.

And so we're always going to support them.

And to the extent that we have people missing in action, we would love to see them located and returned to the United States.

- To the Senator's point, we're doing a whole range of programming, honoring our heroes, honoring our veterans.

Check out our website for that.

Senator Vince Polistina, second legislative district down in beautiful Atlantic County.

Senator, as always, thank you for joining us.

- Of course, Steve, great to be here, and look forward to doing it next time.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato, that's the senator.

We'll see you next time.

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