♪ >> Major funding for "Chat Box" is provided by the members of the New Jersey education Association.

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

It is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion and inside.

On line at insidernj.com.

♪ David: Welcome to "Chat Box."

it is the season, right?

Weekend before Christmas.

The final show of 2023.

We begin with another "Chat Box" exclusive, Steve Sweeney announcing he is running for governor in 2025 and he joins us now.

Senator is a good to see you.

>> It is good to see you.

David: You wanted to correct something when I did the story and I said you voted against marriage equality.

You did not vote at the time, right?

>> I abstained and it was my biggest mistake in my political career and I made up for it because when I sustained it did not pass it when I became Senate President, it passed.

David: You are not Senate President yet?

>> Yeah.

David: That's a long time.

>> 2008, 2009.

David: You mentioned your progressive accomplishments but not so much the other reforms like pension reform, note millionaires tax -- you are that guy.

Would you call yourself a moderate or conservative?

>> A moderate, always a moderate.

There is no escaping the pension reform we did and we saved it from insolvency.

I am proud we saved it.

When you are a leader and when you lead, sometimes it means there are things people don't like that you will lose votes on but it is the best thing for the people state and you do it, up like I said, the pension reform had to happen or 800,000 people would have seen a pension system go into bankruptcy.

David: You took a lot of heat for that.

In fact, progressives make up the kind of core of the Democratic Party, you have never been a favorite of theirs.

On occasion you do lineup.

>> Here is the ironic thing.

They said Phil Murphy is the most aggressive governor ever.

David: Yeah.

>> You know every bill he signed I voted for in it passed, so how can I be a conservative when I was the prime sponsor of paid family leave, the minimum wage?

We pushed equal pay across the line.

We could go on and on and on about these progressive pieces of legislation that I voted for that were done.

Phil Murphy is a progressive and they label me as a conservative.

Those same groups cheered when I lost to a very conservative guy that has a lot of hate spewing out of his mouth.

I am a moderate.

I have always been a moderate.

I will not change.

I am physically conservative and I do not apologize for that.

Our job is to make New Jersey more affordable for the residents here, so that is what we do.

David: It is easier to be in the executive branch and say here is a progressive policy or conservative moderate party policy I want, but quite another when you have to do the heavy lifting in the legislature, right, whipped votes and all that?

>> Of course.

Again, I signed up for it, David.

When we did reproductive freedom, we codified that before I left.

We made no one happy, you know what I mean?

To the progressives we did not go far enough.

To the conservatives we cross the line.

That you know what was most important was we protected a woman's reproductive freedom.

David: So what are your priorities?

Are you going to do like the other person in this race put out policy papers and that sort of thing, are you going to do that, and what are your priorities?

>> Listen, one of my top priorities is housing for the disabled.

There is an 8000-person waiting list for housing and I can take you for someone like myself, my daughter is fine and she is safe because she has me and my wife, but when we are gone, where does she go?

Is it a safe environment?

A lot of people with disabilities are abused verbally and physically.

That is why we created a registry for those people.

TTF, transportation.

David: Transportation trust fund.

>> Yes.

Energy.

Doing things right with energy, clean energy, which we did with the s-racks and o-racks, I was a sponsor of that, but we need a portfolio of energy so we did not put all our eggs in one basket and when things go bad like in Europe and in Ukraine than all of a sudden you are in trouble, so I am excited about hydrogen coming online.

There will be a hydrogen hub in New Jersey.

I think it is the fuel of the future.

Nukes, you remember I got it kicked out of me for supporting it and everyone was against it and now they all love nukes, so, I think most importantly is getting consensus forecasting and multi-modal budgeting is the most important thing we can do in the state of New Jersey.

So as you are seeing, projecting years out and budgets are saying yes, I can afford this new program or no, I can't afford it, not to create expectations and then let people down.

And then everyone fought.

The administration always fights, it does not matter Republicans, Democrats, Chris Christie, Phil Murphy fought against it.

1977 convention they gave the government the right to certify numbers but of course there was no office of legislative services.

A lot has changed since 1947 and a lot of states are doing multi-your budgeting and consent revenue consensus forecasting because by doing that you're putting the state in a very sound position financially.

David: And it is less about these numbers that the governor may cook up somehow when he or she gets the power to certify those numbers?

Yeah, we have 38 billion, even if you really kind of don't.

>> And David, when I'd left office we created a think tank at Rowan University where we have the smartest Democrat, Republican, Independent financial people working with us.

Two years ago we predicted we were going to be running into a deficit.

Last year we said hey, listen, we sent the report to the legislature saying he careful, it is coming, you know what I mean?

Maybe even a soft recession, if there is anything such as a soft recession.

David: Right.

>> But we will have a budget deficit, so creating programs that we then can't fund, you know what I mean?

What always drove me crazy when I was in the legislature was we would pop up these new programs was we are not paying the bills of the programs we already created.

David: Right.

Are you referring specifically to anything, like anchor, stay NJ, those programs?

They made it through a Sweeney Senate.

>> I really don't know because I know the numbers I am seeing.

I have not talked to legislative leaders to show how they will keep these things in place.

I certainly hope they do for one reason, they made a commitment.

David: Yep.

And people are not relying on those funds.

How are you getting along with Steve Philip?

>> I get along fine with him, honestly.

David, there are going to be a lot of people running for governor on the Democrat side.

They are all good people.

And we as a Democratic Party are fortunate to have a lot of good candidates who are running comes that like I said, people make a lot of things up, Steve Fulton, Steve Sweeney, have I wisecracked and done some stuff where I just break things at time we do know what I mean, but it is never personal.

David: He mentioned that you two got along and he had a funny tweet or post where he said that this seems a little bit like 2016 and that he was looking over his shoulder for a Wall Street millionaire.

Do you feel a little bit like, you know, there could be a surprise candidate out there?

>> There always can be, you know, David?

I guess the frustration for someone me -- I am in ironworker.

I have worked up in steel buildings.

I will never be wealthy.

I moved up the ranks in my organization and have done better than I dreamed, but I would never be rich, and to work real hard and then it not happen , you know, bet his life.

There are no promises.

Could someone come out of left field?

Of course they could.

They always could.

And for me the numbers we are talking about for running, that is good.

David: Yeah, when you think of Tammy Murphy's candidacy, have you made a choice there?

>> I have not done anything because you can imagine how busy I have been and you are starting to see the endorsements I am getting.

I just received the Longshoremen's adores Mint, which I am proud of.

They are here, not in the southern part of the state, and the Eastern regional carpenters, a huge organization, so like I said, I am excited but I am working real hard.

Obviously at some point I will pay attention to that but right now I am paying attention to what I need to do.

David: What about some of the complaints we have heard about nepotism, that she is there because her husband is the governor, and there were other people who would have been better suited for the position?

Are you not paying attention to any of that stuff either?

>> Listen, at the end of the day, David, people are undecided and people decide if they do not want her, she will not be there if they do want her but she will be there.

David: A couple of quick questions running out of time, do you continue supporting the party line?

>> Yes.

>>You know why?

Because those people are duly elected in the counties they serve and they were giving their support to their leaders and by the way, many of these organizations have real conventions.

David: A lot of them don't and a lot of them where there is a convention, the bosses have said who is going to be the candidate.

>> Sometimes yes.

Sometimes no.

But really, this arguing about the county line, you run for office to be a committee person.

David: Yeah.

>> You win have an election and elect a leader, OK?

It is a democratic process.

David: How about the corporate business tax surcharge to fund NJ transit?

>> I am the one who came up with the surcharge, if you remember to take care of our shortfall.

David: Yeah.

>> We can look at it.

David, I think Governor Murphy -- the easy answer is to say, you know, just do it.

Just do it.

But we need to look at it.

I look at my legislation that created a situation where we had to do multi-year budgeting at New Jersey transit.

That is why you know you have a problem, of the discussion has to be had on what do we do and how to refund NJ transit, and have we look at other ways of funding, number one?

Right before I left office I was talking about getting a dedicated funding source.

It is not always best to have the highest corporate tax in the nation either.

David: Yeah.

So where will it come from?

>> That is what we have to figure out.

Maybe it is a corporate business tax?

Air maybe it is some other kind of fee or whatever you want to call it, but one thing I do know is we have to fund transit.

David: So this would be the third consecutive Democratic administration in Trenton.

That has not happened since, I don't know, you remember this, but you were probably just a teenager, in 1886.

>> I was in high school.

David: Are you concerned about that?

New Jersey voters like to flip it.

>> Listen, when you get into this, are you concerned with that stuff?

Of course you are but you have to be confident in your skills and your ability to communicate and then basically show work.

There is profit for the work I have done.

You can pick it apart, criticize it, raise it we have done a lot of good things but more needs to be done and for me I started my career as an advocate for the disabled.

I will finish my life being an advocate for the disabled.

David: So we stalked -- talk to Steve Philip about this and talked about diversity and we ask if he would consider a person of color or a woman as a running mate.

Are you starting those calculations yet?

>> I haven't started but of course, that makes sense.

We are the most diverse state in the nation, you know?

No one is close to us, so having a diverse administration, having a diverse cabinet, it is critically important.

You know, before I had left I announced we were going to make that person the majority leader, and then that person left, because we wanted to make that statement.

Sandy Cunningham was the Senate protest and print them for in my leadership team was black, brown, right, female?

It is who we are today.

David: All right, Steve Sweeney running for governor.

Good to see, man.

Thanks for coming on.

>> Thank you for having me.

David: It is the season for family celebrations and essential to any good Puerto Rican house party is food, music, and what is being discovered by more and more people nowadays and you can actually find it in mainstream retailers like Walmart but you will not catch any self-respecting Puerto Rican buying the mix if you don't make it.

If you don't make it, do not bring it, which is the rule of the house as I imagine it is in the house of the next person who joins us now.

Good to see you, bro.

>> Good to see you.

David: We are going to make and I mean you, make a batch of it which we should tell people is not Puerto Rican eggnog as it is referred to.

>> Definitely not.

Know where near it.

It is born on the island of Puerto Rico and made primarily from milk, coconut milk, condensed milk, and especially ROM.

-- rum.

Those of the basic ingredients in the recipe we will use today is my mother's recipe.

David: What is in it?

>> Let's go to it.

Basically I'm going to use some cream of coconut.

It is pretty thick.

And this is actually -- This is sweetened condensed milk.

Thickened and sweet.

There is your cream of coconut right here.

-- here is your cream of coconut right here.

We already started the base of this is a second batch of the base.

David: So this batch you make twice?

>>, because I don't know how to make it does for one.

-- right, because I don't know how to make it for one.

I can only make three bottles at a time.

My mother's recipe can yield six.

David: That is like the old-school recipes.

>> That is right.

I use coconut milk.

This is evaporated milk.

I have already used the cream of coconut, and I have already used the sweetened condensed milk coming now what I will add is this tea.

I made at T of what are called sweet spices.

David: This is the thing that makes your mom's different from my mom and my cousin's?

>> Sure.

This one has cinnamon sticks, and close.

David: Here is the lawyer saying I will hold those.

>> I would tell you later after I have a drink.

Oh yes, then we will add simply a drop at best of vanilla, and I think we're ready to get this base started.

David: So how long do I mix this for?

>> 20 seconds max.

Makes the base.

David: Let's talk about what we are blending about celebrating its 30th year.

Tell us what it is.

>> It is the folkloric ensemble that exists in Jersey City and has been in Jersey City for well over 30 years.

We just celebrated our official 30th anniversary.

We go back slightly before that.

In Jersey City, we play the music of the drums of Puerto Rico, an amazing way to celebrate as well.

David: You teach as well as perform?

>> Yes.

What we do is effectively we have been teaching, we have partnered with Nimbus dance works, but we also teach in schools.

This morning we were at a high school teaching the dance.

I was drumming for that purpose.

So it has been around quite a bit.

It is a wonderful way to just get involved in the music of Puerto Rico and a wonderful way to share these ways we do things in the tradition, especially during the Christmas holidays.

David: You started in Jersey City was Jersey City the neighborhood where you are in now was much more -- >> Very different.

The Puerto Rican neighborhood was the center of downtown life in Jersey City.

So now I will put the base, typically a ratio of three to one.

Now this is a mix.

This happens to be all Puerto Rican rum today.

I usually also use over proof.

David: That is 151.

>> Bright.

What we do for that is we ensure that's only about a quarter of the mix of rums, and I love to use dark rums, but you can always use white rums.

This two cups of the base and I need one more cup, and after that we can blend it and that batch is ready to sip.

David: Can't you have it without rum?

Conceptually you shouldn't.

>> Yes.

There is vegan that my son makes.

There are variations.

It goes back to at best at least the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's.

And that goes another 20 seconds or so.

David: One of the things you guys do that I find great is of course you are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so you have to raise funds every year and one of the things you do is you have a Puerto Rican Christmas caroling?

>> Yes.

They are only done at Christmas time.

And Puerto Ricans if you haven't noticed, we do Christmas right.

We are a festive people.

We party when Thanksgiving is over and that is the Christmas partying that goes during Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the Epiphone, January 6, and goes beyond that, right?

David: A period called -- >> -- -- that?

-- what is that?

>> Eight days of celebrating.

David: It is just an extension of the holidays, right?

>> Yes, particular epiphany, because there was no real Santa Claus in Puerto Rico when my mother's generation was born.

Everything is the epiphany.

And here you go.

So here is our first batch.

David: That was perfectly measured.

>> Yes, it is.

David: That is a mother's recipe.

>> Here is a bottle.

We would do some damage in just a minute.

So you do that as a fundraiser every year.

David: You will be at our house this year but this weekend, as a matter fact.

>> Yes.

David: Talk about that and how people can get one of those.

>> We are on Instagram, Facebook.

The thing about it is that it starts small.

David: Maybe five or six people come to your house.

>> Sure.

David: And then they come in and you described it as an assault.

You come and eat people's food, drink their boots, and off you go to the next house.

>> The good news is they tend to go with you, so whoever hosts the first one will add to the bigger caravan of people going elsewhere, and that is the way it typically happens until the early hours of the morning, and in the old traditions, the last house was 3:00, 4:00 in the morning, and they would make a pot of soup so everyone could even out their experiences and go home.

It is a lot of fun.

David: Yeah.

We were talking about me Jersey City and the roots of it in the Puerto Rican enclave downtown.

So much of Jersey City is changing.

How has that affected the way you approach what you do?

Is it more of an urgency to keep it alive?

>> Sure.

There is incredible support.

Our classes are full of non-Puerto Ricans.

Anyone who likes to dance, drum, and enjoys that aspect in a community setting.

And typically people who are amazing, some have Puerto Rican, some fully Puerto Rican, who want to connect more to our roots, and that's the way we have been doing it in New Jersey for some time.

We have been very lucky.

For our first time in history we did an exhibit of our archives.

We got the archival grant from dance USA.

Me and my wife got heritage awards, the biggest word you can get for Leclerc -- folkloric work in New Jersey.

David: It is really one of the backbones of that organization.

>> She does incredible work to get it in the schools and public schools and we go to literally thousands of students every year to see us perform in the schools.

David: All right.

Here it is.

So is optional.

>> It is optional.

David: The proof is in the tasting so we would do that now while I say you can follow me on x and get fresh content including full episodes we scan the QR code on your screen.

I am David Cruz.

For all the crew here, thank you for watching.

>> Salud.

Oh yeah.

That is nice.

♪ It is subtle.

You better be careful with it.

[LAUGHTER] ♪ ♪ >> 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 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.

♪