Guadagno Addresses Rotary Club

Republican lieutenant governor nominee Kim Guadagno returned to Westfield Tuesday afternoon addressing the Rotary Club two weeks before the general election.

Guadagno, the Monmouth County sheriff, hammered away at the key platform items of her running mate, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. Reiterating opposition to new taxes and bringing more business to New Jersey, she discussed the contrast between her ticket and the Democratic ticket of Gov. Jon Corzine and State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen County.

"Don't vote Republican or Democrat or independent, vote for how you see how the last four years turned out," she said. "Are you better off?"

Speaking to an audience of small business owners and community leaders, Guadagno focused primarily on economic issues, including calls to reduce taxes and the state budget. She said that she accepted the offer to run for the state's newly-created second highest office because of concern that her three sons will not be able to continue to live in New Jersey when they have families. She went after several new taxes she said have made the state more unaffordable, including an increased real estate transfer tax and increased taxes on alcohol purchases. She also discussed property taxes.

Guadagno, whom Christie plans to task with economic development duties if elected, said the higher taxes have been driving businesses out of the state and need to be lowered to recruit new jobs.

Noting her experience as a chief executive of a county law enforcement agency, she said a Christie/Guadagno Administration will look to cut spending at the same time as cutting taxes. She focused on her actions as sheriff earlier this year when she asked her eight public employee unions to accept a pay freeze, which was accepted by half. She said from the half that did not accept freezes, she ended up laying off 10-percent of her workforce.

"The first six months we will cut the budget by $6.5 billion," she said. "We can no longer support a bureaucracy that does not give back."

Guadagno addressed a key issue in the Westfield local elections, public employee pensions. She said she wants to reduce pensions for part-time workers and shift employees into 401(k) pensions from the private sector. The audience included Republican Fourth Ward Council nominee Keith Loughlin, who debated the issue at Monday night's debate with Democratic Councilman Tom Bigosinski, who has been leading the local charge against pensions. Loughlin's father is the town's part-time Board of Adjustment attorney and receives pension credits in the job.

Addressing property taxes, Guadagno said Christie plans to change the current affordable housing laws which have been mandating affordable housing in every community in the state, which she said have been adding to local property tax burdens. She said Christie will move affordable housing requirements to urban areas, which she said have the infrastructure to support the new population. Guadagno, a former town commissioner in Monmouth Beach, said her running mate also plans to improve urban centers with new jobs, lower crime and better schools.

A county official, Guadagno said she supports giving county government shared services in a variety of situations, describing them mainly as voluntary. She addressed criminal justice programs operated by her department in Monmouth County, saying they have produced savings for the participating towns. She did say that regionalization of services and county government may not work in every region of the state. The audience included former Summit Common Council President P. Kelly Hatfield, a Christie supporter, and a leading advocate against county government in Union County.

Guadagno said with shared services, there is no one size fits all and that it needs to be addressed on a town by town level. She said in some cases a combined police or fire system would work while in others combined tax collection would be the best fit. She cited the Westfield Regional Health Department as an example for other towns to study. She called on state residents to work with her and Christie on the issue if they are successful.

"You will need to go to your local leaders, and we'll go with you, and press them to do shared services," she said.

In an interview with Westfield Patch following the speech, Guadagno said she is not disappointed by new public polls which show the Republicans tied with the Democratic ticket of Corzine and Weinberg. The polls come after Christie led the governor by close to 10 points for most of the year. Guadagno said Christie always expected the polls to tighten and expected a close race two weeks before the election.

"We know the registration is such that it would be closer," Guadagno said, citing Democratic enrollment advantages in several counties including Hudson, Essex, Camden and Passaic.

Guadagno has made multiple stops in Westfield since joining Christie's ticket in July. She and Christie attended a round table discussion on education issues at the high school in the summer and in early September she went door to door with the state legislative delegation in the First Ward. Westfield is considered a must win town for the Republican ticket.

Rotary Club President Mark Swindle stressed before Guadagno's remarks that the club remains non-partisan and invited Guadagno in the interests of bringing information about the up-coming statewide election to members. He said an invitation has been sent to Weinberg for her or a representative to address the Club before the election. The Club meets once more before the election, next Tuesday, with another meeting scheduled for the afternoon of Election Day. Candidates traditionally focus on retail campaigning at train stations and polling places and not speech making the day of the election. The Club has not heard from Weinberg on whether she plans to speak.