Most people don't pay attention to local races, especially during New Jersey's early June primaries. The kids are getting ready to be out of school, summer plans are coming together, you're getting the lawn and garden ready, welcoming college kids back for the summer and everything in between.
The challenge that results from the low turnout during NJ's primary elections is that far too often we end up with two dud candidates in November. How many times have you seen the choices in November and thought, is this the best both parties could come up with?
Remember, anyone can tell you what they would do. It takes a leader to tell you what they will do based on WHAT THEY HAVE ACTUALLY DONE. That should be the criteria to judge politicians by, not slick campaign slogans.
Bergen County
In Bergen County, the race to watch is for County Executive where former Commissioner Todd Caliguire is running in the Republican Primary to challenge the current county executive. He called the show to discuss the fact that the county budget is up nearly FIFTY percent over the past seven years with real estate taxes going up around TWENTY percent over the same period.
What's worse than that is the big plan from the incumbent Democrats is to lower the average real estate tax by $17 ... PER YEAR. Good grief. Elections matter and the taxpayers in Bergen certainly deserve better.
Monmouth & Ocean
Mike Crispi running for Congress against incumbent Congressman Chris Smith. Mike joined me this morning to talk about his securing Column A in Monmouth and Ocean counties and his aggressive campaign style of taking to the streets to meet voters house by house personally.
Remember, on June 7th if you are either a Republican OR an unaffiliated voter, you can vote in the June 7 Republican primary and help decide who will face the voters in November.
Central Jersey
We also heard from Russell Jones running for Mayor in Linden. He's a regular guy inspired and encouraged by his neighbors to run. Nothing more local than that!
We then heard from two candidates running in the 7th Congressional District covering Morris, Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties. The first used his time to have a dispute with me and attack candidates he's not running against. A bizarre strategy for sure. The other candidate, Phil Rizzo, called to talk about why he's running and what his record of real achievement in the private sector will mean for voters if he is representing them in Washington.