Last Saturday, I got the opportunity to sit in on an event hosted by gubernatorial candidate Jim Johnson here in the city. I was honestly quite shocked when I found the event through Facebook and realized this event was happening a few blocks away from my building at 601 Cooper Street. I was shocked because I have found an interesting phenomenon with statewide races in recent history here in New Jersey – most candidates never really go farther south in the state for campaign events than Trenton; any events further south usually hit the border of Burlington County and yet these are usually the ones that promulgate the most pertinent questions and issues facing the state.
I wanted to make sure this theory wasn’t solely based on conjecture so I hopped over to Phil Murphy’s website – Murphy is currently the Democratic frontrunner for the gubernatorial race – and checked out all of his events going on from now (May 15th) until the primary election (June 6th). The website allows for you to search the mile range from your zip-code (08102) and I increased the mile range for events in Camden by increments of five miles. The closest event happening between those dates is about 50 miles away from Camden in East Brunswick (Middlesex County) on May 18th. There are no other events happening with Murphy’s campaign closer to Camden up to the primary election.
This is important to me personally as a born-and-raised South Jersey kid but also as a person who has a strong passion for advocated for marginalized communities. South Jersey has always been disproportionately ignored compared to North Jersey for the longest and there are no exceptions when it comes to state wide elections; I qualify this by obviously pointing out that the districts in the southern counties see state wide elections for their Senate and Assembly representatives but not much else, particularly U.S. Senate and Governor elections. So understanding all of this you can understand my surprise when I found out a gubernatorial candidate was coming to downtown Camden for a town hall! There was also a recent publication from a Rutgers faculty member, Dr. Shauna Shames, that outlined certain disparities that exist between North and South Jersey in terms of state aid received that might shine a broader light on this challenge between the two halves of the state. While I’m sure this might ruffle some feathers for those who believe that a Central Jersey exists – which is a legitimate view to have – this is no way meant to discount that opinion, just stating these in terms of North and South.
As far as the town hall with Johnson, there were some interesting points to consider. The event took place at the Camden County College lecture hall at 601 Cooper Street which has about a capacity of 100 or so people – about 25 people attended this event. This doesn’t mean the event was unsuccessful as the main purpose was for a candidate vying for the top executive position in the state to place himself in middle of the everyday people; it just means that Jim Johnson has not reached as far to those with the capacity to organize others around a campaign outside of the established Democratic pool. Steve wrote an article recently highlighting what he called the “tilted ballot” that dives into this a lot better than I would be able to elaborate upon – check it out!
Johnson’s campaign has gained a lot of attention which has turned into some real political results. As of May 3rd, a Quinnipiac poll put Johnson in second place among the four Democratic candidates at 7% though this still pales in comparison to Phil Murphy’s dominating 26% lead – a deeper dive into these statistics can be found at this NJ.com article by Brent Johnson. One of the community leaders present mentioned that “clearly you’re the only candidate who’s qualified to do this job” in reference to Johnson record and history of governance going back to the Clinton administration. Johnson was the undersecretary of the Treasury department during President Clinton’s time in office and mentioned that he has overseen a staff of 29,000 and managed a budget of $4.6 billion – a strong point to make in an election focusing so much on governance and executive experience. Johnson also made sure to drive home the point of where his values really lie pointing out that he is raising the fifth generation of his family in the state and that he comes from humble beginnings.
Now it’s important and interesting to mention how many of these campaign “talking points” are developed and in what context. Much of this information that Johnson threw out in his opening statements is most likely in response to a far more organized and well-funded candidate in Phil Murphy (who has spent close to $18 million during this campaign, much of which has been personally funded). While Assemblyman John Wisniewski and State Senator Ray Lesniak (the two other Democratic candidates competing for Christie’s seat) have also established solid campaigns as has Johnson, the clear front runner has taken the strongest and earliest lead that has been seen in a gubernatorial race in recent history. A strong grasp of the issues plaguing the state – exorbitant property taxes, poor funding for the state’s education and public pension systems, eleven credit downgradings, as well as the faint and lingering stench of political corruption swirling around “Bridgegate” – is one of the most desperately needed characteristics of any candidate planning to step into Christie’s shoes. This is something Johnson has done well in, moving forward a progressive Democratic platform (he’s been working with a staunch Bernie-supporter group called Our Revolution to push progressive candidates into county committee seats throughout the state) focused on things like providing pre-k for all children throughout the state and ripping away at “the same old same old” referring to entrenched state politicians, both Democrat and Republican.
The questions presented were much of those that I have heard on numerous occasions throughout my year in the city and engaging in community level debate and discussion; questions about school closures, the lack of democracy within the public education system – the local district school board is not an elected one by the people of the city – concerns about political machines, and the disparities of booming economic development in a concentrated region of the city with little to no benefit for the residents of the regional neighborhoods. Johnson’s responses did what they needed to for the folks in the room to confirm their support and he has the information, data, and confidence to back up what he says and to get it done based on the issues outlined in his website. What Johnson lacks, however, is the passion necessary for people to get behind practical ideas and plans. Proverbs 19:2 says “Passion without knowledge is deadly – how much more will hasty feet miss the mark!” meaning that those who run too quickly (without thinking) are much more likely to fall. I would view Johnson’s campaign in a mirroring form as knowledge without passion can be just as fatal to starting a progressive movement anywhere. Movements that folks like Our Revolution and Jim Johnson want to press forward need much more man power and boots on the ground to catch up and make up for the money spent on the opposing team that can forego the need for so much grassroots passion – as I don’t believe the Murphy campaign has much passion either, but they don’t really need it.
It’s extremely unfortunate that in an election positioned in such an important time – New Jersey is one of two states in the country up for an executive election after Donald Trump’s upsetting win of the White House – most of the “same old same old” is still prevailing without much to combat it on a similar or stronger level. If nothing else, let’s hope that the state will capitalize on the knowledge that with enough people passionate about the same concerns, and wanting to use that passion to stand up a person who will see that passion out in real and tangible actions, they can truly make the difference. If we choose to kick the transformation can a little farther up the road, at least we’ll learn a lot more about how well a public bank can perform in New Jersey.
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