Sen. Ray Lesniak Second N.J. Gubernatorial Candidate to Make Lambertville Campaign Stop

It may be frigid outside, but the 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial race has already been heating up Lambertville.

Back in February, Democratic candidate for governor Phil Murphy, campaigned in front of about 100 people at the Philip L. Pittore Justice Center.

And on Monday, March 13, the second Garden State gubernatorial candidate made a Lambertville stop — a N.J. State Senator for over 30 years, Raymond Lesniak (D, N.J.-20) came to Green Birdie Studio at 21 Bridge Street, for PANJ Radio‘s “In the Green Room” live show.

Lesniak took questions for 40 minutes from host Vinny Verderosa and a panel comprised of Lambertville resident and radio personality John Flynn, and Yardley resident and “Green Room” co-host Rodney Warner. The Free Press was also invited to the roundtable.

After the show, the state senator conducted a Facebook Live Town Hall in the studio, which was kicked off by his regional campaign manager, Lambertville resident Jen Samuel.

Highlights of the roundtable included Lesniak sharing his story of being robbed in his Elizabeth home and then advocating for the assailants to seek treatment and not serve jail time, as well as the challenges of competing against a well-funded candidate like Murphy, who is a former Goldman Sachs executive and was the United States ambassador to Germany.

The New Jersey Democratic and Republican primaries are being held on Tuesday, June 6. The last day to register to vote in the primaries is Tuesday, May 16.

Video of the interview is included below, along with some notes and time references:

“In The Green Room” show:

• 16:25 – Introduction, including the robbery story
• 22:04 – How long have you been in the State Legislature? Including Murphy discussion
• 27:58 – How do you see funding schools in the future? (includes property taxes)
• 31:08 – How would you tackle the state pension crisis?
• 36:19 – Do you see public employees switching to other pension plans, like a 401K?

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• 38:15 – What do you see as the state’s biggest problem who no one is talking about?
• 40:35 – What have you learned to do and to not do from the past governors?
• 44:53 – Two questions:
  • A) How would attract businesses back to N.J. with its suburban reputation?
  • B) N.J. loses many potential college students to other states. How could you keep them here?
• 50:26 – How do we give residents in N.J.’s poorest cities more opportunity?
• 56:26 – Follow up on “more opportunity” question – Governor Christie sees the solution as vouchers, and your Republican opponent would likely also concur. What would you do?