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(upbeat music) From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

We're bringing you a special NJ Spotlight News edition tonight of Reporters Roundtable with David Cruz, who has a roundup of the top political stories you may have missed with the help of a panel of journalists.

But first, a few headlines.

Time is running out.

If you still need to register to vote for November's general election, you have until Tuesday, October 14th, as this year's governor's race shapes up to be one of the most contentious in years.

And all 80 seats in the assembly are also up for grabs.

Now, Democrats still hold the edge in overall voter registration, but Republicans have gained some serious ground, adding roughly 164,000 new voters since the last gubernatorial election that was in 2021.

That's a 10% jump.

Meanwhile, Democrats lost over 51,000 registered voters during the same time period.

The race at the top of the ticket between Republican Jack Cittarelli and Democrat Mikey Sherrill is growing increasingly ugly after Sherrill accused Cittarelli during the last televised debate of profiting off the opioid crisis, saying his company was responsible for killing tens of thousands of people.

Well, Chittarelli's campaign is calling the claim defamatory and announced plans to file a lawsuit.

Also, New Jersey Transit is rolling out big upgrades to the way you pay for tickets.

The agency says it's an effort to make travel faster, safer, and more convenient for riders.

Among the changes unveiled are new handheld ticket scanners that'll be used by train crews to read rail tickets.

Ticket vending machines will also now support tap-and-go options like Apple Pay.

They're also going to expand the Farepay card.

Now, this is a reusable and cash-reloadable option that works across the bus and light rail system.

You can register it online, so even if you lose it, your ticket credit remains.

Farepay will be available for the train systems in 2026.

The agency is also installing new high-tech fare gates that use 3D sensors and cameras to deter people from hopping the turnstiles.

The eight-foot-tall gates will debut at Secaucus Junction and the Newark Liberty Airport train stations next year.

New Jersey Transit President Chris Gillory says the upgrades are as much about convenience as they are to ensure every fare is collected.

And the star witness in former U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez's federal bribery trial is being given a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Jose Uribe, a North Jersey businessman, will serve no prison time after cooperating with prosecutors.

Uribe pleaded guilty to bribing Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, in a wide-ranging corruption scheme, including secretly paying for a new Mercedes.

Uribe could have faced up to 95 years in prison, but was instead sentenced to six months of home detention, three years of supervised release, and must pay more than a million dollars in restitution and forfeitures.

Uribe admitted he bribed the senator to stop investigations tied to his insurance business and a friend's fraud case.

His testimony helped convict Menendez, now serving 11 years in prison.

Nadine Menendez is serving four and a half, but appealing.

The other two businessmen, meanwhile, who were involved, they also received prison terms, but they're fighting their convictions.

Those are your top headlines.

Reporters' roundtable starts right now.

Mikey Sherrill gets tough.

Can Jack Cittarelli take a punch?

Hey, everybody, it's reporters roundtable.

I'm David Cruz.

Final stretch of the race for governor and our panel of navigators includes Joanna Gagis, senior correspondent for NJ Spotlight News.

Matt Friedman, reporter for Politico and author of its New Jersey Playbook.

And Charles Stile, political columnist for the record USA Today Network panel.

Welcome.

Good to see you all.

The final debate made all the news in the race this week.

I'm going to play the debate highlight in a minute and we can talk about it.

But Matt the medical publisher 10000 deaths flap aside for the moment who had the better performance.

I think that flap kind of defined I don't know how to take that away from the debate what was otherwise pretty standard.

Yeah.

Cheryl is a bit more animated and she gave some actually clear answers that she hadn't given before.

I think, you know, give her credit for actually taking a stance on whether people should pump their own gas, which for whatever reason she couldn't do anything without a statement that still wasn't clear.

And I think that's been a big frustration with her campaign from a lot of people throughout this is like, just like take a stance, have a clear statement on something.

The medical publishing thing, though, it seemed to come out of like, I mean, they've used this attack a little bit.

It's not new.

It was around four years ago.

And there's some legitimate stuff there.

But I'm afraid by doing that, she may have.

She brought so much attention to this, and I don't know if that's going to move any voters, but China really gave Trump a key in that.

And I think it stepped on her own message, since that's what she's been trying to do this whole campaign.

I'm going to pick up on that in a second.

Joanna Sherrill helped or hurt herself with her top gun toughness.

I don't know that either one at this point is really doing anything different.

I think that neither one made a misstep and I think that that's what they both hope to walk away with.

And I think you're right, that was a punch and I think it landed, you could see, in an otherwise very, very poised Cittarelli throughout this campaign.

I think that was the first moment I've seen him rattled or frustrated or unprepared with an answer.

He was angry, you could see it.

And so I think in that sense she did herself a favor landing that punch.

The question here is how many people are still undecided in this race?

It can't be a very big margin at this point.

If anyone cares at all they're following then they probably know which side they're going for.

I think the effort here to get something that could go viral could be working for Cheryl.

I'm already seeing it on social media already seeing that that moment play out.

So you know she did probably what I think she intended and hoped to do coming out of that debate.

Chaz I've seen Chitarelli sharper in past debates hits and misses for you.

Well I think one kind of interesting thing that got obscured in this whole debate over the opioids is the fact that Jack Giuderelli gave Donald Trump an A rating for New Jersey.

Now he hasn't really walked away from Trump, that's pretty consistent, but I think at this late stage, I think that could have been something that they could have exploited, but this became overlooked a little bit.

I also think there were parts of, I agree with Matt said, I mean, there might be, she may have stepped on a message of some debate over whether she went too far or was it inflammatory or within the boundaries of political combat.

But I think there are Democrats out there that have been waiting to see, pearl-clutching Democrats who have been waiting to see her throw a punch and go for the jugular.

And you know, there's also a broader part of the Democratic base that has been tired of Democrats just playing by the old rules that Donald Trump has won the White House twice, he owns the courts and Congress by, you know, playing this asymmetrical gutter politics.

So a lot of Democrats want somebody to come out and take a swing.

I was surprised, you know, she said that he voted for parental rights for rapists, and he responded by saying she lied about me supporting a sales tax.

That wasn't the Jack Cittarelli that a lot of people expected, I thought.

All right, let's go to the thing about the Cittarelli medical business and the opioid crisis and Mikey Sherald's haymaker.

Let's take a little look.

>> My opponent likes to talk a lot about being a businessman, but I think what New Jersey doesn't know is much about his business, how he made his millions by working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe, putting out propaganda, publishing their propaganda while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.

And as if that wasn't enough, then he was paid to develop an app so that people who were addicted could more easily get access to opioids.

And so as he made millions, as these opioid companies made billions, tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.

Mr.

Chittarelli.

First of all, shame on you.

Second of all.

Shame on you, sir.

Shame on you.

During the Biden administration, she had no problem whatsoever with tens of thousands of people crashing our border each and every day, not knowing what impact they had in our communities with regard to fentanyl crisis, fentanyl abuse, fentanyl distribution, vaccination rates and the like.

Talk to your local police, talk to your county prosecutors in New Jersey.

Since the border's been secured, fentanyl crisis has decreased significantly.

She supported those open border policies.

But with regard to everything she just said career, which provided my family, it's a lie.

I'm proud of my career.

Matt, lots of clutching of pearls, as Charlie said, over this.

Did she go too far, you think?

In the part, in the clip we just saw, no.

What she said was, was not.

But after that, when she said, "You killed these people," that's where it kind of crossed my mind.

I don't think it needed to.

I think maybe she got caught up in the heat of the moment because it is pretty devastating.

Like, what she's saying has a foundation of truth to it.

If you look at what these publications said, they did downplay the risks of opioid addiction.

And if you want to talk about the crisis in this country, what Ciattarelli said is true.

There's a lot of fentanyl that comes over the border.

But where did this crisis came from?

It came, I mean, there's no simple answer to anything, so I don't want to oversimplify, but it came from these pain medications and the pushing of these pain medications on people starting in the 90s while downplaying the susceptibility to addiction, which is exactly what some of these materials that Chiarelli's company produced said.

So that is an accurate thing.

And I feel like she kind of stepped on the message by taking it a little too far and making this about mudslinging instead of kind of focusing in on that message that that frankly is a legitimate hit.

Could have left it there and let people think about it.

Joanna, what did you think when you saw that during this otherwise pretty calm debate?

Fair or foul?

It was the first time that I saw the two of them go at each other.

She kind of took the opportunity as he started making comments to jump in and that's where as Matt said, maybe she went too far but she also opened up this opportunity where as she was accusing him of being responsible for these deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans, he came back with, "Well, at least I got to walk in my graduation," which she kind of had him on his heels.

That wasn't a strong response to these very strong allegations that she was saying.

So I think she got him flustered in that moment.

Did she go too far?

I don't know if her team intended for her to say it in the way that she did.

I think she succeeded in getting him on his heels in a position where he wasn't ready to respond, I think in a meaningful way.

Yeah, Charlie, that's as hard as I've seen Mikey Sherrill go in this race.

Will it all have been worth it?

I don't know.

I think we'll see soon enough.

I have to say, though, he, I, as Matt mentioned, you know, she was at a, you know, an acceptable level of discourse first, and then she ratcheted it up.

And I think, personally, I think in that exchange, when he brought up the, you know, I didn't walk, you didn't walk in my, in the graduation and through that, that piece of kindling into the fire, I think she just got mad.

And, uh, decided to turn it up, uh, from number 10 on the dial to 11.

And, um, I think, I think really got personal.

I think it is one takeaway is how really personal this race has become and it's moving away from policy.

Yeah.

And when when she kind of mockingly said to him, well, yeah, great.

You graduated to kill 10,000 people.

That was that was a little rough.

Matt, Nick Sackle, North Bergen mayor and state senator coming out for Chittarelli reminds me of Union City mayor and state senator Brian Stack coming out for Christie.

Will it be that big a deal?

You know what?

I mean, it will move some votes probably.

He is not Brian Stack in terms of that.

And I don't you know, there's a first of all, this is played for the narrative that Democrats are jumping over to Chiarelli.

And there's been a few, but like, this is about Hudson County politics.

Yeah.

I have a secret.

Hudson County politics.

It's often transactional.

Hey, hey, hey, watch what you say on this show, buddy.

But there's various reasons.

This isn't about really red and blue.

It's about parochial, Also, I want to say... It's Stack versus Sacco.

Yeah, it's Stack versus Sacco.

It also demonstrates that in New Jersey politics, generally, the big things... This shows how little anything is ever going to change, no matter whether it's Chatterellian office or Sherrill office.

Because Nick Sacco is one of the biggest pension people.

He has a six-figure pension right now.

At one point, he had three public jobs.

He was making $300,000 a year.

Now, I think he's making a little less than that, but he's got this huge six-figure pension from his job as an assistant superintendent.

And no one's like, "Oh, I don't want this guy's support."

It's like, "Well, he can do something for me."

And you know what?

People, they don't tend to do it out of pure principle.

There tend to be things attached.

It's also funny, a lot of the Democrats who have come over and endorsed Chiarelli just lost a Democratic primary where they were talking trash about Republicans and Trump and then they lose badly and then they go.

So it was close, but it also, as David Wildstein pointed out, it could motivate Brian Stack, who is a much more effective organizer, to work even harder.

So there is that risk.

So I don't want to overstate it but it's significant.

North Hudson Republicans meanwhile Charlie are energized.

Is it real or imagine that Hudson is going to go for Chitorelli in some meaningful way.

I kind of doubt that.

I think the whole going back to Christie Whitman the Republican play in Hudson County has always been can we cut some of the margin down.

I remember I was I was referring to Chris Christie.

Oh no.

Yeah well I think but I don't.

He had stack in his corner last time.

He did.

I think that was stacks enthusiasm was came a little more after when Christie was in charge of the budget and carving up the poor.

I remember I was at that event where he called him the greatest governor ever.

And but that was I think that was after that was long after the second term.

I think it was but it was stack worrying about his his parochial needs in Union City and Chris Christie holding the keys to the to the coffers.

Yeah.

Meanwhile Joanna you were at a rally was it with the Latino coalition.

Was there genuine enthusiasm or just kind of going through the motions.

There was genuine enthusiasm.

This was an event by Unidos US.

They're super packed trying to turn out Latinos across the state.

I think beyond the enthusiasm is we're going to see some real hard dollars.

And so there's going to be national funding from Latino organizations coming into the state.

They said six, maybe seven figures to really put out a get out the vote effort because they say they need a ground game and they believe Latinos are going to determine this election.

Now, remember, there was a divide between the Latino community, right?

We see in District 9 this swing for shift towards Trump in the last election.

And so they're aware of that.

They say that they failed in getting Democratic Latinos out in the last election.

They don't want to see that happen again.

And everyone's counting on this coming down to a really close margin.

So they believe they will be the difference maker at the end of this election.

Matt, taking a little turn here, can you tell us what in the name of all that is Jersey is happening down South?

Republican versus Republican and now Norcross versus Polistina.

What's happening down there?

Yeah, well, you see, you know, George Norcross just always gets his tentacles in everything, right, and he's got quite a good working relationship with Senator Mike Testa, who represents the southernmost district in the state.

But that has caused a lot of friction with Vince Palestina, the senator in the second district.

And Testa essentially allowed one of Norcross' political associates to get through the -- to circumvent senatorial courtesy, to circumvent Palestino, holding him up by him moving to the, quote unquote, moving to the, to test his district where he allowed the nomination to proceed, which really caused a lot of problems.

And so anyway, Wednesday we saw this incredible, heard this incredible radio debate between Norcross and Palestina.

There was no camera on them that I know of.

I'm sure it would have been just lots of foam at each of their mouths.

But Norcross especially, just throwing out really accusations.

A few months ago, Jack Ciatarelli announced he's suing Mikey Sherrill.

And Norcross was basically throwing out unproven allegations against Palestine.

Instead of providing evidence for he was saying, I'm saying right now that you were blackout drunk and had a, you know, did something at Atlantic City Country Club that produced a female victim and got you kicked out.

And if I'm wrong, sue me.

I mean, that's actually more or less what he said.

He actually said it in more hostile terms.

So it was- And in a Norcrossian way.

Yes, exactly.

And I don't know.

Norcross, if you've ever dealt with him, you might notice he does have a lot of lawyers who work for him who might contact you if you say anything.

He's the kind of guy who does sometimes threaten lawsuits.

So it's interesting.

Yeah.

Meanwhile, Steve Fulop, unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, sort of successful mayor, will leave at the end of his term to join the Partnership for New York City.

Perfect political maneuver or waving the white flag politically?

Charlie, what do you think?

I think he put an enormous effort and rolled the dice in this primary.

And so wave the white flag, I think he came to the realization that this party was never really going to coalesce around and coming in third.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I kind of have the numbers in front of me, but I think that's right.

And he did come in third.

Yeah, he came in third.

And I just feel like he's made, he made a lot of favorable impression among some of the progressives.

But I think he made too many enemies within the establishment to make his future in the party viable at least in the short term.

So I think this is I think this is the kind of thing that you know sort of sort of suits his skill set and experience.

Joanna have we seen the last of Steve Fulop candidate for fill in the blank.

I don't think so.

I think he's probably regrouping going to go make some money and he'll find a way to try to get himself back into political life.

I find it interesting though that he has to move to New York for this job.

So I don't know how that positions him for a future in New Jersey politics.

Maybe he's angling now for a New York position.

We'll see.

But I don't think this is the last of it.

I think he's always had higher aspirations.

I think this is just a timeout for him.

Matt, I see you smiling.

Steve Fuller for president.

I just think it's funny.

I think he burned all the bridges in New Jersey and the only things left were the Hudson River crossings.

So he's got to go.

So listen, we are marking Indigenous Peoples Day.

And so it reminds me of immigration and where these candidates are on that issue.

Joanna, let's stay here with you.

You were at this event earlier this week.

Is there a sense that immigration is driving voters, at least Latino voters?

Yes, within the Latino community, yes.

Interestingly, I asked one of the folks there if they were hearing anything from their community, from the Latino community, maybe folks who went for Trump in the last election who are now saying, "Hey, what we're seeing happen with ICE enforcement goes beyond what we thought we were supporting."

And the answer was in the affirmative.

Yes, absolutely.

The community is scared because they say that they're seeing people every day having these ICE interactions who are here legally, who have legal status, and are being treated just the same way as folks who don't or folks who may have committed a crime.

And also I'm hearing the two candidates kind of laying out their positions.

Both have been pretty vague.

I would say until this last debate we heard a little more specificity.

Jack saying he wants this path to recognition.

What does that look like?

He wants individuals to have some type of license or to be recognized.

Mikey Sherrill saying, hey, that's not a thing.

That's no, there's no legal status there.

She, although has not said whether or not she would maintain the immigrant trust directive here in New Jersey.

But I do think that immigration, I think that ICE enforcement is that will be a tool for them to help turn out more voters, especially in that Latino community, which we talked about is going to be really important.

Charlie, how important are they going to be Latinos I think it's a significant block.

Jack Cittarelli's position I thought was one of the most puzzling one, this recognition, status of recognition, which was to me a real classic threading of the needle.

He didn't want to sound like he supported a path to citizenship because that would not go over well with MAGA, so he comes up with this new concoction.

Meanwhile, she threads the needle by tonally sounding like she's on the side of immigration, of the Latino community that's concerned about immigration, but she never really commits to anything.

Right.

So she's kind of left herself this maximum flexibility if elected.

I'm going to take your thread the needle metaphor and say that that sews up roundtable for today.

Joanna Matt Charlie good to see you.

Well thank you as always.

We are on Blue Sky now.

Follow us there at David Cruz and J. And scan the QR code on your screen to get more information.

And if you have a question, you can always call us at the NJ Spotlight News >> That's going to do it for us.

But a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Plus you can always follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

And with election day just around the corner, be sure to check out our voter guide to get up to speed on the candidates and races on the ballot this year.

Head to the NJ Decides 2025 tab on our homepage.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

For the entire team at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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