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>> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

>> Hello and thanks for joining us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We're bringing you a special "NJ Spotlight News" edition of "Reporters Roundtable" where Joanna Gagis has a roundup of the top political stories of the week.

And as this is the final "Reporters Roundtable" here under current operations, we wanted to reflect on the legacy of this long-running series.

Reporter's Roundtable begins right now.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, I'm Joanna Gagis.

This is our last episode of Reporter's Roundtable as we know it.

This show has meant a lot to the state and to the journalists who've been a part of it.

It was started nearly 40 years ago by our dear friend and colleague, Michael Aaron, as a place where journalists could talk about whatever major issues were driving the news cycle in New Jersey.

And then when Michael stepped away from TV in 2020, our colleague David Cruz took over Roundtable, bringing on newsmakers alongside reporters, giving them a chance to ask and answer questions.

And for the last year, it's been my privilege to carry the torch forward, talking to some of the smartest, most tenacious, most committed journalists in our state about the news of the week.

But on October 1st, NJPBS will no longer be made up of this team and I will no longer host the show.

So I'm thrilled to be joined by three dear colleagues, some of the smartest, sharpest women I've ever known, both on camera and behind the scenes to look at all that's happened in this last week of New Jersey news.

We have with us today Colleen O'Day, senior writer and projects editor for NJ Spotlight News.

We have Lilo Stainton, senior reporter with New Jersey Monitor, and Briana Vannozzi, the longtime anchor of NJ Spotlight News.

Let's start with the news story driving headlines, the investigation into Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell.

Briana and Colleen, I know you've both been covering this issue.

Colleen, I'll start with you.

What's the latest in terms of what we know about the complaint against Caldwell?

So we still don't know an awful lot, at least coming out of the governor's office.

I do want to point out, you know, something that I've been thinking of lately, while there's a lot of stuff that's been leaked out from news reports, remember, this really sounds like it's a personnel issue, maybe something that if it was just, you know, a regular corporation would be handled by an HR department.

And so, you know, maybe it makes sense that there's not a lot that the governor is saying, because, I mean, we wouldn't want our bosses to kind of be projecting things out there if there were allegations, I think, against, you know, the average person.

But, you know, as a reporter, certainly, I think we want to know more.

There have been, you know, questions about improprieties, inviting, reportedly inviting women to some events that maybe they had not been invited to, or he had not been told he could invite people.

I mean, it's all still very cryptic.

We are told that there should be an investigation winding down.

So we'll see if we get a report about it sometime soon.

Of course, in this case, this quote, personnel issue is being handled by an outside law firm, right?

And they're conducting the investigation.

How would you characterize the governor's communication about it so far?

Almost non-existent.

Yeah, we got a statement that didn't mention the lieutenant governor by name.

A couple days later, the governor had a press availability that lasted less than five minutes and again, didn't mention him by name and really didn't say anything different from her statement, which is just that she takes any questions about conduct very seriously, that invest, you know, these, these issues will be investigated.

Thoroughly and that, you know, she believes or she certainly respects those who make allegations, but really, you know, nothing else coming out of the administration about what actually happened.

- Yeah, Briana, you looked at the impact of what this investigation, even just on its own, could have on the governor at this point in her term.

And also it's impacting how she governs, whether she can travel, whether she can leave the state.

How is she handling it right now?

How does it differ from what, I guess, when this investigation first started?

- Well, you have to remember that Dale Caldwell is also the Secretary of State.

So right now he's in the thick of preparing New Jersey for a major midterm cycle.

And so this is a big headache for the administration to have to deal with when the focus needs to be on that.

It was reported this morning from, I believe it was NJ Globe, that Sheryl's office confirmed she's not going to be traveling out of state.

She saw her travel to New Hampshire, to Massachusetts, stumping for other Democratic midterm candidates.

She had that on her schedule for this month and leading up to the election.

But as you know, when the governor is out of state, say for New York City, the acting governor is the Lieutenant Governor.

And so the real question is, why was that decision made now when reportedly the investigation started two months ago and Dale Caldwell stepped in multiple times as acting governor while the investigation was open?

It just wasn't known to the public at that point.

And so, yeah.

And Republicans, Republicans jumped all over that, right?

Republicans were quick to point out, hey, you know, you left this man in charge while you knew he was under investigation.

They're all over that.

And now we see this change.

Yeah.

And I think one of the voices of reason that came out was Senator Bramnick, who said, we don't know the details of this investigation.

So far, the allegations, while they should be taken seriously, have not been salacious in nature that we know of, very few details, and that he deserves his due process in this.

And so, yeah, there's always a moment for them to capitalize.

This is honestly just really bad timing, given the election coming up.

And maybe they should have gotten out in front of it earlier.

Nonetheless, this is the position that they're in.

And remember, Dale Caldwell can't be removed by Mikey Sherrill.

That needs to come through an impeachment process.

He is an elected official, so it's really tricky.

And his allies have also come out in his defense just in this last couple of days.

And if you think about the timing and you say maybe they should have come out with it earlier, it looks like the timing of when this investigation started aligned pretty closely with when we first learned about the MVC errors in the registration commission.

So the governor's at her hands full, it seems, behind the scenes in terms of kind of both of these things hitting the news cycle around the same time or hitting her office around the same time.

If you got anything else to add on that, otherwise I'm going to switch gears.

Colleen.

No, no, I know you make very good points, both Joanna and Brianna.

I mean, yeah, the idea that the man who is in charge of elections, when we're investigating the MVC problem and voter registration of, you know, people who are not citizens, and this on top of it, it's just, it's, it must, there must be chaos in that office.

Yeah, a lot for a new administration.

All right, we are going to switch and look at some healthcare issues because Lilo, we're coming up on this October 1st date when we know there are going to be major changes to Medicaid.

We see an October 1st date and a January date.

Can you tell us what changes are going to be coming and who is going to be most impacted?

What do we know for sure?

Right.

So, yes, big changes.

The state says watch your mailbox if you are in Medicaid, because, you know, there's going to be important information coming out and you want to make sure you're getting the details from people, trusted resources, right?

Because there are also people apparently trying to scam some people around these things.

So, in a nutshell, on October 1st, a group of between 20,000 and 25,000 immigrants to this country, legal immigrants, non-citizens, people who are victims of trafficking, humanitarian issues, violence, and a number of other groups are no longer going to qualify for Medicaid, New Jersey Family Care.

Some other groups of non-citizens will.

So again, please make sure you know which group you're in.

But that's coming on top of this change in the public charge rule, which impacts how, you know, the use of social services can can impact somebody's immigration status.

And then on January 1st, we have this big change with work rules are going into effect for more than half a million people on Medicaid in New Jersey.

And they'll have to prove that they are working or volunteering or in school or doing some other activity of that kind for at least 20 hours a week.

There are some exemptions, but you have to be, you know, disabled and not able to work.

And then there's a lot of people who are not able to work or very sick and not able to work.

So a lot of things coming up between now and the new year.

Hundreds of thousands of people could lose their insurance.

And the cost of uncompensated care is predicted to go back up.

Yeah, that's where I want to, I want to go next, because if this was, if these changes to Medicaid were made, these requirement changes were made as a way to save government money.

I know there's a new report from New Jersey Policy Perspective, just one organization that's looking at some of the numbers.

What do we know right now in terms of what this could save or cost the state?

And I don't know how much you know federally, but let's just talk New Jersey here.

Right.

So that is an excellent point.

And that's what everybody is concerned about in the world, in the health care world.

Sorry, construction noise.

The the overall, the changes are going to save American taxpayers close to a trillion dollars, according to the Trump administration.

However, over time, over time, however, you know, there are the costs for the cost.

People don't not get sick, right?

They still have health care costs.

So people without insurance will then be going to emergency rooms.

They'll be going to, you know, clinics that are free.

There's some groups that are coordinated a list of those.

But there's a new report from New Jersey Policy Perspective that suggested, you know, it could be $670 million a year in additional and compensated care.

And that comes at a time when other changes in this federal change will mean less money from the federal government for hospitals.

So there's just a lot less money coming from DC of needs that are gonna be unmet and somebody's gonna have to pay.

And somebody says, "You still need to provide health care."

Right, people still go to emergency departments, they still go to hospitals when they're hurting.

They still need care.

Colleen, quickly, there was a ruling that came out of the US Supreme Court that'll have a significant impact on the midterm elections and mail-in voting.

What can you tell us there?

Yeah, the Supreme Court finally put to rest this new postal service rule that the Trump administration, Donald Trump, President Trump had asked for.

It would potentially have led to at least delays in ballots being mailed out.

The Supreme Court said that that rule can't go into place.

And so that's really a victory for probably half the states that had challenged the rule.

But also, I mean, I think for all voters as well, that this system that we know that has worked so well in the past is not going to be upended.

So ballots are going out.

Some have already gone out, in fact, in some counties.

We expect in New Jersey about 900,000 people are going to be getting mail-in ballots this year.

And so everybody in New Jersey can vote the way that they have voted in the past, and really not worry about getting that ballot in, although advocates are still saying that they'd like to see people using drop boxes more, just in case there are issues with those ballots getting back to election officials.

Okay, there's so much more that we could talk about.

The news never sleeps, and in the words of Michael Aaron, if you're a reporter, New Jersey never lets you down.

That is for sure true.

But I want to take the rest of the show to take a moment to look back and reflect on what this show has meant over the years.

We checked in with some of our regular guests who were on with Michael, and then on with David Cruz when he took it over, and then on with me.

Here's a piece that we put together looking back at their time on the show and the impact it had on them.

I still remember the first time I was asked to go on Reporters Roundtable as a young New Jersey politics reporter.

I was thrilled, stunned really.

I felt like I'd made it.

To think that the great Michael Aaron who hosted the show at the time would want to get my opinion on what was going on in the state of New Jersey politics was amazing to me.

It's a show that really is the pulse of what's going on in New Jersey politics.

It gives great context, the most unbiased distillation of what's going on in the state and it still is and it was that way when David Cruz took over and Joanna Gagis took over and you know it's still the place we come to to understand what's going on in a very important, very volatile political world in New Jersey, and I still enjoy coming on.

I'll miss Reporters Roundtable, and I want to thank everyone associated with it for all the great memories, all the great years.

I will always miss Michael Aaron.

What a tremendous mentor he was, and such a special individual professionally and personally, and I always associate him with Reporters Roundtable and all the great people around him who have hosted it and participated in over the years.

I'll miss you.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everybody who had me there over the years.

I learned a lot on that show.

And as a reporter in New Jersey, I'm still reporting today in Atlanta and just having a great time.

I hope everyone is doing well and best of luck.

I made my first appearance on Reporters Roundtable in 2007, and I've been on dozens, if not more than 100 times since then.

It fostered camaraderie in the New Jersey press corps, but I think what was really valuable for the people who watched it was to hear the less filtered thoughts of the people who covered New Jersey government and politics every single day.

You know, Michael Aaron would even have to tell us to stop gossiping before the cameras rolled and to save it all for the show.

I have to say I'm a little disappointed because after doing the show for 20 years, not once did I actually get to sit at a table that was really round.

But other than the false advertising, I will miss it.

My first appearance on Roundtable in 1994, the invitation of the legendary Michael Aaron put me on the map for the first time at the Statehouse.

People recognized who I was and even people in the hallways, people returned my phone calls, even a little Russian man who approached me at the newsstand in Trenton who said, "You are much bigger than on TV."

I've been really eternally grateful to be an occasional member on the show, worked with great people from Michael to David Cruz to Joanna Gagis.

Reporters Roundtable has always been a great forum to go beyond the different stories that we've worked on throughout the week and to hash out the different views and perspectives of the biggest moments in politics.

For every iteration and through every host, it's always been a great joy and a pleasure and to hang out and see all my reporter friends.

To say that reporters roundtable will be missed is a vast understatement, especially in the Great Garden State.

And I am grateful to David Cruz who invited me on for the first time several years ago.

I'm thankful to Joanna Gagis who had kept it going after he departed.

But more importantly, the late great Michael Aaron for shepherding this broadcast.

It will be missed and hopefully it won't be gone forever.

It will come back in some form.

Reporters Roundtable.

Michael Aaron was such a gracious host.

He never took sides and there were no gotcha moments, which is pretty rare nowadays in TV.

He let reporters expand on stories that they had done that week, essentially give you information that didn't make it into maybe the two minute news package because there wasn't room for it, which would give you context.

And these reporters, I mean, Matt Friedman, Matt Katz, Brent Johnson, Charlie Stile, they covered New Jersey.

They are legacy reporters.

They knew their stuff.

And so you would get that kind of information that you really couldn't get anywhere else.

I got a chance to do Reporters Roundtable at at least three different locations throughout New Jersey.

It's the first place where so many of us learn to talk extemporaneously, to talk in front of a camera, to talk in front of a microphone.

And it not only informed generations of New Jerseyans, which we all know about how the state really works, but it gave reporters new audiences, new opportunities, new skill sets, new friends.

Michael and David and everyone else involved in Reporters Roundtable through the years really deserves an absolute standing ovation from the entire state of New Jersey.

Who?

I don't know if anyone else choked up during that, but that was beautiful to watch.

Brianna, I'm going to start with you because you worked with Michael back in the days of NJN.

From a personal, from a professional perspective, what has it meant to you?

Oh, gosh, I mean, I don't even know if you know this.

I was Michael's producer.

I was an associate producer for this show back at NJN when I was working on the news desk and field reporting.

And I think I was there for Matt Friedman's first day in 2007, but I was an intern.

And it always amazed me because these were reporters who I admired their work, looked up to, that they were nervous to come on and talk, because Michael was this formidable presence.

And yet he made it so welcoming for everyone, allowed everyone to have equal time, to really give them a springboard for their careers.

I mean, you only need to look at Steve Kornacki, as an example, as someone who took it and ran with it.

And he always credits Michael Aaron and Reporters Roundtable for that.

And then through the years with NJ Spotlight News, also producing it for NJTV and then hosting it for Michael before David took over, it has been a love, a love affair, I think, for all of us political news junkies.

And for anyone who, you know, doesn't, isn't necessarily in front of a camera all the time, I would hear reporters say, "My mom watched, she was so excited to see me on TV."

More than that, it reaches power players and influencers and policymakers and the people who really move and shake this state.

I don't think that that can be overstated enough that the reach and who it reaches has been invaluable.

Joanna, you've carried it beautifully.

Thank you for that.

Can I just say-- Exactly.

Each one of us have had a chance to sit in the host chair for the show.

Go ahead, Lilo.

Yeah, I was just going to say, I mean, you talk about people coming up to you.

I'll never forget going to the-- after I start coming on, and it's exactly like Charlie and other people said.

I mean, Michael gave me, as a young female reporter in Trenton, and there weren't a lot of us, a platform.

He allowed me to feel much more confident in my own work.

He made me believe in myself in a way that I didn't know was missing.

But I'll never forget going to the League of Municipalities and people coming up to you and being like, I watch you every weekend, you know, and it's the funniest feeling because like, you know, my husband doesn't read my stories, you know, my parents don't live in New Jersey, so they didn't care what was, you know, it was like, but I was a star at the League of Municipalities, you know, it was the funniest feeling and, and, and I think you're right, like you were getting at this job.

I mean, Brie, it's like, it wasn't just the movers and the shakers.

It was the clerks.

It's the, you know, it's the, you know, it's the people who make local and state and county government run.

And, you know, it's been a privilege and honor to sort of be able to say things that matter, you know, to connect with those people.

Honestly, really, it's been a joy.

It's been a lot of fun.

Lilo raises such a great point.

There just are not as many women of, there are four women on this show, but if you look at the Statehouse Press Corps, there are just not as many women as there are men.

What has the show meant for you as a female journalist who just kind of holds the torch for what it should and could look like out there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I have to echo what Lilo said and what Brie said and what all of the, you know, all of our colleagues said, well, I think they said it more eloquently than I could, but I had a similar experience to Lilo and to Charlie.

When I was a young female reporter in Trenton where, yes, there were not many back in the nineties and Michael first asked me to come on and like Charlie, I was just shocked and very nervous and kind of wondering, well, I guess it was Matt, like, why me?

Why do you think I could actually, you know, be part of this group of people?

I mean, there were legends back then, Jim Goodman, Vincerotti, you know, these reporters who'd been around forever, real, you know, the old fashioned grizzled, ink stained wretches, as we used to call them, you know, news newspaper people.

But Michael, you know, had the confidence and he, you know, he made you feel at ease.

I mean, he really did, you know, I think help to bring out the work that we all did, that we worked so hard on and to provide, you know, these insights to the viewers that maybe they couldn't get out of our stories.

And I have to tell you, I was just, you know, really, again, nervous but honored when David took over and then David had some time off to be asked to, you know, to host a few shows.

And boy, that was really very nerve-wracking.

Oh my goodness, yeah, let's show some of these old pictures of people.

I'm glad you didn't dig up any of the 1990s footage of me.

Thankfully, those are the really embarrassing pictures that you see.

It's been such an honor to be part of this and to work.

And Joe, my gosh, you've done such an awesome job.

Each host has had, I think, a different -- has brought something different to the show.

And you've just carried the torch so well.

I'm very grateful to have been a part of this.

We're going to leave it there because I don't know that I could add anything more than what you three have said.

Colleen, Lilo, Briana, thank you for all you've done for PBS, for New Jersey over all these years.

And thank you for being such incredible colleagues and friends to me.

It's been my great privilege to work alongside of you.

A couple of quick thank yous to our director, Sebastian.

You wear more hats than one person should.

You do the job of I think four people and you get this show on the air every time.

And to Jen Eichlenackert, our executive producer, you are the hard work and the magic that makes it all happen behind the scenes.

You bring the show together every week for years without fail.

None of us could do it without you and your tireless efforts.

And to our audience, thank you for tuning in week after week, year after year.

Bringing you the news of the week has been an honor and a calling for me and for our whole team.

We couldn't have done it without you.

So on behalf of all of our crew working behind the scenes, I'm Joanna Gagis.

Thanks for watching.

Have a great weekend.

That's going to do it for us.

For the entire team, past and present, that have made Reporters' Roundtable the great show that it is, including, of course, the late, great Michael Aaron, past host David Cruz, current host Joanna Gagis, past and present producers and editors Shoshana Buxbaum, Led Safer, Mallory Massara, Brendan Smith, and Elvin Badger, thank you to you all.

That's going to do it for us.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

Have a great weekend.

♪♪♪♪♪ NJM Insurance Group.

Serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

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