“Why should New Jersey boaters and anglers vote for you on November 4th, and as governor of New Jersey, what is your pledge to the recreational fishing community?”
I’d like to thank the editors of The Fisherman Magazine for allowing me to directly address the boaters and anglers of the Garden State.
First, it’s important to recognize where we are and how we got here. The state’s investment in fisheries management has failed to even keep up with recent inflation, and seats remain vacant on multiple bodies vital to our fishing interests, including the Fish and Game Council, the Marine Fisheries Council, the Atlantic Coast Shellfish Council and the Delaware Bay Shellfish Council. Also, despite failures of wind farm projects off our coast, the Murphy administration is doubling down on their failed energy policies.
More broadly, our state has become increasingly unaffordable. This has most recently been seen in skyrocketing energy bills, property tax hikes, and the lingering effects of brutal inflation of over 9% three years ago caused by massive federal spending.
Plainly stated, I have solutions for each of those problems, while my opponent has announced no serious plans to address them.
We can and must ensure proper funding for fisheries management. The last two state budgets together included at least a billion dollars’ worth of pork, which can be cut by a Governor with the backbone to stand up to special interests. Further, I have a plan to find efficiencies throughout state government and redirect funds to more worthwhile programs and services, while easing the tax burden on residents.
As Governor I will appoint only qualified individuals to leadership posts in the Department of Environmental Protection and all agencies of state government. I will do the same with all policy bodies including the vacancies mentioned above, as well as at all regional and international fishing bodies or their sub-entities on which our state has representation.
On energy, I will scrap Murphy’s Energy Master Plan, and end attempts to put windmills off our Jersey Shore. Instead, I will promote clean but stable energy sources such as natural gas and nuclear power plants. The improved match between supply and demand will temper, and even lower, your energy bills.
Incredibly, only a year after the Ørsted wind projects off the New Jersey coast collapsed (despite up to $1 billion in state subsidies), my opponent published a column calling for a “once-in-a-generation investment in New Jersey by leading in offshore wind.” She even suggested that offshore wind would rival the lightbulb as New Jersey’s next great innovation.
Further, Congresswoman Sherrill voted against a federal study to assess whether the current environmental review process for offshore wind projects is sufficient. Why oppose a simple review to learn impacts on our fisheries, birds and shorelines?
The congresswoman also – in her own words – “helped pass” the disastrous Inflation Reduction Act – which actually increased inflation and the deficit.
The problems plaguing New Jersey’s anglers and other residents flow from these bad, politically driven policies. So, as The Fisherman Magazine has asked, what is my pledge to the recreational fishing community? I have several.
As Governor, I will base my policies on science, not politics. The Fish and Game Council is comprised of experts who likewise base their decisions on science. In my administration, I will safeguard the council’s independence and integrity.
To ensure this policy remains beyond my service as Governor, I would support enactment of pending legislation clarifying current law that provides the council with sole authority to regulate freshwater fishing, hunting, and trapping. Unfortunately, this may be necessary to correct the clearly mistaken interpretation of the law that the state Supreme Court adopted in a 2005 decision, which essentially gives the DEP Commissioner veto authority over the council’s actions and thereby turned it into a mere advisory body.
I will reform fishing and hunting regulations to streamline permitting processes and account for modern methods of fishing and hunting that are utilized safely in other states.
I will focus on New Jersey’s membership with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to ensure its rules and processes account for our unique coastline and varied fishing practices, provide for proper and scientific stock management, and don’t harm our vital fishing industry which provides millions of dollars to our economy from both recreational and commercial fishing.
I will veto bills that infringe on the rights of sportsmen and women to hunt, fish and trap. I will consider the advice of the NJ Fish and Game Council and wildlife biologists on other outdoor sportsman issues.
Finally, I will make New Jersey a more affordable place in which to live, work, raise a family, and retire. It’s time.
