District 9 State Senate Candidates Talk on Local Issues

Residents in New Jersey’s 9^th Legislative District will be voting for their delegates to the state Assembly and Senate Tuesday, and with election day approaching, Patch spoke with incumbent Republican Senator Christopher J. Connors and his Democratic challenger, Dorothy Ryan, on the issues they feel are most important to area voters.

Connors, a 21-year veteran of the legislature, and Ryan, a former Barnegat Township Committeewoman, agreed that taxes, bay conservation and planning for the closure of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey are tops for residents in the 9^th district.

When it comes to Oyster Creek, “we need to be planning ahead,” Ryan said. She said she feels elected officials need to put more effort into finding alternative energy sources and plan for new jobs, so that the community is ready when the plant closes in 2019. 

She’s also deeply concerned about on-site storage of waste at the plant, which she pointed out could continue indefinitely, because efforts to establish a national nuclear waste disposal site have repeatedly failed. 

“I don’t think that there’s enough good, solid planning and though being done at this point in time,” she said. 

But Connors said he and the rest of the delegation have spearheaded the effort to plan for Oyster Creek’s closure, introducing bills to establish a council that would explore the decommissioning of nuclear plants around the state. The council will incorporate environmental experts and community leaders, and would examine all aspects of plant closures, he said, including that of Oyster Creek.

“Eight years is not a lot of time when you consider the economic significance that the power plant has played in the region,” Connors said. “I think it’s important that the state and the region be able to address what we can expect.”

Ryan said she’d also support a more robust approach to efforts to conserve Barnegat Bay, which plays a major role in the economy and day-to-day life of the 9^th district.

Gov. Chris Christie’s 10-point plan for the bay is merely a beginning, she said.

“It’s a good start, but it’s just a start, and if we don’t keep up and continue to do things to correct that, we’re going to lose our bay,” Ryan said. “It’s critical to tourism. It would have a major impact on the economy if it gets so polluted you can’t use it. We can’t afford to have that happen.”

New regulations such as strict fertilizer laws are good, she said, but enforcement is key.

Connors agreed, but said Republicans’ push for bay protection has been unprecedented. 

“There’s always more that can be done,” he said, “but this is the greatest start that we’ve had in any administration up until this one.”

There are ways to enforce fertilizer regulations at point-of-sale, he pointed out, and as residents and landscaping companies are educated about the laws, it will be harder for people to break them unnoticed.

And there have been other efforts to protect the waterway on his watch, he said, including two hearings on conservation by a joint environmental committee and continued education campaigns. Legislators are now working on a plan to acquire vulnerable land within the watershed, he said.

“We’re playing catch-up, but it is accurate to assess it as a major, important step,” Connors said of the governor’s 10-point plan.

Both Connors and Ryan agreed that leaders must continue to address the issue residents consistently say is most important to them: property taxes.

Connors said state-level plans to stabilize taxes, including the 2 percent spending cap, are beginning to have a positive effect, but more can be done. He said he’d continue to push for the passage of the rest of the governor’s “toolkit” to cut taxes, which includes measures like capping sick leave payout and changing the rules that govern the hiring and firing of public employees.

“By cutting back on the size of government, I think you’ll begin to see the property tax situation stabilize,” he said.

Ryan said she’d reverse the millionaires’ tax cut and focus the revenue on property tax relief. But she also said New Jersey needs to dig deep into the root source of its property tax pain.

“I have long felt that until the state finds an alternative to taxing property owners to support the school system, we’re not going to get significant relief,” she said. “Our children need a good education, but it costs money, and we need to look at alternatives to relying on the homeowner.”

Other taxes – on gas or clothing – should be considered as a way to fund education and thus slash property taxes, she said.

“None of these things are popular,” said Ryan, “but if it’s going to give significant relief to the homeowners, they won’t mind paying a little in other areas.”

Connors said such reform is an admirable goal, but has failed in other states.

“I think we stand a better chance in the 9^th district if we instead fight for our fair share of education funding,” he said. The fact that more than half of state funds go to Abbott districts is unfair, he said, and needs to change. He promised to support a change to the state constitution to force equal distribution of funds based on the number of pupils per district if such legislation ever made it to the floor.

“It’s a hard fight, but I would certainly like to see the question be posed on the ballot for the people of the state of New Jersey to decide.”

Also up for reelection Nov. 8 are State Assembly Republicans Brian Rumpf and DiAnne C. Gove, who are challenged by Democrats Bradley Billhimer and Carla Kearney. You can watch a recording of an Oct. 19 debate among the candidates on the Press of Atlantic City's website.