Candidate Endorsement: Fixing New Jersey: A Vote for Ideas, Not Purchased, Partisan Candidates

In Berkeley Heights, we see firsthand how outside dollars influence local government decisions. Neither local party has a coherent approach to governance, and that dysfunction is now contaminating our current Board of Education elections. BOE candidates are running on last minute tickets with no disclosure of who funds their ads, and those same ads are then connected to committees that don’t appear to exist. That same ticket being promoted by former Republican council members as the “conservative” choice in Republican text groups is also being pushed by current and former Democratic officials in partisan Facebook groups calling that same slate of candidates as the ticket to vote for.

Locally, elections are no longer decided by qualification or competence, but by dollars, deceptive whisper campaigns, and machine-style tactics designed to confuse voters.  This has been the case since forever.

New Jersey’s government needs an overhaul that isn’t beholden to either party or to the vapid ideological extremes that dominate the headlines. These extremes offer little substance and serve mainly to conceal what really drives New Jersey politics: money, tribalism, and a hunger for power for its own sake.

My first endorsement is for Vic Kaplan, the Libertarian candidate for Governor.

Kaplan’s plan to eliminate the sales tax and replace it with a user-fee system ties revenue directly to what is used and in need of funding. It moves us away from the blank-check property tax system and would allow local communities more flexibility to fund their schools.

On education, he supports a “fund students, not systems” approach that lets families choose the schools that best serve their children. This moves beyond Ciattarelli’s ideological posturing and Sherrill’s unwillingness to challenge public-sector unions. It reflects what most New Jersey families actually want and would make our education system more competitive. Claims that this model would harm special-needs students are not true; per-student funding formulas can account for those needs through additional support.

Kaplan also refuses to make immigration a political football. His message is simple: let people live and work without harassment from the state.

On healthcare, he favors eliminating “certificate of need” laws that limit who can open or expand medical facilities. That change would increase competition, lower costs, and expand access.

Kaplan stands out most for his willingness to challenge entrenched police bureaucracies and their insulated economies. He supports making Internal Affairs records and use-of-force reports fully public, even when no firearm is discharged, while Ciattarelli argues for shielding them. Why are the police the only government agency Ciattarelli wants to protect? And why is Sherrill’s position on this issue so anemic?

If New Jersey is going to change, to become less corrupt, more competent, and more accountable, it is time to support candidates based on their ideas and integrity, not their party label or campaign war chest.

Submitted directly by the author; content reflects their own views.

John Migueis