Few sparks fly in Stockton debate, but candidates stake out positions
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew and his Democratic opponent for Congress, Amy Kennedy, spent an hour last week answering questions in a cordial debate at the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.
There were a few notable exchanges, but the way the debate was structured did not provide for much back-and-forth directly between Van Drew, a longtime Democrat who switched to the Republican Party late last year, and Kennedy, a former Northfield school teacher and mental health advocate who lives in Brigantine.
Rather than having one candidate answer a question and then providing time for a rebuttal, most of the time was spent asking alternating questions to Kennedy and Van Drew or posing the same question to each of them. Often only one was asked to respond to a specific issue.
Here are how the candidates responded to various issues:
Trump irresponsible?
Asked if President Donald Trump was irresponsible for having a fundraising event at his Bedminster golf club after being exposed to a close aide who tested positive for COVID-19, Van Drew said he wasn’t sure exactly what the president knew, but if someone has been exposed, they have a responsibility to let a doctor or health professional know. It requires being careful, he said.
Response to pandemic
Asked about the government’s response to the pandemic, Kennedy said she would love to say everything is moving forward, “but we’re six months in and still struggling.” She cited mixed messaging from the administration on how dangerous the virus is and whether to wear masks. She wants to see the government “have a real plan” on fighting the virus and on how to distribute a vaccine, when it comes, equitably.
Van Drew placed the blame on China, where the virus originated, and said it wasn’t clear whether the virus began in a meat market in Wuhan or in a laboratory. He credited the president for imposing travel restrictions from China even though he was called racist and xenophobic for doing so. “Thank God he did,” Van Drew said, adding the nation will have a vaccine soon. “We still have to be careful,” he said, but there is “light at the end of the tunnel.”
Biden’s lockdown
Asked if she supported Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden’s call for a national lockdown to fight the pandemic, Kennedy said she was hoping that wouldn’t be needed and suggested a better approach would be a precise lockdown in places where the virus was raging. She didn’t think Biden would call for a national lockdown “unless it were absolutely necessary” and based on science.
More CARES Act funding
Kennedy said she absolutely supports another round of stimulus funding because southern New Jersey families are struggling and a stimulus would be an economic bridge. She said funding should go not just to major businesses such as airlines, but to small businesses and working families.
Van Drew said he supports more funding and said the reason it isn’t forthcoming is because of politics. He blamed measures in a COVID-relief bill including releasing violent federal prisoners including rapists and murderers, giving money to undocumented residents and supporting the Green New Deal. “I want to get a bill done on a bipartisan level. We can argue about the other stuff later.”
In a followup about criticism from some Republicans that another stimulus was a “blue state bailout,” Van Drew said he supports helping states with their expenses due to COVID-19, but not to bail them out because of poor fiscal management.
Election security
Van Drew said he was worried about election security and said anecdotal evidence shows many people have seen extra ballots. The traditional mail-in ballots are fine, he said, but not sending out millions of ballots that weren’t requested. He said a better way would have been to have in-person voting spread over three days, such as a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kennedy said the primary shows that mail-in voting worked because of greater participation of both Democrats and Republicans. “I’m excited that we are among the states making sure everybody will be safe and able to participate in the process.” She noted that the paper ballots prevent interference from foreign governments and she chided President Trump for his destructive narrative about mail-in voting.
Party switch anger
Van Drew said his own polling conflicted with Monmouth University polling that showed voters were upset by his switch from the Democratic Party to the GOP. “Our internal polling doesn’t show that at all,” he said, pointing out people, including Republicans, voted for him, not his party affiliation.
Undying support
Further questioned about telling the president in the Oval Office that Trump would have his “undying support,” Van Drew said it meant that he wouldn’t agree with him on everything but that he supported the presidency and some of the things he has done, including a strong America, energy production, education and the environment.
Political novice
Asked how she would get anything done in Congress being a political novice running for office for the first time, Kennedy said that actually gets to the heart of why she is running. She said her family has lived in this area for four generations, she has taught public school, is raising five children here and is mental health advocate trying to improve lives. “People will support that lived experience,” she said.
Political spectrum
Asked where she differed from Biden, she said she was disappointed to hear that he did not oppose fracking. “I want to see us moving toward greener energy. I do not think we should be encouraging fracking.”
More party switch
Asked about his speech that he switched parties because Democrats have moved too far to the left, Van Drew cited the Green New Deal and the trillions of dollars that would cost, plus the idea “among many radical Democrats” to defund the police. “I stand tall with my police. I stand tall for the military.” He said the U.S. should be No. 1 in energy production as well. He noted that “after China sent us the wonderful gift of the virus,” the U.S. had to ask the Chinese for personal protective equipment.
Obamacare, public option
Van Drew said he would not vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare for President Barack Obama, “until we have a better replacement.” He said it is not as good as it should be, but that people should have health care and be covered for pre-existing conditions. He also doesn’t want to see employer-sponsored health care taken away.
Kennedy said she was glad to hear she and Van Drew agreed on the need to preserve the Affordable Care Act. She said it is more important than ever with high unemployment and said a public option would be important for people who could not afford coverage. She, too, said employer-sponsored health coverage should be maintained.
She said the government should be able to bargain for lower prescription rates and that preventive care should be a priority to have healthier individuals and communities.
Van Drew agreed with bargaining for lower prescription costs.
Job growth
Kennedy said there are 12 grandchildren in her extended family and they are worried about their opportunities. She said the economy in the region has struggled for years, not just during the pandemic, and there should be an emphasis on the infrastructure, not just roads and bridges, but on broadband, plus diversification, including green technology and supporting small businesses.
Van Drew said the tourism industry needs help and said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy should be blamed for not allowing businesses at the shore to open even though COVID-19 rates were lower here.
Migrant labor and foreign summer workers
Kennedy said immigration and foreign summer workers is an area requiring bipartisan support that provides the labor necessary when the region needs it. She also said those workers need to have their rights protected, but noted that if there are qualified people who live here, jobs should go to them first.
Van Drew said he agreed with Trump that the U.S. doesn’t need open borders and that he doesn’t believe in sanctuary cities or states. “Take care of our people first. We’re a nation of laws.” He said some of the people crossing the border “are criminals or worse.” He supports work visas, but said the workers should go home after they are no longer needed.
Systemic racism
Asked if systemic racism exists in the country, Van Drew said if the definition is that the average person hates people of color, “I do not,” but there are pockets. “This is a wonderful, amazing country that self corrects,” he said, adding he “did not believe the average law enforcement official hates people of color.”
When pressed on how Black Americans are affected by law enforcement at triple the rate of white Americans, Van Drew said disparities exist because “we have to do more work to bring us together.” The disparities don’t exist, he said, “because the average police officer wakes up in the morning and says ‘I hate black people.’”
After he said young people have to be taught how to deal with police officers, a panelist questioned who needed that type of education. Van Drew responded, “We all do.”
Kennedy said she does believe systemic racism exists and pointed out that it differs from talking about racist people. She pointed out that systemic racism is what takes place in policies and in institutions and that needs to be addressed.
Kennedy said she was proud she was a teacher in New Jersey which is the top in education, but noted the state still has among the most segregated schools. There must be changes in the criminal justice system, the education system, housing, employment and equal pay.
Defunding the police
One of the few areas where Kennedy and Van Drew clashed directly was over the issue of defunding the police. Neither candidate supports it.
Van Drew said there are communities that want to cut funding to police, and that means not giving them adequate compensation for putting their lives on the line or getting the equipment they need. He said talking to people from all walks of life in Atlantic City, they all wanted more police. He did agree he would support reforms because there should be reforms in everything, including dentistry. (Van Drew is a dentist by trade.) He said instead of “blowing up buildings and hurting residents” people should act in bipartisan fashion on reforms.
Kennedy took issue with Van Drew and political ads that accuse her of supporting defunding the police.
“I only disagree with his accusation that I support that (defunding the police),” Kennedy said. “I believe, as you do, that we need to have police that are better trained, addressing bias. That when we are talking about how we move together as a country and mitigate violence we are seeing in this country that we are talking about solutions by bringing both parties to the table.
Make sure law enforcement has a voice at the table as well as community members. That is where we find real buy-in and solutions that work.”
She accused Van Drew of twisting her words from an NAACP forum when she said there was merit in having conversations about how funding is provided and “you took that and spun it to say that I supported defunding the police. I never even said the word defund, but you’ve used that in every ad and mailers about me and used that constantly and used that refrain, but when you’re asked about your pledge about undying support (for Trump), you said that’s not what I meant. But you’re willing to put words in my mouth that I haven’t even said.”
Offensive ads
Kennedy said she has basically been “cut and pasted into Republican talking points that are happening across the country.” She suggested people look at her website to see her policies, rather than being slammed as “phony, elitist, radical, all of those things. If anyone looked at my website, they’d say that really doesn’t seem to fit that schoolteacher. I don’t think that’s her.”
She said the conversation among voters is about who would be best for New Jersey, rather than the nasty negative campaigning.
Van Drew fired back that she is more than a simple image she presents.
“Respectively, I don’t think you’re just that homespun school teacher, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, but you are attempting to achieve something very different and your family is very different and there is nothing wrong with that, but you’re not just a homespun schoolteacher.”
“Secondly, I think a lot of the ads are offensive because we don’t want to hear what is the truth. I’ve had more negative ads against me than anyone in this room because of the number of years that I’ve served and I’ve offered at times, said ‘let’s not do that, let’s have a positive campaign,’ and only once would someone ever do that. Every ad is cited. Truthfully I don’t watch the ads.”
Climate change
Kennedy said Congress can work in bipartisan fashion to do things such as building climate resiliency in infrastructure in the region. There should be real investment in roads, bridges, levees and natural dunes and investing in green energy to lessen the impact of climate change.
Van Drew said he does believe in climate change and has sponsored one of the largest environmental bills. He believes in working on how and where homes are built, supports nuclear energy and investing in solar, but not in making deals with China that is responsible for more than a quarter of pollution in the world.
Beach replenishment
Kennedy and Van Drew both support beach replenishment because of its import to the economy, but would consider a better approach.
Supreme Court
Van Drew said he supports the Senate moving ahead to confirm a U.S. Supreme Court justice right before the election. Kennedy said the American people want consistency and that because Obama’s choice was never given a hearing four years ago, some eight months before the election, Trump’s choice should not get a hearing four weeks before the election.
Abortion
Kennedy said she is prochoice and would continue to fight for women’s reproductive rights.
Van Drew said he supports abortion if the life of the mother is at risk or in cases of rape or incest.
Gun control
Van Drew said he supports universal background checks.
Kennedy supports universal background checks and bans on all assault weapons. “As a teacher, I had to train students how to hide in corners and do these drills because we haven’t come up with good meaningful changes … for common-sense gun laws.”
Payroll tax
Van Drew supported the president’s payroll tax cut to get more money in people’s pockets, but noted next year it will have to be repaid.
Kennedy opposed it because so many people rely on Social Security benefits and it shouldn’t be put in jeopardy.
Mask mandate
Van Drew would not support a national mask mandate because all the states are different.
Kennedy said she would have to see the parameters but would prefer it to be on a local basis.
COVID-19 vaccine
Kennedy said she would get a coronavirus vaccine when it is available, the Food and Drug Administration has approved it and science says it is safe. Van Drew said he would take it.
Closing
In his closing remarks, Van Drew said it was an honor to be an American and that the country has been good to him. He believes in American exceptionalism and that this is one of the most important elections since the Civil War.
Kennedy said she is running because she loves her home and where she is raising her family. “When I taught in Northfield Community School my job was to see who was struggling and to help remove those barriers so they could be successful. That’s what I want to do for you in Congress.”
New Jersey voters should have their mail-in ballots. Election Day is Nov. 3.