Rep. Sherrill Addresses State Policies at FDU Forum - OPRA Reform, NJ Transit, Environment, Educational Issues & More

Yesterday, U.S. Rep Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) took the stage in front of a packed house of New Jersey business leaders at a Fairleigh Dickenson University-sponsored political forum. 

Congresswoman Sherrill, a graduate of the Naval Academy, spent nearly a decade of service as a helicopter pilot in the Navy, earned a graduate degree from the London School of Economics, a law degree from Georgetown, and time as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

The two-term congresswoman from Montclair is rumored to be considering a run for Governor of New Jersey in 2025 and used the forum as an opportunity to address many of the important state-level issues impacting New Jersey residents. 

Specifically, Sherrill outlined her positions on the following state policy issues:

• New Jersey Transit: She’s fighting for more transparency in how money appropriated to Amtrak and NJ Transit is spent. “How do we know that the maintenance is going to be routinely done so that we can count on better commutes?” she asked.
• Atlantic City: Sherrill discussed the potential of wind power and gaming — as well as working to ensure the airport is in a better position to handle bigger events. She questioned why there is a fight to allow smoking — something she feels hurts the city’s ability to attract the next generation.
• Development: She talked about the need for more housing — of all types — for everyone.
• Environment: Sherrill pushed for more permitting reform — done in an environmentally friendly way. “I don’t think that, too early, economic development and preserving open spaces have to be in conflict,” she said.
• Education: As a parent of four, she said she’s good with limiting phones in school. As a resident of Montclair, she said she has seen firsthand the impact of having more school choice and magnet schools — it’s something she said she would push for. “I think it would be very interesting to consider a magnet school system in several of our counties,” she said.
• School segregation: Sherrill acknowledged that New Jersey schools were the best in the country — but did so while acknowledging that there is a great disparity in school systems, which have been proven to be as segregated as any in the country. “The South has done a much better job actually desegregating schools than New Jersey, which is appalling to me,” she said.
• The pension problem: She said she is a big believer in continuing to fully fund the pension, saying that failing to do so would detract from the state’s ability to spend money in other areas because of the need to service the debt.’
• OPRA: Sherrill supported the change in the ballot and questioned the recent “reforms” done to ELEC (the Election Law Enforcement Commission) and OPRA (the Open Public Records Act). “I don’t know that anyone feels a great deal of confidence that (ELEC) is protecting our election system from any sort of corruption in any way — it seems very weak,” she said.

Click here to read ROI-NJ’s complete coverage of yesterday’s FDU’s event with Rep. Sherrill.