Jersey City Mayor and New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop asked South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum to be his running mate for many reasons — but preeminently cited her willingness to be a maverick at the duo’s debut event today.
“Somebody that has leadership, somebody that has experience, somebody that’s willing to speak his or her mind, somebody that’s willing to go against the grain, somebody that’s opinionated … somebody that would be good counsel, somebody that would be pleasant to spend a lot of time with, and I think I found somebody that checked all those boxes,” said Fulop as he officially announced Collum as his pick for lieutenant governor at an event at Meridia South Orange on April 2.
Collum highlighted her outside-the-political-machine worldview in several comments: “I think we need the [Democratic] party,” she said at one point, “but it can’t be the same party that it’s always been, because that party didn’t deliver in the last election and it’s going to continue to lose people unless it reimagines how it brings people into the party.”
The comments echoed Fulop and Collum’s support for efforts that erode the power of the so-called party machine, including the abolition of the “county line” on ballots, and underscored the fact that they are competing against a frontrunner, U.S. Rep. Mike Sherrill (NJ-11), who has been endorsed by Democratic party leaders at county conventions throughout the state.
Fulop said that, if elected, he would put Collum in charge of the state Department of Community Affairs — “it’s the most important part of government … responsible for municipal services.”
“She’s my partner. She’s passionate. She’s knowledgable. She has her beliefs on certain things that are different than mine,” said Fulop.
“I want to be, especially as a local mayor, boots on the ground with municipalities,” said Collum, regarding her desire to run the DCA.
When asked by reporters, Collum refused to criticize other candidates.
“Mikie [Sherrill]’s my Congresswoman. I respect her. I respect women in government,” said Collum. Saying that Sherrill “has shown herself to be very effective,” Collum said she felt both Sherrill (NJ-11) and fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) needed to “be protecting New Jerseyans in Congress where they belong.”
Regarding gubernatorial candidate and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Collum said he was her first call when she decided to join Fulop. “Ras Baraka would be my second choice” for governor, said Collum, if New Jersey had ranked-choice voting, something both she and Fulop support.
In interacting with the federal government, Collum said she would be a strong advocate for veterans, citing the service of her brother who suffers from PTSD: “If anyone comes for my brother and if anybody comes for your service members in your families, then I’m coming for you.”
Collum said the same about protecting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, and spoke of the recent illness and death of her grandmother.
“In the last moments of her life, she had Medicaid and she had Medicare … so she got the resources that she needed. She didn’t have to experience pain and she was able to be surrounded by her family.”
“Our fight is for grandmothers. I have the fire of a granddaughter who is willing to raise hell to make sure that all your families, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent, to give your loved ones dignity at the end of their life where there is no pain and suffering. Where there is nothing but love.”
“So make this campaign personal,” said Collum. “It is personal to me. It is personal to Steve Fulop. And it is personal to the people of New Jersey.”
Sheena Collum and Steve Fulop
The following is a transcription of Collum’s comments from the April 2 press event:
A couple things that I want to touch on. First is inefficiency in government. I would say that with 564 municipalities, 700 school districts or 650 or so, is that we have to look at broad consolidations across the board. I said that I ran for an office in order to eliminate it because I believe this redundancy is too much. It is too much for taxpayers, and we are seeing it on the local level all the time. Our administrator is here, and she would tell you we saw 5% increase in taxes alone through the inefficiency of government.
When we look at housing and housing reform, that is my jam.
I absolutely love housing development. I was probably one of the first mayors to just say, I want more housing than what’s obligated from me. So South Orange didn’t take a vacant land adjustment. We went straight into wanting to develop as much affordable housing as possible. We see the value of inclusionary affordable housing. I see our municipal planner back there. She knows the drill, is that this is a community that has tremendous wealth. Yet at the end of the day, we know the benefits of inclusionary affordable housing. So as we move towards building those 80,000 plus units, you could rest assured that the community of South Orange is going to play its part. I would also say we need to change the methodology. Every municipality is talking about this right now, where I fell in love with Steve Fulop, not in a weird way, where I fell in love with him when he testified before the legislature and said, Jersey City should not be exempt.
I don’t know if you realize this, but not all 564 municipalities are being held to the exact same standard. If you think about it, over 60 of them are exempt between Jersey City and Hoboken, they amounted to close to 50% of the growth in region one. And yet in the legislation today, he is exempt from prospective need obligation. That’s a game changer to all the surrounding towns. If we could start calculating the numbers being produced by somebody like Mayor Fulop, because he understands that strategic investment where infrastructure is located and not sprawl, because as we all know, sprawl costs billions of dollars.
So when I say I want housing in South Orange, it’s because we have two train stations. We’re a first suburb right outside of Newark, which is a phenomenal city. And I’m convinced that if I can make an argument to our residents to get behind development, I can work with communities all across the state of New Jersey to encourage them not to just look at their communities, but a 200,000-plus deficit throughout the the state of New Jersey.
The next thing I would say is that we’re not only looking for affordable housing. We are looking for missing middle housing. When was the last time you saw any housing whatsoever that fell in the range of $200,000 to $400,000? In South Orange right now, our average household value is pushing $900,000. And it’s not unique to us. We are in a housing crisis and we need a governor and a lieutenant governor from a city side, from a small town, medium town side to be able to deliver on the housing promise.
The next thing I want to be able to bring attention to is residency and where-you-work preferences. As we talk about greenhouse gas emissions and coming into New Jersey. Cars, cars, cars. I have a car yet. I’m not electrified yet with my vehicle running on grapefruit. I’m going to make the transition at some point, but I still get gas. So I’m not that person who’s there yet, who’s had the money to be able to do it, but there’s a lot of cars on the roads.
And are we talking about expanding roadways? Is that what New Jersey wants? Is highways with 12-14 lanes? Absolutely not. This is the mayor who has produced the largest micro transit network in the state. He is building and amplifying open spaces, greenways, light transit, ferry, [addressing at Fulop] you know the drill and you ride a bike. It’s very impressive.
That is where he would be redirecting resources. It’s not in things that cause congestion, but things that make it easier, especially for our kids who are walking to school and finding safe paths here in South Orange. Our number one issue isn’t part one crime. It is that people don’t feel safe walking to their destinations. And that’s the type of innovation that we need in the governor’s office.
Now, I’m going to tie this also back to housing because, back to New Jersey Transit, I want to have a serious conversation about what our residents suffer. It wasn’t just a summer of hell, it wasn’t a fall of hell, it wasn’t a spring and winter hell, it’s just been hell for our commuters. And I realize you hear it’s, oh, we’re talking about Amtrak over here. Oh, it’s New Jersey Transit over there. Let me tell you, at a very bare minimum, the communication to our commuters can be improved. Think about it, folks. I mean, just close your eyes, close your eyes. We just had people come back from outer space. That is the type of country that we have. If Steve wanted to pull out his smartphone and order his favorite meal of, I’m sorry, chicken fingers, what I would be able to tell you right now is he would order it.
He would know the estimated time of arrival. He would know if that doordasher was putting chicken fingers at somebody else’s house and he would watch that vehicle pull in front of this building and deliver him his favorite meal. And yet, New Jersey Transit, the largest transportation statewide in the country, can’t figure out how to tell commuters when they should be going to their arrival destination, their departure destination. And that’s really tough. You spend $250 to $500 a month on monthly passes. What good is that to a commuter who at the end of the day has to then spend a hundred dollars to be able to get an Uber to get back and forth to the city? And what I didn’t see at the New Jersey Transit Board meetings when I went, quite honestly, it started with their rebranded golf balls. You’ve got to be kidding me!
What I want to see at a New Jersey Transit Board meeting is a pregnant woman who’s been working in the city who has children in daycare that she’s late getting back to, and her children were dropped off in the police department. I want to see that woman who just carried a full backpack, had to stand up on a train, is rocking a side ponytail from the 1980s with hair flying everywhere. That’s the woman that I want to see advocating for commuters at a New Jersey transit meeting.
And that is the type of government that Steve will produce.
Now, a lot of people have said he’s running outside the establishment. That’s by design. And let’s be very clear about something. He is giving people opportunities. Would I be here? Absolutely not. Was I ever part of the political establishment? No. I’ve been in a nonpartisan election where 90% of our residents vote Democratic. They are progressive warriors, but I never had to kiss any rings. And I’ll tell you a quick secret. — It’s not a secret. This is a press conference. — So, when I first became mayor, I was invited to a super secret, high level, important meeting with a super powerful politician. All the mayors were invited. Then we’re sitting around the conference table. I’m there. I’m so excited. I’m like, this is important stuff. He told all the mayors that he was going to be running for reelection and he expected everybody’s support.
I was like [raises hand]. I got called on and I was like, what’s your platform? And there was this moment of silence and he said, it’s more of the same. And I was like, okay, okay. I gotcha. I gotcha, I gotcha. And so, then it happened again. I was like, what does that mean?
It didn’t go too well. But I did realize afterwards when another mayor had told me, you’re never gonna be invited back. And I was like, okay, I get it. I have found the corruption tax that Steve talks about to be very real. He is not pushing candidates to challenge people in their seats because let’s be very clear, people don’t own those seats. They are rented to individuals by the public for a set period of time. As mayor, I will vacate my seat when the public decides it is time for me to go.
And for too long there have been un uncontested elections on unfair ballots and people who anoint people to serve in government rather than giving them a choice. Steve has given 40-plus people a chance not to kiss a ring, not to bow down, not to raise obscene amounts of money to put themselves out there and make a case to the public. And I can tell you, running in a nonpartisan election without a line and somebody who endorses me and gives me tons of money, I’m always on my feet because the community is evaluating me at any given time. And that’s so, so, so important to me. And it ups my game each and every time. So Steve, I really want to thank you for what you’re putting together here. I’m glad to be your Sheena — Hopefully, able to be your MaSheena.
That’s a term that I think I just came up with!
But this opportunity is one that puts so much fire in my belly and I’m so excited for it.
State and regional planning. So many of you know, I’m the executive director of the American Planning Association in New Jersey. And with 564 municipalities, 650 school districts, 80 assembly members, 40 senators, 21 counties. There are so many elected officials, and I hate to say this, but like what, why are we doing this? So I can get a badge that says Mayor at the League of Municipalities? Is this a self preservation? We do not have a vision for what one New Jersey looks like. It’s North Jersey, it’s South Jersey, it’s Central Jersey. It’s Taylor Pork Roll ham.
Something we need to figure out moving forward, how to align our state priorities with our resources. And that is the State Plan. The state plan now is 25 years old, 25 years old without a vision. Every municipality has a master plan. Does the state? No. And finally it’s [indistinguishable] happy to participate and there’s cross acceptance that’s happening in every single county right now. So we build a vision together.
Last but not least because you’ve been so generous with your time, is I can’t not talk about the federal government, what level of despair people are experiencing. I’m fired up. I get sad, I get incredibly sad seeing what’s happening with our residents, but it does nothing but light a fire. And I know that Steve will be somebody who is very decisive. He doesn’t waver with the executive experience. He is ready to take this to a full on fight.
I saw that Governor Murphy said he was going to try and put a million dollars into the Attorney General’s office. I would say that if Governor Murphy did a call to all the attorneys all throughout New Jersey, whether they are civil rights attorneys, whether they’re constitutional attorneys, we need to build the biggest and best team to fight the Trump administration.
This to me is very personal and I’m speaking to independent unaffiliated voters. This moment comes around once in a lifetime where the threat is so big that it just scares you at your core. So I’ll tell you my story. My mom and dad work their entire life. I’ll note that. My mom says we’re gonna win. She’s praying every day. She’s wonderful. But that is a mother’s love. They work their entire lives and now they get Social Security and Medicare. If anybody comes for my mom and dad, I’m coming for you. And Republicans. Yeah, and independents. If anybody’s coming for your mom and dad, I’m with you in the fight.
My brother is a disabled combat veteran. He served his country. It’s been difficult. And he also came back with PTSD. If anybody comes for my brother and if anybody comes for your service members in your families then I’m coming for you as well.
And certainly last but not least, and this one’s a really tough one. If you look online, you’ll see that I lost my grandmother. She was 102 years old when she died. She was my Halmeoni. She is a Korean immigrant, brought her family to this country, buried two of her children before the end of her life. She never learned how to speak English. We communicated through playing Korean cards. I’m here because of her. And in the last moments of her life, she had Medicaid and she had Medicare. And so when it was time for her to go to heaven, she got the resources that she needed. She didn’t have to experience pain, and she was able to be surrounded by her family.
So when you look at Medicaid and the number of seniors and low income families and children who benefit, sorry, I cried. Our fight is for grandmothers. I have the fire of a granddaughter who is ready to raise hell to make sure that all your families, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat or an independent, get to give your loved ones dignity at the end of their life where there’s no pain and suffering and there’s nothing but love. So make this campaign incredibly personal because it’s personal to me. It is personal to Steve Fulop. It is personal to the people of New Jersey. And I will never, ever, ever bring cynicism to this conversation because I am a hundred percent convinced that the people of New Jersey are caring and they are compassionate and they’re empathetic.
And when they see that the rights of people less vulnerable are being taken away, they’re going to stand up. They’re going to rise up. This is the phoenix burning right now.
So over the next two months, I am gonna join Steve Fulop on this exciting journey to motivate our base of supporters, our progressives, our moderates. Be with us, independents. Be with us Republicans. This is nothing but joy and love. The day that I stop believing that there is goodness and kindness in every person who is a New Jerseyan is the day I leave office. But I’ve gotta say after 41 years, I’ve seen nothing but love and I am full of gratitude. Thank you guys so much.
