Oct. 15, 2013
GLASSBORO, N.J. – With the U.S. Senate race for New Jersey nearing its conclusion, candidates Cory Booker and Steve Lonegan traded jabs over topics like the health care reform, gay marriage and gun laws during their final debate.
The debate saw Democratic candidate Booker repeatedly accuse his opponent, Lonegan, Republican mayor of Bogota, N.J., of being a “Tea Party extremist.” Lonegan, meanwhile, painted a portrait of Booker as someone more interested in Hollywood than helping the state.
The two faced off in front of a packed house in Rowan University’s Pfleeger Concert Hall. They are contending to replace Attorney General Jeffery Chiesa, who was selected to fill in for the late Frank Lautenberg, as the U.S. Senate representative of New Jersey.
The focus of Lonegan’s criticism of Booker throughout the debate was the current state of Newark, N.J., where Booker is serving as mayor. Lonegan noted the high taxes the state is spending on development of the city as well as its high unemployment and crime rates.
“All you need to do is go into any small business and they’ll tell you how they’re being crushed by high taxes, overregulation, runaway crime and rampant high school drop out rates,” said Lonegan.
Lonegan had one of the more noteworthy comments of the night when he said that people cannot swim in Newark’s Passaic river because of the amount of dead bodies floating in it. He also made claims that Booker is more concerned with his celebrity than actually fixing Newark’s problems.
“14-year-old Ali Henderson was shot to death in the streets of Newark while he was on the Jimmy Fallon show telling people what a great job he was doing,” said Lonegan.
In rebuking Lonegan’s claims, Booker brought up a bail out that Lonegan received from the government for the finances of Bogota in 2006. He also said that Newark is going through its biggest economic boom in 50 years and that the city’s crime rate has dropped in the past year.
“Crime is down with a 27 percent reduction in shootings,” said Booker. “We’re making tremendous progress in the city of Newark.”
The debate began with the candidate’s assessments of the handling of the government shutdown. Lonegan graded Congress’s handling of the shutdown a “B,” placing blame on President Barack Obama, whom he graded an “F.” Democratic nominee Booker, on the other hand, gave Congress the “F.”
“The government is really being shut down because of Tea Party extremists in Washington,” said Booker. “I believe we need to send people to Washington that are going to being people together to work together.”
When asked about the president’s health care plan, a major factor in the shutdown, Booker said that the problems lie in its implementation. He noted benefits of the plan such as enabling young people to stay on their parents’ plans longer.
Lonegan, meanwhile, said that Obama care is “bringing chaos into the market place” and that it should be postponed for a year in order to work out its issues.
“It threatens the health care of millions of Americans,” said Lonegan. “The system is simply not ready to be implemented.”
Among the more heated topics of the night’s debate was gay marriage, which was recently ruled to be legal in New Jersey by Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson. Lonegan stated that his opposition of same-sex marriage stems from his belief that marriage between a man and a woman is “the greatest institution ever devised by the mind of man to raise a child.”
When pushed on whether or not he believes gay couples should be allowed to adopt, Lonegan questioned its long-term effects on children.
“I have mixed feelings about that,” he said.
Booker cited equality under the law as his reason for supporting gay marriage and accused Lonegan of being hypocritical on the matter.
“This is a fundamental principle under the law,” said Booker. “He says he supports liberty, but you can’t be free to marry who you want.”
Gun control legislation was also debated, as Booker pushed the issue of background checks, which he believes should be required for all gun sales.
“I believe, like the overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans, even gun owners, that we should end secondary markets not doing background checks,” said Booker. “My opponent is supported by the NRA.”
Lonegan answered this by claiming that he doesn’t believe legal gun owners have committed any of the crimes on the streets of Newark. He also feels that mandatory background checks are an invasion of privacy.
“It’s not legal gun owners, people who buy guns legally, that commit crimes,” said Lonegan. “Criminals don’t pay attention to these laws.”
Booker also took issue with Lonegan’s anti-abortion views, noting that his opponent does not believe a woman should have the right to an abortion in cases of rape or incest. The abortion argument would eventually stretch the hour-long debate to its limits allowing no time for closing statements.
The election will take place this Wednesday.
