The basics:

• GOP gubernatorial candidates debated in Newark, hosted by NJ PBS and WNYC
• Ciattarelli, Spadea and Bramnick sparred over taxes, education and immigration
• Affordability, school funding and bail reform were major flashpoints
• Democratic hopefuls to debate May 12 in a separate NJ PBS forum

With just over a month to go until the June 10 primary, gubernatorial candidates on the Republican side squared off Wednesday evening in Newark in the latest debate.

The event, NJ Decides 2025: Conversations with the Gubernatorial Candidates, hosted by NJ PBS and WNYC, featured a sit-down, 60-minute discussion format between candidates Jack Ciattarelli, Bill Spadea and Jon Bramnick. David Cruz, “Chat Box” anchor and NJ Spotlight News senior political correspondent, and Michael Hill, WNYCs “Morning Edition” host, moderated.

There were no opening or closing statements – as the format was intended to focus on a civil discussion. And while there were some fireworks and cross-talk between the candidates, the debate did not devolve into quite the same vitriol as experienced in February.

The first question of the night asked the candidates how the next governor should make the state more affordable.

“The first thing we have to do is lower property taxes – how are we going to do that? The only way to do that is we’ve got to fix how we fund our schools,” said Spadea. “And one of the first things that I’m going to do as governor is use the power of the executive to go into the cities that have failed schools and empower the local parents to get their kids out of the failed schools and into charter schools.

Driving down education costs

“The charter schools educate children for two-thirds of the cost of the traditional public schools. That is No. 1. No. 2, we’ve got to end illegal immigration. We’re going to end the sanctuary state; we’re going to start enforcing federal detainer orders; we’re going to end bail reform,” he continued.

Spadea says that the estimated 900,000 illegal immigrants cost the state more than $7 billion.

“You’ve got to fix school funding. You’ve got to renegotiate some of the pension plans – specifically, the CWA [Communications Workers of America Union] and the NJEA [New Jersey Education Association] for new hires coming in. And once we drive down the cost of education – let’s face it, Newark, New Jersey, $1.6 billion school budget for 28,000 kids; $1.1 billion of that comes from the taxpayers. So, we are literally robbing the suburbs and throwing the money into the cities. And nine out of 10 of the kids can’t perform at grade-level. It’s absolutely an atrocity.”

“If you watch the budget process for the past seven years, right before we passed the budget, in the middle of the night, you see $1 billion going into pork projects and Christmas tree items – in order to get votes form the other side of the aisle,” said Bramnick. “Unless you have actually the two-party system, they’re going to continue, my friends across the aisle – to give this money to the districts that they like. And not give money to a Republican district.

“For example, in the middle of the night, they gave $17 million to one county – undisclosed properties. They give money to museums – and they give money to entities. And we have no vote on that. So, $1 billion in the middle of the night – that should be going back to taxpayers, or to boards of education, or to municipalities.”

Affordability crisis

“There is an affordability crisis in the state – because there are individuals and our businesses pay the highest taxes in the country,” said Ciattarelli. “And so, we need to lower taxes. We need to make our government a lean, mean, fighting machine. It’s bloated. It’s inefficient. We do need a new school funding formula that provides a more equitable distribution of state aid to our schools.

“We need lower utility rates. We’ll get that under Gov. Ciattarelli with a new Energy Master Plan. And we also have to combine the Committee for State Investigations with the State Comptroller’s Office to get rid of all the waste, inefficiency, and fraud in our state government. That can make it less expensive. Those are just some of the things that we can do on a very macro level to make New Jersey less expensive.”

The discussion continued over the next hour. It snaked through topics such as affordable housing, rising energy costs, a potential NJ Transit strike, Newark airport delays, education, health care, immigration, race, diversity, support of President Donald Trump, and much more.

The Democratic candidates get their turn May 12 at 7 p.m. Hill and NJ Spotlight News Anchor Briana Vannozzi will moderate that discussion.