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In 3d N.J. debate, fight over education At Rowan, gubernatorial candidates McGreevey and Schundler differed on public versus private schools.
Originally appeared in on 10/19/01
New Jersey's gubernatorial candidates clashed sharply last night on education, with Democrat James E. McGreevey saying the state should focus on public schools and Republican Bret D. Schundler asserting that private schools deserved some much-needed help.
Their comments came during a town meeting that reinforced the sharp dividing lines between the two candidates on issues such as taxes, education and guns. The forum was held at Rowan University and telecast statewide on Comcast cable station CN8.
McGreevey, who has made Schundler's position on education a central thrust of his campaign, declared that the next governor's priority should be improving the public schools, and he accused Schundler of trying to "bankrupt" the system.
"You take $600 million out of the system, you are going to destroy the quality of public education," McGreevey said. "What Mr. Schundler wants to do is walk away from public education."
Schundler countered that the state could make a commitment to help parents who send their children to private schools without jeopardizing public schools.
That could be done, Schundler said, through a combination of taxpayer-financed vouchers for private-school students and tax credits to charities that provide scholarships for students attending private schools.
Schundler said that encouraging more families to send their children to private schools would ease the financial strain on public schools.
Schundler said that the state's failure to provide tuition assistance to private-school students was tantamount to unfairly making them "second-class citizens."
McGreevey, noting that he attended parochial school as a youth, said his position was not an attempt to "penalize parents" of private-school students.
The town meeting also saw the candidates try to pin each other into a corner on the issues of guns and taxes.
Schundler has tried to tar his Democratic rival by reminding voters of the record $2.8 billion tax increase imposed by former Gov. Jim Florio and the Democratic-controlled legislature in 1990.
In response to a question last night, Schundler said he would "absolutely, positively" not raise taxes and suggested there was no reason McGreevey should not make the identical commitment.
But McGreevey would not go that far, saying he was "committed to having our state government live within its means."
McGreevey said in the first two debates that it would be irresponsible, especially given the uneasy times brought on by the terrorist attacks and ensuing war, to unequivocally pledge not to raise taxes.
While Schundler tried again to drive a wedge between him and McGreevey on taxes, McGreevey hammered away at Schundler once more on the gun issue.
Schundler, who is running with the backing of gun-rights groups in the state, had said during the GOP primary that he would sign legislation permitting people to carry concealed weapons but has since backed away from that position.
McGreevey tried to hold him to it last night, saying that Schundler had "made an agreement" with the gun lobby to support legislation permitting people to carry guns.
"I can't think of anything more wrong in the state of New Jersey than the thought of people carrying concealed weapons," McGreevey said.
Schundler countered that McGreevey was distorting his views and said, "I'm going to promise you that New Jersey's gun laws will not change if I'm governor."
McGreevey then accused Schundler of trying to have it both ways, placating the pro-gun organizations privately while publicly appealing to the more centrist, antigun electorate.
"You can't say one thing in front of one audience and another in front of another audience," McGreevey said.
With time running out in the campaign, it was one of Schundler's last chances to make up what polls show to be a deficit of 10 percentage points in the polls.
It was their third debate over the course of a week. Schundler had failed in the first two in his bid to knock McGreevey off stride. He had hoped to demonstrate a stature gap between himself and McGreevey, but the Democrat has remained poised and exceeded expectations as a debater.
In response to a question about whether they would agree to a cease-fire on negative campaigning, both candidates said they would try to stay as positive as possible but stopped short of vowing not to air negative commercials.
"I want to show there are differences," McGreevey said, citing the two candidates' differing stances on abortion choice, education, and gun laws.
Likewise, Schundler would not make a pledge against negative campaigning, saying, "Jim and I are finally agreeing that there should be a contrast" on their positions.
The candidates also differed over the issue of tolls on the Garden State Parkway. Schundler said that, if elected governor, he would eliminate the tolls by next October.
"Not only do you get your money back, but you get a nice roadway," Schundler said, referring to the fact that motorists would not be slowed by the toll booths.
It will bring "peace on earth and goodwill toward men," Schundler said. "It's almost spiritual," he added, and the audience laughed.
McGreevey fired back: "It would be funny if it weren't so sad."
McGreevey said it was impractical to eliminate the tolls in so short a period and that it would eliminate a valuable revenue source for the state.
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