FRONTLINE VOICES
Welcome to Frontline Voice from the WBAI News Collective, with Jenna Flannagan. This morning New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill became Gov. Sherrill at her Inauguration at the Newark Performing Arts Center.
Later in the day, New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced her proposed $260 billion dollar budget that the Gothamist reports will include no new taxes but new spending to expand free child care, and backstop Trump regime cuts to Medicaid.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Mamdani showed up on the New York State Nurses Association picket line at Mt. Sinai Hospital West, over on 10th Avenue. The nurses strike, the largest in the city's history, is well into its second week.
At issue are the contract gains on staffing and healthcare coverage made by nurses after the COVID pandemic that killed more than 1.1 million including 3,600 nurses in the first wave. 500 of those occupation related deaths were here in New York. Both sides are still far apart.
During her 30 minute speech, Gov. Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter and federal prosecutor, likened President Trump's authoritarian style to the abuses of George the III, the British monarch that sparked the American Revolution.
"This election proved that the people of New Jersey recognized the parallels: that we see a president illegally usurping power, unconstitutionally enacting a tariff regime to make billions for himself and his family while everyone else sees their costs go higher," Sherrill said. "Here, we demand people in public service actually serve the public instead of buying themselves planes and cars and extorting money."
As she committed to do during her campaign, Sherrill signed a series of executive orders to freeze New Jersey's runaway electric rates.
"So, right now, yes, before I even finish this speech, I am going to sign my first in a series of executive orders to declare a State of Emergency on Utility Costs. First, I am issuing an Executive Order giving the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities the authority to pause new utility requests for additional rate increases, and I will freeze rate hikes to finally provide families with real relief on their energy bills," Sherrill said. "Second, I am issuing an Executive Order directing the Board of Public Utilities to open solicitations for new solar and storage power generation, to modernize gas and nuclear generation, so we can lower utility costs over the long term."
Sherrill continued. "This is just the beginning. We are going to take on the affordability crisis, and we are going to shake up the status quo. It won’t be easy, and hard choices have to be made to drive down costs as the federal government slashes funding and slams doors to opportunity."
Sherrill affirmed the role of the American union movement in building and maintaining the middle class.
In her recent State of the State Gov. Hochul sounded similar themes of increasing affordability and pushing back against the Trump regime's mass deportation strategy.
"We will not allow masked federal ICE agents to storm into our schools, daycares, hospitals, and houses of worship for civil immigration raids unless they have a judicial warrant, meaning signed by a judge," Hochul said. "And when boundaries are crossed, accountability matters. No one from the president on down is above the law."
Jenna spoke with Dr. Stephanie Hoopes, who leads the United Way's ALICE project, which tracks households that are asset limited-income constrained-but employed and struggle to get by week to week. Hoopes has overseen the expansion of ALICE from a pilot study of the low-income community in Morris County, New Jersey, to a national effort with ALICE data for all 3,000 U.S. counties in 40 states.
Hoopes observed that both Sherrill and Hochul will have a considerable challenge helping struggling households in the face of rollback and cuts to programs like Food Stamps, Head Start and Medicaid that once had bi-partisan support.
According to the United Way, 47 percent of New York State households currently are struggling week to week to get by. In New Jersey, that cohort approaches 40 percent.
Jenna was joined by New Jersey State Sen. Andrew Zwicker, who represents the 16th district in central New Jersey and was on the Inaugural stage as a sitting member of the legislature. Zwicker is a scientist and educator at Princeton University’s Plasma Physics Laboratory. He has focused on finding sensible solutions to improve the quality of life today and for future generations. According to his official bio, he uses evidence to author legislation that creates high-quality jobs, fosters innovation, combats climate change and protects a woman’s right to choose.
Zwicker told Jenna that he wanted to see the state legislature follow up on Sherrill's affordability agenda to include housing and education. He shared his concern about the "devastating" impact of a recent ICE "illegal kidnapping" in his district where a father was abducted after dropping his young sons at school. "He's a beloved member of our community and has not been convicted of any crime," Zwicker said.
FDU Professor Peter Woolley, a political scientist and the founding Director, School of Public and Global Affairs and FDU's PublicMind Poll joins Jenna and points out that while Sherrill ran on an affordability platform, she benefited from a major surge in voter dissatisfaction with the direction of President Trump's second term, including his mass deportation strategy.
