Norwalk rally calls for peace in wake of U.S.-Israeli's military strike on Iran

New Jersey leaders react to the US-Israeli military strike on Iran

U.S.-Israeli military action in Iran draws both support and opposition in Connecticut

Power & Politics: State Democrats craft emergency bills; election security across Connecticut

Hudson Valley elected officials, law enforcement agencies urge vigilance in aftermath of U.S.-Israeli military strikes in Iran

Local politicians react to U.S., Israel strike on Iran

newyork

News 12 Staff

RTNJPowerPolitics02282026BBlock630pm

There will be tough choices ahead. That warning this week from Governor Sherrill, who says New Jersey is facing a serious structural deficit. Let's face it, for decades, previous administrations have allowed for business as usual in Trenton and failed to solve things long term. We've seen too many one-offs, too many temporary fixes. I promised a different kind of leadership. So now we're staring down an estimated $3 billion structural deficit. If we do nothing. Our entire $7.2 billion dollar surplus will be gone by the budget year that begins July 1, 2027, and we'll be another $750 million on top of that in the hole. Republican and Senate Budget Officer Declan O'Scanlon releasing a statement saying, Well, well, well, Republicans, write again. He goes on to say her first big test will be her March 10th budget address, and if she delivers on a promise to finally stand against tax and spend Democrats to help people who pay too much for government largesse, we are prepared to help. Contentious week in the state as it pertains to immigration enforcement. The DOJ filed a lawsuit against the state and the governor over her executive order banning ICE from some state property. There's a battle in Roxbury over a vacant warehouse bought by ICE to serve as a detention center and an enforcement effort in Newark resulting in a chase, crash, and 3 children. In the ICU, DHS saying that Christian Oswaldo Guevara Guerra tried to evade arrest by ramming his vehicle into federal law enforcement, struck multiple civilian vehicles in the process. DHS says Guevara, who was taken into ICE custody, had been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge way back in 2017. Meanwhile in Trenton, we've been keeping an eye on a bill that would force ICE agents to unmask. Joining me right now is Senator John Bramnick, the only Republican on the Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of that bill. Always a pleasure to have you on the show, Senator. Nice to see you, Eric. Senator, listen, uh, we, we've heard very extremely heated and vocal opposition from members of your own party to this, most notably Assemblyman Paul Knitra. Uh, why are you in favor of this bill? Well this is a nonpartisan issue. Maybe witnesses should wear masks. I've had threats myself where the state police had to come in. Judges, we've had children of judges killed. We've had state legislators killed. So now all of a sudden the. Only people who we want to protect are the ICE agents. State troopers don't wear masks. And how would you like to get pulled over in the middle of the night with 3 people wearing masks? I understand there's risk to law enforcement and there's risk to a lot of people in government, but to mask people up, I actually promoted a bill that protesters can't wear masks. Everybody takes off the mask. I, I think it's really, a really serious problem. And when did the Republicans, all of a sudden Republicans go, I trust government. When did that occur? Oh, government wouldn't do anything wrong. When did that turn around? So no masks for anybody. Interesting. So you were talking about the other bill that you supported, uh, about protesters. So I mean, we're talking about any number of people who could be hiding behind Hamas or Hezbollah bandanas while intimidating people outside synagogues here. That's exactly right. And guess what? The left wing hated the fact I wanted to demask protesters. Now, of course, the left wing likes me. You know, if you're in politics, you should always look at the issue itself and not just jump on some team's position because you wanna be on that team. This isn't a team sport. This is about the people of New Jersey. Senator, I, I, I want to move on very quickly here. Uh, do you think the DOJ has a case in its suit against the governor's executive order barring this ICE enforcement on some state property? We're talking about the public areas of state property. Well, I know about that. I don't really understand it exactly. I think we should cooperate with ICE when it involves a criminal. It involves a threat to our country. I believe some cooperation should be, uh, had. Uh, I don't like any ban completely against all cooperation. It just depends on the circumstances. Let's shift gears here and talk about the upcoming state budget address. You no doubt heard we, we played that sound bite from Governor Sherrill acknowledging this grim reality, AKA the, the structural budget deficit. This is something that your party has been warning about for years. Why are we in this position? I almost fell off my chair when the new governor said prior administrations. Prior administrations, that's everybody. That means she's also talking about Democrats. This is like revolutionary. Normally they blame Chris Christie, Christie Whitman, Donald Trump. Here, she's blaming everybody. That's a hell of a good start. Let me tell you. So what's the fix? I mean, clearly there hasn't, there wasn't one over at least the last 8+ years. Are you hopeful based on the governor's remarks that she'll take the advice of members of your party like Senate Budget Officer Declan O'Scanlon about getting New Jersey's fiscal house in order and cutting the pork spending? I I absolutely believe it now because she badmouthed prior Democratic administrations, so she's ready apparently to take on the status quo. I've never heard that before in my 20 years in Trenton where anyone blames both sides. Sides and they're governor and they're the governor. So I think we're off to a pretty good start. It looks like she's going to be very tough on this spending, and I think there's going to be a lot of unhappy Democrats who'll be getting a lot of free stuff for their districts for a long time. So I think the Democrats in the legislature should be worried. Uh, State Senator John Bramnick, always a pleasure having you on the show. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks, Eric. Be well. All right, and keep it right here on Power and Politics. We've got much more coming up after the break, the celebration of America's Olympic gold medalists.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/a82cbf1d-472b-46a8-895f-aa8c09bccb0f/a82cbf1d-472b-46a8-895f-aa8c09bccb0f.transcribe

RTNJPowerPolitics02282026CBlock630pm_2026-02-28-15-03-17

Welcome back to Power and Politics. I'm Eric Glantz Cronner. New Jersey officially has a new attorney general. Jennifer Davenport was confirmed unanimously by the state Senate. She can now drop the acting from her title. Davenport becomes New Jersey's fifty-seventh AG from lawsuits over gateway to ICE enforcement. She has a full docket to start. Governor Sherrill announcing her pick to lead the state police. Jeannie Hangemuh is a 26 year veteran who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. She'd be the first woman to lead the agency. Lawmakers have to confirm her nomination. As of this week. She has the role on an acting basis. She says she plans to lead with honor, duty, and fidelity. Workers are back on the job to build those new commuter tunnels under the Hudson River. Construction resumed this week on the Gateway Tunnel project. Work stopped earlier this month after the White House cut off funding. A federal court stepped in, ordered the money, which was already approved and allocated by Congress, to be released. The president had cut it off, you recall, as part of a political showdown with Democrats going back to that record government shutdown. And now to the politics of hockey. Now before this week, you might have said there is no such thing. Think again. Let's rewind to last weekend. Team USA defeating Canada in the Winter Olympics with the New Jersey Devils' own Jack Hughes scoring the golden goal in OT. Pandemonium on the ice. The men. Bringing home the gold, the men go on to accept President Trump's invitation to the White House to celebrate their historic victory, and later that very day, in a show of patriotic pride, are introduced by the president at the State of the Union. Despite the thunderous applause, some Democrats remained seated, and the team did face backlash from critics of the president for accepting his invite. Jack Hughes, though, smiling ear to ear the whole time in the moment, soaking it all in. Earlier he told media this, quote, Everything is so political. We're athletes. We are so proud to represent the US and we get the chance to go to the White House, meet the president, you know, we're proud to be Americans. Jack Hughes, total class act and the pride of New Jersey. And that'll do it for this week. I'm Eric Landskronner. As always, we thank you for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/1155a3fc-7424-4ec7-bbf2-b862c4807ecc/1155a3fc-7424-4ec7-bbf2-b862c4807ecc.transcribe

Republican Strategist Jeanette Hoffman, former Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Republican Sen. Jon Bramnick join the show this week.

More Stories

More from News 12

Power & Politics: State Democrats craft emergency bills; election security across Connecticut

Power & Politics: CT Comptroller Sean Scanlon announces reelection bid

Power & Politics: Exclusive one-one-one with gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman

Power & Politics: Sen. Blumenthal on ICE shootings, Epstein files and the midterm elections

Power & Politics: Gov. Sherrill targets ICE enforcement; Gateway Tunnel latest

Power & Politics: A wide-ranging conversation with Gov. Kathy Hochul

Ad Choices

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Privacy Manager