Red-hot gov race exposes NJ voters fury heres what has them riled up

In this year’s neck-and-neck race for governor, New Jerseyans are demanding change.They deserve it.Democrats have been the majority party in both chambers of the Legislature for about a quarter of a century and have held the executive branch for eight years.Judges are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, so the Democratic Party has effectively controlled the judiciary, too.Under their dominance, taxes have soared out of control, urban schools are failing and electricity costs are sky-high.Plus, many of the state’s policies clash with the cultural values of large swaths of Jersey citizens.Jerseyans are suffering, big-time.Of the two candidates in this year’s governor’s race, Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is promising change; his progressive rival, Democratic Rep.Mikie Sherrill, is attached at the hip to the status quo.And four issues — taxes, schools, energy costs and cultural values — are at the heart of the contest.Start with energy: Under Democratic Gov.

Phil Murphy, six of New Jersey’s large electric generation facilities, some nuclear and some natural gas, have been decommissioned or gone offline.New Jersey, which once sold excess power to the regional grid, now must buy it at spot-market prices from nearby states. Why? Murphy bet big on solar and wind power to appease radical greens — but failed to gin up nearly enough energy to satisfy statewide demand.That left Garden Staters short, and sent electric bills soaring. Ciattarelli aims to back out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative so the state can build more natural-gas plants, boosting electricity supply and bringing down costs.He and his fellow Republicans also plan to reform the state’s permitting process so power lines and natural-gas or nuclear plants can be built faster.That would be a godsend.In contrast, Sherrill backs pricey, environmentally unfriendly wind turbines, which have failed to materialize and can’t...