- 2 months ago
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The high-stakes New Jersey governor's race is looking to be a nail-biter, as the Republican candidate Jack Cittarelli is running neck-and-neck against the Democrat, Congresswoman Mikey Sherrill, in the race to be Jersey's top dog.
00:13Sherrill's commanding lead over Cittarelli has dissipated as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee's campaign hit a few speed bumps.
00:21One scandal that keeps rocking the Montclair resident and former prosecutor is her involvement in an infamous U.S. Naval Academy cheating scandal.
00:29The former naval officer has flip-flopped on how she was mixed up in the scandal, which drew national attention at the time, and barred her from walking with her 1994 graduating class at commencement.
00:40The scandal revolved around a December 14, 1992 exam for Electrical Engineering 311, which is a notoriously difficult mandatory class for all non-engineering majors at the Naval Academy.
00:52At the time, the Washington Post reported that of the 663 students who took the exam, 88 were found guilty of cheating.
01:01Of those, about two dozen were expelled, and at least 64 received lesser penalties, such as late graduation.
01:08As for Sherrill, she has never been named as one of the students who cheated, but she did raise some eyebrows when it was revealed that she didn't walk at the May 25, 1994 graduation.
01:18She addressed the issue in an interview last month with the New Jersey Globe, in which she claimed that she was barred from walking because she, quote,
01:26didn't turn in some of my classmates over the scandal.
01:29That was despite saying she knew some of those who were implicated.
01:33During an event at Plainville, New Jersey that was broadcast on ABC7, Sherrill revealed how much she knew about the scandal at the time.
01:40There was a test at the school that was stolen. I did not realize that it was stolen. I took the test. Afterwards, I knew what the rumor mill was. I knew people who were implicated in it. I didn't come forward with that information.
02:00But Sherrill can't keep her story straight. Last week, her Republican opponent, Cittarelli, threw the issue in her face during a heated debate moment.
02:08The difference between me and the congresswoman? I got the walk at my college graduation. I've never broken the law.
02:15She had to pay federal fines for breaking federal law on stock trades and stock reporting.
02:19And the New York Times reports was trading defense stocks while sitting on the House Armed Services Committee.
02:24Then when she was questioned about the scandal afterwards, this time, Sherrill appeared to suggest that she did, in fact, come forward with the information she had about her classmates.
02:32There were hundreds of people in my class that spoke to investigators. When I did, I told them what I knew.
02:41Sherrill has refused to release her full disciplinary record, which would paint a fuller picture of what happened.
02:47And her campaign declined to answer questions from the Post on whether Sherrill eventually did rat out her classmates.
02:52Making her prospects for winning over voters even worse is the fact that this isn't the only controversy rocking Sherrill's campaign.
03:00Only days after her campaign faced questions about the cheating scandal, Sherrill faced fresh scrutiny after it was revealed that her two children were accepted into the highly competitive Naval Academy.
03:10The Democratic congresswoman's office announced in June that her two kids, Lincoln and Margaret Hedberg, were among nine students from her district to land spots in the academy, which has an admission rate of 9%.
03:22On X, libs of TikTok questioned how two of her children managed to get in at the same time in light of the highly selective process, writing that it reeks of corruption.
03:32According to the academy, members of Congress can have five constituents attending the Naval Academy at any time and typically nominate 15 candidates for each vacant spot, with the option of naming a principal nominee.
03:44Sherrill told the Post that her children did not compete in her office's service academy nomination process.
03:49She added that her children applied to the offices of New Jersey's U.S. Senators and each earned nominations on their own.
03:56But that's not all.
03:57In a separate moment that made waves during the intense debate on ABC7, Sherrill claimed that Cittarelli made millions profiting from the opioid epidemic.
04:06You know, my opponent likes to talk a lot about being a businessman, but I think what New Jersey doesn't know is much about his business.
04:12How he made his millions by working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe, putting out propaganda, publishing their propaganda while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.
04:24And as if that wasn't enough, then he was paid to develop an app so that people who were addicted could more easily get access to opioids.
04:32And so as he made millions, as these opioid companies made billions, tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.
04:42In response, Cittarelli's campaign came back swinging.
04:45It's a reckless lie.
04:47I filed a defamation suit.
04:49We're not letting her get away with that lie.
04:51And we found out in the last 48 hours that she took campaign contributions from the very companies that she's now condemning.
04:57According to reporting from Fox News, Sherrill accepted more than $25,000 in campaign donations from pharma giants accused of supercharging the opioid crisis.
05:07Cittarelli, a former state legislator who lost his 2021 gubernatorial bid against Democrat Phil Murphy, also caused an uproar from New Jersey food aficionados after he posted an ad of Sherrill apparently dissing pork rolls as gross.
05:24Cittarelli wrote on X,
05:25Hey Mikey, tell me you're not from New Jersey without telling me you're not from New Jersey.
05:30You know what?
05:31Don't worry about it.
05:32You remind us of it every day in ways big and small.
05:35The ad was taken out of context, though, as Sherrill was just dissing the pork roll name, not New Jersey's favorite morning meat delicacy.
05:43Taylor ham or pork roll?
05:44What do you call it?
05:45Come on.
05:46You're from Wayne.
05:47I call it Taylor ham.
05:47It's Taylor ham.
05:48Yeah, thank you.
05:48Who eats pork roll?
05:49Not me.
05:50I think that's gross.
05:51Oh, you know what it is.
05:52I've had this fight multiple times.
05:54Nobody wants pork roll.
05:56She even gave Taylor ham a shout out in her victory speech when she clinched the Democratic primary.
06:01We have everything from the best bagels to bing su, curry to cannoli, Taylor ham, egg and cheese.
06:08This state deserves the best.
06:13But wherever you end up on the pork roll Taylor ham naming debate, it's a losing battle.
06:19Just ask Cittarelli.
06:20When I'm in South Jersey, I'm an Eagles and Phillies fan too.
06:24When I'm in South Jersey, it's pork roll.
06:26Tomorrow up in Bergen County, it'll be something else.
06:29But you get it.
06:29That's what you do when you're running for governor.
06:31Probably best not to ask either candidate about another hot button question, whether or not Central Jersey exists.
Be the first to comment