Christine Clarke

Christine Clarke, candidate for the New Jersey State Senate in the 26th legislative district, submitted the following answers to SOMA Action’s questionnaire. SOMA Action endorses Clarke for the Senate.

1. Fair Tax Policy

A. Did you support the so-called “millionaires’ tax”?

Yes, I supported the two-cent tax on earned income over $1 million in a given reporting year. I canvassed train stations for it as well. 

B. What role should the NJ Legislature take in reversing the limitation on the SALT deduction on Federal Income Tax?

This is a federal issue. We should pass a resolution recommending swift action. Any free funding in our state budget needs to go toward funding the urgent clean energy transition and electrifying transportation.

2. Economic Development Authority

A. The EDA has been beset by scandal, with companies allegedly receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks based on dubious claims of possible out-of-state relocation.  As currently structured, the EDA’s tax breaks do not require corporations to pay a fair wage to its employees, and or seek to maintain employees’ current benefits or create new benefits. Do you support a thorough investigation by the Governor’s Task Force of the EDA’s past activities?

The EDA is required as per N.J.A.C. 19:30-4.2 to ensure payment of prevailing wages in projects receiving financial assistance, except in certain conditions involving work performed at facilities owned by landlords of entities receiving assistance. I am not of the opinion there should be exceptions. An 18-month investigation into EDA practices was already performed and found $600 million in funds New Jersey could claw back due to improprieties. Governor Murphy at the time said that the report would be used to reform agency practices and ensure it is run “effectively and efficiently with the proper safeguards in place.”

B. Do you support a policy that would require recipients of EDA subsidies to provide jobs with fair wages and maintain current benefits?

I support prevailing wage agreements in all situations in which the EDA is offering financial assistance, yes.

C. Do you believe the EDA should be modified, and if so, in which ways? Do you support making receipt of benefits from the EDA contingent on hiring or wage and benefit targets? If so, what should those targets look like? I think we are more likely to get useful responses.

The EDA presently houses New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Supply Chain Registry, which over 400 businesses have joined. This is important because as offshore wind develops in federal waters along the New Jersey coastline, creating well-paying, career-length union jobs with good benefits, offshore wind companies need to know which New Jersey businesses they can partner with easily to complete the projects and get turbines in the water, linked up to grids and batteries, and operating. Given we still have an EDA, I find it appropriate to use an entity like a reformed EDA to solicit, incentivize and facilitate the development of clean energy. I am confident that with proper regulation and appropriate oversight, the agency could be an asset in developing clean energy work quickly to fight climate impacts.

3. Women’s Reproductive Rights

A. Do you support a woman’s right to choose in all circumstances?  

Yes, I support women’s full reproductive healthcare rights, bodily autonomy rights and medical privacy.

B. Governor Murphy has restored funding to Planned Parenthood in New Jersey.  What is your position on the restoration of these funds?

Planned Parenthood provides essential healthcare including cancer screenings at low or no cost to communities historically-excluded from fair and accessible healthcare. They are an essential service that has detected cancer early for many women and saved lives because of it, and I support their continued funding.

C. Do you support state legislation that would create a legal right to abortion and contraception, even if Roe and Griswold are reversed by the Supreme Court? 

Yes, I believe we should pass the Reproductive Freedom Act and have spoken out publicly in support.

D. What is your position on increasing access to quality contraceptive choices? Do you support economic support for contraception availability?

Yes, I support financial assistance for contraception to those who need help affording the ability to choose whether or not to start a family.

4. Protecting the Environment

A. What measures do your support to increase use of renewable energy sources and reduce fossil fuel consumption in New Jersey?

My campaign for public office is rooted in the essential work ahead to fight climate impacts, accelerate offshore wind and solar development, move to renewable energy swiftly and fairly, cut carbon emissions, electrify transportation, ‘green up’ our building codes and standards, invest in cutting-edge technologies, and more. We need to ensure we are doing everything in our power to create good jobs while protecting the jobs of existing energy workers through transition training, work on upkeep and maintenance of existing energy lines and resources, work making outdated energy sites environmentally safe or closing them down as appropriate, and priority placement in new, well-paying, clean energy careers.

I have been fighting for these initiatives for years as a private citizen, and would love to continue that work with the additional capacity to act of a New Jersey Senate seat.

B. What measures do you support to move New Jersey towards the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030?

I am using my campaign platform to educate about the importance of a swift transition to offshore wind and expanding solar energy use in New Jersey. I want to help make New Jersey the Atlantic coast hub for wind knowledge, parts, technology, development and skilled labor. We recently visited the Block Island Wind Farm to create a campaign video about the first offshore wind farm installed and operating in the U.S., which fully powers Block Island. The diesel engines that used to loudly power the island now sit silent. We need more of this change, everywhere.

I am fighting the East 300 Project that threatens my district, about which we made a campaign video and started a petition as well. I’ve also testified in hearings about it. I have been speaking out about electrification and the need to cut transportation emissions. I visited a prototype tidal turbine and am considering tidal energy as a potential solution. I am pushing New Jersey to have more aggressive greenhouse gas reduction rules, such that projects like the East 300 Project would be prohibited and building emissions would need to be curtailed. I will continue to advocate for meaningful reductions in our toxic emissions, and a swifter transition to clean energy.

C. What measures would you support to reduce the amount of waste going into New Jersey’s landfills and incinerators? 

I am in favor of reducing the amount of waste going to landfills and incinerators. I support the single-use plastics bans and would like to see New Jersey invest in plant-based bioplastics as replacements; there are single-use products being made in other countries out of yucca, seaweed and cactus, which would feed marine life rather than kill them if dumped into oceans, or provide nutrients to soil rather than pollutants. We need better food handling programs such that still-edible food normally discarded from restaurants can be used efficiently and kept out of waste sites. We do not have composting in nearly enough municipal locations either; I’m in favor of expansion. 

There is the potential to recycle many other materials and think of them as raw materials for new product; ocean waste is being used for everything from new single-use products, to sneakers and clothing, to housing bricks. Old cloth and fabric can be used and reused as well. The stronger our recycling and reuse programs, and the more we invest in businesses that pioneer making new products from old, the better we’ll do keeping materials out of landfills and incinerators.

D. What measures would you support to protect and expand natural habitat in New Jersey? 

I strongly support expanding protected lands in New Jersey, and as such, deeply oppose the “forest management” plans presently in the Legislature that would create unfunded mandates, override county and local ordinances, and take inventory of our forests for logging. I have testified against these bills and written about their potential for damage. Trees’ bases in the Highlands are showing thickening rings for recent years, which is to say, they are ‘doing their job’ capturing carbon in this time of global warming. They need our protection.

I also think we should continue to invest in protecting farmlands and open spaces, and applaud the Murphy administration for investing in protecting lands. It is estimated that worldwide, we will need to dedicate 30-50% of our oceans and lands to nature to successfully fight the worst climate projections. We should not assume this is other nations’ problem; as a coastal state threatened by sea level rise, it is ours too.

E. What measures do you support to promote environmental justice in New Jersey and protect overburdened communities?

My opponent, Joe Pennacchio, voted against S232. S232 was known as the cumulative impacts bill, or the environmental justice bill. It was the first of its kind in the country, and passed in 2020. It gave 310 at-risk communities in New Jersey the right to a hearing when a polluter wants permits to expand a polluting project in their neighborhoods or new permits to build new polluting projects. By contrast, I was invited by the Governor’s team to attend the signing and proudly did so, and applauded the good work of activists who had spent 11 years fighting for this legislation.

I will continue to support environmental justice initiatives and legislation. 

5. Protecting Our Immigrant Communities

A. Do you support making drivers’ licenses available to all New Jersey?

In 2019, when I first ran for public office, I was the only challenger for a legislative seat who not only took a position in support of licenses for the undocumented but made a campaign commercial about it. It is still available for view on our social media accounts.

B. Do you support universal legal representation for immigrant detainees? 

Yes, I support legal representation for detainees.

C. Do you support Assembly bill A5207, and its corresponding Senate bill S3361, which will keep ICE from signing any new detention contracts in New Jersey; expanding any current detention contracts in New Jersey; or renewing any current detention contracts in New Jersey?

My opponent, Joe Pennacchio, voted no on S3361/A5207, which passed the Assembly on June 21 and the Senate on June 24. I would have voted yes to the legislation.

 6. Public Education

A. The reopening of Public Schools closed as a result of the COVID crises has become quite controversial. What are your thoughts?

I am very concerned about the partisan effort behind contentious school board meetings and school-related fights during the pandemic. While protecting our children from harm is generally noble, increasing risk of harm to students and teachers through political posturing is not. Science must dictate how we proceed, and we must err toward caution for the sake of all involved. Covid-19 has taken more than 600,000 lives in the last year and a half, and the pandemic is not over. It is a danger to children too. At the time of the completion of this questionnaire, our infection rate in New Jersey is 1.4, the Delta variant is spreading quickly and taking lives, and our children under age 12 are not able to be vaccinated against covid-19 yet. 

With the news that a vaccine for children under age 12 is not expected to be ready until the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022, school openings must be re-examined for safety reasons. That isn’t to say they shouldn’t open, but we need to revisit whether it’s safe on a school-by-school and grade-by-grade basis. Students over age 12 who have been vaccinated may be able to return to high schools safely, provided proper ventilation systems and safety procedures. Younger students and immunocompromised teachers might not. 

We have to ensure proper ventilation systems and safety procedures to protect everyone and, in the event those are not available or not able to be upgraded in a timely manner, some hard decisions may need to be made about remote classes or outdoor classes until such time as the vaccines are available for young children too. It’s a difficult time for all, without a doubt. This is made more difficult by employers requiring more workers to return to workplaces on site. However, protecting lives must remain our priority.

B. As part of the CARES Act, school districts were provided Education Stabilization Funds to be used over the next three years to address the impact of COVID. How do you believe districts should allocate those funds?

Barring immediate employee retention needs, I think Education Stabilization Funds should be used for building upgrades, especially if school buildings require HVAC systems updated to provide safe ventilation. Those upgrades are expensive and relief funding could be well used for that purpose. In the event there isn’t a pressing need for the funding otherwise, I also think it’s a great idea to install rooftop or side-panel solar on school buildings and start community gardens at schools. Finally, it would be a worthwhile investment to provide students with access to emotional health aides and counselors to help them adapt to the changes in their lives that have happened during the pandemic, process what they have witnessed including where applicable losses of loved ones, and help them work forward with healthy coping mechanisms toward better days.

C. What are your thoughts on bill A4454, which requires school districts to include instruction on diversity, equity and inclusion in grades K-12 as of next school year?

My opponent, Joe Pennacchio, voted No on S2781/A4454. I would have voted Yes. 

I think one of the problems illustrated in our recent years’ politics in this country is how a lack of awareness of the experiences of people who don’t look like, pray like, or love like oneself can contribute to apathy or worse toward their circumstances. We need civics education, education about differing cultures and backgrounds with emphasis on acceptance-not-just-tolerance, and a richer exploration of real history for students so they understand the way history and politics intersect and actively affect people’s lives. Both New Jersey, and America, will be better for it.

7. Access to Healthcare

A. What measures would you take in New Jersey to ensure that all residents have access to quality and affordable healthcare? 

I am in favor of making sure New Jersey residents have access to quality and affordable healthcare. I support audits of prescription drug pricing structures and materials costs toward exploration of the potential of regulations toward affordability; exploration of pricing for medical services in the same pursuit; and legislation to eliminate unethical billing practices and surprise billing, which continues and was a problem for many families during the pandemic. I also support examining the outsourcing of claims approvals to companies whose business model is rooted in repeated denial of claims, and ladders of red tape many patients may be disinclined or unable to persevere through to get the care they need.  

I am also in favor of preventative work to counteract the need for care for serious ailments including fighting pollution and polluters to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals that impact health outcomes and weigh heavily upon historically-underserved communities.

B. Do you support NJ’s Marketplace through which people can buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act? 

Yes, I support New Jersey’s healthcare marketplace. I would like to see more people in New Jersey able to have health insurance coverage and consider healthcare a human right. I appreciate that the federal subsidies extended to New Jersey by the Biden administration have made obtaining health insurance through the marketplace cheaper than ever.

C. What should New Jersey do reduce the disparity in healthcare outcomes for people of color? 

New Jersey should aggressively fight toxic emissions and pollution to improve health and healthcare outcomes for communities of color. Communities of color are unfortunately often the nearest to polluting sites, and exposed to carcinogens and toxins for it.

We should also create policies based on the information coming out of the First Lady’s Nurture NJ work, which has underscored the disparities in care for mothers of color and highlighted the need for active, intentional work to eliminate those disparities.

8. Public Transportation

Do you support increased funding to ensure that NJ Transit operates more smoothly without disruptions and that service is not cut off on a daily basis?

I support a dedicated funding source for New Jersey transit, an end to the raids on the Clean Energy Fund for NJ Transit’s operating budget, and tying additional money to NJ Transit to electrification mandates.

9. Elections

A.  New Jersey appears to be unique in having what is called “The Line” in Primaries. Do you agree with those who say that this advantages incumbents over challengers, “organization” backed candidates over independents that the resulting ballot design confuses voters?  Would you favor doing away with “The Line”?

I agree that the line makes it more difficult for challengers in primaries to win their races. I look forward to working collaboratively on ballot reform. We need strong vetting processes for candidates to ensure true representation of parties’ core values, but we also need fair ballot placement.

B.    Current law mandates the placement of ballot boxes at almost all Municipal Buildings and on College Campuses. A Bill has been introduced in the Legislature to amend this by giving wide discretion to County Election Boards as to the placement of ballot boxes. Would you favor or oppose this Amendment? 

I do not agree with giving county election offices the right to decide where ballot boxes are placed, especially when that placement risks falling prey to partisanship or bias. It is fairer to place them at almost all municipal buildings and college campuses.

C.    Politics today are hyper-partisan.  How can we reduce hyper-partisanship while pushing for a bold, progressive agenda?  

I believe that excellent policy still supersedes partisan politics. There are encouraging signs in recent years’ polling. For example, a poll out of Monmouth University a couple of years ago found that 76% of New Jersey voters want to move forward with offshore wind, and a majority of Republican voters (69%) agree with Democrats (79%) on this. Even in times when discussing party politics can feel like team sports, talking about specific issues and good policy solutions to problems can cut through the noise.  

Our campaign is working to consistently talk to people about what we can change, and how we can accomplish goals together. We hold space for those who would like to join us in the work, no matter their political affiliation.