Spadea — Now Dems have to ‘stand on their platform and action’

Wipe out. Kim Guadagno lost big to wealthy insider Phil Murphy. Jen Beck lost her Senate seat to a Democratic operative who had the help of a million dollars from special interests to paint her unfairly and inaccurately as a Christie puppet. GOP candidates losing up and down the state resulting in a new executive administration and an increased Democratic majority in both the state Senate and Assembly.

As the dust settles, and we consider just who the public elected yesterday it's important to note that voter turnout was at incredibly low levels. Less than one out of five eligible voters participated and less than one in three registered voters turned out at the polls. Couple of takeaways:

First, this race had nothing to do with President Donald Trump.Trump lost New Jersey in 2016 and there is historical precedent going back five presidents showing that the opposite party of the new President has won both Virginia and New Jersey in the first year of the new term.

Second, this race had EVERYTHING to do with Chris Christie. Unpopular beyond any level seen in recent memory with some polls having him at a 14 percent approval rating, Christie's administration was plagued with scandal, excessive borrowing, patronage appointments and contracts lining the pockets of special interests. At one point, the governor tried to get the Legislature to change the ethics rules to allow him to profit from a book deal while in office. Christie leaves office a disgraced shell of the man who was elected in 2009 to fix the state which was so poorly managed by Jon Corzine. He failed. Big time.

His failures are so far reaching that the only Republican to win unexpectedly is Chris Brown, who takes over the seat formerly held by Sen. Jim Whelan, who recently passed away. He's had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with the governor and was certainly not a Christie ally.

Gopal beat beck on special interest ads that pitted him against Christie. Murphy beat Guadagno running a campaign against Christie. Christie is the one that got beat on Election Day and the GOP is in shambles as a result.

Chris Christie's failure as a governor and as a political leader has lead to a near dissolution of the opposition party in the Legislature. The Democrats will be able to act and pass on every one of the incoming governor's agenda. These include hiking the minimum wage to $15, which has been show to be a crushing blow to small business and leads to job loss, a massive tax on what he defines as wealthy which will lead to heavy increases among middle and working class families.

One needs only to look at the math of adding $1.3 billion in new taxes to cover literally tens of billions in new spending. This is the guy that campaigned on his plan to lower your taxes by spending more. Only a politician with ambition to satisfy ideological allies would say something so ridiculous.

The good news is that the Democrats are firmly in charge and will likely pass a significant part of Murphy's agenda in the first few months. Yes, I said good news. Although I firmly oppose the policies, it's positive in the sense that they will have to be held accountable to the voters. The Christie administration muddied the waters with deals and allowed the Democratic majority in the Legislature to get away with continued votes on higher taxes and unnecessary regulations.

Now the Democratic majority will have no cover from Chris Christie. Let 'em stand on their platform and action. Let 'em convince New Jerseyans that we need more regulation, subsidies for failed energy programs and higher taxes on small business and working class families. If they do that, at least when people go to the polls in four years it will be an honest assessment of an administration that is currently holding all the cards.

Four years and a wake-up.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea.

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