Several gubernatorial candidates support key proposals in the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s (“Institute”) platform document, including raising the minimum wage, closing New Jersey’s youth prisons and reinvesting in the creation of a community-based system of care, and restoring the right to vote to people with criminal convictions, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Institute. The survey was distributed to each of the candidates for governor following the sold out social justice gubernatorial forum hosted by the Institute and the NAACP New Jersey State Conference at NJPAC in May, which attracted more than 600 people from the community.
“The Institute’s Social Justice Vision details policy proposals that will help make our state a standard bearer for social, economic, and racial justice,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Institute President and CEO. “We are heartened to see that so many of the candidates for governor embrace these proposals which, if enacted, will chart a progressive path forward for New Jersey. We will work closely with our many partners across New Jersey to ensure that our next governor is accountable to this social justice agenda.”
Each gubernatorial candidate from the Democratic, Republican, and Green parties received a copy of the Institute’s platform agenda, “A Social Justice Vision for New Jersey” (“Vision”), as well as a survey requesting their positions on each of the Vision’s policy proposals. A copy of the Vision document can be found here and a copy of the survey can be found here.
Democratic candidates Bill Brennan, Jim Johnson, Senator Ray Lesniak, Ambassador Phil Murphy, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, and Councilman Mark Zinna, as well as Green Party candidate Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale returned the survey.
As requested by the survey, each of the candidates but Murphy checked off yes or no for each proposal. For his part, Murphy provided written explanations for each answer.
Click the links below for a copy of each candidates’ completed survey: