SOUTH ORANGE — Jersey City Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop introduced South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum as his pick for lieutenant governor last week and the two promised to bring municipal government experience to an office that has not seen that in 12 years.
Fulop said he decided to announce a running mate early because he has been campaigning on transparency and substance.
“I thought it was important for transparency, for people to know what is important to us,” he said, adding he selected Collum because he was looking for someone with leadership experience, who was opinionated, would provide good counsel and was pleasant to spend a lot of time with.
“This opportunity puts so much fire in my belly,” Collum said.
The press conference was held at a recently completed housing development on Fourth Street off of Valley, which Collum said was selected because it was one of the village’s latest redevelopment projects. She noted it was close to the train station, had retail on the ground floor and a wide sidewalk out front. She also said the village hopes to replicate it on the north side of the tracks.
The race to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term limited, is crowded. There are six Democrats seeking the governor’s office: Fulop, State Senate President Steve Sweeney, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
On the Republican side, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, former state Sen. Ed Durr, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, and former radio host Bill Spadea are seeking the office.
The primary is scheduled for June 10. Collum’s name will not appear on the ballot.
Fulop is a first-generation American, a lifelong New Jerseyan, a Marine, and a triathlete. He grew up in a Jewish family in Edison, the son of Romanian immigrants. His mother was the daughter of Holocaust survivors and worked in an immigration services office helping others gain citizenship. His father owned a delicatessen nearby in Newark, where Fulop worked behind the counter as a teenager.
Fulop graduated from Binghamton University in 1999 and spent time abroad studying at Oxford University. After college, he joined Goldman Sachs, the investment banking firm, working in Chicago and later in Manhattan and Jersey City. On the morning of Sept, 11, 2001, Fulop was working in lower Manhattan when he saw the first plane strike the Twin Towers. A few weeks later, he decided to put his career at Goldman Sachs on hold and join the United States Marine Corps.
Fulop’s Reserve Unit deployed to Iraq in January 2003. There, he served as part of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion. He traveled into Baghdad during the early weeks of the war. In 2005, Fulop was first elected to public office as the councilman representing downtown Jersey City. In 2006, Fulop completed his service to the Marine Corps Reserve with the rank of corporal. He served as a councilman for eight years before becoming mayor. Fulop is married with three children.
Collum, who was first elected in 2015, is the executive director of the American Planning Association – New Jersey Chapter, a statewide planning organization. She works regularly with local and state officials, professional and nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies on a range of public policy issues affecting New Jersey’s municipalities including smart growth, state and regional planning, transportation, public health, sustainability, economic development, redevelopment and affordable housing.
“He’s a fellow nerd and a fellow policy wonk,” Collum said of Fulop, adding that he understands strategy and innovation and building where infrastructure is located, not creating sprawl.
“This is a mayor who has produced the largest micro transit network in the state,” Collum said of Fulop.
The “microtransit” service, called Via Jersey City, uses software to match multiple riders headed in the same direction into one shared minivan at just $2 per ride (or free for trips to and from the newly-reopened Port Liberte ferry terminal).
The lieutenant governor position itself does not carry any powers or duties other than to be next in the order of succession, but the state constitution requires that the lieutenant governor also be appointed to serve as the head of a cabinet-level department or administrative agency within the governor’s administration.
Fulop said Collum would be in charge of the Department of Community Affairs, which provides administrative guidance, financial support, and technical assistance to local governments, community development organizations, businesses, and individuals.
Collum said there are regional opportunities for local government savings and she cited the consolidation of the Maplewood and South Orange fire departments as one of her successes in this area and something other municipalities need to do.
“There are so many opportunities,” she said.
Everybody should be worried about the next state budget, she said.
“For the last 12 years, you’ve had a governor with no municipal experience,” Fulop said, adding how things like declaring a state of emergency had a big impact on municipal governments because union employees get paid double time when working during an emergency, which has a big impact on municipal budgets.
“When you trigger a state of emergency, it has a massive impact,” Fulop said.
In her own remarks, Collum noted the differences between the municipalities with South Orange having about 18,000 citizens compared to Jersey City which has 300,000 and is close to becoming the largest city in the state.
Collum noted that 75 % of towns in New Jersey have fewer than 20,000 people and that can contribute to inefficiency in government.
“We have to look at broad consolidation, at inefficiency in government,” she said.
Collum talked about the need not only for affordable housing but for mid range housing costing in the $200,000 to $400,000 range. She pointed out in South Orange the average sale price of home is currently around $900,000.
The state plan is 25 years old, Collum said.
“We don’t have a vision for what one New Jersey looks like,” Collum said.
Fulop said he expected Trump and Musk to play a big role in the upcoming election, spending millions of dollars.
“I can’t not talk about the federal government and the level of despair people are feeling,” Collum said. “We need to build the biggest best team to fight the Trump administration.”
Collum cited her parents who worked their entire lives and are retired now receiving Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and she wants to make sure that is safeguarded.
“My brother is a disabled veteran,” Collum said “He also has PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). If anybody comes for my brother – or your service member – I’m coming for them.”
Collum talked about her grandmother, a Korean immigrant.
“I’m here because of her. In the last moments of her life, she had Medicaid and Medicare, so when it was time for her to go to heaven, she wasn’t in pain and she had her family around her.”
Our fight is for grandparents. To give dignity at the end of life.”
”This campaign is personal for me,” she said. “It is personal for Steve Fulop.”
Mayor Collum in governor’s race added by Joe Ungaro on
View all posts by Joe Ungaro →