Ciattarelli Seeks to Fight Government Waste as 16th District Assemblyman

A series of profiles on the candidates running for the 16th District's Assembly and Senate seats in the upcoming election.

Republican District 16 Assembly candidate Jack Ciattarelli said reducing the size and cost of state government and eliminating waste is crucial to fighting property tax increases in New Jersey.

Ciattarelli, of Hillsborough, served as a Raritan Borough Councilman from 1989 to 1995, and has served as a Somerset County Freeholder since 2007, including serving as Director in 2010. He has a B.S. in Accounting and an M.B.A in Finance from Seton Hall University and is a certified public accountant (inactive).

"I'm willing to work very hard to earn the respect and support of voters," Ciattarelli said. "I've demonstrated that by knocking on more than 1,000 doors in the Princetons (Township and Borough) and South Brunswick alone. More than anything I'd like (voters) to know that as a Freeholder, my actions and my votes always matched my words, and that my brand of leadership is marked by honesty, independence, principle and determination."

Ciattarelli said the was not far reaching enough, and that further reforms are needed. The by a vote of 46-32, three days after the state Senate approved the bill by a 

"I believe that all newly hired employees should be enrolled in a defined contribution pension plan, as opposed to a defined benefit pension plan," he said. "I can't understand how that vote in the legislature wasn't 120-0. I've analyzed the legislation as budget director for the Somerset County Freeholder board, and it's more than fair to taxpayers and employees. 

"I think (the reform package) is an excellent start but we can't rest on our laurels. Additional reforms are required in order to keep our state solvent and our tax policies fair over the long term."

On the issue of consolidation, Ciattarelli said incentives need to be provided to encourage towns to look for ways to cut the cost of operation. He said he is more of an advocate for consolidation of services over a consolidation of municipalities.

"Towns need to evaluate consolidating municipalities and/or their services," he said. "Keeping in mind that home rule is defined and each town needs to decide for itself whether or not it wants to consolidate. We need a long term plan that revitalizes our cities so we can more evenly distribute public education funding."

Ciattarelli said job creation in New Jersey must be a primary focus of the legislature. He said he supported Gov. Chris Christie's cancellation of the ARC Tunnel project to New York City.

"We need to create jobs in New Jersey so people don't have to go to New York to find work," he said. "If we do that and consolidate our towns and/or our municipal services, in doing so we reduce property taxes, which is the best way to stabilize tax ratables.  Not until we do those two things can we expect the private sector to create jobs and grow the economy here in New Jersey."

To strengthen the ratable base, Ciattarelli said state government needs to create an environment where small businesses can expand.

"One thing I've heard over and over is that a great many small businesses are practically precluded from doing business with the municipalities, counties and state, due to existing, prevailing wage legislation. If that's true it's not fair," he said.  "We need reforms that create a level playing field so that small businesses can compete with big businesses for public sector contracts."

On the issue of charter schools, Ciattarelli said he supports them where a public school district is failing, but he also believes the public should have the right to vote on a school before it's approved by the Department of Education.

"If there is a consensus that a school system is failing there needs to be choices and certainly charter schools provide that," he said. "I don't advocate for charters in those districts that are consistently ranked as excellent. However, legislation that proposes leaving the decision to voters on the ballot is the right public policy.

"I don't see (a public vote) as crippling the charter movement because there is so much need and room for improvement in those districts performing at a substandard level."

Ciattarelli said he would not support a "millionaires tax" increase while there was so much waste at the governmental level.

"It's unconscionable to raise taxes on anyone when there is so much waste," he said. "In the last year, we've had three examples of egregious waste. We learned that close to a quarter of a billion dollars in Brownfield restoration grants are not accountable, we learned that $2 million in uniform allowances go to state employees who don't wear uniforms, and most recently we learned that employees in school districts earning more than $100,000 had their children on the free school lunch program, which qualifies the district for additional state aid.

"For the life of me I can't understand how anyone can advocate for a tax increase until we know for certain that waste has been eliminated from the government."

Tomorrow: Democratic State Senate Candidate Maureen Vella