Here are the views of Guy Citron, candidate for General Assembly in LD23, on our good government priority issues:

Candidate order: The bill to reform New Jersey’s primary ballots (A5116) moves New Jersey closer to fair primaries by eliminating the county line ballot and instituting an office block ballot design. However, candidate order for the primary ballot will still be determined by the County Clerk or Municipal Clerk drawing names out of a bin. This provides an advantage for the candidate drawn in first position and has resulted in some clerks drawing the party endorsed candidates for first position a statistically improbable number of times. I support the following reform that would ensure a more fair candidate order on the ballot:
Rotating the order of candidates for each office by voting precinct, so each candidate appears on the ballot first, second, and so forth, approximately the same number of times (see the recently introduced bill A5181).

Comment: Rotating the order of candidates by precinct seems to be the fairest way. That way everyone gets a chance to be in 1st position on some ballots.

Slogans: I support prohibiting the use of slogans to express party endorsements on primary election ballots. New Jersey is the only state that allows primary candidates to use slogans to indicate endorsements.

Comment: I do think it is important to indicate county committee endorsements. The fact that not all county committees operate on small “d” democratic principles is a separate issue.

Committees are, for the most part, comprised of the most engaged and active voters in that county’s party. They are the people. They are the ones who show up and do the volunteer work for candidates who, say, might not have the money, or the backing of the larger powers that be. By denying the county committee a chance to express their endorsement on the ballot via a slogan, we are opening the door to big money carpet-baggers, who can swoop in and completely subvert that endorsement process. Furthermore, slogans can be used in creative and meaningful ways beyond the county endorsement.

So I write “maybe” because – I understand how in some parts of the State the committees and their chairs do in fact behave like dictatorships. But I don’t live in that part of the State, as far as the Democratic party is concerned, and the endorsement of my local committees means I have “real local people” who care behind me.

Voter access: I support adopting parts of H.R.1 in New Jersey in order to increase voter participation, ensure access to the ballot box, and strengthen elections, including specifically same day registration, early voting and a paper trail for machine voting that enables verification.

Comment: 1,000% yes.

Ethics reform: I support ethics reforms that would require broader disclosure of financial information and the release of income taxes by candidates for county-level and state-level public office, as a means of transparency.

Campaign funding: I support the public funding of campaigns for all state-level elected offices (i.e., the state legislature and gubernatorial elections).

Redistricting: I support placing a nonpartisan commission in charge of the legislative redistricting process.

Public Advocate: I support passing legislation to reinstate the statewide Office of the Public Advocate that was eliminated in 2010.

Comment: I do not know anything about this. So I cannot take a position on it. However, I would be more than eager to listen and learn.

Posting of state bills: I support requiring that bills be posted in written form at least 72 hours prior to committee discussion or vote, and that budget bills be posted at least 5 business days in advance of discussion or vote, to improve transparency in the legislative process.

State legislative meetings: I support making all committee meetings accessible to the public for attendance and testimony by online means (e.g., via zoom) and streaming of voting sessions to increase availability and transparency of government.

Full time legislature: I support making the state legislature full-time and prohibiting the simultaneous holding of other paid positions, so as to eliminate conflicts of interest and sources of influence and pressure on state legislators.

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More information about Guy Citron:

Email: guycitronLD23@gmail.com
Phone: ‪973 452 2213
Campaign website: www.ld23dems.com
Social media: Facebook, TikTok
Party affiliation: Democratic party

Date of Birth: 3/26/1986
Current Occupation: Self-employed
Education: I have a bachelors degree in philosophy, and a masters in psychology.
Public/party service: I am in leadership positions in various local civic and community organizations like the Hunterdon County NAACP, Scouting America, the North Hunterdon Voorhees Intellectual Freedom Fighters, Food Bank Network of Somerset County, and the Highlands Coalition.