Here are the views of Jerry Taylor, candidate for General Assembly in LD38, 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:
Requiring that the order of candidates for each office on a primary ballot be determined by a computerized random draw rather than a human draw.

Comment: Since I’m not endorsed by the county committee I’m last in the order

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.

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.

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.

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 Jerry Taylor:

Email: Jerrytaylorforassembly@gmail.com
Phone: ‪201-522-3790
Party affiliation: Republican party

Date of Birth: 3/10/1958
Current Occupation: Retired
Education: College educated
Public/party service: Recreation Director, ran numerous festivals and street fairs in town.