By Assemblyman Alex Sauickie
New Jersey is about to inaugurate a new governor, and instead of standing in the State capital, where every first-term governor in our history has taken the oath, Mikie Sherrill has decided to be sworn in in Newark. She calls it “a new direction.” Let’s be honest: the only direction it points in is straight toward the political machine she wants to keep happy. New Jersey isn’t getting a governor for the whole state. It’s getting another Governor of Newark.
This isn’t bold. It’s obsequious.
For eight years, the Murphy administration treated Newark like the center of the political universe. The aid wasn’t measured in millions. Or hundreds of millions. It was billions, especially in school funding. And those billions didn’t just magically appear. They came directly from homeowners in every community that wasn’t politically convenient.
That’s the legacy of S2, the school funding formula Murphy pushed, signed and defended. S2 was marketed as “fairness.” In reality, it was a financial assault on suburban and rural districts, gutting aid by 20%, 40%, even 60% in towns across New Jersey. It forced layoffs, slashed programs, exploded class sizes, crippled special education services, and set off property-tax hikes that families are still struggling to absorb. While school budgets from Ocean and Monmouth to Burlington, Morris, Middlesex, and Sussex were bleeding, Newark received massive infusions.
S2 was Murphy’s way of rewarding Newark and punishing certain others. And Sherrill’s very first decision suggests she plans to double down.
A first-term governor belongs in Trenton. Period. Choosing Newark isn’t a fresh start, it’s a billboard-sized declaration: Newark first, New Jersey second.
Taxpayers already know the cost of this favoritism. Their schools are collapsing. Their property taxes are at historic highs. Their towns are being crushed by state-mandated cost shifts while Newark floats along protected and generously funded. Even deep-blue Montclair, just a few miles from Sherrill’s chosen stage, is facing record tax increases. That’s what happens when one city gets billions and others get the invoice.
Newark is one of 564 municipalities. It is not the capital. It is not the heart of the state. And it is absolutely not the community carrying the financial burden for all the rest. But Sherrill’s very first gubernatorial act tells you exactly which one she thinks matters most.
New Jersey families don’t care about political theater staged on a friendly backdrop. They care about being able to afford their homes. They care about whether their kids’ schools will survive another round of cuts. They care about a government that doesn’t treat them like a never-ending revenue stream to fund Newark’s priorities.
If Mikie Sherrill truly wanted to signal a new direction, she wouldn’t begin her governorship by bowing to the same political forces that have drained this state dry. She’d start by admitting S2 was a disaster and pledging to reverse the damage. And instead of taking her oath in Newark, she’d take it in the towns actually paying the price for Trenton’s policies–Jefferson Township, Old Bridge, Freehold Township, Toms River, Jackson, Evesham, or Lacey would all be great candidates. Those are the communities living with gutted school budgets. Those are the towns carrying the load while Newark gets the spoils. And those are the people she’d stand before if she truly wanted to prove she’s the governor of all New Jersey—not just the Governor of Newark.
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Alex Sauickie represents the 12 Legislative District in the General Assembly.
