Trenton Democrats gamble with democracy — as NJ voters rage. It's not worth it | Stile

Lost amid Thursday’s policy debate and protest at the Statehouse over the latest push to limit the power of New Jersey’s public records law was a political warning.

“Democrats and Never Trump Republicans are fighting for Democracy," testified David Pringle, an environmental and public advocacy consultant. “And this bill undermines that effort and is being led by New Jersey Democrats.”

The remark came during several hours of testimony over the bitterly contested "reform." The remark — and other angry sentiments expressed by opponents — failed to knock the bill off the fast-track to passage, which could come on Monday before landing on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk for approval.

Still, it was another way of expressing to the legislative Democrats who rule the roost in Trenton — with majorities in both houses and control of the governor’s office — that it might be wise not to be so smug and ram through an unpopular bill using the typical under-the-Statehouse-dome logic that voters are not watching or are too busy putting food on the table to care.

It was a cautionary suggestion that maybe the Democrats are out of touch with their angry Democratic base and should be a little more mindful — that perhaps they would do well to pump the brakes on this one. The voting public is frightened that America's democracy is in its death throes and that I’ll-Be-A-Dictator-For-A-Day Donald Trump might assert his authoritarian impulses much more routinely during a second term.

So any measure that would limit transparency and restrict the public’s ability to keep tabs on its local government, its police departments and schools, would further erode democracy, they argue.

“With democracy under attack throughout the country, it’s not the time to reduce transparency and access to government records," noted Sharon Krengel, a policy director for the Education Law Center.

Energized Democrats — after Kim and the fall of the line — are paying attention

Certainly, voters in the New Jersey Democratic Party's base — grassroots progressives, especially — are paying attention. They are the same army of activists who marched behind a little-known congressman, Rep. Andy Kim, who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in June — and likely the next U.S. Senator from New Jersey for as long as the next three decades.

Those voters are also angry at the appalling accusations of gold-bar bribery and grift leveled — again — at Sen. Bob Menendez, whose trial on federal charges begins Monday in Manhattan. They provided the chorus of disbelief at first lady Tammy Murphy’s attempt to win the Democratic nomination to replace him simply by enlisting the allegiance of county chairmen and party power brokers who promised her the preferential “line” on the primary ballot. Hers was a clear, no-fuss path to victory.

That fury over her perceived nepotism and a rigged process — an anti-democratic process — inflamed the grassroots. And when Kim went to court to challenge the constitutional shortcomings of the county line design, it was struck down in federal court — a historic victory that will make it easier for outsiders who didn’t kiss the rings of party bosses to compete in primaries. To Democratic progressives, the dam had finally broke in Trenton.

It marked the beginning of a new era of reform. So, the push to gut the 20-year-old OPRA law seemed out of step, a tone-deaf throwback to the traditional political calculus that voters ultimately don’t care. It’s an ethos that shapes much of the policy in Trenton. Last year's awful Election Transparency Act is another prime example.

But will any of this translate into a backlash? Will it add more fuel to a fire that Kim started last year?

Grassroots advocates say Trenton's Democrats are playing with fire and cite a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University poll that found 81% of New Jersey’s registered voters support keeping the public records law the way it is, with only 14% supporting steps to tighten access.

And yet, Michael Cerra, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, sharply disputed the poll as too broadly worded and biased.

“I don’t think it captures really what the sentiment is," he said.

Our view: Amended OPRA bill an absolute sham. Gov. Murphy, veto this affront to democracy

More: NJ Senate advances legislation that could decimate public access to government documents

Highly-educated, affluent Democrats care about transparency

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth Poll, doubts that the issue of transparency and the public records law will have much bearing on voters when it comes time to cast their ballots. Members of the Assembly will be up for reelection in 2025. Their colleagues in the state Senate will be up in 2027.

If you ask voters in a poll if they are for government transparency, a majority are going to say yes. But if you ask them whether the issue will be a factor in their vote, most will say it won't.

“It’s just too difficult an issue to follow," Murray said. Affordability — taxes, the economy, cost of living issues — remain top of mind for most voters, he said.

Still, the issue is still potent in some of the more affluent, highly-educated precincts of the state. And some advocates now say that, because the competition for legislative seats could be expanded with the collapse of the line, the issue could catch fire in future races and pose a risk for incumbents who voted for the OPRA law.

“We had to turn the phone lines off yesterday and push out all emails into a filter because of the volume of constituents of mine in the 16^th District reaching out," said Sen. Andrew Zwicker, D-Middlesex, one of three legislators who voted against the bill in committee. “And it was 100% opposed to it.”

But Zwicker cited the political limitations of the issue in the future.

“For those who are paying attention every day to what's happening in Trenton, this is a big issue,’’ he added. “To  those who, you know, are just trying to make ends meet…this is a non-issue.”

Murray noted, however, that the issue could become a thorny political dilemma for an “ambitious person who was looking to further his career outside of New Jersey" and has made a reputation as a leading progressive — namely Murphy.

“This may not be a bill that I would want to put my signature on," he said.

The governor refused to tip his hand on the legislation last week in his monthly call-in show on WNYC radio.

“I think it needs to be updated," he said of the OPRA law. “And we need to hold on to the sacrosanct notion of transparency. Those are the two principles that I would bring to the table in analyzing this.’’

He added, “We’ll see where this lands.”

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: OPRA reform bill tramples NJ democracy