New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli met with a group of Orthodox Jewish activists today, where he addressed numerous concerns facing the state and Jews in New Jersey, particularly in Lakewood.

Addressing a spike in antisemitic acts and violence in the US in recent weeks, Mr. Ciattarelli said the most important thing he can do is tighten hate crimes laws to keep anti-Semites from carrying out their hateful attacks. Additionally, he noted that education about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism should be increased in public schools.

Mr. Ciattarelli also said that his administration would make widening Route 9 in Lakewood a top priority, saying he is very aware of the issue, and knows that steps to mitigate the traffic problems are overdue.

He also noted how, despite the lack of any scientific basis, Governor Murphy is still requiring children to wear masks indoors and how the mandate on masking children helps nobody and only harms children.

Additionally, the GOP candidate blasted Governor Murphy for his ever-growing list of restrictions on guns in New Jersey, noting how those laws make people less safe, not more.

He also touched on Murphy’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that Murphy’s order forcing nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients and not providing test kits and PPE in a timely fashion wound up killing hundreds, if not more, in New Jersey. Ciattarelli pointed to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic as the one that should have been emulated.

Also discussed were issues including the state’s funding formula for schools, which is clobbering Lakewood taxpayers, providing security funding for private schools, the recent marijuana legalization in New Jersey (Ciattarelli supported decriminalization, but not legalization), and the corporate tax rate, which he says is styming business in the state.

Lastly, Ciattarelli said that the current federal unemployment benefits boost is a “death spiral,” in which Governor Murphy isn’t stopping them so as to shore up the economy hurt during the Covid-19 pandemic, but which will hurt the economy in the long-term.

“New Jersey has the highest unemployment rate in the nation – 8% – yet, at the same time, you see ‘help wanted’ signs everywhere you go. That’s the effect of the benefits. People aren’t taking jobs because it’s simply not worth it to them,” Ciattarelli said.