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October 16, 2025 8 mins
Micah talks with Ken Rosato about the games being played by Trump against Chuck Schumer as the government shutdown continues; He and Ken also discuss the New Jersey Gubernatorial race as election is less than 3 weeks away.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Happy Thursday. He was press secretary for former New
Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy. In these days. Micah Rasmussen is
the director of the Rebevich Institute for New Jersey Politics
at Writer University. He's contributed to the public affairs of
the state for more than two decades and has more
than fifteen years experience as an adjunct professor of political science. MIKEH. Rasmussen,

(00:21):
Good morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You, Hey, Ken, how are you.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm great. It feels like I just talked to you
in the last two days, maybe because I did almost
right there you go. Hey, So we got to ask you.
Actually I was going to talk to about the New
Jersey governor's race, but we've had some breaking news since
then about the Gateway Tunnel project and President Trump basically
telling hey, Chuckie Schielma, screw you, pal, what do you

(00:45):
think you think? This is just politics? He's just playing
games right now.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah. I hope so, I hope so for the sake
of the region, for the sake of New Jersey, we're
sort of swept up in this. And it's as you know,
his project has been a long time coming. That rail
infrastructure is over one hundred years old. Sometimes it's got
to be knocked into placements with a sledgehammer. And I'm
not even kidding. And we can't afford for this thing

(01:14):
to be caught up. So I hope that resolution is
on the way. And you know, this is pretty strong language.
It's different than what we heard a couple of weeks ago,
which was that it was a pause. Cancelation is a
different deal. That doesn't sound like something to come back from.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, I think he used the word terminated. He used
the word terminated, so that is a serious word. And
he does have the right to do it because this
was a grant that was signed in by Biden. So
because it was a grant, he could freeze grants and
that's for I'm sure this was at a left field
for even those on the left. But nonetheless, we'll see
what happens in the days ahead. Hopefully it brings them

(01:52):
to the negotiating table so we can get this government
open again. Where do you see the New Jersey governor's
race right now? Micah? Do you talked about this on
our show the other day in New Jersey? But now
Jack was on Jack JITTRELLI was on Minty in the
morning today here at w OAR, and he talked about
that lawsuit. He's moving forward with it.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I think by most
of the public polling, he's got a little bit of
round still the makeup in these closing weeks. He's got
an enthusiasm hatch for sure, but he's still got some
ground to make up, you know, anywhere between three and
five or six points. He's in a good pace to

(02:34):
do that. But this is the kind of distraction that
can derail him from that. The same thing with these
questions that we talked about about his role in the
opioid crisis, is his company's role in the opioid crisis.
This is the kind of thing that knocks you off
your game and prevents you from making the closing arguments
that you want to make in the last couple of
weeks of the race.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
So, if you are Jack Chittarelli, what should you be
doing right now? Just talking about nothing else but what
the fact that Mikey Cheryl won't promise that she won't
increase taxes. Talk about the fact that Mikey Cheryl's party
is the party that resulted in the high energy rates.
Is that what all, you should be focusing on affordability.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, absolutely, that's that's what's on voter's minds. Sure, and
you know there's some evidence that talking about the ethics
or the stop trades or you know, Annapolis is a
distraction from what's really on voter's minds. And you've got
to show that you are sensitive to what voters are

(03:35):
are concerned about. And I don't know if he's doing
that right now.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, I'm by the way, I'm literally sitting seventy five
feet from where Charlomage the God talked to Mikey Cheryl
and had that famous interview. I could walk literally out
this door and down the hall and that's right where
the interview occurred where she didn't know if she had
seven million dollars that she earned in stock Grade. Let
me just remind people that are listening to seven to
ten wo r it is Ken Razotto from Mark Simone

(04:01):
on a Thursday. Ten forty seven is our time, and
we have Micah Rasmussen, political expert from the state of
New Jersey, my good friend who's on with us today.
So let's let's talk about what the next step is
would be for now, Mikey Cheryl. If you're Mikey Cheryl,
what do you have to do to kind of get
back on track in terms of the whole thing with
the military academy?

Speaker 2 (04:23):
You know? So same thing for her, She's got to
tap into voters frustrations over affordability. And this is where
her message on high tax jack, which you know, I mean,
we can talk about whether that's fair or not, but
he definitely has resonated. He's got a bigger problem with

(04:43):
approval at this point than she does. In most polling,
she is still right side up. He's upside down. So
I think those commercials are having an impact on him.
I think she's got to continue to continue to drill
down on that to the extent that she can and
to the extent that it's fair to So.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
How hard is it for these candidates in New Jersey
to run for an office that is statewide because they
have to buy ads in the two large or two
of the largest TV markets New York is number one,
Phillies number five, in order to get their message out.
It's got to be super expensive, probably more expensive than
anywhere else it is.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
And as you well know, because of you know what
you do every morning viewers are not just getting their
TV anymore from cable. They're not just getting in for broadcasts,
they're getting in for digital from streaming, and so it
is harder than ever because you've got to be on
all the platforms where people are watching. It is a

(05:42):
dispersed media market, and that means it is more expensive
and it's a tough thing to do. One thing that
you know, I have to remind people all the time
is said, we've got a public financing system for governor.
So theoretically, at least on the campaign side, they're spending there,
they're their calf is the same out about eighteen million dollars.

(06:03):
Jack Carelli has spent a lot more of that down
at this point in the race driving his message. She's
got more or less in the closing days of the
race that she's spoiled away that could make a big difference.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
In this clothes Do you think that Jack could climb
up in the in the next guyle mean, we only
have two and a half weeks before this happens. Do
you think he has a shot at this point, she does.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Have a shot. There's no question about that. This race
is impossible to predict. We're probably going to go through
several more lifetime or gateways between now and the election.
There's no question he's in the hunt. But again, what
I am concerned about for him is is he being
driven off of his message? Does he have the fire

(06:45):
power to keep going where she has sort of spoiled
that money away while she's on the offense with her messaging.
I think the positions are better, but I'm certainly not
counting him out at this point.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Well, I'm not going to let you go before I
ask you a thirty second question here. Are you going
to be watching the New York City mayoral debates tonight?

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah? I absolutely am, and I think it's going to
be a big night in that race because people are
trying to sort out the new dynamics with just the
three candidates left in the race. And we'll see what happens.
I think Mondai certainly is His messaging is novel. It's different, right,
whether or not it's what voters are interested in. But
you know, are you going to get more of the

(07:24):
same old, same open polo? Are you going to get
something new? And then, of course, does that present an
opportunity between those two duking it out? Does that present
an opportunity for Sliva to sort of come up the medal.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Amazing, all right. The director of the Rebevitch Institute for
New Jersey Politics at Ryder University, My good friend, Micah Rasmussen.
I appreciate you all the time, so I could talk
to you for hours. Thanks for coming on.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Today, you too, Ken, Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
You bet have a great day. He is just I
mean literally, if there's nothing he doesn't know, and it's
been decades, this guy knows everything, certainly about New Jersey politics,
but he knows about politics nationwide. Well, we want to
hear from you. Seven ten WR. The Voice of New York,
Hen Rosato, went from Mark on a Thursday, and the
numbers eight hundred three two one zero seven ten. We're

(08:08):
going to take your calls next again. It's eight hundred
three two one zero seven ten for seven ten WR
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