SOMERVILLE – It was a couple of years ago when Prudential executive Roy Freiman took the microphone at a company town hall with Governor Chris Christie and – amid oohs and ahhs – asked if the governor, whom Freiman believed scapegoated teachers, didn’t see the educational process as a collaboration among teachers, parents and students. In full attack mode, Christie lashed out in response to the question and said teachers work for him.

“It was a horrible answer,” said Freiman, the husband of a teacher. He sent a subsequent email to the governor seeking a conversation on the matter. That query went unanswered.

Now, having retired from Prudential to successfully run for office, as he prepares to assume the oath next month in the aftermath of the Christie era, Assemblyman-elect Freiman (D-16) of Hillsborough, says he looks forward to undertaking a collaborative – not confrontational – approach to his new work as a New Jersey lawmaker.

If you sit with him, you find him asking as many questions as he answers, comfortable with a lot of give and take, and curious about a wide range of political subjects, including polling. Democratic and Republican campaign internals showed his running mate, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, winning – along with Republican challenger Assemblywoman Donna Simon. But Frieman – maybe the surprise winner of the 2017 general election season – bucked the internals in both camps and upset Simon, while his state senate slate mate, Laura Poppe, very nearly picked off Somerset County GOP institution state Senator Kip Bateman (R-16). “What’s wrong with the polling industry and their methodology?” he wanted to know, speculating that too many pollsters target landlines that don’t adequately reflect most voters.

He’s also immensely concerned about the polarization of our political system, the rise of antagonizing demagogues like Christie and Donald J. Trump, and the entrenched camps of partisans who sustain them, insistent on their own channels of news acquisition that sooner feeds their ideological comfort zone than creating opportunity for civil dialogue. The fiscal conservative/social progressive sees it happening in both parties. He revels in a conversation about our capitalistic, individualized hunger for customized products and how it has depleted our will to relate to civil society – and – but for bitter partisans defining the political landscape – sapped our faith in the political process.

Freiman’s favorite word, he keeps coming back to it – is collaboration, his professional assimilation of the concept coming from his decades at Prudential, where he describes a work place filled with diversity and debate as – maybe ironically – part of a constantly driving quest to produce better customized products for customers.

Excited to transpose his private sector skills into government as part of a bipartisan team that includes district overlord Bateman (whom he already met with post Election Day at the Time to Eat Diner)  and running mate Zwicker, Freiman describes the 16th District as unique, and perhaps uniquely positioned to offer its own story of collaboration to the rest of the state.

“It’s a great pace to be an elected representative,” he told InsiderNJ over coffee in Starbucks on the day after Christmas. “I see it as a place that contains the full spectrum of political beliefs – strong beliefs on either side of the aisle. My challenge is to effectively represent that and do it well, without being perceived as pandering or biased to one side; to be fair to everyone, honest and authentic. To me, it will be an issue by issue basis. In business, it’s called being open-minded and listening. I want cost benefit analysis. Does it make sense? Collaboration versus pandering. Here’s a bill. How do we improve on it and make it better?”

He looks forward to his committee assignments, obviously interested in finance and economic development.

“I want to help turn around the perception of government as just a regulator, as opposed to a socially responsible business partner,” he said. “The two-percent cap is just a band aid on the problem. We have squandered eight years now and I see an opportunity to create real responsible planning for the district and for the state; greater innovation in technology, transportation and infrastructure. I see the opportunity to build a multi-year plan and vision to work with your business partners to attract other businesses.”

To date he hasn’t had a sit-down with Governor-elect Phil Murphy. They did some campaigning together, appeared at Somerset events on the trail and got along fine, although their economic philosophies appear somewhat divergent. “My wife found him genuine,” said the assemblyman-elect.

His wife.

The teacher.

InsiderNJ tried to get him to admit that Christie’s attack on teachers drove him – in chivalrous fashion – to run. There’s a narrative arc there, from the time he took that microphone a couple of years ago at Prudential and faced off against Christie, to the day he reached out to Zwicker seeking a run for state office.

He insists it’s not true.

“I ran because I saw how broken things were,” he said. “This also had nothing to do with the national election. We have had poor decision-making in New Jersey and we have seen a leadership style from Christie that was only good in times of crisis – like Hurricane Sandy. Otherwise it’s too confrontational, and ultimately debilitating. Deciding to retire from Prudential to run for office was not an epiphany. I just didn’t see any strategic decision-making in how the state was being run and thought maybe I can get involved. I’m not highly political, it’s not a power grab. I had a good career, a career that included helping our South American [arm] build up their operation. My thing is how do you raise expectations?”

Whether it’s the legislature (he’s already reached out to members in both parties, including Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick), Murphy, or anyone else who ants to see New Jersey succeed, Roy Freiman – amiable and conversational – is hopeful of a connection – and a collaboration.