Recorded on 7/20/21, Steve Adubato was joined by Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R) – NJ, 13th Legislative District, to discuss the state of the COVID vaccine distribution in New Jersey; Gov. Murphy’s leadership throughout the public health crisis; the impact of the pandemic on small businesses in New Jersey; and the importance of the regionalization of the state’s school districts. 

Senator Declan O’Scanlon says the government should not be mandating COVID-19 vaccinations when there has already been great voluntary uptake and, at the time of the interview, O’Scanlon did not feel that school-aged children needed to wear masks. In addition, he says mandating vaccine passports is not necessary, “I think it’s uncalled for at this point. Certainly, in New Jersey, we have one of the best vaccination rates in the nation, in the world…you don’t have to mandate anything, you don’t have to talk about vaccine passports.”

When asked to grade Governor Murphy’s about his fiscal management of state resources, Declan gives Governor Murphy a D+. He adds, “He did do what Republicans requested, …he did pay down some debt, did do some things, and make a full pension payment and then some.” However, Scanlon also explains that millions of dollars were borrowed and nothing has been done to control the budget long term.