Does Ciattarelli Know Jack?

It looks like New Jersey Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, 59, will win the Republican nomination to run for Governor of New Jersey in the primary election a month from today.  And I'm beginning to wonder if he has a chance against incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy.

Ciattarelli is mainly focusing on Governor Murphy's handling of the COVID pandemic and charging that his policies have put numerous small stores and eateries out of business.  I've seen this firsthand.  In the area where I live, several such places have gone out of business due to COVID - including a couple of restaurants that had only been in business for a couple of years.  In my father's old neighborhood, which has a small business district near the house he used to live in as a teenager, there was a delicatessen that had been in business since 1926.  It survived the Depression, stagflation, and the financial crisis.  I imagine that my father and his brothers must have frequented it and gotten a sandwich there every now and then.  Last year, it closed for good due to the pandemic.  And there's no guarantee that any of these businesses will be replaced.  It would be suicide to try to start any new business these days not just because of COVID but because of pre-COVID trends favoring big-box stores and online shopping.

Ciattarelli rightly points out that such businesses provide a sense of community and continuity, and they provide jobs for the little guy - and the business owners are little guys (and gals) themselves who contribute to the local economy.  The economy and the community, in fact, are one and the same.  Without one, you can't have the other.  Our small towns were already in dire straits before the pandemic, and the ones that were making out better were the towns that focused on "destination economies" - economies that rely on local arts and entertainment attractions, restaurants, specialty shops and the like.  When the COVID pandemic ends, many of these same "destination economy" towns, like Morristown or Red Bank in New Jersey,  won't be a destination for anyone. You'll be able to stand in the downtown areas of one of these "destination" towns on a bright spring Saturday afternoon and see fewer people about than you would standing on the boardwalk in Atlantic City on a Monday morning in January. 

Ciattarelli has three strikes against him, though, and any one of them could tag him out.   First of all, he's running for governor of Democratic New Jersey as a Republican.  Second, his pitch seems to express more concern for business owners than employees, making him sound he cares more about livelihoods than lives in the middle of a pandemic, no matter how focused he is on small businesses as opposed to big business.  (A small-business owner himself, he's known for being hostile toward unions.)  Third, no one blames Murphy for their favorite burger joint or clothes boutique going out of business; his approval rating on handling the pandemic now stands at 80 percent.

Let's see what happens.