Senate President Donald DiFrancesco is sworn in as Acting Governor

Let's congratulate you all for being here today. You were absolutely right. Thank you. All right? I'm sorry. Thank you. My name is Buster Sories. I'm the Secretary of State, and it is my proud honor to share with you the breaking news in New Jersey. I have officially received the written resignation of Governor Christine Todd Whitman, whose resignation became effective at 10 o'clock.

It is on file in the office of the Secretary of State. And therefore come now, probably to introduce this ceremony, which will invite the Senate President to take the oath of office to complete the unexpired term of Governor Whitman and serve as our acting governor. It gives me great pride to introduce Senator DeFrancisco in his new capacity to welcome him to this awesome responsibility and to celebrate with Diane and his family this expansion of his responsibilities that have included a career public service. We traveled once to Florida, and my son's asked me if I still had my power. And when I inquired what they meant, they said, well, you're the Secretary of State of New Jersey.

We're in Florida now. And I wanted them to understand that power has less to do with the title and more to do with one's values. And that because we all have the power to serve, each of us has power everywhere we go. What I respect about our new acting governor is that he has always understood power as service, has dedicated his adult life to public service, and has chosen to be a person who has promoted policies that support families, a man who has a passion for inclusion and diversity, and a man who I believe will be a great governor for every citizen and region of New Jersey. And so today we've come and we've invited you to participate in this historic event, the smooth transition of responsibility and power as the oath of office to our acting governor is administered by Associate Justice Colman for the New Jersey Supreme Court. Please repeat after me, I, Donald T., President of the Senate, upon whom has devolved the

functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office, of the governor of the state of New Jersey, do solemnly promise and swear that I will diligently faithfully enter the best of my knowledge, administer the government of the state of New Jersey, in conformity with the powers delegated to me, and that I will, to the utmost of my skill and ability to the utmost of my skill and ability, promote the peace and prosperity, and maintain the lawful rights of the state, and maintain the lawful rights of the state, so help me

to begin. Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. And I want to thank all of you for your patience that you will have with me in the future. I want to thank Diane for her great support all these years and of course my three daughters

I'll leave the humor out this time. I'm Ray Tracy and Marcy, all of whom have been with me from the beginning. And if I could say a couple of words about this moment to all of you and of course that I'm pleased and honored to just be here today. This is a historic moment for me and for the citizens of this great state of New Jersey. It's been quite a while for us over 80 years since a Senate president has been asked to take on the responsibilities of the governor's office for such an extended period of time. Now of course today we are marking our own place in New Jersey's history as Governor Whitman leaves the garden state to serve as the EPA administrator. I want to thank Governor Whitman for her strong leadership over the past seven years and

her partnership with the state legislature and I obviously wish her great success in her new mission. But as Acting Governor I look forward to meeting the challenges that lie ahead. This is truly a time of opportunity, a time for us to build on our prosperity, a time to help all New Jersey's families by providing affordable health care, investing in our children's education and fulfilling our promises of property tax relief. Citizens of New Jersey I fully understand the awesome responsibility that I've undertaken. I've pledged to faithfully and partially and justly perform the duties as Acting Governor and as Senate President and to serve the people of this great state is both exhilarating and humbling. Today I know I'm doubly blessed to be able to serve my fellow New Jerseyans as a legislator and of course as Acting Governor.

So now as we move into this 21st century, let us work together to keep New Jersey on the road to success. Thank you all very much and it's been a pleasure having you here and having you share this moment with me. Thank you. Okay, that was the easy part, now any questions? I'm going to have to get used to being called up there now. One of the legacies of the Whitman Institute was the announcement on relax table and agreement to fund the construction of the New York Arena. You expressed some skepticism. Where do you stand? Is it possible to get this thing resolved by July 1 or are there going to be countries hurting people?

Well let me make it clear that I know that Governor Whitman and her administration have been working with the owners of these teams for quite some time now, back and forth negotiations. I have not been part of those negotiations. I have not necessarily been included in any of the details of those negotiations. Let me also say a front that we want these New Jersey teams to stay in New Jersey. That is a priority for us. On the other hand, having said that, I know the legislature must be involved in this process. And their involvement should be up front and as a part of this whole proposal that has not occurred, I challenge them, I look forward to them both Democrats and Republicans and working with them to forge a negotiated contract and negotiated proposal that will work in New Jersey, that will work for Bergen County, that will certainly provide fiscal integrity for the sports authority and the related parties and I look forward to that.

So therefore, what I'm saying is that I have to learn more about this proposal, about how it came about, what the details are, and I have to involve my legislative colleagues particularly the leadership in discussing this and challenging them to work with me in developing this proposal or anything else like it. Yes, Jim? This trend is not on the deal, but will we be visiting, is that so? Well, it always had to be because I mean as Governor Whitman would say if she would hear, this is a proposal that they agreed upon some terms that always required other conditions, the conditions meaning legislative approval, legislative input, legislative appropriations. It's a top priority, it is. I don't have a timeline because I don't control it. I will speak to this issue very quickly, but it is a top priority. Governor Whitman, what did the last governor tell you this happened? The conditions are really that the impact on Bergen County has to be assessed.

There has to be fiscal integrity with respect to the offer and in other words, the impact on our fiscal situation, and certainly there has to be legislative dialogue. Those are really the conditions, and I'm not suggesting they can't be met, I'm just referring to it. I don't know what the last governor said of this was done before, but in her, at least the chief signed off on it. What's Adam, sorry. I did the last governor tell you what has been done this far, I mean what the proposal is? Yeah. Through her staff, through her chief of staff, that there probably would be a proposal made public by the day she left. Why were you giving that information? I was given that information over the last week or so, but I was giving the information in the details last night. Governor, there's another proposal that is going to hit you while you're at the capacity of, unless on a certain phrase again, what's out of what we hear this morning, like there

could be rate increases of 75% to 80% of the territorial rating system, what are your thoughts on that? I don't believe that those facts are accurate, it has never been the legislative intent to, in any way, cause the insurance industry to make one nickel more than they're already making as a result of the redrawing of this legislation or this map, so to speak, the territorial rating system. That is, this is an issue that will be looked very closely at by me and by my staff. We certainly don't want rate increases across the board and don't expect that. This was legislative mandates, and certainly there are caps on some of those provisions. So this is just the beginning. It is not my intention to see the auto insurance rates of citizens of New Jersey raised at all. Do you feel that you were done at this service here by the outfelling governor of the

vision that she was talking about on this issue? No, I didn't say that nor do I feel that way. She did not do it to service, I believe she felt she made a commitment to speak to this issue and so she did. What I don't want to give you in the impression is that it is a done deal, that it has been received legislative approval, that the legislature has been involved because they have not. Did she do you a service when she signed up on the Port Authority toll line so that you don't have to deal with it? I am opposed to the toll hikes, I would have vetoed those minutes, I don't suggest she did me a service or disservice, I think they were not necessary at the rate at which they were increased. Can you comment on that and whether you think the tax rate is the same as you need? I don't believe that is part of the total project for instance in the learning city and I am

not sure of that. I understand your point, I don't believe that is unique, I think that there have been legislative appropriations over the course of many, many years for very worthy projects and I don't fault that part of the proposal, in fact I believed at one time it was even a greater suggested amount of a grant perhaps like 75 million as I had read one other occasion. So that's not a surprise, I mean I think what I'm trying to convey here is that this is Governor Whitman's idea of a negotiated settlement that she felt was good for the state of New Jersey and maybe it is, I just don't know standing here today and whether or not today I can't tell you that we'll be able to deliver on that so-called promise. I think that's the challenges now involving the legislature to really get into this and finish the job, we want these New Jersey teams to stay in New Jersey.

No, I don't have a time for them. Governor, you have a chance here, right? You have stated in the past few weeks that you believe in the course of Governor Whitman's son, Rachel Crowe filing and combating that, we saw statistics this morning which note that turning pipe drug arrests and seizures are down, rather significantly in the past few years. How do you reconcile the deed or continue reform and the drop in the number of drug arrests from the people who, even the superintendent admit it may be confused or has them to exercise the political authority? I don't reconcile them today, I mean I can't reconcile that by myself. All I can say is that I believe that Christie Whitman believed that it's zero tolerance for Rachel Crowe filing that she has done her very best to put into place with Carson Dunbar and the Attorney General reforms that will eradicate that system we are opposed to the

idea of Rachel Crowe filing. Now how you then interpret statistics with respect to that, I'm not in a position to do that, I will discuss that certainly with the people involved with the superintendent and with the Attorney General, but today I couldn't tell you that there's any correlation. What's the question? Governor, your cabinet has developed a couple of like gaps, looks like you will have some of the points to make it. Do you have any names in mind or are you starting to run for a while on this day? Well, of course that's not unusual for the theoretically the last year of... On the Governor's second term that people will be looking for other opportunities. So I expect that there are two or three vacancies. We will be filling them in a proper manner that is possible. I don't really have any names today for you, but I'll certainly be doing that. And for me, you and him. Earlier, Jeff, we had a guy out there that was in the place before I cast the...

I think that's the suggested veto gag we already. I like that suggestion. I don't know if that's the new bad example for me at the time. But I know him very well. He has taught in the classroom, which is one of my requirements. He has been worked as a county superintendent, as a superintendent of the vote tech. He's been in the Governor's... In the Department of Education for a number of years. He has been in all the advocate districts. He has been involved in the distribution of money into the advocate districts. I'm going to talk to members of the press for the next couple of hours. And I'm going to go to a swearing in of a judge in Essex County. And from there, I'm going to speak at a dinner in Washington, Col. Jack Holland, New York City. And to a New York City call them all. Call them all? Who are the while they call them all? Why?

Well, what do malls do? Barrow. They do that kind of work. What are they? Private investigation? Yes, they're... No. They're in the construction business. That's what I'm told. The other time we happen, there's always been speculation. I'm going to tell you the first one. But now that it's actually happened, there's all speculation and waiting here together now. Right. What, how do you feel? I'll let you know. I have to sit down in the chair for a second. Just breathe for a minute and think about it. I feel fabulous. I'm excited. I'm humbled that it's a great opportunity. And it's history-making. I can't imagine that. I could have ever imagined that this would happen today. Nor my father and mother. Nor my wife, of course, or my children. So it's a great moment for us. We want to enjoy that. You ask for patience. How long do you think it'll take you to get up to speed? I don't have to speed up. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? What are you talking about? I don't know. What are you talking about?

Well, as you know, as all of you know, this is a win-generated June. It's a window of opportunity legislatively. So this will be the busiest time of the year for me. A lot more hours in this part of the building. Dealing with legislative activity. Monitoring the bills that are passed. Hopefully signing a few. And I think our priorities are what I've laid out in the past. Our legislative priorities. And of course, a balanced budget with a nice surplus of property tax relief. And dealing with health care and some of the water quality issues I talked to. And perhaps a few other surprises that we'll talk about. Subsequent to today. Thank you. No, we will not. Thank you. Thank you. The major problem is that the people of New Jersey think

that they're trying to stand in the way of this administration or of any state government administration. So I think they're going to have to work with this administration. And by the way, the relationships are very cordial. I have not detected it in years that I've been in the legislature and out of the legislature. A relationship that is not cordial. It's very cordial and gone. Can we say that's a contrast? I wouldn't say it's a contrast. I would say, quite frankly, that Dawn understands the legislative process because he is one. He's a legislator. Is it coming in a difficult time? We hear a lot of issues. A lot of interests are pro-quiling. There's a lot going on. It has to be for us. Listen, when he comes in with the second highest per capita, he'd come in the state of New Jersey with one of the lowest teammates. What are your thoughts on the passing of the torch from Whitman to Defrancester? Well, I think that he did very well today. He has a terrific command of the public policy issues. So I think of the state of New Jersey.

That's great. That's my part of learning. Maybe I should learn out of the government, but that'll take not too long. The issues are the big thing. I think he has a command of that. And I have, you know, say it to see the government go, but everything comes as a season. You know, it's a time, I guess, what's the pressure? Time for all seasons. You know, this was a different passage, and I've known Donny for over 20 years. I think that would be terrific. It's, you know, the passing of the torch, like it was from Cain Deplorio, the Whitman and now Whitman to Defrancester. What's the biggest difference between Defrancester and Whitman? Well, I think since Donny came from, comes from the legislature. I think that you will see more of including the legislature in the process. He has a keen sense of that. And Tom Cain also did, because he was in the legislature, and he understood what a man. And when you talk about different projects in the state of New Jersey, you know, if there's money to be appropriate,

and it starts in the house, and you have to include leadership, or else it just doesn't work. So he has a keen sense of that. And that's something that I'm not sure that Christy really and the people around are really understood as fully as they could have. But I think, you know, I think they're both decent people, and he's got a self-deprecating sense of humor. She had a good sense of humor, right? If you don't have a sense of humor, you can't leave. You know, it's just that simple. So I'm really, I'm pleased for you. I'm thankful. Thank you. President Bush is much different than candidate Bush. Is he? Oh yeah, awesome. Very serious, very focused.

How are your priorities? Good team of people around us. We're very impressed, right? How is Governor D. Francisco different from Governor Wittler? Of course, I don't know him as personally as I know her. I think the big difference would be the dual roles. I think in terms of values, they have the same values. I think philosophies, they're the same. I suspect his management style would be different. He'll have, I'm sure, a stronger relationship with the legislature than she had for obvious reasons. But I think the greatest dynamic is the dual role plus the candidacy that requires his having, perhaps, more support in ways that she didn't need support. Support from where? Some people like me and the Cabinet members, the higher level of coordination to ensure that things move smoothly. And then it's the last year of a turn. And so that's kind of a very lane-duckish season. And as was cited, it increases the likelihood

of people leaving before the term ends. He's got a lot of balls to juggle. When did you receive Governor Wittler's resignation line? At five minutes to ten. This morning. And how did it come to you? Through her chief counsel, Bob Fabricant, a hand-delivered and filed on time. Can we see a copy of the letter? I have copies. I can give you a copy. We've got copies available for the first time. Oh, right. If we come to your office. It's one sentence. Yeah. Okay. If we come to our office, we can pick one. Yeah, I may have a copy. You work there, though. It's in the money. No, they work. So it should be in my pocket upstairs? Yeah. Okay. All right. I wouldn't say anything through. He's a legislator because that's his experience. And he understands that the executive branch has to work with the legislature. Look, there's a separation of powers. The courts, the legislature, an executive branch. Now, Don is in the executive branch. That experience as a legislator is enormous. And it's great for him, i.e. McCain, and his exposure as a legislator and that experience.

I think this is very important. And Don is now going to take that role as well. And I think all the experience that he has is going to be put into working for the people of this state. That's the very critical item that we have to talk about. Check, is there a solution to the arena situation with urban county pushing to save federal lines, or, you know, with this county pushing and the ownership pushing for Newark? You're asking a party chief about policy decisions. That has to go with the government. It's all politics, so. Well, not politics. There's a difference between politics and government. And quite frankly, Don indicated he would be looking at the decision that was made by Governor Whitman, and will be reviewing that. And he said, give him a little time. But it's priority number one, or one of the top priorities. I think of it. Can he afford, though, to upset the urban county Republican government? Remember what Don said. We want to keep all the teams in New Jersey.

And I think we go from that point. Give him a little time. Chuck, I heard you before talking about relations with the Democrats. This is a gubernatorial election year. Do we expect obstructionism from the Democrats vis-a-vis this new government? I don't think so. First of all, they don't have the votes to do that to be obstructionists. I mean, they can't filibuster, for instance, as the US Senate can do. They can't stop bills from being proposed. They can't stop executive orders. And they can't stop signing a bill. No, I think they're going to work with Don DeFrancisco. Listen, they do not want to appear as obstructionists. Because they also have to run for election this year. Remember, as you know, we have the Senate, we have the Assembly, and we have the Governor's Election. So I think the Democrats would be damned if they went down and tried to be obstructionists. I don't think that's going to happen at all. Did I hear you challenge them to work with this government? Oh, I think they will work with this government because they work with this Senate leader. And the relationship has been good.

Relations are quartered. And so Don is that type of person that he gets along with a lot of people, especially legislators, and I think he's going to do fine. And I think the Democrats will work with it. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.