BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ – Brick Township is the only major town in Ocean County under full control of Phil Murphy-aligned Democrats, but a brewing fight for parental rights in public schools could change that if Republicans play their hand right in the upcoming election cycle.
That is if residents have already forgotten what Republicans did to Brick years ago that let it become a stronghold for the Democrat party.
Incumbent mayor Lisa Crate, a Democrat and president of the Jackson Education Association, the Jackson Township wing of the NJEA teachers union, could be carrying the weight of both Democrats and the powerful union in the upcoming election.
Both the Democrat party and the NJEA have fully endorsed Governor Phil Murphy’s Law Against Discrimination which prevents parents from knowing what choices their children are making while in public schools.
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) prohibits discrimination and harassment based on actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, and other protected characteristics. The law applies in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation (generally, places open to the public, including businesses, restaurants, schools, summer camps, medical providers, etc.).
That law however is now being weaponized against parents, to block parents from health and wellness information about their child, specifically if they request to be identified as a different gender in the classroom.
Crate, an NJEA representative has not criticized that part of Murphy’s policy to keep parents in the dark. In November, she’ll face a battle against Republican Assemblyman John Catalano. Crate, who was never elected for mayor filed the shoes of former Mayor John Ducey who was appointed by Governor Phil Murphy to become a judge.
Catalano also faces an uphill battle though. Brick residents aren’t forgetting what happened the last time Republicans were in office. High taxes, red light cameras, and political corruption at levels never seen before.