Frank Pallotta, Republican Candidate for New Jersey Congressional District 5, gave an interview at the Fair Lawn Athletic Club in Fair Lawn, NJ on Tuesday May 31.

In it, he commented on President Biden (perceived as weak abroad, he said), mass shootings (primarily a mental health issue, he claimed) and much else.

TRANSCRIPT:
Kyle Mazza: Frank Pallotta, thanks for taking the time. So tell us your vision about what you hope in these next days leading up to the primary.

Frank Pallotta: Well, I hope over the next couple of days people understand what I've been trying to talk about to the citizens over the course of the last three years. Really. And I've been running for Congress since 2019. What's unique about this race is it's a three county race. Two years ago, it was a four county race. We lost Warren County, but it's a county. It's Sussex County and it's Burton County, and I've never stopped running. I continue to run the race knowing that all three counties are important. The issues in Sussex County are slightly different than Passaic County and they're slightly different than Burton County. Again, I've never stopped running. I've gone to every single county in every single town, every single day, including the weekends. And I think the residents have understood that. I think the voters understand that. And we're hoping in the next few days they make their decisions consistent with what the messages have been delivering.

Kyle Mazza: What do you think is the biggest negative that Congressman Josh Gottheimer has made?

Frank Pallotta: Well, the biggest negative is Josh Gottheimer does not represent the district. Josh Gottheimer is using District Five as a stepping stone. District Five, in my mind, will be my cornerstone. I want to make sure that District Five understands that I work for them. And the mistake that Josh Gottheimer makes is I believe he takes District Five and the voters for granted. And that's a problem we've seen in his decisions around Salt. We've seen in his decisions going back a couple of years where 68% of his district did not, for example, want an impeachment of the President. Josh Gottheimer twice voted to impeach the President against the wishes of his district. So running for Congress and legislating as a congressman in some ways is simple because you do what the will of the people in your district want. So with the people in the district stand behind a certain moral Compass, they stand behind a certain set of ideals and initiatives that they want done. And Josh Gottheimer, five years later, has delivered on none of it, from Salt to lower taxes to integrity to voting with the party 97, 98, 99% of the time. That's the problem.

Josh doesn't represent his district, and I will.

Kyle Mazza: There's been several mass shootings around the country, including recently in Uvalde. There's been arguments that say you need an assault weapons ban. Former President Donald J. Trump spoke about it and said if you do that, it's infringing on the Second Amendment in people's gun rights. What's your view on that? And do you think it's going to be taken too far if there is an assault weapons ban?

Frank Pallotta: Look, I don't think we should look to the weapons right now. I think it's been clear with nearly every mass shooting over the last decade and then some that this is an issue around mental illness. We need to make sure that we've got legislation, gun legislation in place. I'm not talking about gun control … legislation in place that keeps the bar high enough so that these situations don't happen. But we need to address this society, mental health. That's where these come from. The signals that were coming from this shooter in Uvalde were clear. The thing you consistently hear time and time again after these shootings is, well, we should have known that, he sent signals. She sent signals. It was one of these things where the signals have come from many different directions over an extended period of time. So while this is tragic and even one death is tragic, you can't look to the gun. We need to look at red flag laws. We need to look at the concept of where and who people get these weapons and how they get them. So I think there's a lot of things that we as congressional leaders have to look at and what we have to actually sit down and discuss.

But you don't start with a band of guns. You start with addressing the issue of assault rifles. You figure out where we need to go with them. But the bans that people are talking about are not how you start to solve this problem.

Kyle Mazza: You've mentioned the Biden administration in the forum. What do you think has been the negative in the Biden administration? What do you think he has done?

Frank Pallotta: In a word, nothing. The Biden administration, their sole purpose right now is to reverse everything that the prior administration did. That's a problem. And we saw that from day one. Executive orders reversing the prior administration's rules in the prior administration, that the prior administration put in place. He's a bad leader. He's just a bad leader. And it's not just me saying it. It's not just the Republican Party saying it. We're looking at a 38% approval rating, one of the lowest approval ratings a little more than a year out. And we've seen in many generations. Why? Because the general public, because the voters in this country don't believe that he's the right person. On top of that, he's lost support around the world. And that's a bigger thing to understand, because when we lose our position on the world stage, then you start to see the collapse the movement to Ukraine by Russia was because Biden is perceived as weak. And when you're weak on the world stage, leaders like Xi, leaders like Putin will take advantage of us. So that's what I think we're lacking in. Joe Biden is clearly integrity. And we know that's something that's more obvious.

What's a little under the radar screen, which you're starting to see more now is he doesn't have the executive leadership capabilities that you need in the executive in the President of the United States.

Kyle Mazza: In the beginning of June, the Summit of America's will take place, and there's been already backlash on that. Some leaders are saying they won't attend because the Biden administration is not sending out the invitations properly. And some people are saying that they feel upset that they're not invited to this summit. Do you think that this is a mistake on the part of the Biden administration? Do you think that he did something different to upset these world leaders? What's your take on that?

Frank Pallotta: Well, I didn't look at all of it, but I have heard that, and I think it goes back to what I said previously. When it comes to this administration and their ability to reach out, their ability to create unity, they don't do that. They're about their own party. They're not even about America. They're not even about the United States. They're about their own party. And even within that, they're about their own leaders within the party. So it doesn't surprise me when you look at world leaders that are looking at the Obama administration and calling him someone that's not inclusive, calling him someone that doesn't reach out, calling him someone that doesn't execute. We know he doesn't execute on the stuff that he's supposed to do right in this country. I can't imagine that when you step outside the country that he has any idea of how to create some level of unity around the world.

Kyle Mazza: Do you think that there will be a positive note at the end of this climax, with these mass shootings, with this inflation, with these crises? Do you think that there's going to be a positive outcome because many Americans are losing hope right now? And if you're fortunate enough to be in Congress, representing the Fifth District and representing the United States of America, what are you going to do to ease Americans minds?

Frank Pallotta: Well, I spent my career in the private sector, and I think I had a pretty successful career over 28 or 29 years doing it. And why? Because I didn't really care about anything except the people I worked for, the customers I worked for, the shareholders I worked for. And when you're focused on the shareholders and the people that you work for, like your clients, good things happen. In politics, the shareholders are the voters. When you concentrate on what's important to the voters, that's how you end up being successful. So what you get from people like myself if they're fortunate enough to be elected to Congress, is a single minded focus, not on making sure that I'm in Congress for X number of terms. It's about making sure that I affect a series of legislations, a series of rules. I do the job that supports the people that I was elected to serve. Right and wrong is very easy. And when it comes to things like you said, gun legislation and inflation, we've seen enough cycles throughout this country over the last 200 years to know that there's a path to an end game. We're a resilient country.

We're smart. We're very resourceful. But it starts with having good leadership. And when you have good leadership at the top and it trickles down, and you hire people whose experiences are relevant to the issues that we're having in the country today, good things happen. And I think I will bring that to the table.

Kyle Mazza: In the middle part of the forum, you talked about 2000 Mules and the election. Can you go more deeply into that? And also to do you think that the election was stolen from former President Donald J. Trump? Because there are those who say that. So I wanted to make sure I get the clarification right on, what you believe on.

Frank Pallotta: Sure. Well, look what I believe in this country. We need a lot of work on election integrity. I think the one thing that was proven when we looked at 2000 Mules is there were holes throughout the process. There were levels of fraud throughout the process. Now, were there levels of fraud enough to change the election? I've not dug enough into the results to tell you that, but I will tell you there's been fraud in elections going back over 200 years. The question is, are we putting the proper policies and procedures in place to make sure it doesn't happen? We know that drop boxes were going to be an issue. The Republican Party knew that drop boxes were going to be a problem. They were a problem. They were a big problem. We saw thousands and thousands and thousands of ballots that we know were fraudulently placed into the dropboxes. Now, again, we don't know what the ballots were. We don't know who they were, who was written in. But we have a pretty good idea. So to answer your question, do I think the election was stolen? I don't have that information yet to know whether it was stolen.

But what I can tell you from not just movies like 2000 Mules, but from other anecdotal evidence around that we need to really lock down our voter integrity and a lot of the electoral processes to make sure that this doesn't happen again, we need to make sure that we're putting preventative measures in place to see that this doesn't happen when you're not going after. And we're seeing this now. When you're not going after criminals and you have things like catch and release, you create an environment where people think they can get away with it. So we need to put a series of incentives and disincentives in place to make sure things like that don't happen again.

Kyle Mazza: On the governor side, Governor Murphy has refused to say whether his wife's nonprofit should disclose donors. And there's been a lot of backlash against the governor for that, for not answering that question. Do you think that he should be honest with the New Jerseyans and the American people on his wife's nonprofit?

Frank Pallotta: Absolutely. Look, the other thing, in addition to voter integrity, transparency, when you're an elected official. You have to be as transparent as humanly possible. You have the lives and the responsibilities depending on what office you're running for, millions and millions of your voters look to you transparency. Again, it's one of the things that if you don't want to be transparent, you shouldn't be running for office. If you don't want to be able to fully disclose exactly not just what you but your family members are doing, then you should just get out of the way. Because if you're trying to hide it or if you're explaining why you don't want to disclose something, then I think we all know that there's a problem there.

Kyle Mazza: On a final note, Senator Bob Menendez is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and you mentioned Ukraine and Russia. Do you think that he is contributing to the problem in Russia and Ukraine? Do you think that the Senate has done enough? And if you're in Congress, what will you do on that front?

Frank Pallotta: Look, I think we spoke about this earlier, creating incentives and disincentives, for that matter, for things like that not to happen, for leaders like Xi, leaders like God, like Putin to step into those positions. They do it because of weak leadership. They do it because of the Feckless leaders we have, not just at the presidential level, but at the Senate level. And quite honestly, at the congressional level. So if I'm lucky enough to be elected, I know that me and the team that I would be elected with will make sure that we don't put people like Putin, like Xi in a position where they can take advantage, not just the United States. Keep in mind, there are geopolitical ramifications around what's going on in Russia. This is not just about Putin moving into Ukraine. We know that Xi is looking at what's going on in Taiwan, and he's basically saying, well, Gee, if Putin can do this, maybe I can. We know that there was an issue in the last 48 hours about fighter jets being scrambled over, I believe, close to Taiwan airspace. This is what happens when you have terrible leadership and you have Feckless leadership, not just in the White House, but we have it with Senator Menendez.

I just don't understand why some leaders lead based on what they think their party wants instead of what the people wants. So I think this is something … we need to elect officials that understand that this is about making sure that we do the people's will. And that's why I'm running.

Kyle Mazza: Do you think Vice President Kamala Harris would do anything to help with the Ukraine crisis? She was the border czar, designated as the border czar on the Southern border issue as well. So do you think that she has any role to play?

Frank Pallotta: She doesn't have a role. Well, she should have a role to play. She's done nothing in her role, as Vice President. And I think that's simply about her falling in line with what the leadership has told Joe Biden to do and what the leadership is telling Kamala Harris to do. And it's unfortunate because you look for a check and balance with the President and the Vice President, with the executive and the legislative branch. That's what our founders put together. And it just seems that what we have in the White House and in the Senate and in Congress, clearly where they still have a majority, is looking to the leaders on what they want done based on their own simple agenda. So to answer your question about Kamala Harris, she's done nothing up until now that would give me any comfort that she can take the bull by the horns and try and solve the problem. And I don't suspect that she will be the person that would give anyone any comfort if this thing continues to escalate, not just in Russia, but if we see a situation in China. I'm not comfortable with the current leadership that we have in the White House.

Kyle Mazza: Do you think that they will drive us into World War Three, as some Americans fear?

Frank Pallotta: I hope not. As we talked about earlier, I think it's the last thing that any elected official, any leader wants to do is to send our women and men to war.

Kyle Mazza: You did say that was the last resort in the forum to put boots on the ground.

Frank Pallotta: Right to put boots on the ground. We don't want to do that. But they're doing nothing from a preventative standpoint. They're doing something from a reactive standpoint. Or in my opinion, if they did the upfront homework, if they did what needed to be done early on, we wouldn't be in the position that we're in right now with Russia. We wouldn't be in the potential position that we are in right now with Xi and China.

Kyle Mazza: Congressman Gottheimer, do you think he's been outspoken on these issues?

Frank Pallotta: He has not been, Congress Gottheimer follows the leadership of his party. He's voted 100% with Joe Biden. And you can tell from what he's done over the last five years in this district, which is nothing. He's accomplished nothing. His signs say Josh Gottheimer, lower taxes, New Jersey values. I see none of it. Josh Gottheimer, keep in mind, authored, he co sponsored the defund the police bill two and a half years ago. He wrote it himself. So when he comes out now and tells you he's for the police, he's the guy who stood on the floor. He's the guy who was proud to say HR 71 20 had his name on it. And then he looked at the polls. So what Josh Gottheimer does in DC and what he tells the people in New Jersey District Five are two different things. New Jersey District Five is going to find out when I get through the primary here that you are who you say you are. And when you tell people that you need to stand, that I have your back. I want to make sure that they know I have their back. And Josh Gottheimer has not done that and has no intention of doing that.

Kyle Mazza: And on those notions of defund the police, how is your support from the law enforcement community? Have they come up to you?

Frank Pallotta: Yeah. The law enforcement community has been tremendous with us. For example, Emerson has the largest law enforcement per capita. It was the first town I won in the 2020 election. Josh Connhammer lost the endorsement of the New Jersey PBA because of decisions he made related to defunding the police. We have been a back the blue campaign. It's something that we've been out doing for three or four years. Even before I was running, we were very vocal about our support for the police when I was working in Maui. We have to support our men and women in blue. We always have. Our campaign again, has always been a back to blue campaign. We will continue to be there. And law enforcement is firmly behind full out of her Congress.

Kyle Mazza: If you're in the US House of Representatives, you will be working with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Do you hope that those meetings with her will be constructive?

Frank Pallotta: Well, hopefully when I win, I'll be one of more than seven people who win the House. So it wouldn't be Nancy Pelosi. But if the opportunity presents itself where I am working with Nancy Pelosi across the aisle … again, I'm about the people of the Fifth District. And if it means sitting down with somebody who I don't agree with on every topic, my job is to make sure she understands where I stand and she understands that I am put in place to advocate for the people of the Fifth Congressional District and I don't back down. And what Nancy Pelosi had with Josh Gottheimer is somebody who was a puppet who backed down time and time again. So Nancy Pelosi was able to push forward her own will, her own agenda based on her Democrat leadership in Congress, who would basically let her do it. That's not going to happen with me. And if we don't have a majority in the House, the people of the Fifth District will know that I will advocate for them.

Kyle Mazza: Final note, if you had an opportunity to meet with President Biden, what would be the first thing that you would say to him?

Frank Pallotta: Well, first, I would remind him that my job and my dedication again is to the people of the Fifth Congressional District. I think he needs to know that the executive branch is clearly different from the legislative branch, and my job is for the district. Will I fight them tooth and nail? Absolutely. We know that going back to Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, they fought tooth and nail on issues, and then they were able to sit down and sit back and have a meal and have a drink that's what you do in the private sector. That's what the private sector brings to the table is the ability to take disparate views and come to the table. And compromise is on what will work for the masses. But I will not compromise. If Joe Biden and his team won't compromise as well, I'll make sure that they know that I'm working for the people of the fifth.

Republican Candidate Frank Pallotta for New Jersey Congressional District 5 participates in an interview at the Fair Lawn Athletic Club in Fair Lawn, NJ on May 31, 2022