New Jersey Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill plans to hold her black-tie inaugural ball at the mall — but not just any mall, of course.
After she and Lt.-Gov. Dale Caldwell are sworn in at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, Sherrill, Caldwell and some 2,000 or so evening gown- and tux-clad guests will repair to the American Dream mall at the Meadowlands Complex in East Rutherford to party on its NHL-sized ice rink (though the ice will be covered), NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday.
By moving her inauguration out of the state capital of Trenton, the Garden State’s 57th governor — only the second woman in state history to be elected to the role — is bucking a 235-year-old tradition, local news site The Globe reports.
Every newly elected New Jersey governor since 1790 has taken office in Trenton. The men who preceded Sherrill, outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy and former governors Chris Christie and Jon Corzine, took their oaths at the Trenton War Memorial, as has every other first-termer before them.
While New Jersey’s only other female governor, Christine Todd Whitman, was sworn into her second term at the performing arts center in 1998, she stuck with the Trenton tradition for her first term.
While eschewing Trenton raised eyebrows, Sherrill’s choice of party venue has courted controversy and drawn some eye rolls across the state. Environmental advocate Jeff Tittel savaged her for selecting a “financially troubled, at-times bankrupt mall, built on a toxic site on filled-in wetlands that is located in a flood zone,” as he wrote in The Jersey Vindicator, outlining the mall project’s “shameful history.”
Sherrill said holding the party at the mall, in her home base of Essex County, embodies her vision of leadership, as she promised to “start my administration the same way we won this race, by listening and taking action for the people I serve.” Mayor Ras Baraka said Newark perfectly encapsulates New Jersey’s commitment to “immigration, diversity and shared democratic values.”
New Jersey Pride is the theme of the evening, with menus featuring dishes from all 21 counties. Both Taylor Ham and Pork Roll, whose dueling nomenclature is apparently a Jersey-style source of contention, will also be served. The $350-per-ticket proceeds will benefit the host and sponsor, Mission to Deliver, a nonprofit advocacy organization that Sherrill founded to promote civic engagement, foster economic development and enhance affordability.
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