One of New Jersey’s largest police unions on Tuesday endorsed Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate for governor, in a vote likely to help put to rest questions over whether his past statements critical of law enforcement would be a vulnerability in November.
The Fraternal Order of Police, a union representing roughly 13,000 local, state and federal officers, unanimously endorsed Mr. Ciattarelli during an hourslong meeting, James Troisi, a member of the union’s executive board, said.
“We felt that he was the most responsive to our needs,” said Mr. Troisi, who retired as a lieutenant from the Essex County Department of Corrections.
Before Tuesday, with just over a month to go before Election Day, none of the state’s three largest law enforcement unions had weighed in on the race, and Mr. Ciattarelli had been actively courting their support.
In fact, the only large union representing active-duty public safety officers in New Jersey to make an endorsement, the Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association, had backed Mr. Ciattarelli’s Democratic opponent, Representative Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot educated at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Mr. Ciattarelli appeared to be struggling to outrun comments he made when he was in the State Assembly about the relative risks and compensation associated with police work. He has also been dogged by his efforts, as a county commissioner, to consolidate 19 police departments, which drew the ire of union leaders.
“Municipal police are, on average, more than well-paid,” Mr. Ciattarelli said in 2014 during an Assembly debate. “Yes, police and fire put their lives on the line each day, but of their own free will. I know of other more dangerous professions that pay less.”
The comments haunted him during the Republican primary as he worked to present himself as a law-and-order alternative to the Democratic leadership in Trenton. And as recently as last month, a detective with a police department in Aberdeen, N.J., challenged him publicly about the statements during a podcast produced by the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, another large union.
“It wasn’t so much what you said, it was how you said it,” the detective, Ron Osadacz, said on the broadcast, noting a recent shooting death of a New York City police officer.
Mr. Ciattarelli, in his response, reiterated his position and went on to cite his son’s military service, and the death of a welder who was working at a New Jersey utility company, as examples of other dangerous jobs.
But his choice for lieutenant governor, Jim Gannon, the sheriff of Morris County, was widely seen as an effort to shore up support among law enforcement — a voting bloc Ms. Sherrill is also trying to win over. In a debate on Sunday, Ms. Sherrill made a direct appeal: “Jack has never served in law enforcement. He’s never served to keep this country safe. I have, and I’ll continue to do that.”
Pete Corvelli, the sheriff of Union County, is among those concerned by Mr. Ciattarelli’s past policy positions. He noted the difficulty that police departments already have attracting and retaining employees.
“To say police have too many benefits and we get paid way too much? That’s not how to keep folks in this profession,” Sheriff Corvelli said.
Mr. Ciattarelli, in a statement, said he was “honored to have the faith, trust and confidence” of the Fraternal Order of Police, which declined to make an endorsement during his 2021 campaign for governor against the incumbent, Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat. He also addressed the broader concern described by Sheriff Corvelli about a statewide dip in police recruitment.
“We can change all that by restoring respect for authority, law and order and, most of all, the men and women in blue who are trained and dedicated professionals very much committed to serving and protecting,” he said.
Mr. Ciattarelli has taken several positions popular with law enforcement, including a vow to repeal the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which limits how much voluntary assistance local officers can give federal immigration officials. (Ms. Sherrill has said she supports the directive.) He has also committed to adding a cost-of-living adjustment to the pensions of retired law enforcement officers — a promise that helped earn him the backing of unions representing retired state troopers and firefighters.
Eddie Donnelly, the longtime president of the statewide firefighters’ union, which endorsed Ms. Sherrill in May, said he also favors cost-of-living increases for retirees.
But he said he remained deeply troubled by Mr. Ciattarelli’s past comments about police and firefighter compensation and that he feared they were telling indicators of a fundamental lack of support for labor unions, particularly if Mr. Ciattarelli became governor and was faced with difficult budget choices.
“His moral compass just does not point in the direction of labor,” Mr. Donnelly said.
Two small unions representing police supervisors at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had previously endorsed Mr. Ciattarelli. But the state’s two other large police unions — the State Troopers Fraternal Association and the P.B.A., which aired the podcast — have not.
Detective Osadacz, the officer who challenged Mr. Ciattarelli during the P.B.A. broadcast, noted in a brief interview on Tuesday that he was impressed by Ms. Sherrill’s military service.
“She’s a patriot,” he said.
But he said that Mr. Ciattarelli’s plan to alter a state policy, approved in 2014 by voters, that ended cash bail for most nonviolent crimes had reassured him that the Republican candidate “would have the backs of law enforcement.”
“I believe he is a law enforcement supporter,” Detective Osadacz said. “He put a lot of my questions to bed.”
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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