Candidate information:
Email: kuchkd@gmail.com
Phone number: 609-439-8044
Date of Birth: 12-02-1968
Social media: https://www.facebook.com/kuchinskiruger/
Education: I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Duke University in 1990.
Occupation: I am a proven leader in the corporate world with a 27+ year track record of success. Most recently, I was the Vice President of Marketing, Fabric Care at Church & Dwight, working on iconic American brands such as ARM & HAMMER and OxiClean. With profit and loss responsibility for businesses with hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue per year, I have a track record of cutting costs, adhering to budgets and meeting financial commitments. Prior to Church & Dwight, I worked at Procter & Gamble for 12 years in the US and Belgium, including leading the global launch of Swiffer. In 2000, I was recognized by Advertising Age as one of the Top 100 Marketers of the Year, for my leadership of this launch. I am currently working with Ray Disch on the start-up of Sourland Mountain Spirits, and I have started a consulting practice focused on brand strategy and innovation.
Party affiliation: Democratic
Public/Party service: I was elected to the Hopewell Township Committee in 2014, and have served as Mayor the last two years. I have led the fight to keep property taxes low and cut wasteful spending, and I believe in protecting our water and the environment, and preserving Hopewell Township’s rural character. I want to continue this work and am proud to be running with Michael Ruger.
Position on good government initiatives:
- Would you support reinstituting the statewide public advocate and making it a directly elected position? Yes. We need to make government more accountable to residents, and re-instituting the public advocate position would be an important step in this direction. I would like to better understand the pros and cons of making it a directly elected position, before weighing in on this part of the question.
- Would you support measures to increase voter participation (eg. same-day registration, early voting, vote by mail)? Yes. Our democracy is built on broad voter participation, and we need to do more to enable everyone’s voice to be heard.
- Would you support ethics reforms that would require broader disclosure on financial information and the release of income taxes by candidates for public office, as a means for regulating campaigns and limiting corruption? Yes.
- Would you support changing the nominating process for members of state-wide Commissions and Boards to have panels of nonpartisan experts nominate candidates, with full public disclosure of the candidates’ credentials, and to have the legislature vote on the nominations? Yes.
- Would you support placing a nonpartisan commission in charge of the legislative redistricting process? Yes. The current re-districting process is not working as it should, and we need to take the politics out of it, to the greatest extent possible.
- Would you support public funding of campaigns for all statewide offices, including the legislature? Public funding of campaigns could help make our elections fairer and attract a broader range of candidates; however, this only works if there is also reform and better disclosure of/more transparency with private donations.
- Would you support making the state legislature full-time and prohibiting simultaneous holding of other paid positions? Yes.
- Would you support reforming New Jersey’s Primary electoral ballots to give all candidates an equal chance of being elected? It depends.
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