What to Know
- New Jersey’s governor on Thursday known as on the state’s lieutenant governor, Dale Caldwell, to resign by Friday after a regulation agency employed by her workplace concluded he violated the state’s ethics and discrimination guidelines.
- The report revealed Wednesday discovered that Caldwell violated the state’s coverage prohibiting discrimination within the office. It mentioned he made an advance towards a staffer’s pal and when he was rebuffed, he informed the staffer, “you younger ladies are in search of younger sperm.”
- Caldwell’s lawyer, Thomas Calcagni, disputed the allegations, calling the investigation a one-sided operation that didn’t embrace needed due course of.
- The report additionally accused Caldwell of breaking the state’s ethics guidelines by attempting to get a promotion for a state worker he was relationship and by bringing his private company to ticketed occasions with out paying for them.
- Sherrill, a Democrat, mentioned Caldwell’s “moral lapses” continued even with a number of warnings and trainings. She known as his resignation “in the very best curiosity of New Jersey residents.”
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is asking for Lt. Governor Dale Caldwell to resign after a report accused him of sexually harassing a lady and of attempting to safe a promotion for a state worker whom he was relationship.
The investigation started in Might 2026 after Gov. Sherrill’s Chief Ethics Officer obtained an nameless letter accusing Caldwell, 66, of appearing inappropriately in direction of ladies.
The State of New Jersey then employed the regulation agency Lowenstein Sandler to research Caldwell’s alleged misconduct.
In keeping with the agency’s report, Caldwell made a romantic advance towards the pal of a feminine staffer. After being turned down by the pal, Caldwell informed the staffer, “You younger ladies are in search of younger sperm,” in accordance with the report.
The report states that the staffer then modified the best way she interacted with Caldwell at work, distanced herself from him and prevented touring with him when potential. Whereas Caldwell denied making the comment, the report didn’t discover his denial credible.
The report additionally accused Caldwell of bringing private company to ticketed occasions with out superior ethics clearance, cost or reimbursement, violating the Code of Conduct and the Uniform Ethics Code.
Lastly, the report decided that Caldwell tried a number of occasions to safe a promotion for a state worker he was in a romantic relationship with. In keeping with the report, Caldwell used his state e mail account to ask that the worker obtain a promotion and by no means disclosed he was in a relationship with the employee.
Following the report, Gov. Sherrill launched a press release on Thursday, Sept. 24, calling on Caldwell to resign.
“Right this moment, I’m saying the conclusion and findings of an unbiased investigation into allegations concerning Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell. The investigation discovered that the Lieutenant Governor engaged in critical, repeated violations of state coverage and didn’t uphold the obligations of his workplace. I’m calling for his resignation and giving him till tomorrow to take action,” Sherrill wrote. “I maintain everybody in my Administration to the best moral commonplace. All of us have an obligation to observe our state ethics and harassment coverage and our Code of Conduct. Anybody who violates these will probably be held accountable.”
Caldwell, a Democrat, was elected alongside Gov. Sherrill, additionally a Democrat, final yr, and took workplace in January. He’s the primary man to function New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and likewise serves as New Jersey’s secretary of state.
NBC10 reached out to Caldwell for remark. Thomas Calcagni of Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP — the agency representing Caldwell — denied the allegations towards his consumer and disputed the report’s findings.
“This unnecessarily protracted and one-sided course of lacked the requisite due course of that needs to be afforded each citizen of this state,” Calcagni wrote. “The Lieutenant Governor was not offered a significant alternative to deal with every of those nameless allegations or supply readily identifiable witnesses who possessed extra pertinent, first-hand data of the occasions in query. It seems, actually, that even those that voluntarily got here ahead with first-hand accounts have been completely excluded from the method. These due course of considerations, coupled with breaches of confidentiality all through the method, render any findings palpably poor and create a harmful and difficult precedent for anybody who needs to defend towards nameless conjecture and character assassination.”
