Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion across the partisan divide? The answer is yes, and we intend to prove it. Julie Roginsky, a Democrat, and Mike DuHaime, a Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for their entire careers yet have remained friends throughout. Here, they discuss the week’s events, with prompts from Dave D’Alessandro of the Star-Ledger Editorial Board.

Q. The task force on corporate tax breaks is white-hot and the relationship between the governor and South Jersey Democrats has entered the lawsuit stage. How will this spill over into crunch time for the budget, which is due in five weeks?

Roginsky: The political environment today is more toxic than I have ever seen it. That doesn’t help move the ball down field on any number of issues, whether they are budget related or otherwise.

DuHaime: On the tax incentive fight, it’s hard to see if there will be a winner or only losers, both politically and legally. In the short term, I see nothing of substance getting done in Trenton. There is zero trust between the sides who must hammer out a budget. At some point, we must have a budget, so something will get passed to keep government paying its bills, but I don’t expect any groundbreaking new public policy right now.

Q. The legal marijuana campaign promised much and delivered zilch, and now Senate President Steve Sweeney says he can’t see a separate decriminalization bill because it allows the illegal market to endure, if not grow. How much pressure is there to get that piece done? How will this play out?

Roginsky: I doubt we will see much more on this issue this year, aside from an expansion of the medical marijuana program.

DuHaime: This is not just a casualty of the Democrat civil war. There are simply not enough Democrat votes in the Senate or Assembly to pass the legalization of recreational marijuana right now. Democrats in New Jersey are not the same as Democrats in San Francisco or Seattle.

Q. The administration is rejecting most subpoenas it has received from Congress. At what point do you suspect the House will move forward with impeachment, if at all?

Roginsky: I know that Speaker Pelosi is concerned that an impeachment battle will suck attention away from the substantive policy issues she wants to focus on ahead of 2020 but the president’s stonewalling will likely box her in. The surest way to get the information Congress is seeking is through a formal impeachment inquiry. So I suspect that it will be a question of when impeachment proceedings begin, not when.

DuHaime: Donald Trump doesn’t want an impeachment proceeding, but neither does Nancy Pelosi. When Republicans impeached Bill Clinton in 1998, it actually hurt Republicans in the short term. Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want Donald Trump somehow looking like the victim heading into 2020.

Q. The first national polls are out since the anti-abortion measures passed in Alabama and Georgia, and disapprovals of these laws are about 25 points higher than the approvals. Which party benefits most from the reproductive rights issue in 2020?

Roginsky: Both sides will be highly mobilized but I suspect this will benefit Democrats slightly more. All those affluent white women who voted for Trump in 2016 may now understand that there are very real ramifications to their support. In the last forty-six years, many women really never believed that Roe v Wade would be overturned. Now that it’s a real possibility, it may motivate women to vote accordingly.

DuHaime: We have had six Republican presidents since Roe v Wade, and it has not been overturned. In New Jersey, this is brought up in campaigns to move women away from Republicans, even if the GOP candidates are pro-choice, and it usually works. That said, the electoral college will not be decided in New Jersey or Alabama. It will be decided in Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan, where this will be bitterly divisive as Julie says. It provides a conundrum for some in each party. There are many Republicans who would prefer the party talk solely about the robust economy. But there are many Democrats who are uncomfortable with just how far left their Presidential candidates are going on abortion. Remember, Pennsylvania has a pro-life Democrat US Senator who is the son of a pro-life former Democrat governor, and they also have pro-life Democrat members of Congress. These battleground states are not the same as New Jersey when you try to evaluate the politics of this emotional issue.

Q. Mitch McConnell won’t bring election security bills up for a Senate vote this year, even after he called Russian interference “dangerous and disturbing” in the wake of the Mueller probe. What are we missing here?

Roginsky: Mitch McConnell stands for nothing other than electoral victory. If Russia helps Republicans win again in 2020, all the better for him. I cannot think of a less patriotic public official.

DuHaime: I like Mitch much more than Julie does obviously. I would need to know more about the bills to know why he won’t bring them for a vote, but he is not advocating for outside interference in 2020. Remember, Hillary didn’t lose because of the Russians; she lost because she didn’t bother to campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Roginsky: Remember, this is the same Mitch McConnell who refused to publicly condemn Russian interference in 2016 because it would mean doing it in a bipartisan manner with President Obama. He has never missed an opportunity to put his own narrow, partisan interests ahead of what is best for our country. It’s really this simple: McConnell can stand with his fellow Americans and pass legislation to protect the integrity of our voting system or he can stand with Vladimir Putin by doing nothing as Russia wages another cyberattack on our country. He has chosen the latter path.

Q. Eight mayors from Jersey are attending the conference of mayors in Hawaii – some on the taxpayer dime, notably the 7-person contingent from Plainfield. Is this just the price of networking, or should they be reminded that we have our own beach?

Roginsky: While they are there, they may want to lobby the Conference to hold its next meeting at the beautiful Jersey Shore.

DuHaime: The conference of mayors is a good organization but politically tone deaf to hold a conference in Hawaii where politicians then go on the taxpayer dime. I will be doing my networking in Cape May this weekend.

UPDATE: The City of Plainfield is sending SEVEN people to Hawaii on taxpayers' money.https://t.co/KHux5UMwC9 — Cassidy Grom (@CassidyGrom) May 17, 2019

A note to readers: DuHaime and Roginsky are both deeply engaged in politics and commercial advocacy in New Jersey, so both have connections to many players we discuss in this column. Given that, we will not normally disclose each specific connection, trusting that readers understand they are not impartial observers. DuHaime, a principal at Mercury Public Affairs, was chief political advisor to former Gov. Chris Christie, and has worked for Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and President George W. Bush. Roginsky, a principal of Optimus Communications, has served as senior advisor to campaigns of Cory Booker, Frank Lautenberg and Phil Murphy. Henceforth, we will disclose specific connections in the text only when readers might otherwise be misled, at the discretion of the editors.