Home Care In Caldwell, NJ

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- NJ Gov. Sherrill announced Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell's resignation following an independent investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Sherrill called for his resignation on Thursday, releasing a statement saying the investigation found that Caldwell "engaged in serious, repeated violations of state policy and failed to uphold the responsibilities of his office."

"I'm calling for his resignation and giving him until tomorrow to do so," Sherrill said.

The investigation began in May after the state's chief ethics officer received an anonymous letter raising concerns about Caldwell's conduct.

The investigation found Caldwell committed repeated ethics violations and sexual harassment, including seeking a promotion for a state employee he was dating and making an inappropriate comment to a female staffer.

According to Sherrill, the investigation uncovered a pattern of conduct that failed to meet the standards of her administration.

"The ethical lapses persisted despite multiple warnings and trainings," Sherrill said in a statement. "The substantiated finding of sexual harassment is extremely troubling. I've seen firsthand how a hostile culture can undermine everyone's ability to succeed. It's insidious and ruptures the trust within an organization."

The investigation was conducted by former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino.

"I hold everyone in my Administration to the highest ethical standard. We all have a duty to follow our state ethics and harassment policy and our Code of Conduct. Anyone who violates these will be held accountable," Sherrill said.

Caldwell, who also serves as New Jersey's secretary of state, had until Friday to resign.

Caldwell's attorneys pushed back against the findings of the investigation.

"This unnecessarily protracted and one-sided process lacked the requisite due process that should be afforded every citizen of this state," Caldwell's attorneys said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker also called on Caldwell to resign in a post on X.

"Governor Sherrill is absolutely right the conduct described in the investigative report is totally unacceptable. For the sake of our state Lt Governor Caldwell should resign," Booker wrote.

Sherrill did not specify what will happen if Caldwell did not resign. The governor does not have the authority to remove him from the lieutenant governor's office, but could potentially remove him from his dual role as secretary of state.

You can read the full report here.

Stay with Eyewitness News and abc7NY for the latest on this breaking news story.

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A look at Caldwell’s career, public roles and the organizations he led before joining the Sherrill administration

Dale Caldwell, New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state, is under investigation by Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration over allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women and possible ethics violations, as reported by the New York Times and other media outlets. The inquiry is also allegedly examining whether Caldwell improperly offered or discussed state jobs.

Former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino is leading the investigation with Shantae Gray, a former assistant U.S. attorney and one of Porrino’s law partners. The investigators have interviewed complainants, including state employees, as well as potential witnesses, and Caldwell is cooperating with the investigation.

Sherrill’s office has neither confirmed nor denied the internal investigation.

“The governor would take any reports of inappropriate behavior or misconduct extremely seriously and expects our public officials to hold themselves to the highest standards,” Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for Sherrill, told reporters on Friday.

Reporting so far has not identified women involved or disclosed the specific conduct alleged. It is also unclear how many people have complained about his conduct.

Caldwell has not publicly responded to the allegations.

Caldwell was sworn in as New Jersey’s fourth lieutenant governor and 35th secretary of state on Jan. 20, serving in Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration. As secretary of state, he leads the Department of State and serves as New Jersey’s chief elections officer.

He became Sherrill’s running mate on July 24, 2025. Sherrill announced on Dec. 1, 2025, that Caldwell would also serve as secretary of state.

Caldwell is also the senior pastor of Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield. He is a third-generation Methodist minister and has continued his work at his church while serving in the Sherrill administration. He launched the state’s Faith Action Center at the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove back in April, and was a guest preacher at a Sunday worship service at the auditorium in July.

Caldwell served as the founding chairman of the College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School board beginning in 2017.

The Office of the State Comptroller began investigating College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School and its management organization, College Achieve Public Schools Inc., in 2024. The Comptroller subpoenaed the charter school in August 2024 and College Achieve Public Schools in November 2024, seeking records related to purchasing, cash handling, conflicts of interest, nepotism, internal investigations and the management company’s control over the school.

Caldwell was president of the College Achieve Greater Asbury Park board during the investigation. The Comptroller interviewed him in February 2025, along with the board treasurer.

The Office of the State Comptroller issued a preliminary investigative report on Jan. 12 finding that the charter school had violated New Jersey’s public contracting laws and that its management agreement had left the school board with little meaningful authority over the school’s operations. The report said the board had “ceded not just day-to-day management but also the transparency and oversight mechanisms necessary for sound governance.”

The investigation examined more than $57 million in public funds that College Achieve Public Schools received across its network from 2016 through 2023. Under its management agreement with the charter school, the organization was entitled to receive about 14% to 15% of the school’s program revenue each year. The Comptroller also identified more than $16,000 in payments to All Shore, a company owned by the brother-in-law of a school executive.

The investigation led to a legal fight over the Comptroller’s subpoena power that is still playing out in the courts. In December 2024, College Achieve Public Schools sued to block the subpoenas, arguing that the Comptroller lacked authority to demand the records. A Superior Court judge rejected that challenge on June 9, 2025. The Appellate Division heard arguments on May 28 and on June 25 affirmed that the Comptroller’s office had the authority to demand records as part of its investigatory powers. The court cases are ongoing.

Caldwell became the 15th president of Centenary University on July 1, 2023. He was the university’s first Black president. He left the position when he joined the Sherrill administration in January.

Caldwell served as executive director of the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University from 2018 to 2023. He led programs involving veteran entrepreneurship, family businesses and executive coaching.

Caldwell served on the board of the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (ESCNJ) from 2021 through 2024 and was serving as the president when he left the board in July of that year.

ESCNJ provides education, transportation, administrative services and cooperative purchasing to school districts and government agencies and serves more than 700 school districts and government agencies.

The Office of the State Comptroller conducted an audit of the ESCNJ, which was published on July 24, 2024. The audit found that ESCNJ failed repeatedly to notify the Office of the Comptroller about large contracts and cooperative-purchasing procurements. The organization also failed to comply with public-school contracting laws for some insurance, brokerage and professional-service contracts.

ESCNJ also accumulated an unused general-fund surplus of nearly $70 million by fiscal year 2023. ESCNJ received about $9.5 million in vendor commissions in fiscal year 2021 and $10.8 million in fiscal year 2022.

ESCNJ amassed the giant surplus without any plan for how to use the money or return excess taxpayer funds to the school districts and municipalities it serves, according to the audit.

In January, the Office of the State Comptroller directed ESCNJ not to proceed with proposed public contracts or extend current contracts. The decision follows ESCNJ’s repeated failure to comply with New Jersey’s procurement laws despite more than a year of guidance from the office.

In 2006, Caldwell became president and CEO of the USTA Eastern Section. He was the first Black person to hold that position. He later served on the USTA national board and chaired its strategic-planning committee.

In 2007, he founded the Black Tennis Hall of Fame and helped develop the “Breaking the Barriers” exhibit on Black tennis history with the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He helped create the New York Open, a professional tournament in Central Park designed to provide opportunities for lower-ranked players. In 2021, he was inducted into the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame.

Caldwell served on the New Brunswick Board of Education for 26 years, serving six years as board president, and resigned from the board in June of 2024.

Caldwell became head of school at the Village Charter School in Trenton in 2013. In 2015, he was named New Jersey Charter School Administrator of the Year.

Gov. James McGreevey appointed Caldwell to serve as the assistant commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in 2002 and promoted him to deputy commissioner in 2003. He remained at DCA until 2006 and also served on the Government Records Council.

Caldwell became the founding executive director of the Newark Alliance in 1999. The organization focuses on economic development and education initiatives in the city.

After receiving his MBA, Caldwell worked at Deloitte Consulting in its public-sector health-care practice. His résumé lists the position from 1988 through 1999.

Ashley Caldwell, a 21-year-old New Brunswick school board member and rising star in New Jersey politics, has joined a Trenton lobbying firm after working there as an intern following her graduation from Rutgers University earlier this year.

Capital Impact Group announced today that Caldwell, the daughter of Lt. Governor Dale Caldwell, has accepted a full-time position at the firm.

“Ashley has already been invaluable to our firm and clients, and we look forward to seeing her continue to grow,” said Gerry Gibbs, a principal at Capital Impact Group.

She moves into the full-time position following an internship with the firm, where she conducted legislative research and policy analysis and assisted with client communications, advocacy campaigns, and other government affairs initiatives.

Caldwell was appointed to the Board of Education in 2024, at age 19, to replace her father, who left office after 26 years to spend more time in his post as president of Centenary University.

In April, Caldwell was the top vote-getter in her bid for a full three-year term on the school board.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Before joining Capital Impact Group, Caldwell held internships with the City of New Brunswick and the Middlesex County Courthouse, experiences that gave her an early grounding in municipal government, public policy, and civic engagement.

At Capital Impact Group, Caldwell will help advance the firm’s clients’ legislative and public policy priorities while helping develop government affairs and public affairs strategies.

Her family has extensive roots in education, public service, and the civil rights movement.

Caldwell’s late grandfather, the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, was a prominent civil rights leader who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and participated in some of the movement’s defining campaigns, including the 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Her grandmother was an educator who emphasized education’s power to transform communities. Generations of family members going back to the Civil War era were ministers.

New Jersey's former lieutenant governor is breaking his silence a day after resigning from office.

Dale Caldwell spoke Saturday outside his home in New Brunswick.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill called for Caldwell to step down Thursday after an independent investigation revealed allegations of sexual harassment and ethics violations, and he submitted his resignation Friday afternoon.

"The report, I think, was just specious. There are all sorts of wrong things and mistakes," Caldwell said. "I'm not resigning because of that ridiculous report. I'm resigning because I don't want to be a distraction to the Mikie Sherrill administration. You know, I think that there's a lot of great things they've started. I started some great things at the Department of State that will be continued."

Caldwell says he plans to work as a private citizen and says he will continue to support Sherrill's administration

Sherrill has 45 days to select a new lieutenant governor. In the meantime, acting State Comptroller Shirley Emehelu will serve as acting secretary of state.

Caldwell's attorney Thomas Calcagni said they will continue to challenge the report's findings.

"Dr. Caldwell's resignation, submitted to put an end to the targeted campaign to discredit his character, does not in any way diminish our outrage concerning the investigative process and its specious findings," Calcagni said in a statement, in part. "Counsel is fully exploring all legal remedies to ensure a true, balanced, and unbiased record."

Sherrill said the investigation was "thorough, and it was impartial."

In:

As New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell resigned on Friday over sexual harassment and ethics allegations, his former university was facing troubles of its own.

Centenary University — where Caldwell served as president until shortly before he was sworn in as New Jersey’s lieutenant governor — is facing a review by its accrediting agency over alleged financial and planning shortfalls.

The Warren County-based private university was issued a noncompliance warning on June 25 and notified that its accreditation “may be in jeopardy,” according to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, its accreditor.

The commission reviewed Centenary’s status at its meeting earlier this month and gave the school until Feb. 16, 2027, to outline improvements.

If the university fails to submit an adequate plan, Centenary could be placed on probation and risk losing its accreditation.

Colleges that lose their accreditation are usually forced to shut down because students would not qualify for federal financial aid or be able to transfer their credits to another school.

But that is rare because Middle States allows a college multiple opportunities to make improvements before revoking accreditation.

It is unclear if any of Centenary’s current financial and planning problems are related to Caldwell’s two-year tenure as president. Middle States has not publicly outlined what problems it found or when they developed.

Caldwell’s successor as president, John Schol, told NJ.com on Friday that the university “has taken significant steps to address the Commission’s concerns and has demonstrated substantial progress.”

Caldwell became Centenary’s 15th president on July 1, 2023. He stepped down Dec. 1, 2025, nearly a month after he was elected lieutenant governor on a ticket with Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

Sherrill called for Caldwell to resign by Friday after a four-month investigation alleged he engaged in behavior that “constituted sexual harassment.” The investigation released on Thursday also found Caldwell repeatedly violated state ethics rules.

Caldwell has denied the allegations.

Sherrill announced his resignation at a 2:45 p.m. press conference in Trenton on Friday.

The university had no comment on Caldwell or the investigation, Centenary’s spokesperson said Friday.

There is no indication that the Middle States review of Centenary is tied to state sexual harassment and ethics investigation of Caldwell.

The Middle States review centers on one of seven standards that the commission uses in evaluating universities before they renew their accreditation. The standard includes an evaluation of a school’s planning, resources and institutional improvement.

Centenary must show that it “has achieved and can sustain ongoing compliance” by documenting financial resources, a stable funding base and plans for financial development, according to Middle States. It also must outline planning and budgeting processes.

The university must submit “multi-year, long-range financial models that include realistic enrollment projections and the assumptions on which they are based to support sustainable financial stability,” according to Middle States.

Schol said Friday that the university “has been fully transparent” about the warning from Middle States and posted an update on its website in July after it was notified about the problems.

“We are confident that Centenary will fully address the remaining items before the Commission’s next review. Most importantly, our accreditation remains in place, we exceeded the fall forecast by 15%, our students continue to receive a high-quality educational experience, and the University remains focused on advancing its mission and serving its students with excellence,” Schol said.

Centenary enrolled 1,135 undergraduate and graduate students for the fall 2026 semester, according to the university’s website.