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SHERRY
SYLVESTER
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WHAT DID SHERRY SAY TODAY?
Tue,
Jun 29, 1999 Senate President Don DiFrancesco says he placed the ads in order to drive home the message that his childproof weapons bill is an idea whose time has come. A huge photo of a tow-headed little boy with what looks like a real gun pointed head-on appeared in full-page ads on Sunday in north Jersey's two largest newspapers. "Don't you think it's time we made guns child-proof?" the ad proclaims in big bold black letters. Then, "Senate President Don DiFrancesco does." DiFrancesco says he placed the ads in order to drive home the message that his childproof weapons bill is an idea whose time has come. DiFrancesco presented his legislation last week, which would require all handguns to be childproof as soon as the technology becomes available, as an alternative to break a log jam in the State Assembly where previous childproof gun legislation did not have leadership support. Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Elmer, has voiced reluctance to passing legislation mandating "childproof gun" technology that is not yet available. But critics charged yesterday that DiFrancesco is more motivated by changing political realities than concern for safety. "These ads are good politics," said Brian Miller, President of Ceasefire New Jersey, "but I find it astonishing that DiFrancesco would cut the legs out from under childproof handguns and then anoint himself as the savior of childproof handguns." Miller supports alternative childproof handgun legislation authored by Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange, and Sen. Joe Palaia, R-Ocean Township, which includes a date after which manufacturers must provide childproof guns. But Larry Weitzner, the Republican political strategist who created the ads for DiFrancesco, denied they were politically motivated. "Doing the right thing is not always politically easy," Weitzner said. "He's building public support for legislation that ninety percent of New Jerseyans support." "There are always those zealots who will oppose anything they perceive to interfere with the second amendment," Weitzner said, although he did not identify any particular zealot who was being targeted. Senate Minority spokesman, Jim Manion, said "DiFrancesco must be reading the same polls everybody else is. Codey's been on this issue a lot longer than the people who are watching polls." Since the school tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, public attitudes toward gun control have markedly changed. A Quinnipiac College Poll taken earlier this month revealed that 71 percent of all New Jersey voters want more gun control and that currently, 41 percent of voters believe Democrats are more likely to take steps to reduce guns. Only 27 percent believe Republicans will increase gun control. "Gun's aren't popular in New Jersey," said Maurice Carroll, Director of the Quinnipiac College Poll. Assembly Minority Leader Joe Doria said recently that gun control was one of the issues where voters would be looking at Democratic assembly candidates over Republicans. Doria said that while Republicans were campaigning aggressively it was clear that they are playing defense on some issues, with gun control being one of those issues. The ads, which cost about $25,000, were paid for by Friends of Don DiFrancesco, the Senate President's PAC. They include a coupon which readers can mail back to DiFrancesco's office expressing support. DiFrancesco's team also is considering sending direct mail to women voters, who feel most strongly about gun control, regarding the childproof gun legislation. The childproof gun bill will be considered on Thursday. Mon, Jun 28, 1999 Patronage a familiar way of life Political patronage and favoritism is such an accepted and integral part of the way New Jersey works that it rarely raises any eyebrows, even when it is blatant. Last year, when Gov. Christie Whitman's administration awarded a $15 million public relations contract for the new vehicle emissions system program to her former press secretary, it made a few headlines, but even her Democratic critics didn't do much to challenge the obvious favoritism. There were screams about the policy of privatizing vehicle emissions, but most Democrats soft-peddled the multi-million dollar contract to the governor's friend because both parties understand that rewarding loyal partisans with lucrative contracts is widespread and bi-partisan. Most of the time the damage caused by this kind of backroom deal making is predominantly financial. It's the taxpayer who ultimately pays off the high cost favors delivered by politicians. But the latest charge of political favoritism in New Jersey's healthcare world has created concerns that some political payoffs could be hazardous to your health. It might even be a life-and-death matter. It all revolves around a recent call to hospitals by the New Jersey Department of Health for a demonstration project for what is billed as a breakthrough medical procedure called "bloodless cardiac surgery." Many of the soldiers in the army of Trenton lobbyists who take care of New Jersey's hospitals say that the "bloodless cardiac surgery" demonstration project is part of an ongoing dance called the "Trenton Shuffle." "It's laughable," said Tom Terrill, President of University Health Service of New Jersey, a hospital advocacy group. "All open heart surgery is basically bloodless. DOH is stepping forward to initiate something that is already state of the art nationwide." The bloodless reference refers to the fact that during open heart surgery, patients are most often sustained by recycling their own blood rather than transfusions from outsiders. This is particularly critical to some religious faiths who are prohibited from using outside blood products. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is not currently licensed to use this procedure but they would like to be. Last year they applied the state Health Care Administration Board for a "Certificate of Need" to be allowed to establish a bloodless cardiac unit. The HCAB Certificate of Need review is designed to assure accessibility and prevent the over-saturation of particular healthcare services. Englewood's application was denied. New Jersey already has 17 hospitals which perform bloodless cardiac surgery including three within 20 miles of Englewood. In fact, New Jersey's healthcare system has so many cardiac units that the HBAC instituted a moratorium on new programs until next year. Healthcare experts estimate that one bloodless cardiac unit is needed for every million people. They also say that capping the number of facilities that are performing the highly technical surgery insures that those working on high-risk cardiac patients do a sufficient volume of work to maintain cutting-edge standards. But bloodless cardiac surgery is also a huge money maker for hospitals, which is why more than one New Jersey politician has taken steps to get the state to ignore the national standard. The result is that New Jersey has twice the bloodless cardiac care hospitals as are needed and many healthcare advocates are suspicious that the quality of care is declining. But this has not stopped the "Trenton Shuffle" of putting political favors over healthcare policy. Englewood Hospital's Development Chairman, Ellsworth Havens, was one of the folks who threw Whitman a big fund-raising party Tuesday night. He also traveled with Whitman on her economic mission to South America last winter and is on the list of those who will help her come up with the cash she needs to finance her race for the U.S. Senate next year. Such a blatant conflict is one of the reasons why even seasoned health system veterans like Terrill are charging that the demonstration project obviously aimed at Englewood Hospital is more egregious than usual. On June 21, the HCAB failed to approve the Dept. of Health's request to get moving on the demonstration project. They tabled the proposal for 30 days. But the Dept. of Health moved anyway, publishing a request for proposals even though no program specifications have been approved. It's not clear if DOH has the right to go forward without HCAB approval so a group of hospitals calling themselves the Coalition for Safe Cardiac and Medical Services have joined together to try to block the demonstration project in court. The bosses at Englewood and Whitman's offices have vigorously denied charges of political favoritism. Whitman spokesman, Peter McDonough, says the outrage over bloodless cardiac surgery is all politics, too. "This is an industry where there is a fierce and competitive market," McDonough said. "They all have their scalpels out and are stabbing each other all the time. They go for the jugular." McDonough also called the bloodless cardiac demonstration project "a completely open and public process" noting that 26 hospitals are qualified to apply. McDonough is right about the competition, which is why there won't be much of an outcry if Englewood wins the demonstration project. Even if the hospitals are successful at heading off the demonstration project it is unlikely they will change the influence of politics over health policy. A Certificate of Need Study Commission was established last year to look at ways to reform the way hospital certifications are awarded. But that Commission has been stacked with healthcare types who are there to protect special interests not reform the system. Most of them have a politician or two they can count on for favors.
Fri,
Jun 25, 1999 Summertime and the living is
easy. Fish are jumping and New Jersey lawmakers just passed Gov.
Christie Whitman's $19.2 billion dollar budget.
The 1999 financial plan, which actually runs up to $26.2 billion if
you include Federal funds earmarked for New Jersey, pushes spending up
another billion and a half dollars or so -- about an eight percent
increase.
As the budget bill sailed through the State Senate with hardly a
ripple of objection yesterday, it was hard not to think about Murray
Sabrin.
Sabrin, the college professor and Libertarian who turned Republican
and is running against Whitman for the U.S. Senate nomination, spends
lots of his time these days trying to convince people that Whitman is no
fiscal conservative.
He said earlier this week that her claims of governmental thriftiness
are nothing short of "consumer fraud."
Sabrin isn't completely wrong. Despite the insistence of the Whitman
team that they are living lean, New Jersey's state budget is hardly an
austerity plan. The fat budget document is filled with hundreds of line
items for things taxpayers should never pay for like programs to help
people quit smoking or gambling. Then there's the never ending promotion
of increased bicycle riding.
It also costs a lot to subsidize municipalities so they can pay some
of the highest salaries in the country to some of the lowest performing
teachers.
The governor and the Republican lawmakers try to act fiscally
conservative, but it surely hard for them to do it and keep a straight
face.
Extravagant government spending is public policy in New Jersey. Both
parties agree on it. Fat budgets filled with inflated salaries, lush
contracts and political payoffs have become part of our Garden State
identity much like Road Rage and deer ticks.
The state's politicians have become a lot like those newly rich baby
booming Wall Streeters who live in the state's "wealth belt."
They think spending money is a form of recreation, like golf or hang
gliding. You know the folks I mean. They tell you've they made a great
deal when they get a $1200 designer suit for $850.
Democrats try to sound fiscally responsible to by making a point of
complaining that Whitman hasn't done enough to provide property tax
relief. But that doesn't mean they want to lower your taxes. What they
really want is more taxpayer dollars to go to towns.
Specifically, they want money sent back to the towns they represent
so they can take credit for it.
That's how Whitman gets away with calling herself a fiscal
conservative. She may not be thrifty enough for Sabrin, but she's more
willing to make little cuts here and there than anybody else in the
State House.
With very little prompting, Whitman spokesman Pete McDonough can
spout off an almost poetic litany about Whitman's flat operating budget,
her twenty tax cuts and the creation of an economic boom that has
resulted in New Jersey's economy leading the Northeast.
McDonough also said yesterday that if the Democrats were running
things, "tax revenues would be down, there would be more people out
of work and there would still be a tax on toilet paper."
And if Sabrin were running things, according to his book, Taxfree
2000, he'd organize the state as if it were Gilligan's Island. Sabrin
advocates things like privatizing roads and selling prisoners for
foreign labor.
Instead, state revenues are skyrocketing and Whitman's budget gets
high marks from fiscal conservatives like the Cato Institute who give
her points for making sure the state "lives within its means.
"Financial life in New Jersey is more complicated than the
professor and Mary Ann," McDonough said.
But not too complicated. Summertime, and the living is easy.
Wednesday, June
23, 1999 Murphy, the former Morris County prosecutor and son of former governor Richard Hughes, dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate last week, despite the fact that he was clearly one of the smartest and most articulate candidates pursuing the Democratic nomination to replace Frank Lautenberg. Murphy proved in the 1997 Democratic gubernatorial primary that he can appeal effectively to suburban voters. And most New Jersey voters are suburban voters. But Murphy never really had a chance to get the nomination because the Democratic party bosses wouldn't give him the party line. Schundler is one of the best thinkers in the New Jersey Republican party and is politically impressive because he runs what is soon to become New Jersey's largest city in the middle of an overwhelmingly Democratic county. Schundler would like to be governor and he could provide the new vision that the Jersey GOP may need to win after eight years of Whitman rule. But there's little chance that will happen either, because the GOP party bosses are extremely unlikely to give him the party line. Much farther back in the pack of office seekers are the hopeful Republican women graduates of the first Christine Todd Whitman Excellence in Public Service Series who ended a year long seminar on the fine points of New Jersey politics last week with a ceremony at Drumthwacket. Smart and articulate, these Republican women would be the future of their party in another other state. But the smart and savvy political women who could close the gender gap in both parties don't have much chance of getting the party line either. At first glance, "the line" doesn't seem like a big deal. All it means is that the candidate the county chairman endorses gets the best position on the ballot, access to the official money and voter lists. Whitman didn't have to get "the line" when she started out. When she first ran for governor in 1993, county chairmen had been prohibited from determining "the line" for almost a decade and candidates could appeal directly to voters for support. Whitman had made a name for herself in her run against Bill Bradley and had enough voter appeal to win the party primary whether the party bosses liked it or not (and a lot of them didn't). All that changed in 1994 when Sen. Frank Lautenberg asked the courts to give the power back to the county chairmen. He won and the county chairmen were back in business again. The "line" is the only way to explain what happened to the Democrats in 1997. Many people wondered why the Democrats had selected a gubernatorial candidate who most saw as weakest chance of beating Whitman Jim McGreevey. McGreevey wasn't as articulate as Murphy or as experienced as his other opponent, Rep. Rob Andrews. But he won the nomination because he had "the line" in almost all the big Democratic counties in North Jersey. Former governor Jim Florio will go against that same North Jersey coalition next year in his primary race to become the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and go against Whitman. He's got "the line" from all the county chairmen in South Jersey, plus Passaic and a few Republican controlled counties. Many voters don't have fond memories of Florio and his infamous tax plan, but voters don't decide who gets to run for office, county chairmen do. Sure, there's a semblance of choice. On Monday, the 21 Democratic chairmen met with every Democrat who wants to run for the U.S. Senate and narrowed the field. But any voters who think Murphy or the articulate Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange would be a better candidate against Whitman next year will be out of luck. Those guys didn't try to get on the U.S. Senate ballot because they couldn't get "the line." "The line" is also the way the patronage flows back and forth between special interests and politicians at every level of New Jersey politics, but that's another story. Tue,
June 22, 1999 DiFrancesco's proposal would mandate that as soon as the technology is available, all handguns sold in New Jersey would be required to be "childproof or smart guns" that are unable to be fired without some kind of code or finger print identifier. "Realistically, the proposal put forward today is our best chance of breaking the stalemate between extremists on both sides of the issue and becoming law," DiFrancesco said. DiFrancesco said he believed his bill could gain the support of Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Elmer, who has been reluctant to sign-on to a similar bill proposed by Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange and Senator Joe Palaia, R-Ocean Twp. He also said that he believed Gov. Whitman would support his bill. DiFrancesco said he wanted to make sure what happened in Washington last week didn't happen in New Jersey where "extremists from both sides" killed the opportunity to strengthen gun laws. Congressional Republicans defeated a bill to close a loophole that allows guns to be sold at guns shows without a background check after much debate about whether or not FBI offices
could be open on weekends so the checks could be conducted. Some Democrats voted against the bill because they thought it was too weak. But other Congressional Democrats indicated over the Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, D-S. Dakota, told the New York Post yesterday that "when you look at the polling data and when you see the resonance this issue has all over the country...I think this is going to be a very powerful issue for us." New Jersey Republican strategist Tom Wilson said yesterday that it wasn't just Republican legislators in Trenton who could not go along with the Congressional leadership in refusing to pass increased gun controls. "All but two New Jersey Republicans voted for the compromise legislation in Washington," Wilson said. Still Jersey Democrats charged that DiFrancesco was backing away from the Codey-Palaia bill which would push gun manufacturers to develop "smart guns." Codey predicted yesterday that a "violence sickened public would condemn Republican efforts to retreat from forcing gun makers to face a deadline." Brian Miller, head of Ceasefire New Jersey, called DiFrancesco's proposal "nonsense" and charged that the Senate President "much like his Republican colleagues in the U.S. House, folded." Democrats and Miller both charged that DiFrancesco was trying to appease the gun lobby. Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, D-Saddle Brook, said DiFrancesco's bill "...mollifies gun toting, conservative primary voters." But DiFrancesco said he was not trying to make the bill more palatable to gun lobbying groups, noting that he'd been targeted for defeat by New Jersey gun advocates for almost eight years because of his failure to post a bill to override former Gov. Jim Florio's ban on assault weapons. Meanwhile, some legislators in both parties are saying privately that both Democratic and Republican efforts to mandate "smart gun" technology in New Jersey are all politically disingenious because such regulations would violate existing interstate commerce laws. DiFrancesco said he would post his bill for a vote later this summer. Mon, Jun 21, 1999UGLY ALLEGATION: Christie a racist? No way, Jim! One of the worst things
about politics in New Jersey these days is that lots of Democrats seem
to think that it's a good political strategy to stand up and call
Republicans racists.
Former governor Jim Florio called Gov. Christie Whitman a racist
yesterday.
Or he came as close to calling her a racist as politicians ever do.
Florio criticized Whitman's comments in an article in the Sunday New
York Times Magazine saying it was "troubling to have the governor
of New Jersey express her belief that in looking for indicators of
criminal activity, 'race may be one of the factors,'"
Florio said he was "appalled and embarrassed" by Whitman's
remarks.
One of the worst things about politics in New Jersey these days is
that lots of Democrats seem to think that it's a good political strategy
to stand up and call Republicans racists.
For weeks, we listened while Democratic lawmakers called former
Attorney General Peter Verniero a racist, when there was absolutely no
evidence that he was prejudiced and quite a bit of evidence that he
wasn't.
Whitman, Senate President Don DiFrancesco and most of the Republicans
in the state Legislature have also been accused of racism recently
because of their failure to insist that the next state police
superintendent be someone from outside the force.
Then there's racial profiling allegations in the state police, which
Democrats are trying to portray as some great Republican crime.
There are several things that are appalling about this ugly political
name calling. First, it belittles the problem of racism, as if prejudice
was some kind of superficial problem that could be solved by
politicians, like property tax relief or raising the speed limit.
Second, it gives the impression that if Democrats were running the
State House, getting rid of racism, particularly in law enforcement,
would be a very high priority.
There is no historical evidence that this is true. Allegations of
racial profiling have persisted for decades in this state. It was no
different when Democrats were in the State House or in control of the
Legislature
Whitman has begun to institute state police reforms. She may not have
acted as fast as she should have acted, but she acted more quickly and
decisively than Florio.
When Florio was governor, a group of African-American ministers came
to ask for his help with the problem. He asked his attorney general to
write a memo.
That was the Florio plan against racial profiling. A memo.
But yesterday, Florio said he was "appalled at [Whitman's]
insensitivity of determining who is or isn't capable of criminal
behavior depending on one's race."
Whitman spokesman Peter McDonough labeled Florio's reaction
"hysterics."
"What the governor said makes perfect sense to every law abiding
person in New Jersey," McDonough said. "It makes sense to
police officers, it makes sense to everyone who isn't running for the
U.S. Senate."
Florio is currently the front runner for the Democratic nomination
for the U.S. Senate. Whitman is likely to get the Republican nomination.
According to the New York Times Magazine article, Whitman said:
"Profiling means a police officer using cumulative knowledge and
training to identify certain indicators of possible criminal activity.
Race may be one of those factors, but it cannot stand alone."
As an example, Whitman notes that the "profile" of a serial
killer is a white, male loner.
But Florio says this means that Whitman agrees that "the color
of a man's skin can make him a criminal suspect."
It's a trick question. There's no right answer. Only politics.
Many people believe that Whitman managed to kick Florio out of the
State House in 1993 because African-Americans didn't like him enough to
come out and vote for him. Florio obviously wants to make sure that
doesn't happen again. So yesterday he issued a quick press release
calling the governor a racist.
Apparently Florio thinks if he labels Whitman a racist, black voters
will respond to his charge and forget that he never did much to stop
racism in law enforcement when he was governor.
You might call his strategy "voter profiling." It will be high noon at the New Jersey State House today when
Democratic and Republican gun fighters load and take aim in the latest
battle over gun control.
Word went out late Friday afternoon that Senate President Don
DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, will be putting a new gun bill on the
table today which he says will ensure that "smart guns" and
trigger locks are legislated in New Jersey as soon as possible.
"We can do something real. We can be the first in the country to
do this," DiFrancesco said. "I want a bill the Assembly can
pass and the governor can sign."
DiFrancesco sad that he hopes Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey,
D-West Orange and Sen. Joe Palaia, R-Ocean Twp., authors of pending
legislation to mandate "smart guns" in the next five years
will decide to co-sponsor his bill instead.
But Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange, says
DiFrancesco's bill is too soft.
"It doesn't force the gun industry to develop a smart gun,"
Codey said. "They [the Republicans] keep trying to appease the gun
people."
Brian Miller, head of Ceasefire New Jersey, agrees with Codey and has
vowed to fill the State House today with gun control advocates who will
oppose DiFrancesco's new proposal.
"DiFrancesco is taking the teeth out of the Codey-Palaia
bill," Miller said. "The Republicans are engaging in
old-fashioned thinking on this."
That's old-fashioned, only in political time. Before the school
shooting in Littleton, Colorado, gun control was a secondary issue for
most voters, something Democrats, were always trying to put on the table
without much success.
But polls in New Jersey last week showed that 71 percent of voters
favor gun control over protecting the rights of gun owners. Just over
half the people who own guns want more gun control. An ABC poll this
weekend was even more telling in terms of the politics of guns. By a
nine-to-one margin, women voters favor any kind of gun control.
The Codey-Palaia bill forces the gun industry to develop the
technology for a "smart gun" that would use a palm print or
number code so it could only be fired by the legitimate owner. Their
bill would ban all other guns in three years, with two one-year
extensions. They say pressuring gun manufacturers to develop the
technology will work. They insist that air bags in cars were only
developed when the auto industry was hit with the same kind of
legislative pressure.
DiFrancesco's bill would give the attorney general the authority to
ban guns without "smart" technology as soon as they are
developed. Assembly Speaker Jack Collins has blocked "smart
gun" legislation in the Assembly because he says the technology
isn't available yet.
DiFrancesco's bill gets around Collins, but it doesn't get around the
Republican problem of looking like they are soft on guns.
"If Don really supports our bill," Codey said, "then
he should let Jack [Collins] have the burden of stopping it. Obviously
Jack knows there's a problem."
Speaker Collins seemed to be softening his anti-gun control stand
last week when he proposed a million dollars for the development of
childproof guns. That million will be in DiFrancesco's bill too.
Miller says DiFrancesco is being pressured by the governor and the
gun lobby and says the Republicans could self-destruct on guns in New
Jersey just like they did last week in Washington.
GOP congressional leaders spent the weekend feeling the political
heat from bucking the pro-gun control tide by refusing to mandate
background checks for guns purchased at gun shows.
But DiFrancesco notes that he is no fan of the gun lobby. They don't
like him much either since he changed his vote on the assault weapons
ban in 1994.
When DiFrancesco launches his new legislation today it means that he
will back down from his position on May 20 when he called the
Codey-Palaia bill "a sensible approach to keeping guns out of the
hands of children."
"What's changed?" Codey asked yesterday. Mon, Jun 21, 1999 Dems meet to avert Florio fiasco The U.S. Senate election is 16 months away, but Democrat party bosses are meeting today in an effort to stop an anti-Jim Florio feud that could split their party and weaken their chances of beating Gov. Christie Whitman in the race for Frank Lautenberg's seat next year. The state's 21 Democratic county chairmen will weigh the political prospects of former governor Florio, former Goldman-Sachs CEO, Jon Corzine, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Monmouth, former Democratic Sate Party Chairman, Tom Byrne, Edison Mayor George Spadoro, Mountainside Attorney Lloyd DeVos and former congressman Herb Klein. It is unlikely that the county leaders will come to a unanimous decision on a senatorial candidate since Florio already has the backing of eleven of the county chairman and Pallone has two county chairmen in his corner. But leaders of several of the powerful north Jersey counties where a large percentage of Democratic voters live including Essex, Hudson, Union and Middlesex are opposed to Florio. They have yet to pick an alternative candidate and bickering among the pro-Florio and anti-Florio forces have caused such concern that Senator Bob Torricelli has spoken to Democratic leaders and lawmakers over the last several weeks urging them to avoid burning bridges. South Jersey power broker George Norcross is behind Florio's run, but several of New Jersey's most powerful Democratic leaders, including State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, and Hudson Executive Bob Janiszewski are backing Corzine. Torricelli introduced Corzine to the party bosses soon after Lautenberg announced his intention to retire. Corzine has contributed almost a million dollars to Democratic candidates and many believe Torricelli is anxious to make the soft spoken investment guru Lautenberg's replacement, although he has remained officially neutral in the race. Corzine spent the last several days preparing for his presentation today, identifying issues and working on his presentation skills. Corzine has stressed for the last several weeks that he has a commitment to Democratic ideals and does not want to be viewed as a candidate who is buying the nomination. But Corzine's wealth is viewed as his strongest asset in a race where several candidates have been effectively disqualified because the party bosses believed they did not have the capacity to raise the estimated $12 million that is estimated it will take to win. Former Morris County prosecutor Michael Murphy, who dropped out of the race last week, charged that the nomination was being sold "like e-Bay." DeVos and Klein are also wealthy and DeVos has pledged to put a million dollars of his own money into the race immediately. State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Lawrenceville, is chair of the Mercer County Democrats but she has yet to make a commitment in the senate race. She told The Trentonian recently that she is focusing on the 1999 elections which are currently more important to Mercer County than next year's Senate race. Conservative talk show host, Bob Grant, is also considering a run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Thu, Jun 17, 1999 REV.'S WARNING: Jackson: Hire outside help The Rev. Reginald Jackson and the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey reiterated their strong warning to Gov. Christie Whitman yesterday that there will be political consequences if she fails to appoint an outsider as the new superintendent of the state police. "If the governor doesn't nominate from somewhere outside the ranks of the state police, she sends a clear message that this administration is not serious about ending racial profiling," Jackson said. Jackson said it was "imperative" that the top trooper "have no relationship past or present" with the state police. Jackson's line in the sand eliminates all the top trooper candidates identified by Whitman's team except Lt. Col. Andre Parker, who works for the Illinois State Police. Jackson said that legislators had expressed a great deal of concern for the morale of the state police, but nobody has worried about the morale of the minority community which lives with the constant threat of racial profiling. "It's a contradiction to say the New Jersey State Police is the best in the nation, but if you bring in somebody from the outside to lead them their morale would be so broken they couldn't function," Jackson said. Jackson chided both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders for "not caring about the minority community, particularly targeting state Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, for suggesting that he would prefer a New Jerseyan to lead the force. Quoting Martin Luther King, Jackson reminded DiFrancesco that "the ultimate measure of a man is where he stands." But DiFrancesco said he was not standing in the way of any insider or outside appointment, "This is premature," DiFrancesco said. "The governor hasn't nominated anybody, she hasn't called me. Once she nominates somebody then we'll deal with it." DiFrancesco said that he had spoken with both Whitman and Attorney General John Farmer yesterday and neither one of them had mentioned the state superintendent vacancy. He also said that he could end up supporting Parker, but that he had no knowledge of what was involved in the current negotiations between him and the governor's office. Jackson also chided Democrats who had fought the nomination of former Attorney General Peter Verniero to the Supreme Court, but have failed to demand an outsider to head the state police. "The minority community would be outraged to learn that a party for which they provide the base vote didn't back them," Jackson said. But Jackson said he believed Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange, who told him he had been misquoted in the press regarding his support for Acting Superintendent Michael Fedorko, who is also a candidate for the job. "He wants to judge the nominee based on his qualifications, insider or outsider," said Senate Minority spokesman Jim Manion. Jackson released a letter that he and the Black Ministers Council had written a letter to Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington requesting an independent monitor to oversee the consent agreement that has been put in place to eliminate racial profiling in the state police. Jackson said independent oversight was important to "watch the back" of whomever ultimately gets the top trooper job because there is no real commitment to ending racial profiling. "Not one state legislator or leader in law enforcement has talked about ending racial profiling," Jackson said in his letter. But Jackson said there was no point in investigating some apparently racist and sexist comments made by Fedorko at a trooper pizza party in 1995. The black leader said such comments were "so frequent and regular in the state police that it seems almost appropriate." But Whitman has asked Farmer to review a videotape of Fedorko's remarks to determine if disciplinary action should be taken against him. Both Jackson and DiFrancesco said they wanted to see the second part of the report on racial profiling done by the State Police Review Team sooner rather than later. Jackson said that the first portion of the report was expedited to accommodate Verniero's Supreme Court nomination hearings and he believed the release of the second part of the report was just as urgent. DiFrancesco said that if there was information in the report that would affect the decision the Legislature would be called on to make regarding the new superintendent "we'd like to know about that now." Whitman spokesman Peter McDonough told the Associated Press yesterday that the governor understood that her selection of a new state police superintendent was critical but she believes the controversy will be resolved "if she gets the right candidate." Wed, Jun 16, 1999Buccino in race for top cop job For several weeks, Robert T. Buccino has been the dark horse in the race for the State Police Superintendent job. Buccino, 60, is the Deputy Chief Investigator for the Division of Criminal Justice and has been holding third place among the finalists for top trooper position behind Lt. Col. Andre Parker, the Illinois State Trooper who seems to have favorably impressed Gov. Whitman, and Lt. Col. Michael Fedorko, the Acting Superintendent who has the backing of former N.J. governors Tom Kean and Brendan Byrne. But all that may have changed yesterday and Buccino's star may be on the rise. For starters, the Bergen Record published a report about a videotape which features Fedorko cracking some sexist and racially insensitive jokes. Then, State Sen. President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, who pulled Gov. Christie Whitman's fat out of the fire a few weeks ago by successfully pushing her Supreme Court nominee Peter Verniero through the State Senate, made it clear that he won't be the pointman again. DiFrancesco contends he was left out of the loop on the selection of the new superintendent until last weekend when he was asked to meet Parker. The Senate President said he assumed the governor's people wanted to hire Parker or they wouldn't have called for the meeting. But Parker wants DiFrancesco's guarantee that he'll be able to stay on after Whitman leaves office and especially if she is elected to the U.S. Senate next year. DiFrancesco doesn't want to make any promises. Job security is not Parker's only issue. The State Superintendent's salary is less than he's making now and there may be problems converting his pension. Parker's wife, who is also employed by the Illinois State Police, may need a state job, too. Those obstacles aren't insurmountable, but DiFrancesco says he prefers someone from New Jersey. So does Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Mays Landing, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who helped DiFrancesco get Verniero confirmed. Gormley says that if Whitman believes that no one in the State Police is competent to take on the problems of racism and racial profiling that are currently under investigation there, she needs to prove it. He wants to hold hearings on the second phase of the Attorney General's report on racial profiling before a new superintendent is named. "If they can't promote from within, then we'll know why," Gormley said noting there's no need to rush with a new superintendent because "both political parties have faith in Attorney General Farmer" who is currently overseeing the state police. Gormley's committee must also approve the governor's top cop nominee but Gormley said that no one has approached him about Parker either. Which brings us back to Buccino, who unlike Fedorko and the other top candidate Kenneth F. Wondrake, is not an insider. But as a former New Jersey state trooper, he's not an outsider either. Buccino, has not yet been interviewed by the governor and has declined to be interviewed by the press during the selection process. But his backers said privately yesterday that they believe he will ultimately emerge as the obvious choice because, unlike any of the other candidates, he has strong support from both state troopers and some leaders in the minority community including at least two members of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. His advocates also note that Buccino has spoken with a number of the black troopers who are working to start their own union to deal with racism within the state police. They also say that his law enforcement experience is far more extensive than Parker's and his administrative resume includes the supervision of a much larger work force than Parker has commanded. McDonough says the news stories regarding the selection of the new superintendent have been riddled with speculation because "there are lots of partisans who are out there advocating one person over another." He says that rumors are circulating that are designed to build one candidate up and tear another down. The governor's spokesman may be right, but that doesn't mean that the guy who ultimately gets the job won't be the last man left standing. Wed, Jun 16, 1999
If you believe what you read in the newspapers, you'd think the New Jersey Supreme Court's "national reputation" means they've been setting the standard for supreme courts around the nation for decades. This glaring misconception requires that I repeat my often told story of the myth of the Years ago, when I first moved to New Jersey, a friend briefed me on the joys of the My friend let me know in no uncertain terms that New Jersey tomatoes are world renown But I had not just fallen off the tomato truck. I grew up in Oklahoma where the best tomatoes in the world are grown. My father taught me this important fact at an early age. After Oklahoma tomatoes, he said, Arkansas tomatoes are passable and Texas tomatoes will do if there is absolutely no other alternative. California tomatoes, he said with great authority, are not fit to eat. Imagine my surprise when I grew up, visited California and learned that tomatoes grown there can be perfectly delightful. Californians told me that they are the best tomato growers in the world, although they said this was only true in the Southern part of the state. They say Northern California tomatoes stink. And, of course, no one in California would consider eating a tomato from Texas. This is when I began to suspect that people were sometimes blind to the truth about tomatoes. My suspicions were confirmed when I visited the South of France and was informed by any number of snooty Frenchmen that they produce the best tomatoes in the world there. In all my tomato filled travels, I have never heard anyone mention the "New Jersey tomato." Which brings me back to the "national reputation" of the Supreme Court. New Jersey's top judges have got a hot reputation all right, but only a few judicial scholars would call it "cutting edge." Last year when the Supreme Court was finally winding down Abbott versus Burke, the twenty-eight year case brought by poor school systems against the state, a couple of my colleagues decided to see how the story was playing nationally. What they found was that New Jersey has become an example of how school funding equity decisions should be made---a bad example. A Rhode Island law journal cautioned that courts should be very careful not to make the mistake New Jersey made which resulted in the micro-management of a statewide school system from the bench. Repeated requirements by the courts that the state pay more money to urban schools resulted in skyrocketing school costs, and a dramatic downturn in student performance. New Jersey now has the most expensive per pupil costs in the nation but urban students (and many suburban kids as well) are woefully uncompetitive compared to children educated in other states. We can think the Jersey Supreme Court for that. Then there's the Supreme Court's famous Mt. Laurel decisions which were supposed to provide equal access to affordable housing for poor people throughout New Jersey. Those high court rulings required hundreds of towns around the state to build lots of low cost housing, frequently in direct opposition to the state's goals of preserving open space and reducing sprawl development. Years of lawsuits will undoubtedly be required to untangle the housing mess which the Supreme Court has created. The Mt. Laurel laws are unique to New Jersey, another key to the Supreme Court's "national reputation." People around the country look at that decision and shudder. The moral is don't believe everything you read about the New Jersey Supreme Court's TORRI TAKES TRENTON: Senator pledges to raise funds for Assemby Dems New Jersey Sen. Bob Torricelli was in Trenton yesterday spreading goodwill among Democratic legislators and raising speculation about his next political move. After a morning editorial board meeting with The Trentonian, where he also greeted visiting students from the Granville Academy, Torricelli joined the Assembly Democratic caucus in a closed session where he reportedly pledged to pull out all the stops in order to help Democrats take back the lower house next year. He said he'd help raise money and even knock on doors if necessary. After the meeting, some Democratic lawmakers said privately that they believed Torricelli's new found interest in their political well-being was a sign that he may be considering a run for governor in 2001. The current political jockeying among Democrats for a shot at retiring Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat has created power plays throughout the party. Democratic insiders are divided over whether or not Torricelli's role in the jockeying is part of a move to position himself for a State House run in 2001. But Torricelli spokesman Sean Jackson said yesterday that the senator offer to help only reflects his strong belief that in 1999 "it's the Assembly stupid." Jackson said Torricelli wanted the Trenton lawmakers to know that he shares their priority and wants to help get the Assembly majority back. State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Elizabeth, a top Democratic party boss, said that Torricelli's move was good politics. "When you are in Torricelli's position and are doing a lot of things locally and nationally, the stronger you are at home, the stronger you are elsewhere." Assembly Minority Leader Joe Doria, D-Bayonne, reportedly told the Democrats that Torricelli's offer to help the Assembly Democrats win back the majority in the Assembly was unprecedented. Lesniak agreed that other Democratic congressmen had not worked as hard as Torricelli on local politics. "Bradley did not seem to agree with the notion that strength at home makes you stronger elsewhere," Lesniak said. Republicans currently have an eight seat majority in the Assembly and Democrats say it could take as much as $3 million dollars, along with the right message and good candidates, to put them back on top. Doria convened all the party's top fund-raisers on Friday, including several members of Torricelli's team, to make a battle plan to pull the campaign war chest together. Tipper Gore, wife of the vice president, will be in New Jersey later this month to raise funds for Assembly Democrats. Republican strategist Tom Wilson said it is no surprise that "Torricelli is behaving like a leader of his party, because that's what he is." "I wish more Republicans would work that way, frankly," said Wilson. But help from Washington is not unheard of in the GOP either. Republican sources say that Rep. Bob Franks, R-Union, recently met with Assembly Speaker Jack Collins to help with the Republican Assembly battle plan.
Tue, Jun 15, 1999
In a strongly worded statement, Whitman said, "despite reports to the contrary, decisions regarding the appointment of the next Superintendent of the NJ State Police have not been finalized and no announcement is imminent." When the story that Parker had been appointed appeared last Friday, reaction by troopers was quick and angry. Tom Iskrzycki, head of the State Troopers Fraternal Association, told the Trentonian that Parker's appointment would "crush the best trained state force in the nation." Several Republican legislators, including State Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Mays Landing, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee which must approve the State Superintendent's appointment, also voiced concerns about the appointment of a non-New Jerseyan to head the State Police. Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, told the Newark Star Ledger that he would not make a deal with Parker to continue his appointment should he ascend to the governor's office next year if Whitman wins the race for the U.S. Senate. The same report indicated the Secretary of State, DeForest "Buster" Soaries, told an audience gathered at Rutgers on Saturday that the governor was forced to select an outsider because the Attorney General's investigation into racial profiling in the state police has uncovered many more problems than were originally anticipated. But a spokeswoman for the Secretary told The Trentonian yesterday that Soaries had not confirmed that Parker had been appointed in the Saturday session and did not use his name. "His comments were taken out of context to make it seem like he'd given an exclusive interview," said Missy Gillespie. Some sources close to the selection process believe that another candidate, Robert T. Buccino, can also be considered an "outsider" to the State Police since he has not served on the force for many years. Buccino is currently Deputy Chief Investigator for the Division of Criminal Justice. Col. Michael Fedorko, currently the Acting Superintendent of the State Police and Police Capt. Kenneth F. Wondrake are the other candidates for the top trooper job. Sen. Leonard Connors, R-Surf City and Assemblymen Jeff Moran, R-Beachwood and Chris Connors, R-Forked River, wrote Gov. Whitman yesterday saying the appointment of the Illinois trooper was the "wrong way to go." Parker was reportedly concerned about the State Superintendent's salary of $90,563, which is $5,000 less than he is making in Illinois. As a gubernatorial appointment, Parker would have no job security once Whitman leaves office. Whitman spokesman, Jayne O'Connor said that she was not sure how much negotiating room the governor has with the Superintendent's salary. Members of the governor's cabinet including the Attorney General, earn $115,000 a year. But the State Police Superintendent works under the authority of the Attorney General and presumably could not earn more money than his boss. Whitman's office did not say when an announcement would be made regarding the State Superintendent. A source close to one of the finalists told The Trentonian last week that he had not yet been interviewed by the governor. Soaries, former Attorneys General Peter Verniero and James Zazzalli and Attorney General John Farmer screened about 20 candidates for the top trooper job and selected the four
finalists. Saturday, June 12, 1999 "We don't do trial balloons here," McDonough said. Friday,
June 11, 1999 Whitman criticized Clinton's health care plan earlier this week and said her approach to problems most often requires increased government spending. "Her answer to questions is very much more government and more government from Washington," Whitman said. Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, demanded that Whitman take back what she said. "The governor owes an apology on behalf of the 300,000 New Jerseyans who have lost their health care coverage since she took office," said Weinberg. Speaking for the Democratic Women Legislators Conference, Weinberg accused
Weinberg said Whitman was using Clinton's visit to "cozy up to Clintons' right wing opponents." In March, an exclusive report in The Trentonian revealed that Clinton's White House advance team had attempted to keep the governor away from the first wave of refugees arriving from Kosovo. In what was perceived by some as an attempt to hog photo-ops, the First Lady's staff instructed Whitman's team to keep the governor in the quarantine area for a medical briefing. But Whitman took the lead at Fort Dix and ignorthe White House. She was among the first Americans to greet the refugees and officially welcome them to the United States and New Jersey. Both Whitman and Clinton have indicated that they intend to run for the US Senate next year. Clinton plans to run in New York. The First Lady was officially in New Jersey to campaign with Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell. Whitman spent the morning yesterday working on New Jersey's State plan, picking State Sen. President Donald DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, was also invited to greet the First Lady on the tarmac but he also declined. Fri, Jun 11, 1999 First Lady speaks at Rep. Holt fund-raiser Hillary Clinton didn't mention the New York Senate race yesterday when she stopped at a Lawrenceville golf course to deliver a campaign speech for Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell Twp. About 300 Democrats, including State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, were on hand to greet the First Lady at the $500 a plate luncheon. Local Democrats who were willing to pay $5,000 were able to attend a private reception with Clinton before the main event. In what has become a standard campaign speech for Democratic congressmen, the First Lady called Holt "a very special man" and urged Mercer County voters to work hard to return him to Washington next year. "Rush has gotten under the skin of the other side," Clinton said. "I have a little bit of an idea what it's like when you get under their skin." Clinton praised Holt for his work on education and Medicare saying he was working to "restore some balance to our health care system." But both the First Lady and the congressman focused the majority of their remarks on the issue of gun control. Holt chided his GOP colleagues in the House for saying that the massacre in Littleton, Colorado should not "drive us to gun control." He described the gun control bill that has been put forward by the Republicans as "Lautenberg Lite" saying it is not as tough as the gun control measure passed in the U.S. Senate last week. Democrats have been pushing the gun control issue hard since the Colorado school shooting because polls indicate that the public now strongly favors increasing gun laws. A Quinnipiac College poll released yesterday showed that 71 percent of New Jerseyans want some kind of gun control, and 52 percent want a complete ban on handguns. Over half of the state's gun owners believe that some gun control laws are important. Clinton said that 100,000 children bring a gun to school every day. She charged that the National Rifle Association had "ghostwritten the Republican gun control legislation" which will ban the sale of guns at gun shows. Holt joked about Clinton's New York Senate run, saying that he understood what it was like to seek political office as the lesser known spouse. "Until recently, I was better known as the husband of Dr. Margaret Lancefield," Holt said. Clinton received a polite ovation from the partisan crowd before and after she spoke, but the loudest cheers were reserved for Holt who is facing a tough re-election challenge next year from former Rep. Mike Pappas, whom he defeated for the 12th District seat and former Rep. Dick Zimmer. In a statement, Pappas criticized Holt's attendance at the fund-raiser, claiming that it prevented him from taking part in "critical" national security votes held in Congress yesterday. "This whole episode shows the kind of contempt that politicians like Mr. Holt and Mrs. Clinton have for the hard-working taxpayers who pay their salaries and for the men and women in uniform whose fate is being decided by Congress today," Pappas wrote. Clinton and Holt also visited Fisher Middle School in Ewing yesterday, where she highlighted the school's program against youth violence and urged the House of Representatives to pass gun control legislation that recently passed the Senate. "One of the biggest problems we've got is how many guns there are in our country," Clinton told about 600 youngsters at the middle school. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Missouri, will campaign here for Holt later this month. -- The Associated Press contributed to this report. June
9, 1999 But radio talk show host Bob Grant is also considering a run and he says "the joke may be on both Democrats and Republicans" if they count him out too soon. Whitman is expected to be the Republican nominee to replace Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Twenty-seven percent of voters recognized the name of Tom Byrne, former New Jersey Over half of New Jersey voters think Whitman is doing a good job and almost that many view her positively. But more people, thirty-four percent, view Florio negatively than positively. Only twenty-five percent say they have a positive impression of the former governor. Whitman spokesman Peter McDonough said yesterday that it is to early to read anything into polls. "But its always good news to see the positives going up and the negatives going down," McDonough said. "Whitman wins in every category except for Democrats." The Florio camp also dismissed the significance of early polling. "Poll or no poll, Florio is still moving forward and doing what he has to do to win," said Steve Ayscue, a spokesperson for the South Jersey coalition that is backing the former governor. Florio took time out in Washington yesterday to challenge Whitman on gun control, pushing her to support pending federal legislation that would require background checks for gun sales at gun shows. McDonough told the Associated Press that Whitman already supported the legislation and called Florio's challenge "a campaign gimmick." Brad Lawrence, a media consultant for Pallone said the poll, "confused name recognition
with favorability and electability." Some political observers believe that Grant, who describes himself as a conservative, could be a spoiler in the race if he decides to run as an independent because he could pull voters away from Whitman. But the radio star told the Trentonian yesterday that he has no interest in a "Ross Perot" run. "They can think anything they want," said Grant, "but the joke could be on both Democrats and the Republicans if they end up watching me take the oath of office." Grant said he is in no hurry to decide for certain whether or not to run, but a "Draft Grant" committee has been formed that is raising money for him. McDonough said Grant's showing in the poll seemed "pretty insignificant." "Like Florio, he's upside down and the blood is running to his head," McDonough said. Nineteen percent of New Jersey voters say they view Grant unfavorably. Lawrence said Florio's early lead on the Democratic side is deceptive. "We all know Jim Florio will get thirty-five percent of the vote," Lawrence said. "The
trouble is he can't get forty-five percent of the vote." Democratic party bosses are trying Murray Sabrin, who ran against Whitman as a Libertarian in 1997, has switched to the Republican party and is currently her only challenger for the GOP nomination. June 4, 1999 It was ninety degrees in the shade earlier this week as I stood outside the Texas governor's mansion talking with the gaggle of New Jersey lawmakers who'd flown down to the Lone Star State to personally deliver their endorsement to George W. Bush. The regularly cynical legislators were unusually effusive in their comments about Bush, even as they wiped the sweat from their foreheads and complained about the Southwest heat. They admit they're backing him because they think they can get Republicans back in the White House again. But its not just the politics that has them excited. They seem to believe Bush when he says that he wants to make politics an honorable profession again. "He wants people to look up to politicians," said Rocco Iossa, the Executive Director of the New Jersey George W. Bush Presidential Exploratory Committee. "He wants to find a way that everyone can share in the prosperity," said State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, R-Middleton. "He's going to talk about what he's going to do for the country instead of going after his opponent," said State Sen. Anthony Bucco. Sen. Robert Singer, R-Lakewood, said that the Democrats in the White House have forgotten New Jersey. "We hope he will remember us," Singer said. That makes Bush very different from Vice President Al Gore who seems to be building his campaign around small ideas including his strategy to reduce suburban sprawl and traffic jams. Ironically, With his "big ideas approach" Bush is saying much the same thing as Bill Bradley. Or perhaps Bradley is saying the same thing as Bush. Either way, it is clear that the two strongest challengers to the Whit House status quo are proposing something completely different from what is happening now. They're betting that voters have become wary of White House speeches about school uniforms in place of policies on education. Bill Palatucci, Senior Advisor to the Bush Exploratory Committee, says that people in New Jersey and all over the country are responding to Bush because they are simply tired of what has been going on in Washington for the past eight years. Bradley says that he is being successful at challenging a sitting vice president for the same reason...people want to tackle big ideas. Bradley believes that Social Security and the Marshall Plan aren't the last "big ideas" the country can push successfully. He says people are looking for leaders who "appeal to our better angels." Bush on the Republican side and Bradley on the Democratic side both claim that they are hearing more than a slight shift in the thinking of American voters. They believe that the folks who told pollsters after the impeachment trials in February that they supported Bill Clinton's presidency are having second thoughts. The folks who forgave Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual affair with an intern have learned that its fairly frightening to have a man in charge of ordering daily bomb drops who is not completely honest. Clinton's explanations about the massive and illegal transfers of high technology to China sound eerily like his nit picking Grand Jury testimony. Clinton says he didn't know there were spying investigations going on at our nuclear labs. His staff say they briefed him. He seems to be saying that it all depends on what you mean by the word brief. Rep. Chris Smith, R-Hamilton, surprised lots of New Jersey Republicans last week when he also announced his support for Bush. Smith, a conservative who most often avoids state party politics, joined most of New Jersey's Republican congressional delegation in endorsing Bush because he says the Texas governor is the antidote to the "deceptive, selfish politics of the Clinton Gore administration." Smith describes what's going on in the country as "a major case of Clinton/Gore fatigue." Sen. Robert Martin, R-Morristown, said that while Bush begins campaigning for real in Iowa next week, his New Jersey supporters will be raising money and "spreading the word." The "word" is that their candidate wants to make politics honorable again. The "word" from Bradley on the Democratic side is that while "politics is broken" it can be fixed. The message both camps are delivering to voters is counter to what Clinton and Gore have been dishing out for years. Both candidates are saying, in both subtle and unsubtle ways, that in the final analysis, when it comes to presidents,
character does matter. New Jersey Bush Supporters Lawmakers Hate Texas Pizza (Austin, Texas) The New Jersey lawmakers who spent yesterday here in the Texas capital didn't have much good to say about the ninety degree temperature or the quality of Lone Star State pizza. But the thirty-four legislators, county leaders and other party bosses on the New Jersey GOP pilgrimage to meet George W. Bush yesterday gave rave reviews to the Texas governor even after he called the scholarly Sen. Robert Martin, R-Morris Plains, "Bobby Boy." State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, R-Middleton, said Bush outlined his vision of new possibilities for America that includes everyone. Kyrillos, who met with Bush in January, said the Texas governor had clearly positioned himself in the last four months as the presidential front-runner in every state in the union. State Sen. Lou Bassano, R-Union, said that Bush has a different style than his father, the former president. "He'll be able to get his vision out to the public and he'll be the next president," Bassano said. Bush officially began his campaign on Tuesday, after the Texas legislature adjourned. He told reporters that he was obviously very likely to run and that in starting early "his goal is to be fully funded.." Bush told the New Jersey lawmakers that he hoped to raise $50 million for the campaign. There's no doubt he's counting on New Jersey for a big chunk of campaign cash. Bush's first Garden State fundraiser will be held on July 13 "somewhere in the Newark area" according to the New Jersey Bush team. Officially, the New Jersey Republicans were in Texas to hand-deliver a joint endorsement they passed last week in which 52 Republican legislators, including Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains and Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Elmer, urged the Texas governor to run for president. Bill Palatucci, Sr. Advisor to the Bush Exploratory Committee, said New Jersey Republican politicians are enthusiastic about Bush because "they want to win." "New Jersey is Bush country," Palatucci said. "Governor Bush owns it lock, stock and barrel. People are just tired of what's been in Washington for eight long years." But Kyrillos said Bush assured the New Jersey lawmakers that he would not stoop to dirty campaign tactics. "He wants people to look up to politicians again," said Rocco Iossa, Executive Director the Bush Exploration Committee in New Jersey. "He's naturally competitive but he will not defend himself with dirt." Rep. Chris Smith, one of New Jersey's most conservative Republicans, announced his support for Bush last week. But Martin, a liberal leaning Republican, said he was comfortable with many of Bush's conservative positions because he found the governor "conservative but not righteously conservative." Senator Anthony Bucco, R-Morristown, said that he believed that the Bush campaign signaled a change in American politics. "He said twenty-first century a dozen times when he spoke with us," Bucco said. The New Jersey lawmakers joined congressional leaders including Rep. Chris Cox, R-California, and legislators from other states. They all paid their own expenses. "Its pretty amazing to get bunch of legislators to pay their own way to Texas," said DiFrancesco. June 2, 1999 Rep. Nita Lowey, D-New York, has been gushing recently that there will be a woman elected to the U.S. Senate from New York next year, whether or not Hillary Clinton decides to run. Lowey was the front runner for the Democratic nomination until Hillary got a hankering to go out on her own, forcing the congresswoman to defer. Hillary Clinton's possible decision to run for office herself instead of backing up her husband, is being heralded as a great feminist step forward by some women. But for feminists who have been working hard to build their own political credentials over the years, it is more than a little disturbing to be forced to stand back and watch political wives suddenly carry more weight than female political professionals. Last year, Deborah Lynch, wife of the distinguished State Senator from New Brunswick, John Lynch, served as emcee of one of the many statewide dinners for New Jersey Democrats. Mrs. Lynch is a witty and charming hostess who can graciously preside over a noisy crowd of politicians better than
most men in that party. She is obviously an intelligent and However, as I stood in the back of the room alongside several of the Democratic party's female legislators and other elected local officials it was hard not to detect an air of frustration. "Why Mrs. Lynch," I asked, wondering why the state party chairman or the Minority Leader was not running the show. "They're trying to demonstrate that women are more involved in the party," one poker faced legislator told me. "So they picked somebody's wife to run the program?" I said. As they used to say in the early days of Ms. Magazine, CLICK. The women Democrats did not comment. In New Jersey, women politicians clearly understand that they serve at the pleasure of the male party bosses. They do not grouse to reporters about decisions in which they often play no part. But the eye rolling and knowing looks were unmistakable. The guys in charge of the Democratic party actually believed that they would appear to be more open to women because they put somebody's wife on the podium even while the elected female officials continue to wait in the back of the room. Many have been waiting for years for the rare opportunity to speak to a large gathering of party leaders, for a chance at one of the statewide ballot slots, for leadership themselves. Most of them will continue to wait. Literally dozens of names have been floated as possible candidates to succeed Senator Frank Lautenberg. Gov. Christie Whitman is the only woman who has emerged as a candidate and that is only because she has a power base that is independent of her party leaders. On the Democratic side, Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin was quickly knocked out of contention for the Senate nomination when the county leaders gave her a thumbs down. If Hillary Clinton is successful in New York, perhaps Mrs. Bill Bradley, a popular campaigner or any of the potential future Mrs. Bob Torricelli's will be able to make a place for themselves at the top of some New Jersey Democratic ticket. The odds seem better for those women than they do for the distinguished Democratic women legislators who have been working hard on their personal political careers for years. This is not to denigrate the job of being a political wife. It is obviously a difficult task to keep a family and a marriage partnership together with the demands of electioneering and the resulting government work. But being a political wife is different from being a politician. Last month, Rep. Robert Menendez,D-Hudson, opened a festive breakfast of New Jersey Democrats by insisting that every elected official in the room be introduced. Standing for election, putting your name on the ballot for the public to affirm or reject takes great personal courage, Menendez said. Carrying the flag of your political party into battle is the ultimate public service in a democracy. If Hillary wins, many women may come to believe that that kind of courage and public service isn't necessary. It is certainly easier to launch a political career by marrying a man who runs for office rather than doing all that hard work yourself. One step forward for Hillary Clinton. Three steps back for womankind. Wed., June 2, 1999 AUSTIN, Tex. -- Over a dozen New Jersey legislators and Republican Party bosses were in the Texas capital yesterday to make sure Gov. George W. Bush knows the Garden State GOP is behind him. Led by New Jersey Senate Majority Conference Leader Joe Kyrillos, R-Middletown, 13 lawmakers, and the leaders from Hudson and Bergen counties joined the New Jersey Bush 2000 team to hand-deliver an endorsement passed last week on behalf of 72 percent of New Jersey's Republican legislators. Kyrillos told The Trentonian yesterday that the New Jersey Republicans would meet with Bush this afternoon to "deliver our endorsement and let him know that we are solidly behind him." In a joint statement issued by state Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, and Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Elmer, the legislators "urged" Bush to seek the presidency: "Your leadership in Texas convinces us that you possess the integrity, vision and record of accomplishment to make a great president." Kyrillos described himself as a "veteran" of the New Jersey to Texas pilgrimages that began late last year when Bush began meeting with lawmakers from around the county to discuss a possible run for president. DiFrancesco and Collins led a group of Republican leaders to Austin in January. State GOP Chairman Chuck Haytaian said yesterday that there is "no doubt" Bush has a great deal of support among New Jersey Republicans, although he and Gov. Christie Whitman have not yet picked a candidate in next year's presidential race. "I'll take the governor's lead," Haytaian said, noting that because another Republican presidential candidate, Steve Forbes, is a New Jersey native, some GOP loyalists want to hold off on an early endorsement. Whitman spokesman Peter McDonough said yesterday that while Whitman has not made a presidential endorsement, "she works well with Gov. Bush in the Republican Governor's Association." "They have a similar political philosophy," McDonough said, "Cutting taxes, support for diversity, support for education." In a move that surprised many New Jersey Republican watchers, conservative Rep. Chris Smith, R-Washington Twp., also announced his support for Bush last week. Smith has not endorsed Whitman's run for the U.S. Senate and usually campaigns independently of other New Jersey Republicans. But he said that he had spent a day getting to know Bush and was "impressed with his big heart." "He will put children first," Smith said. Mary Noonan, an assistant to Smith, is also part of the Austin delegation. Forbes is scheduled to launch a $10 million advertising campaign today targeting presidential primary states which he hopes will boost him in the polls so that he can compete with Bush. Almost half of Republican voters say they prefer Bush as their presidential candidate in 2000.
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