OCTOBER ARCHIVES

OCTOBER ARCHIVES

October 30, 1998
The Big Lie
by
Sherry Sylvester
     Its a good thing they only let card-carrying Democrats in to see Hillary Clinton when she came to New Jersey on Tuesday, because a more randomly selected audience might have giggled during the speeches.
     Mrs. Clinton was in Middlesex County to campaign for Rep. Frank Pallone, a fifth term Democratic congressman who has been trying to get folks riled up lately by claiming he is a victim of "The Big Lie."
     Pallone said he invited Mrs. Clinton to New Jersey to help him out against the big liars who are telling untruths about his record in Congress.
     Now, it may not be fair, but it is certainly accurate to say that these days most folks think "The Big Lie" is the one that Bill Clinton told the American people about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. That falsehood will go down in history as the seven-month long, wagging his finger, "I did not have sex with that woman" lie.
     Mrs. Clinton's part in that lie was to go along with it until she had no other choice. She was the ambassador they sent on the morning television shows to insist that her husband was not a philanderer, but a victim of a "vast right wing conspiracy."
     She has demonstrated great skill is in defending liars, not protecting people from them.
     But Pallone brought her to New Jersey anyway. Like all the good Democrats who have stood behind the president, Pallone seemed to see no irony in asking Mrs. Clinton to help him make the case that the some insurance companies have put a couple million dollars into a "Big Lie" television advertising campaign that leads voters to believe that he has not always been supportive of social security.
     But it wasn't just the presence of Mrs. Clinton which made Pallone's "Big Lie" charges against insurance special interests seem ludicrous.    It was his absurd suggestion that somebody in this most bizarre and hypocritical campaign season is actually telling the truth.
     Political campaigns always show our politicians at their worst. At election time, politicians distort their chronic lack of real accomplishment into what seems to be an organized agenda.
Voters are given glossy pictures of their representatives urgently at work. Their messages on television, radio and three-color mailers lead voters to believe that if they put the guy or woman back in office one more time, he or she will actually change some things.
     This year's campaign messages have been particularly cynical and dishonest, perhaps because Clinton's "big lie" has lowered the bar for all politicians. The president successfully demonstrated that if you speak earnestly enough and look directly into the camera you can get folks to believe almost anything.
     The result is that politicians are throwing out particularly lethal charges at each other this year, some of which are preposterous.
     Mrs. Clinton told the applauding Democrats that Republicans wanted to take the budget surplus and give it back to the wealthy in tax relief instead of saving it for Social Security, like the president said he was going to do in January.
     But it was the Democrats who took $20 billion out of that $70 billion surplus that was supposed to be used to shore up "Social Security" and spent it on pre-election pork, like the billion dollar teacher hiring bill. Because their president was under fire, they knew they would need that $20 billion in programs to buy all the help they could get to be re-elected.
     What's worse is that they got the Republicans to agree to this throwaway spending by threatening to accuse them of being against Medicare and education if they voted against it. The Republicans went along, because folks were mad at them because of the Starr Investigation, and now are being accused of being against Medicare and education anyway.
     Now Republicans are lying about the $20 billion too.
     Guilt by association has also been one of the seasons "big lies." Abortion rights advocates always accuse pro-lifers of failing to support women's rights but this time several Democrats, including at least one in New Jersey, are trying to link pro-life Republicans to the to the recent murder of the doctor in upstate New York.
     Meanwhile, Republicans launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign this week trying to connect Democratic congressional candidates to the president's lying.
     What's ironic about the Republican strategy is that the high approval ratings that the president currently enjoys are most likely a result of the public's belief that all politicians are liars. Voters have said they are offended by Republican criticism of the president for lying, not because they think its O.K., but because they assume all politicians are basically dishonest.
     That's why nobody is outraged when Pallone says he's a victim of the "Big Lie." To voters, its just another charge coming from the pot that calls the kettle black.

Kean Says He'll Vote for Pappas
by
Sherry Sylvester

Former governor Tom Kean said yesterday that he'll probably vote for Rep. Mike Pappas, R-Rocky Hill, despite the fact that Pappas' Democratic opponent, Rush Holt, is running a radio ad featuring the voice of the former governor.
     On Holt's commercial Kean seems to be criticizing Pappas.
     But Kean told the Trentonian that he has not endorsed Holt and is not likely to vote for him.
     "I'm not endorsing him at all," Kean told the Trentonian. "I'll probably end up voting for Pappas, I'm a Republican."
     Kean appeared on the New Jersey Network news show "On the Record" on October 16thand said that Pappas had not had a good first term. He also observed that Pappas had been "extreme" on some issues. Holt's advertising people took Kean's quote from the videotape and produced a radio commercial without asking Kean's permission.
     Kean did not disavow his remarks regarding Pappas, but says they were "just political commentary."
     Pappas spokesman, Sean Spicer, said "we appreciate the governor's support."
     But Holt's campaign manager, Mark Matzen, said he still believes Kean's comments are a good sign for Holt.
     "What he's really saying is that it is going to be a difficult lever to pull," said Matzen, who quickly acknowledged that he could not speak for Kean.
     Meanwhile, the Pappas campaign fired back at Holt's ad yesterday by putting three new radio spots of their own on the air featuring Gov. Christie Whitman, former Republican presidential nominee, Bob Dole and Steve Forbes, a once and future GOP presidential candidate.
     All three Republicans send a strong message of support for Pappas, highlighting the accomplishments of his first term.
     "They're all emphasizing Mike's work to lower taxes," Spicer said.
     Matzen said that Holt's campaign has picked up a great deal of momentum in the last week, at least partly because of the advertising campaign, which focuses on the Kean ad and another commercial featuring Pappas singing a song in support of the work of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Its sung to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
     Kean said that he had observed that Pappas, who opposes abortion rights, had allied himself with the GOP right wing on some issues and consequently may have made himself vulnerable in his re-election effort.
     But Kean, a moderate Republican, said that he does not dismiss candidates simply because they vote differently than he might have voted if he were in Congress.
     "I've always supporter Rep. Chris Smith," Kean says. "He is a national leader on human rights."
     Kean has also endorsed Republican Mike Ferguson who is mounting a strong challenge against Rep. Frank Pallone D-Ocean. Both Smith and Ferguson are considered GOP conservatives.
     Kean also said he did not object to Holt's use of his words in the radio ad.
     "Its all on the public record," Kean said.

Thurs., Oct. 29, 1998

Unflattering words on Pappas by Kean

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

The slow-motion drawl of Tom Kean is so distinctive and familiar to New Jerseyans that Gov. Whitman enlisted him earlier this year to make the "New Jersey and You ... Perfect Together" ads again.

Kean used the "Perfect Together" phrase to endorse Republican conservative Mike Ferguson, who has challenged Democratic congressman Frank Pallone.

So you can imagine how Rep. Mike Pappas, R-Rocky Hill, must have felt when he heard Kean's famous voice on the latest radio ad of his Democratic opponent, Rush Holt.

"Pappas has not had a great first term," Kean says on the radio spot. "He has been extreme on a number of things."

Kean didn't tape the spot for Holt. In fact, Holt's people say they didn't talk to the former governor before making the commercial. They lifted his lines from a interview conducted with Kean on New Jersey Network's "On the Record" show.

"We didn't ask his permission and he didn't tell us to take it off," said Brad Lawrence, a principal at Message and Media, the New Brunswick firm that is handling Holt's media campaign.

Lawrence said that using a clip from a television news show is no different from using a newspaper clipping in an ad.

"We used the quote in context and were careful not to distort it," Lawrence said. "We were true to what Gov. Kean said."

Kean's office did not return calls for comment.

Pappas spokesman Sean Spicer dismissed the former governor's criticism of the congressman.

"The governor is a busy man. He's running a university (Drew University) and may not be aware of the work Mike is doing for the people of the 12th District," Spicer said.

Spicer also said Pappas has attracted broad support among moderate Republicans including Whitman and Steve Forbes, who is hosting a fund-raiser for him tomorrow night. Richard Zimmer, who previously held the 12th District Congressional seat, has also enthusiastically endorsed Pappas.

Republican strategist Larry Weitzner stressed that Kean's words were not an "endorsement" of Holt, but said he is not surprised that Holt's people made an ad out of Kean's remarks.

"I'm surprised they waited this late to do it," Weitzner said, although he doesn't think the ad would make much difference in the outcome of the election in the Republican-leaning district.

"It's not helpful to Pappas, but he's still going to win," Weitzner said.

If that's true, it won't be because Holt lacks endorsements. In the race with Pappas, Holt is currently winning the endorsement war. In addition to the non-endorsement that sounds like an endorsement from Kean, Holt has received a thumbs-up from almost every newspaper in the congressional district (The Trentonian will publish its endorsements of candidates on Sunday.)

Some Republicans have suggested that one newspaper which endorsed Holt, the Asbury Park Press, went out of their way to get the word out about the candidate by distributing several thousand free newspapers containing the endorsement.

Asbury Park Press Editorial Page Editor Andrew Shar, however, said he was unaware that there was any kind of circulation drive or distribution of free newspapers.

Weitzner said newspaper endorsements don't make much difference in races and are only notable when a Republican is endorsed, because, he said, "Papers almost always endorse Democrats."

Lawrence agreed that newspaper endorsements have only a minimal affect on election outcomes but said the broad sweep of Holt's endorsements is a clear sign that his message is getting through.

In last year's Democratic gubernatorial primary, Lawrence's candidate, Jim McGreevey, got only one major newspaper endorsement but won the election. In the general election, Whitman received the endorsement of almost all the daily newspapers in the state and won the election.

Wed., Oct. 28, 1998

WHOSE LIE?: Truth at issue in Hill's Jersey visit

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Staff Writer

Hillary Clinton sported a smashing new haircut on her visit to New Jersey yesterday. The popular but beleaguered first lady drew lots of applause from senior citizens in Edison where she showed up to help Rep. Frank Pallone beat back a strong challenge from conservative Republican Mike Ferguson.

Pallone introduced Mrs. Clinton saying he'd invited her to New Jersey to talk about the untruths that insurance companies are telling about him. He said his opponent is waging a "Big Lie" campaign against him.

Understandably enough, Mrs. Clinton avoided using the words "big lie" in defending Pallone. Despite her soaring approval ratings, she knows that Democrats don't have a lot of credibility these days when it comes to the lying thing.

Instead, Mrs. Clinton explained her latest conspiracy theory.

We have known for some time now that Mrs. Clinton is a conspiracy nut. Last winter she told us it was a "vast right-wing conspiracy" that was tring to smear her husband's reputation with the Monica Lewinsky story.

News magazines report that one of the things that has kept the Clinton marriage together during these and oher difficult times is that she and the president share the belief that there are a lot of people in the world who are out to get them.

Yesterday, Hillary Clinton introduced her latest conspiracy theory that she said is being perpetrated by a "shadowy group" of big insurance companies against the central New Jersey congressman.

Mrs. Clinton told the crowd at the Edison Senior Citizen Center that she believes the insurance industry has decided to go after Rep. Frank Pallone because he supports the president's health insurance reforms.

Pallone, who represents part of Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean Counties, is being pelted with expensive "issue advocacy" ads that feature poker players. The ads, which are being broadcast on prime time major network television and are costing almost $2 million dollars, imply that Pallone is gambling with the money that is needed to save Social Security.

Mrs. Clinton told the seniors that she has frequently stayed up late at night and watched Rep. Pallone on C-SPAN arguing against Republican health insurance reforms.

"He was on so often it was almost like the Frank Pallone HMO Reform Show,'" Mrs. Clinton said.

She said she was convinced big insurance companies watched late night C-SPAN too, and that's why they decided to go after Pallone.

Mrs. Clinton urged the seniors not to "get scammed by false ads" and instead vote for Pallone because he had fought against Newt Gingrich and the HMO reformers who "want to take your rights as patients away."

Because her personal approval ratings are so much higher than her husband's, Mrs. Clinton has been out on the campairail for Democrats for days now. She talks about health care, education, abortion rights and breast cancer.

She speaks to crowds like the one in Edison yesterday that is stacked with partisan supporters and Democratic hangers-on.

She does not talk about the impeachment proceedings against her husband or Monica Lewinsky and she does not take questions from the press.

She doesn't mention that she personally lobbied Democratic congressman before the impeachment issue came up in the House and that Pallone voted against the Republican investigation proposal.

She also doesn't mention that the federal budget that Pallone voted for last week takes $20 billion dollars out of the surplus that her husband has insisted should go toward saving Social Security.

There are "Big Lie" campaigns and then there are "Bigger Lie" campaigns.

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!: ‘War of Worlds' taught panic

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

Those wise people in West Windsor who make sure that the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" is properly commemorated every year are always careful to include a thoughtful side to the celebration.

The fictional broadcast of Martians landing in Grovers Mill provoked the first sociological analysis of the cause and effect of mass panic, and the West Windsor folks believe the study of that strange phenomenon should continue. Now, at the 60th anniversary of the event, they rightfully insist on asking if it could happen again.

Could the world, or a sizable portion of it, be fooled by the media into thinking that something truly disastrous was occurring?

The obvious answer to those of us who live our lives in a 24-hour news cycle is: "Sure."

In fact, today's high-tech news creates a kind of ongoing, low-grade panic that goes on all the time.

A child is murdered by a crazed freak in some backwoods school in the Midwest. Within minutes, parents across the country hear the news and become fearful for their own children. All kinds of preventative tactics are put in place across the country that may or may not make any sense.

All children are seen as similarly vulnerable whether they are or not and they and their parents become afraid.

A beautiful princess dies in a car crash and we are immediately convinced by the media attention that it must be a global tragedy. We are glued to the screen with our grief.

After 56 hours, heroic local firemen pull the little girl out of the well. We shared the fear and exult in their success.

"War of the Worlds" was the first noteworthy instance of media-induced fear and panic, but the media has learned that a gimmick sells. If the booming voice of Orson Welles announced the Martian invasion on radio today, CNN's cameras would be in Grovers Mill, inside of an hour. Even after they determined it wasn't true, the "special coverage" would continue.

We'd have CNN, live from the Martian landing site. We'd have MSNBC interviews with defense department officials regarding the feasibility of the landing and outside experts who would dispute those officials. We'd have debates on CNBC between people who'd seen other Martian landing sites and people who had proved that Martians had never landed. Within hours, there'd be a CBS News poll showing that 44 percent of the public believed that Martians had landed. Forty-eight percent wouldn't believe it and 5 percent wouldn't know.

Regardless of their opinion, nearly 60 percent would believe there had been a government coverup.

Americans have come to love the big, scary news story. Nothing brings us together like the latest news flash that the sky is falling. As people become more isolated, big news is one of the few things that can still make us feel like a community.

Back in 1938, after the "War of the Worlds" broadcast, New York Tribune columnist Dorothy Thompson worried that the radio show "proved that a few effective voices, accompanied by sound effects, can so convince masses of people of a totally unreasonable, completely fantastic proposition as to create a nationwide panic."

Today, Thompson's fear is not only a given, it's an understatement. "Effective voices" and "sound effects" are nothing compared to what television pictures and the Internet can do.

The special hype surrounding this year's election demonstrate how high-tech media creates just enough panic to keep people motivated.

Thanks to their television ads, our politicians, who rarely cut budgets, reform spending or do anything that will threaten their security in office will once again convince voters that behind every pork-barreled, self-interested move they make, they really have our best interests at heart.

Enough people will believe them to put them back in office.

Politicians pull off this hoax right after Halloween every year by using the same panic technique Welles utilized in "War of the Worlds." They convince voters that the Martians have landed.

This year, the pro-Clinton Democrats say the Martians are a right-wing conspiracy that has no compassion and wants to impose their religious views on everyone.

The anti-Clinton Republicans say the Martians are liberal big-spenders with no morals who want to take all your money and deny you the right to raise your children the way you want.

The scientists who have studied the "War of the Worlds" phenomena concluded that when people are afraid, they lose their ability to make rational judgments or even to discern what is actually going on. Some would say our elections are a clear demonstration of that symptom.

In 1938, Thompson believed that "fear response" was very dangerous. "If people can be frightened out of their wits by mythical men from Mars, they can be frightened into fanaticism by the fear of Reds, or convinced that America is in the hands of 60 families or aroused to revenge against any minority or terrorize into subservience to leadership because of any imaginable menace," she wrote at the time.

What Thompson could not imagine was that fear and low-grade panic would become such a part of American life that indifference and apathy would become the norm. How could he have known that media proliferation would cause us to become mesmerized by the trivial, like celebrity funerals and murder trials, and indifferent to events of consequence.

If the news broke today that Martians were landing, there would be three talking heads on "Larry King Live" tonight discussing how the landing would affect the stock market.

Sun., Oct. 25, 1998

NO TRACK RECORD: Car insurance system untested

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

At this time last year, every television station that blasted into New Jersey was filled with campaign ads about auto insurance.

"We're number one," charged one Democratic ad blaming Gov. Whitman for the state's high auto-insurance rates and accusing her of buckling under to the demands of insurance companies.

"I heard you," was Whitman's comeback in what was called her "mea culpa commercial."

She promised to fix auto insurance if folks re-elected her.

They did, and the latest model of New Jersey auto-insurance reform, which is supposed to include a 15 percent rate rollback, is about to roll into the showroom.

Beginning Nov. 1, the long-awaited "Tier Rating System" will go into place, starting with people whose car-insurance policies are up for renewal.

Under the new system, the long-detested "surcharges" have been eliminated. In their place, insurance companies will determine the cost of individual policies by assigning drivers to three basic cost categories or "tiers."

The preferred tier is for drivers who insurance companies determine have the lowest risk of accidents. Preferred tier drivers will get the cheapest rates.

The standard tier is for average risk drivers and must include drivers who have as many as six points on their licenses.

The sub-standard tier is for the highest risk drivers, and their rates will be the highest.

Will this new, tiered rating system, with its customized pricing system for different drivers, turn out to be cheaper than the old system?

There's no way to tell.

According to Winnie Comfort, spokesperson for the N.J. Dept. of Banking and Insurance, the state has focused their auto-insurance reform efforts on the standard tier, making sure it is affordable and that eligibility is broad. But insurance companies have lots of say in determining who gets the cheapest rates.

"Companies were given leeway in who they wanted to classify as a preferred driver," Comfort said. "We see most of the competition coming in that area."

But Jim McGreevey, the Democrat who ran against Whitman and put those ads on the air last year, said that competition is unfair to drivers and will make it easy for insurance companies to obscure their true profit line.

"The 15 percent rollback is a myth," McGreevey said. "We wanted to force the insurance companies to take that 15 percent cut out of their hide, but Whitman is allowing them to determine where the cuts come from and it will make it impossible to compare costs."

McGreevey complained that drivers could be kicked out of the "preferred driver" category simply because they park their car on the street as opposed to a garage or have made a late payment on their auto insurance.

Comfort admitted that some insurance companies may use what seems like arbitrary criteria to exclude drivers from "preferred driver" categories, but she said that before those regulations were approved, the insurance companies had to demonstrate that such drivers actually were a higher risk.

"They showed us that cars parked on the street actually are more likely to be damaged than cars in garages, and late insurance payments really mean that a car is actually uninsured for several days," Comfort said.

She said that one difference between the tiered rating system and the old system is that in determining preferred risk drivers, "insurance companies don't only look at your driving record, but also how good a customer you will be."

McGreevey says the criteria that insurance companies will use to make that judgment will not be universal and that it will be difficult for the public to sort out one company's criteria from another's.

"They can even judge you on how long you've been with their insurance company, not whether or not you've always been insured," McGreevey said.

Comfort acknowledged that insurance prices may vary widely from company to company and drivers could pay much more than necessary if they fail to shop around. She said that Banking and Insurance Commissioner Jaynee LaVecchia will be releasing a user-friendly auto insurance kit next Wednesday that will assist drivers in finding the cheapest and best car insurance.

The information will also be available on the web.

"The free kit will include a company by company description of what is available and how you qualify for the various tiers," Comfort said.

Comfort says that when most drivers compare what is available, they will save money. But McGreevey says the changes are so complex and arbitrary that it will be impossible to determine any actual reduction in auto-insurance rates.

"They're not holding the insurance companies accountable," McGreevey said. "The only accountability to New Jersey drivers in the new system is the press."

Starr Report

Fri., Oct. 23, 1998

PARTY FAVORS: State pols raking in big $$$

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

Along with high property taxes and auto insurance rates, New Jersey has earned the distinction of being one of the nation's biggest cash cows when it comes to campaign contributions.

"New Jersey is an exporter of campaign funds," said Richard Thigpen, Executive Director of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. "We may be among the top five states in the nation."

And two of New Jersey's politicians are fast becoming legendary fund-raisers, both inside and out of the Garden State.

Gov. Whitman has raised almost $4.6 million in New Jersey this year. She's also campaigned in almost a dozen other states this campaign season raising $6.3 million for Republican candidates including California senate candidate Matt Fong.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Senator Bob Torricelli has been on the national campaign trail too, raising cash for lots of Democratic senatorial candidates including Fong's opponent in California, Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Torricelli has long been acknowledged as one of the top fund-raisers in the Democratic party and as co-chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, it has been his job to raise and distribute almost $40 million to Democratic candidates during the current campaign cycle.

DSCC spokesman, Michael Tucker said yesterday that Torricelli is a "tremendous asset" in their national fundraising and campaign efforts.

"Because of his experience as a 1996 candidate, he brings lots of expertise," said Tucker.

On the GOP side, Whitman spokesman, Pete McDonough, says that when it comes to fund-raising in New Jersey, there are "no stars that compare with Christie Whitman."

With less than two weeks to go before the November 3 elections, big-time campaign fund-raising is going into its final, manic phase. Challengers and incumbents are passing the hat and the hors d'oeuvres in order to raise the campaign contributions that are critical to keeping their television ads on their air and their name in the race.

Perhaps because television time costs more in New Jersey than almost anywhere else in the country, Garden State politicians like Whitman and Torricelli aren't afraid to tackle large fund-raising goals.

And New Jersey political types have learned how to give.

Garden Staters write so many campaign checks that New Jersey has become known as a soft touch when it comes to campaign contributions.

Big name politicians from both parties frequently visit the state to tell a few jokes and drive away with a hand full of checks.

President and Hillary Clinton have both raised millions here and are slated for fund-raisers before the November elections.

So have Al and Tipper Gore.

House Judiciary member, John Conyers, D-Michigan, was at the Parkside Diner in Ewing yesterday campaigning for Democrat Rush Holt and north Jersey Democrats paid $1,000 to have shrimp cocktails with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, on Wednesday night.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, who is also on the Judiciary Committee, was in Princeton last weekend and Budget guru, Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, recently scarfed down hot dogs with the locals in Manville.

Woodbridge Mayor Jim McGreevey put together a little breakfast party on Monday morning for Sen. Joe Lieberman, the moderate Democrat from Connecticut who made big news last summer when he came out and called the president "immoral" on the Senate floor.

Jesse Jackson was in New Jersey last Sunday urging voters to forgive Clinton and vote Democratic.

The president's hired gun and full-time Ken Starr basher, James Carville, also has raised funds in New Jersey, using his time on the stump to coach Democrats on smart-aleck comebacks when people bring up the Clinton scandal.

Whitman is campaigning in New Hampshire and Washington next week. Torricelli's campaign schedule includes both in- and out-of-state stops between now and November 4.

October 23, 1998

CARLEY ONLY DESERVES CENSURE

Somebody has got to speak out against those Mercer County jurors who are persecuting poor Richard Carley, a former assistant attorney general, for something they are calling "sexual harassment."

Earlier this week, those sanctimonious folks in the Trenton Courthouse ordered Carley to pay Barbara Davis, another attorney who worked for the Division of Criminal Justice, $350,000 in punitive damages for allegedly groping her and talking dirty in the work place.

This same prudish jury had already demanded that the State of New Jersey pay Davis $350,000 for lost wages and emotional distress.

That comes on top the several million dollars that the state will be forced to pay out in attorney fees for both Carley and Davis.

Its a waste of taxpayer money.

Its a sexual witch hunt.

Aren't assistant attorney generals entitled to a private life?

Davis claimed that Carley frequently told dirty jokes in the office, asked her for oral sex and stuffed dollar bills down her blouse.

So? What difference do dirty jokes, requests for oral sex and dollar stuffing make as long as Carley is doing a good job as an assistant attorney general.

Dirty jokes, requests for oral sex and dollar stuffing are none of the public's business.

The whole ugly affair reeks of sexual "McCarthyism." New Jersey's vast right-wing is obviously behind this whole "sexual harassment" thing.

The American people have made it very clear that they want no restraints on the sexual antics that go on in government offices. Carley's dirty jokes and the occasional gropings are a private matter between him and Davis.

If Carley's wife doesn't care, why should we?

Well, actually Carley is divorced. But that's all the more reason that the courts should stop hounding this man and let him get on doing the job the State of New Jersey hired him to do.

The public wants to move on.

They do not see Barbara Davis as some victim of sexual harassment. She was a woman with ambitious career goals who wanted a better job and clearly knew how to get the attention of one of the top guys in charge. She wore a lacy bra to the office underneath a see-through blouse. She flashed that bra at Carley as if she were an intern and he was the commander in chief.

What kind of man would be expected to resist such an overture?

Davis got what she deserved...dirty jokes and groping.

Too bad they decided not to introduce that bra into evidence.

The fact that Carley quit his job after he was convicted of sexual harassment makes it crystal clear what is really going on here. The real goal of those dirty-minded prudes on the Mercer County jury was to destroy this assistant attorney general.

The sexual harassment thing was obviously concocted by Carley's political enemies when they could find no other way to get him.

We may not know who Carley's political enemies are, but you can bet your porno film collection that they're political conservatives, probably religious fanatics. Those folks don't like sex and they go off the handle if they think anybody else is having fun at it.

They're trying to impose their religious views on the whole country, but the American people won't stand for it any longer.

The public has better things to do than to worry about the private sex life of this assistant attorney general and they certainly can't be bothered with some whining woman who complains that her work suffered because the top guy in her office copped a few feels.

They all do it. What assistant attorney general doesn't tell dirty jokes, ask their co-workers for oral sex and stuff dollar bills into the bras of women employees?

Its not fair for anyone on that Mercer County jury to judge Carley unless they've never told a dirty joke at the office or groped a co-worker.

Who could be qualified to cast the first stone?

Richard Carley should not have been forced to quit his job and he certainly shouldn't have to pay $300,000 in punitive damages to Barbara Davis.

At the very most, they should just give him some kind of censure.

Starr Report

Sherry Sylvester

P. Six Girl

Thurs., Oct. 22, 1998

CASH & CARRY: Parsons gives $$$ to Burlco GOP

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

Burlington County Republicans have received a $30,000 political contribution from a subsidiary of the Parsons Corporation, the parent company of the organization that received a half-billion-dollar contract last year to privatize New Jersey's vehicle inspection system.

Democrats charged that the big check is an effort by Parsons to buy the special legislative election in Burlington County.

"Parsons seems to be creating a ‘rent to own' strategy for legislators with the 7th District being the first fire sale," said Assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union.

Cohen joined Democrat Jack Connors at a DMV Inspection Station in Delanco yesterday to criticize Gov. Whitman's privatization initiatives in Parson's privatization of the Department of Motor Vehicles in particular.

Connors, who is running in a special election to fill a Burlington County Assembly seat, asked why Parsons Transportation Group, a subsidiary of the Parsons Corporation, would target the Burlington County Republican Committee for the maximum contribution allowed.

Cohen said that Democratic investigations had not identified other Parsons company contributions to any other county committees in New Jersey.

Cohen, who was the most vocal opponent of the DMV privatization last year, said that when Whitman finalized her plan to turn over the state's vehicle inspection program to Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, which is also a subsidiary of the Parsons Corporation, she had the support of Republicans in the legislature. Cohen believes the company wants to ensure that future privatization efforts will get a receptive hearing in the New Jersey Legislature.

Connors is running against Burlington County Republican Ken Faulkner for the 7th District seat this November.

Parsons spokesman Carl Golden said he had no idea why a Parsons company would choose to make a political contribution to the Burlington County Republicans. But, he said, all businesses are free to make decisions about supporting candidates in compliance with election laws.

"That's how democracy works," Golden said. "People and companies are free to make political contributions to parties and candidates."

Cohen attacked Whitman's privatization initiatives saying that "in recent months many of the state's transportation related contracts have generated problems, delays and controversies..."

Connors said that the legislature needs "watchdogs" like him who will protect taxpayers against "ill-advised, costly and problematic transportation contracts."

Connors is particularly concerned about the state's planning of a Camden-to-Trenton light rail line which will pass through riverside communities in western Burlington County.

Cohen said that the failure of NetTech Solutions, a private contractor that took over state processing of traffic accident data, was an indication of the weakness of privatization policy.

"The private sector gets the government over a barrel, so they raise the price of the contract in the second phase and ultimately there ends up being no discount over state costs," Cohen said.

Cohen said the state has an obligation to closely review private contracts to determine whether they are the best deal for taxpayers.

But Golden said the "anti-privatization" agenda of Cohen and state worker unions was another agenda, separate from the political contributions issue.

Starr Report

P. Six Girl

Fri., Oct. 16, 1998

PRIMARY CONCERN: Pols push for March vote

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

One lawmaker says moving New Jersey's presidential primary to March in the year 2000, is the state's only chance of becoming a primetime player in president politics.

But New Jersey senator Bob Torricelli, who may actually be playing presidential politics in 2000, says the change is a terrible idea.

Assemblyman George Geist, R-Gloucester Twp., got a bill out of the State Government Committee yesterday which would move all primary elections in New Jersey to March 7 in the year 2000.

Geist told his fellow legislators that the change would save New Jersey from being "last and left out" in the game of presidential politics.

But Torricelli, who is sometimes mentioned as a vice presidential candidate, told The Trentonian yesterday that the primary move was a step in the wrong direction.

"We need political campaigns that are shorter and cost less money," Torricelli said. "This is counter to all our efforts to reduce campaign spending."

Geist's proposal, endorsed yesterday by Gov. Whitman, would create a bi-coastal super primary day with the states of New York, California, Oregon and possibly Pennsylvania all voting on March 7.

The move would give New Jersey earlier influence in the presidential nominating process, but some political observers believe that creating a bi-coastal super primary day would unfairly benefit candidates who are were best known and funded. Lesser-known candidates would have a hard time competing in expensive media states like New York, New Jersey and California.

The primary change would seem to favor vice president Al Gore, who is currently the best-known and funded candidate for president in 2000. But State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Elizabeth, who has agreed to head Gore's campaign in New Jersey, said yesterday that he also doesn't support changing the New Jersey primary date.

"I'm not so sure we ought to be juggling with the primary dates," Lesniak said, noting that in terms of Vice Pres. Gore's chances, it doesn't matter when the election is held.

But Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange, continues to support moving primary day to March. Codey is a strong supporter of former senator Bill Bradley, who many believe would be the victor in a New Jersey primary, particularly if it were held early.

Bradley spokesman, Ed Terlington, said the senator was not closely following the primary day debate. However, he noted that Codey "is a smart man with good judgment, who must have good reasons for supporting the change."

Geist introduced a similar bill to change the primary in 1994, but it went nowhere because Gov. Whitman did not want to commit herself to a presidential candidate so early in the campaign season. At that time, Whitman had ties both to former senator Bob Dole and her neighbor in Bedminster, Steve Forbes. She ultimately endorsed Dole.

But Whitman has become much more involved in national politics in the past few months and has said that one of her top political priorities is to put a Republican back in the White House in 2000.

Observers believe an early New Jersey primary would give Whitman more influence in the GOP nominating process.

But Torricelli said that it was not wise to try to create a political game plan that would assure influence in some future political scenario.

"The cards are different every time you deal them," Torricelli said. "This would make for a longer campaign schedule and that would be a real shame."

But Whitman spokesman, Pete McDonough, said longer campaigns could be good for politics in New Jersey, particularly in counties where single-party rule limits debate.

"With a couple more months to look at candidates, it would be harder for entrenched incumbents to duck debates," McDonough said.

Geist's bill would only make the change in the year 2000 on a trial basis, but McDonough said Whitman would like to make it permanent.

Geist said that Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, R-Salem, has announced his support for the bill, which must now be approved by the Assembly and the Senate.

Starr Report

Thurs., Oct. 15, 1998

Sex shoe No. 2 to drop on Bill

Column By Sherry Sylvester

Since the stories of the cigar and Monica's thong underwear, most folks have forgotten about Kathleen Willey, the 50-something former White House staffer who went on "60 Minutes" last winter and said that President Clinton had groped her in his office.

Clinton denied ever touching Willey. He defended himself at the time by producing some thank you notes from her that he previously couldn't find in his files.

In his famous televised testimony in August, Clinton was asked about withholding those documents from the grand jury. He answered, in predictable Clintonese, that it depended on what the investigators meant by the term "White House Files."

Clinton and his people contend that because Willey had written nice notes to the president thanking him for his help, he obviously couldn't have groped her.

Or, if he did grope her, she wasn't very upset about it.

In the old days, when Anita Hill was accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, there were message logs which indicated that Hill had phoned Thomas almost a dozen times during the time he was supposedly harassing her.

But back then, Democratic types said that Hill's being nice to a man in power was something she had no choice about since he was a high-ranking official and his goodwill was critical to her job.

You'd think keeping the goodwill of the president of the United States would have been fairly critical for Willey too, particularly since she was asking Clinton for a better paying job. But the Clinton scandal has made it clear that the sexual harassment rules are different if the man involved is a liberal Democrat instead of a conservative Republican.

But now Kathleen Willey is back in the news.

This week's Time Magazine reports that the investigation of Willey's allegations may be the next document dump coming to Congress from Kenneth Starr's office.

House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, indicated last week that Starr is involved in additional ongoing investigations, and most folks believe that he's looking into the Clinton response to the Willey charges.

The most interesting detail in the Willey story is that Democratic fundraiser Nathan Landau, who knew about Willey, may have asked her to lie about the alleged groping. According to Time, when Landau was called to testify before Starr's committee, he took the Fifth Amendment.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bob Novak reported last week that a new look into the Willey allegations could result in a repeat of the Lewinsky situation for Clinton. If Clinton told the grand jury that Willey was lying and it turns out she was telling the truth, then Clinton is in perjury trouble again.

Not that a little more perjury is likely to make much difference when it comes to next month's impeachment hearings. If Willey's charges turn out to be true, Democrats will surely say that Clinton can't be blamed for lying about it because anyone who had groped a White House staffer in his office would surely lie about it to protect himself and his family.

About the only lesson the regular woman can take from this whole mess is that it's not a good idea to send thank you notes to big shots. They could count against you later if the guy turns out to be a groper.

Sunday, October 11, 1998 FRONT PAGE
The Road Warrior: Christie Plays Better on the Road than at Home

There's a joke going around the State House that Senate Pres. Don DiFrancesco has been Acting Governor so often lately that if he is elected in his own right in 2001, he'll only get to serve one term.

Gov. Christie Whitman has been campaigning so much around the country that her schedule looks like the comeback tour for the Grateful Dead.

San Francisco this weekend. Denver on Tuesday, then Chicago and Detroit.

Everywhere Whitman goes, she's a big hit.

Whitman spokesman, Pete McDonough, said last week that the governor has already raised a million and a half dollars for California Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dan Lungren.

Lungren's spokeswoman, Sara Brown, called Whitman "a tremendous figure in the Republican party." Whitman's now frequent television appearances, including "Larry King Live" last week, are also contributing to her high profile image as a smart-talking Republican woman who doesn't pull any punches.

Meanwhile, here in New Jersey, few people are paying attention as Whitman rises to the top tier of the country's politicians. As national media mobs the stage to get a good shot of Jersey's governor, the local media is just as likely to be cynical or dismissive.

"It seems that no matter what she does, the public is given a negative view of it," DiFrancesco said last week. "The $5 billion for education facilities wasn't enough."

Whitman's property tax commission report was roundly panned last month and her education reforms, in the wake of the historic Supreme Court ruling last spring, are also being criticized.

DiFrancesco says that he understands that the governor cannot get the play she needs to have national political influence if she spends all her time in New Jersey.

"She wants to be that kind of national player and if she wants to be, I want her to be," DiFrancesco said. "She is popular and powerful and that helps us."

Tom Wilson, who ran Whitman's successful re-election campaign last year, says that the difference in Whitman's high-powered national image and the sometimes mediocre grades that she gets at home are just a reflection of the way the media works in the Garden State.

"The local press isn't overly critical of the governor," Wilson said. "They tend to report both sides of state issues. The national press has a different focus."

Wilson also said that even the opposition to Whitman's national campaign efforts, which are widely reported in New Jersey, are actually positive.

"The more she goes around and is targeted by the right, the better it is for her," Wilson said. "Every time there's a picket, a protest or Gary Bauer (head of the conservative group, "Focus on the Family") speaks out against her, it enhances her credibility as a moderate spokesperson."

State GOP Chairman, Chuck Haytaian, who successfully defended Whitman last winter when the national GOP wanted to withdraw all campaign funds for abortion-rights Republicans like Whitman, believes the niggling at home over the governor's agenda is partly because she's working on the toughest part of the Republican agenda.

"All the things we did in 1992 and 93 are coming to fruition. The economy is moving,"

Haytaian said. "The governor and the legislative leadership are now working on things that have long needed doing, like property taxes and education."

Both Haytaian and DiFrancesco dismiss the chronic battles that go on between the Republican legislature and the governor on everything from property taxes to school choice.

"The focus is on her, and that's the way it should be." DiFrancesco said. "As the Senate we can't get the message out."

In fact, DiFrancesco said that he'd like to be more of a help to Whitman as she campaigns around the country.

"They ought to let me do a few more things when she's out of town," DiFrancesco said noting that he's very good a signing bills and making speeches.

If Whitman continues to keeps her national profile high, DiFrancesco could get a lot of practice being governor between now and 2001.

Friday, October 9, 1998

Bill Clinton Is Big Winner

According to some of the information in the latest "document dump" from the Kenneth Starr investigation, Bill Clinton's first response to the news that word had gotten out about his affair with Monica Lewinsky was to take a poll.

He called his old political strategist, Dick Morris, who put his finger on the public pulse and came back with the news that the American people would not respond positively to a presidential confession about office sex.

When Morris passed this along to the president, Clinton abandoned any thoughts of coming clean. Instead, according to Morris, the president said "we'll just have to win then."

Now he has.

Granted, the open-ended impeachment hearings are proceeding but Democrats are holding the party line, which means it is all over.

Clinton's approval ratings remain high and there's little evidence that Democrats will suffer much because of him in next month's elections.

The railing against him has stopped. Nobody has called the president "immoral" lately except in an off-hand kind of way. Clinton's Democratic defenders have even managed to shift the conversation so that Clinton appears to be the real victim in the scandal.

Except for conservative Republicans and those of us in the media, who can't quite figure out how to ignore persistent lying, everybody seems to love the president. The entire country can't seem to heap enough praise on Clinton and the good job they think he is doing as president.

In poll after poll, folks have made it abundantly clear that their opinion about Clinton's job performance won't change even though they know that while doing that job, some White House staffer repeatedly performed oral sex on him in his office while he was talking on the phone.

If the American people are willing to lower the moral bar to that level, there's no contest.

Bill Clinton has won.

The facts of the debate don't seem to matter anymore. You don't have to read the thousands of pages of documents in the Starr Report to understand that Clinton lied under oath more than once. He got other people to lie and he used power of his office to help cover it all up.

His cover-up and the charges against him are almost identical to Richard Nixon's behavior in Watergate.

Everybody knows this. Nobody cares.

Clinton and his team have pulled off this victory by making the country's thinking as twisted and paranoid as theirs is.

Somehow, they have made it appear that the real threat to the country is not a president whose behavior is so undisciplined and duplicitous that he would not be able to get a security clearance if it didn't come to his job. Instead, they've made folks believe that its right wingers behind Kenneth Starr who are the real problem.

It's an absolutely brilliant strategy that solves both Clinton's short term problems with Lewinsky and defends him against other charges against him. Switching the focus to Starr as the the bad guy has caused people to ignore all the damning evidence in his report. For example, no one seems to be asking why Betty Currie's so radically changed her testimony from her first appearance before the grand jury in January to her last appearance in August.

When she was first called last winter, she told the grand jury that the president had spoken to her at home and at the office, essentially coaching her on how to lie if she was asked about Monica Lewinsky.

When she came back before the grand jury in August, she told the grand jury she couldn't remember much of anything that happened from that time when she collected the gifts the president had given Lewinsky and hid them under her bed.

Could her memory lapse have occured when Clinton made Currie a special guest on his trip to Africa last July? It must have been the opportunity of a lifetime for Currie to get to meet and talk to South African President, Nelson Mandela.

The experience may have been meaningful enough for her that she was willing to "forget" much of the murky stuff that she knew about Clinton's affair and his lying about it.

Clinton's long-term victory strategy is to use the Lewinsky affair to make people suspicious about any other charges against him.

For example, evidence is surfacing now that indicates that Clinton may have willingly moved to violate campaign finance laws in the last election. Janet Reno is also moving in on Harold Ickes, one of Clinton's shadiest staff members, who is being investigated for improper influence in a labor dispute that involved a union that had supported Clinton.

And that's just the new stuff. Clinton has more cabinet members convicted of crimes or under investigation than any other president. Then there's those 900 FBI files thatwere found in the White House basement, Hillary's lost billing records, the travel office scandal and the questions that are being raised about the "wag the dog" attack on Sudan and Afghanistan in August.

But once Clinton gets off on the Lewinsky thing, the country will certainly have no stomach for any of the other charges that are being raised against him and his people.

The American people, in their much touted wisdom, have decided that they'd rather have a liar for president than go through the hassle of impeachment.

That's a big win for Bill Clinton.

Thurs., Oct. 8, 1998

CHRISTIE MYSTERY: Why national tour if no run?

Column By Sherry Sylvester

If Gov. Whitman doesn't come back to New Jersey soon, they're going to put her picture on milk cartons.

After receiving rave reviews for her Monday night performance on "Larry King Live," Whitman left this morning for her second campaign trip to California in the past few weeks.

While she's on the left coast, she'll be campaigning for Dan Lungren, the pro-life, pro-gun Republican who is trying to suceed Gov. Pete Wilson.

She's also going to campaign in Michigan, Illinois and Colorado and will be featured at a national forum sponsored by USA Today in Naples, Fla.

Whitman's office continues to insist that this burst of campaign enthusiasm should not be over-analyzed for political import. Even though her schedule looks the same as several other high profile Republicans who are presidential candidates, say Dan Quayle or Jack Kemp, her people insist she's not running for anything bigger.

"She's the daughter of a state party chairman who takes campaigning for Republican candidates very seriously," said Whitman spokesperson, Julie Plocinik. "She wants all states to share in the prosperity that Republican governors can bring."

It's hard to argue with that.

Besides, Whitman has said very clearly that she is not running for president in 2000.

But that doesn't mean that Whitman is going to pass up an opportunity to share in the political windfall that may rain down on the GOP as a result of the Clinton sex scandal.

Republicans are out for blood in November and in trying to help, Whitman has once again become a national GOP star.

"She is a tremendous figure in the Republican Party," aide Lungren spokesperson Sara Brown. "We are delighted to have her here."

Brown said that Whitman's presence in California has been "helpful" because she is a leader who stands for GOP principles and because she is a woman.

Whitman's national stump speech features her fame as a tax cutter and her no-nonsense calls for Clinton's resignation. Unlike the shrill Republicans in Congress, Whitman doesn't sound prudish or judgmental.

Instead, Whitman seems stateswoman-like -- vice presidential maybe, or even secretary-of-state-like. The national press has noticed her star on the horizon again and she has recently become one of the most sought-after talking heads on all the top talk shows. Before "Larry King," she turned down "Meet the Press."

But her presidential put-downs have played much better on the road than they have at home. Local Democrats keep charging that she has no right to say anything about Bill Clinton because of the dismissed sexual harassment charges against GOP State Chairman Chuck Haytaian.

But then nothing the governor is doing right now is playing very well at home. Some political insiders are even speculating that she's not hitting the campaign trail because she's running for something -- she just wants to get out of town.

Her long-awaited Property Tax Commission Report was more or less dead on arrival at the State House. School administrators are poised to riot against her education commissioner, Leo Klagholz, who is trying to implement new court mandated programs in the state's poorer school districts. And the $5 billion she just put up to build new school buildings isn't making folks happy either.

Shaking hands with a bunch of California types at some San Francisco campaign soiree may seem like a lot more fun to Whitman than trying to bring down municipal taxes, fight with local school boards or dodge the zingers from the New Jersey press.

That's even more true if those California types think our governor is a "tremendous figure" in the GOP. Of course, they probably also believe that she's running for something.

Starr Report

Tues., Oct. 6, 1998

Flynt's promise: $1 mil for tryst & shout story

Column by Sherry Sylvester

Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, has offered $1 million to anybody who can provide him with documented evidence that they had sex with a congressman or a high government official.

Always looking for a local angle, my first question was how big the reward would be for the same information regarding a New Jersey state legislator or some state official? Half a million? Two hundred dollars?

Also, would Flynt give you any money if you hadn't actually participated in any political trysts, but knew a lot of stuff about people who had? If that were the case, it could be a real financial windfall for political reporters. People tell us about the affairs of public officials all the time.

However, what reporters know and Flynt will soon find out is that most of the stuff that floats around about the private lives of public people isn't true. If you follow the gossip, you will hear that virtually every man under 40 in New Jersey who aspires for higher office is rumored to be both secretly gay and a womanizer. The people who push the gay rumors somehow never seem to cross paths with the folks who push the stories about the playboy stuff.

Political men over 40 are just known as womanizers.

And some of them are, just like some of the guys in Congress are, or have been, or would like to be.

Flynt thinks that if he can find enough congressional womanizers, he can expose what he sees as the hypocrisy of the pending impeachment proceedings against the president. If other men have done it, Flynt reasons, how can they point a finger at the president?

Oddly enough, Flynt also probably hopes that exposing the secret sexual activities of men who are supposed to be respectable will somehow make his demeaning approach to women more respectable. Flynt is a long-time proponent of illicit sex and pornography as a lifestyle.

Judging from the weekend commentaries in the New York Times Magazine and other outlets for Hollywood types, there are many who share Flynt's view that Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky could be a springboard for smashing up the prudish attitudes that many Americans have about sex. As commentator, Chris Matthews puts it, this may be the time we learn to "be French."

But as the impeachment committee drones on irrelevantly, there are some of us who are hoping that the Lewinsky affair will start a trend moving a different direction. In the world of politics, maybe the best thing that could come out of the Bill and Monica show is that it will teach some much-needed lessons to the guys who use their political positions as a way to get women.

For starters, hopefully one lesson politicians will draw from Monica Lewinsky is that women always talk. Women who are attracted to men because of their power somehow think the power rubs off on them when they have sex. Since there's no way to tell that by looking, they will have to tell somebody. Or everybody. If a man drops them or treats them badly, they will tell a reporter.

If the politician has done something corrupt that the woman knows about, he's in trouble.

Another lesson from the Monica types is that women like her who have affairs with powerful men remember every detail of every encounter. That could be a critical sticking point for those wild and crazy politicians who only recall a blur.

Also, Monica demonstrates how women in affairs almost always fall in love. With very few exceptions, women, unlike men, have no interest in casual sex. They handle that problem by making all sex serious and romantic.

The Clinton scandal has revealed how many grown-up men still fail to grasp this.

But perhaps the pictures of the bloated and depressed Monica that we've been watching for months provides the most important lesson for the men in Congress who are contemplating Bill Clinton's impeachment. Womanizing is not just some personal, harmless weakness like the president's inability to resist donuts or Big Macs. Womanizing devalues all women and always degrades and hurts the individual woman who is involved.

Always.

Flynt can write out as many million dollar checks as he wants, but that's the truth he's going to find in every story he buys.

Starr Report

P. Six Girl

Fri., Oct. 2, 1998

CAPITOL CHRISTIE?: 2000 run seems unlikely

By SHERRY SYLVESTER

Chief Political Writer

Gov. Whitman just made her strongest statement yet that she is not running for president. But she is continuing to keep her national profile high.

Whitman appeared Wednesday night on CNBC's "Hardball" and unequivocally told moderator Chris Matthews that she was not a candidate for president in 2000.

"You've really got to want it," Whitman said, explaining that anyone who was serious about 2000 should be campaigning now.

"I'm not running now," Whitman said.

However, when Matthews asked her if it was time to put a woman in the White House, Whitman said "absolutely."

Whitman has appeared on several national television shows recently and has been campaigning for Republicans around the country for the last several weeks.

Yesterday she hosted a Republican fund-raiser in Washington after speaking at the prestigious Sperling Breakfast where she told reporters that she was also not planning to run against Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

She is scheduled to appear on "Larry King Live," the most widely watched political talk show on television on Monday evening. Former New York governor, Mario Cuomo and anchorperson Brit Hume will also be guests.

Whitman spokesperson, Pete McDonough said that the governor's "Hardball" pronounced was not markedly different from her previous statements regarding high office.

"She has consistently said that she's not running now and that she wants to finish her term," McDonough said.

However, McDonough said that no one believes the governor has pledged never to run for any kind of elective office again.

"But if you want to run for president now, you've got to be out there, you've got to be stumping and raising money," McDonough said. "She's not doing that."

Whitman made national news earlier in the week when she upstaged California governor Pete Wilson's announcement that he was moving up the presidential primary in that West Coast to March 7th.

Whitman countered with a proposal to move New Jersey's presidential primary election to the same date. She proposed that several other East coast states also change their election dates, creating a bi-coastal primary day.

Much of the media attention that is currently being showered on Whitman is a result of her outspoken criticism of Pres. Bill Clinton.

Whitman has been called "a perfect messenger" for the Republicans in denouncing the president because she is a political moderate who has agreed with him on some issues, particularly partial birth abortion.

She told Matthews on "Hardball" that Clinton has lost the ability to lead because he no longer has the trust of the American people.

"The responsibility of leadership includes owning up to your actions and not splitting hairs," Whitman said.

The governor said that the president's failure to own up to his actions made it difficult to move other government initiatives forward.

"When you're trying to change behavior with kids," Whitman said, pointing to state programs with teens to prevent drug abuse and teen pregnancy, "you can't have two standards of behavior."

Whitman said she was also angry that much of the public seems to believe that all politicians behave like the president.

"They should not expect politicians to behave that way and they shouldn't accept it if they do," Whitman said.

Yesterday was the first time that Whitman has been invited to speak before the Sperling Breakfast, an elite gathering of selected journalists in Washington that has been held weekly for over thirty years.

Ironically, after Whitman's first election in 1993, her former campaign manager, Ed Rollins, appeared at the Sperling Breakfast and made charges, later proved untrue, that Whitman's win was partly the result of black clergy in New Jersey having been paid to reduce voter turnout.

Thurs., Oct. 1, 1998

Christie still going for the brass ring

Column By Sherry Sylvester

One of the things you gotta love about having a governor like Gov. Whitman is that she doesn't take a back seat to anybody.

On Tuesday, California Gov. Pete Wilson decided, in that snooty, we're-the-only-state-that-matters" way that only Californians can decide, that their presidential primary should be moved to March 7.

Wilson said the most populous state in the union should have a bigger say in who is nominated for president.

Since Wilson is on the very long list of Republicans who are running for president, most folks figured his idea to move up the California primary was a not very secret plan to give himself a head start.

But Whitman didn't bother to give Wilson even one 24-hour news cycle of special attention for the California primary change. Instead, she piped up with what she thinks is an even better idea. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware could all hold their presidential primaries on March 7, too. That way, according to Whitman's spokesperson, Peter McDonough, presidential nominees will have to woo voters on both coasts in order to zoom to the top of the charts in the primary sweepstakes. They'd like New York to get on board too.

Part of this new primary thinking is a renewed effort to get around the over-weighted impact that the two tiny, unsophisticated states of Iowa and New Hampshire whose early primaries give them a large role in determining who gets the presidential nominations on major party tickets.

Perhaps if the Gennifer Flowers story had broken out while Bill Clinton was running in some state except New Hampshire, he wouldn't have gotten off so easy.

But Whitman is definitely looking forward, not back, in pushing for primary change.

New Jersey's June primary leaves the Garden State out of the action. We've not made much difference in a presidential race since 1984, when Walter Mondale beat Gary Hart here.

Moving the primary to March would get Jersey back in the game. And, it could give Whitman some more chips to play in the kind of horse-trading that goes on between presidential candidates in order to push themselves over the top.

Whitman is already holding one big card. She's a Republican woman governor in a party that badly needs female voters if it's going to get back in the White House. Her position on abortion makes her an anathema to the party's right wing, but the moderates, as well as conservatives who want to win, like California GOP gubernatorial candidate, Dan Lungren, know that a smart-talking feminist like Whitman can come in very handy.

And even if she doesn't make the No. 2 spot on the ticket, there's still lots of cabinet jobs open if the Republicans win.

An early primary in her state, which is also a source of lots of presidential campaign funds would make Whitman's hand even stronger in the nationwide power game.

McDonough says it's important not to over-analyze the political implications of Whitman's primary proposal, too. He emphasizes that the governor, as usual, is just doing her job to make sure that New Jersey doesn't get short shrift.

But even Whitman has said that one of her priorities is to get Republicans back in the White House and she obviously thinks an early New Jersey primary would help.

Whitman's got all the support she needs to make the change. Senate Pres. Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, told The Trentonian yesterday that he would support the governor in any direction she wants to take on presidential primaries.

Senate Minority Leader, Dick Codey, D-West Orange, who is poised to help Bill Bradley's presidential effort, is also on board. He said yesterday that the change should have been made a long time ago.

Sen. John Adler, D-Cherry Hill, wrote a bill in 1995 to move the primary, but Whitman didn't want to do it back then because she didn't want to get tangled up in the race between Bob Dole and her neighbor Steve Forbes.

But everything is different now and Whitman could be on a roll. You gotta love it.