September 27th

Bill Clinton -
Gov. Christie Whitman -
Sen. Don DiFrancesco -
Sen. Shirley Turner -
Alan Karcher -
Sen. Bill Bradley -

Its official. Pres. Bill Clinton is a liar. Let's go to the videotape. Watch how he denies he
was ever alone with a person that he insists he didn't have sex with as "most normal people"
define sex.

See his paranoia as he rolls out his conspiracy theory, blaming his whole wretched cover-
up not on his own lack of honesty and character, but on an over-zealous prosecutor that he is
convinced is out to give him.

No politician, since Nixon, is more deserving of a down arrow.

That's why Gov. Christie Whitman gets an up arrow for calling on him to resign.

Whitman, who headed up a trade mission to Mexico last week, took time out to tell the president
to give his notice.

"I have tried to remain objective," Whitman said. "But its time to put an end to this seamy
sideshow."

Whitman is no right-wing Republican prude. She and Clinton have virtually the same
position on partial-birth abortion and the governor has been a strong proponent of gay rights. But
she clearly sees the damage that Clinton's antics are doing to the nation, and, unlike many New
Jersey Republicans, has the guts to say that its time for him to move on.

Senate Pres. Don DiFrancesco, ran the big show all week while Whitman was out of the
country, and is doing his best to get the legislature back into gear.

Tomorrow is the official opening day of the fall, lawmaking season and DiFrancesco is
kicking it off with a bill that could get rid of those hated High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in central
New Jersey. DiFrancesco aptly notes that the lanes "have created more pain than gain" and even
though that's not a particularly original slogan, he's getting an up arrow anyway.

Mercer County Democratic Chairman, Alan Karcher, gets an up arrow too in honor of
being awarded the national Larry O'Brien Achievement Award from the Democratic National
Committee for his hard work in the "party of the little man."

When Karcher ran for governor in 1989, the New York Times called him "New Jersey's
most brilliant and charming politician." That high praise from the big liberal rag still holds, even
though we don't see that the Princeton Democrat has much competition in the brilliant and
charming department from his Jersey comrades.

They'll give the award in Washington sometime later this year and the arrow pointers are
all going to the party.

We're going to give Bill Bradley an up arrow too, although its shaky. Unlike many of his
Jersey colleagues, who are brushing Clinton's dirty antics aside, Bradley wasn't afraid to call the
president's behavior "disgusting" even if he painted Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr with the
same brush.

Bradley told The Trentonian that "both of them (Clinton and Starr) have major problems.
Their actions are indefensible."

Did Starr have sex with an employee in his office too. Did we miss something?
But its an up arrow for the big guy because he clearly has the right word, "disgusting."

Bradley made his remarks while endorsing Princeton Democrat Rush Holt, who is running against
Rocky Hill Congressman Mike Pappas. Holt demonstrated none of Bradley's guts and was clearly
pandering to his Princeton Democratic base by saying nothing bad about the president. However,
he thinks Republican leaders in Congress are "sanctimonious and voyeuristic." Talk about blaming
the messenger.

Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, gets an up arrow too for her bill to put New Jersey
campaign contributions on the Internet. Such a move would give Garden Staters a much quicker
view of the money lawmakers get from unions and big business. Putting ELEC reports on the web
could be the next best thing to the Starr Report.

September 20th

All Bill Clinton's Men -

Gov. Christie Whitman -

Sen. Don DiFrancesco -

Speaker Jack Collins -

Sen. Shirley Turner -

Rep. Marge Roukema -

Sen. Joe Vitale -

Assemblyman Herb Conway -

There aren't enough down arrows to go around for all the president's New Jersey men who are standing up for the sleazy commander-in-chief under the guise of good government. Last week, Mercer County Democratic Chairman, Alan Karcher, led the Democratic County Chairs in a cheering ovation for Bob Janiszewski, the Hudson County Executive and Clinton die-hard who seems to believe that Clinton's lying and low-life White House behavior is just another Republican plot.

In an odd comparison of apples and cigars, Janiszewski said "while Monica Mania was going on inside the beltway, 700 Hudson County young people may not have jobs next summer."

Meanwhile, New Jersey Sen. Bob Torricelli, State Sen. Ray Lesniak D-Elizabeth and the once and future Jim McGreevey joined Bill and Hillary at the special "Lying King" Democratic fundraiser in New York City on Monday.

Its not clear if there's anything Clinton could do that would cause these loyal soldiers to turn against him, but the arrow pointers aren't distracted by the counter spin. The Republicans didn't seduce a White House intern and then lie about it under oath. It was the president who pulled that stunt and he's the one who gets the down arrow.

Jersey's women politicians had a much better week. Christie Whitman came up with the terrific idea of funneling a $100 million in property tax relief directly back to the taxpayers in her continued effort to get local officials to realize that she's not going to continue to pick up the tab for their wasteful spending. The governor, who left early this morning for a big trading mission with Mexico, gets the up arrow even though she disappointed arrow pointers once again by paying off political crony, Joe Bubba, with a high paying state job.

Bergen County Congresswoman, Marge Roukema, gets an up arrow too for her courage in calling for Clinton's resignation. Roukema's the dean of the Jersey congressional delegation.

Her colleagues should follow her lead.

State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, has been working at top speed lately. Some of her biggest hits this week include bills that would relieve the state of the responsibility of paying for lawyers for sexual harassers and require physical education teachers to be certified swimming instructors. After the fatal drowning of an eleven year old in Trenton last year, the change is obviously a priority.

Senate Pres. Don DiFrancesco is acting governor again while Whitman is away and hopes to spend the week getting state aid to help clean up the mess left by the Labor Day storm in Central Jersey. DiFrancesco told the Trentonian that he's been practicing his salute in order to be in top form today when he reviews the Air National Guard troops at Seagirt.

Meanwhile, Speaker Jack Collins gets an down arrow for the mushy statement he put out in response to Whitman's property tax reforms. Collins, who is first to ask "how high" when unions say "jump" will surely block Whitman's efforts to cut local spending so his pledge to "give the proposals a fair and thorough review" is about as believable as a Clinton apology.

Sen. Joe Vitale, D-Middlesex and Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington also get up arrows for being legislative good guys. Vitale got his "Good Samaritan" bill out of committee.

Good Samaritan laws, made famous on the final episode of "Seinfeld" require folks to report a crime if they see it happening. Conaway, a doctor, is wisely pushing the legislature to make it illegal to sell Androstenedione, the Mark McGwire drug, to children.

Week of September 7th - September 13th

Christie Whitman -

Bill Clinton -

Bill Bradley -

Sen. Dick Codey -

Sen. Don DiFrancesco -

Assemblyman Joe Doria -

Gov. Christie Whitman has been out west all week campaigning for her fellow Republicans and raising her political profile. Most arrow pointers believe she was a little stiff Wednesday night on ABC's "Politcally Incorrect," the irreverent talk show that makes fun of politics. But the GOP clearly loved her in California where she worked hard for pro-life gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, practicing what she preaches about the Republican "Big Tent."

She raised about a million dollars for the GOP in six states, spoke at the Nixon Library and continued to blast the president for his sleazy behavior. Obviously, she gets an up arrow.

Just as obviously, Pres. Bill Clinton does not. We don't want to explain why. Look it up on the web.

But up arrows are breaking out all over for Jersey's own Bill Bradley. While Clinton is twisting in the wind and Gore is biting his tongue, the tall ex-Knick from Montclair, who doesn't even smoke cigars, is looking better all the time.

Senate Minority Leader Dick Codey, D-West Orange, gets an up arrow too for his proposal this week to cap tuition at state colleges. Codey charges that college administrations have become hotbeds of waste, not unlike the turnpike and port authorities. He says that adminstrative costs at state colleges have risen 40 percent over the past five years, almost three times the rate of inflation and that students are bearing the brunt.

"Tuition could be a lot lower if they would hold down spending," Codey said.

Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, gets a sideways arrow because he obviously didn't look at Codey's numbers very closely. He told the big Newark paper that the state colleges were "a bargain."

But his arrow doesn't go straight down for two reasons. First, he joined the battle against the High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes in Morris and Somerset counties last week. The HOV lanes, which only allow car poolers, are an assault on the Jersey spirit and a threat to our way of life. They must be closed down before they are allowed to spread. DiFrancesco also gets some points because he was Acting Governor while Whitman was out of town and nothing really bad happened.

Finally, Bayonne Mayor and Assembly Minority Leader Joe Doria gets an up arrow for winning the Battleship New Jersey battle. The big boat is going to Bayonne, according to some reports, because visitors will be able to drive right up to it. If they'd put it in Camden, you'd have to walk.

No threat to the Jersey way of life there.

We suggest he follow Gov. Whitman's lead on this one and set up a bunch of a special showing of "Shindler's List" for all the kids who participated in the march. Afterwards, he can lead the discussion.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Sen. Bob Torricelli earned an up arrow for seeing through the shallow insincerity of Clinton's re-apology in Russia on Monday. Torricelli said Clinton's apology "wouldn't work in my family." Torricelli has been one of the president's staunchest defenders. He's also a guy that's telling dozens of his closest friends that he's on the short-list to be the vice presidential candidate for the Democrats the next time around. This is clearly not an easy time for the Torch so we're hoping that our up arrow will remind him that when times are tough, its always good to remember where you came from.

Senate President Don DiFrancesco gets an up arrow too because, with Whitman out of the state, he'll be acting governor all week. We expect great things from him. Perhaps, to celebrate the end of summer, he could announce that next year, they'll do away with beach tags and shut down the toll booths on the Garden State Parkway on summer weekends to help unclog the shore traffic.

Such moves could go a long way toward getting him elected governor, though Whitman would probably be a little miffed when she gets back.

DiFrancesco won't need to denounce worldwide terrorism because he did that last week, and we arrow pointers regret that we failed to give him credit it for it here.

We are deeply sorry about this "critical lapse in judgement" for which we are "solely and completely responsible."

Another up arrow and the rare "truthful politician" award goes to DiFrancesco's colleague, Sen. John Lynch, D-Middlesex, who pointed out this week that the New Jersey Education Association will almost certainly block most of the reforms due to be proposed by Whitman's Property Tax Commission in the next couple of weeks.

Lynch told the Newark Star-Ledger that the teacher's union wants to "stamp out everybody who challenges the status quo."

Don't expect that kind of courageous statement coming out of very many other state lawmakers. The NJEA runs the Legislature in the same way that Darth Vadar ruled the Death Star.

But getting back to the 2001 race for governor in New Jersey, how about that Mike Murphy? You remember Murphy. He was the guy with the funny commercials. Well, now he's a regular talking Head on CNBC's "Hardball" and he's funny there too. He's also spending Labor Day as Grand Marshall of the Hudson County Central Labor Council parade.

Murphy won five suburban counties in the Democratic primary last year. If he's building a base in urban Hudson, that could be bad news for the frontrunner, Jim McGreevey. Murphy gets an up arrow for being good on T.V., but McGreevey's arrow is only sideways because he's got a new television show which already looks boring, even though we haven't even seen it yet.

Its going to run on CTN Cable and its called "Education in New Jersey." Isn't that catchy?

McGreevey will host and his guests will talk about education reform, property taxes, the environment and, of course, auto insurance.

We're pretty sure Howie Mandell doesn't have anything to worry about.

 Copyright©1998 Sherry Sylvester