Chief Political Writer
of the
The Trentonian
A PULITZER PRIZE WINNING NEWSPAPER
SHERRY
SYLVESTER
|
WHAT DID SHERRY SAY TODAY?
Sept 30, 1999 In 1972, the sight of a grown man standing in the snow wiping his eyes was enough to doom his candidacy. But in New Jersey over the pat several days, it has become clear that those days aee gone forever. Here in the Garden State, we have entered the era of the sensitive guy. Special FBI Agent Carson Dunbar and Democratic Senate hopeful Jon Corzine both took the public stage for the first time last week and neither was docked points for getting a little emotional at their opening events. Tears streamed down the cheeks of Dunbar, Gov. Christie
Whitman's long awaited nominee to be the next State Superintendent of Police, as he explained to reporters that he Dunbar was clearly not embarassed by his tears and refused
to be sterotyped by the media. He bristled when reporters asked Dunbar said, "everytime I've been promoted, that question
has been asked. Why can't it just be that I am the most qualified Dunbar also fiercely defended state troopers against what he
called the "beating they have taken in the newspapers." Then he easily dismissed the suggestion that his authority was being
undercut by the enhanced oversight system that has been established through the Attorney's General's office. Even in his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, he did not Still, Dunbar made it clear that he would be aggressive in
attacking racial profiling practices among state troopers, saying Corzine's tears came as the former Goldman-Sachs CEO
launched his political career on the front steps of his huge Corzine was responding to the blessings of a platoon of spiritual leaders, including the influential Rev. Reginald Jackson, Executive Director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, who were on-hand to launch his campaign. Then, with the strains of Eric Clapton's "Change the World"
floating over the lawn, Corzine eyes unabashedly brimmed Like Dunbar, Corzine talked about his humble beginnings. Corzine's current net worth is estimated at almost $400 million,
but he said that in the small town where he grew up he began Corzine described himself as "the only union member ever to end up as head of a Wall Street banking house." Corzine soft-spoken approach is also a far cry from his
Democratic primary opponent, former governor Jim Florio and most But, like Dunbar, Corzine's first time on the stump got good
reviews. That must mean there is a New Jersey market for the BUSH-WHACKIN' SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley blasted into this South Texas city Sunday to challenge his enemy, Gov. George Bush, on his home turf. The latest polls indicate that the former New York Knicks star is the only Democrat running for president who can beat Bush. Bradley told about 100 elected Hispanic officials and Democratic party leaders who questioned him in a closed session that "in places where I'm known, I'm already beating George W. by 10 to 14 points." But Bradley emphasized that his first job is beating Vice President Al Gore in the Democratic primary. A CNN/Time Magazine poll released on Friday showed Bradley beating Gore by three points in both New Hampshire and Iowa, where he has been campaigning heavily. Last week in New York, several independent polls showed voters choosing Bradley over both Gore and Bush. Bradley has been running first in presidential polls in New Jersey since July. New York Sen. Patrick Moynihan endorsed Bradley on Friday saying he believes Gore is "unelectable." Some Texas Democrats who met with Bradley on Sunday said they shared Moynihan's concerns. "Gore is going to have to show something ... do something with his campaign in the next 30 to 60 days, or people will take another look, said Mike Lopez, head of the Tejano Democrats, which sponsored Bradley's visit. Texas State Rep. Juan Solis said he was looking for a candidate "with substance" who could beat Bush. "Gov. Bush reminds me of Barney -- I love you, you love me. We want to know if Bradley can be the man that beats him," Solis said. Bradley said the greatest difference between he and Gore is their "leadership styles." "I believe in taking bold approaches and am not afraid of the risks of leadership," Bradley said. "The vice president is a more cautious leader." Most observers believe that Bush's strength among Hispanic voters has been key to his success in Texas, the country's second largest state. Solis acknowledged that Bush "spends a lot of time with Latinos" and courts the Hispanic community. Gore also has strong ties to the Hispanic community. Both Bush and Gore frequently address Hispanic audiences in Spanish. But Bradley said he would appeal to Hispanic voters because of his platform. "Frankly, I believe I have a better message and I am confident Latino Americans will be responsive to that," Bradley said. Bradley also said that both his wife and daughter speak Spanish and that when necessary, he will use them to get his message to Spanish speaking voters. Bradley strayed from his usual campaign stump speech litany of campaign finance reform, education, and racial unity to directly address issues of interest to Texas Democrats. He proposed enforcement of labor standards in Mexico as one way of balancing out the jobs lost due to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Bradley also said he was would consider making the Texas border area a "special authority" that could take on bonded indebtedness as a way to bring capital into that depressed region. "We might want to do that in recognition that it is an area of special interests for all Americans," Bradley said. Bradley said that support from Texas would be critical to his winning the Democratic nomination next year. "Even if I do very well in Iowa and New Hampshire and on Super Tuesday, I can't wrap it up unless I do well in Texas," Bradley said. The Texas primary election is next March. New Jersey voters will not pick their presidential candidates until June. Friday, September 24 Friday,
Sept 24, 1999 Jon Corzine, the richest man ever to run for the U.S. SEnate from New Jersey, said Thursday that if he is elected he won't owe anything to anyone except the "hardworking families" of New Jersey. Corzine officially announced his candidacy to fill Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat from the front steps of his home in Summit, the heart of New Jersey's "wealth belt." He then rode in a caravan to Camden to speak to South Jersey
Democrats and boldly attack the home turf of his major Democratic Over the strains of his campaign theme song, "Change the World," Corzine was cheered by almost all of the power bosses of the Democratic vote rich North Jersey counties including Newark Mayor Sharpe James. James, who also represents Newark in the state Senate said Corzine "is an example of what is good about America." The Rev. Reginald Jackson, Executive Director of the Black
Minsters Council, led the group in prayer before the announcement. Corzine reported that Jackson and several other
"spiritual leaders" had blessed his effort. Corzine, whose net worth has been estimated at around $400
million, told about 200 Democratic well-wishers from around the The race is expected to cost as much as $15 million and Corzine said he is willing to spend whatever it takes "to get our ideas before the people." Corzine said he supports universal health care, universal long-term care, registration and licensing of all guns and aggressive civil rights programs. Corzine, who has contributed to privately funded voucher assistance programs for urban children, official opposes school vouchers. "Who gets a good education should not be a mater of what your zip code is," Corzine said. Florio greeted Corzine's official arrive into the race with
a prepared statement charging that Corzine supports privatizing Social Security. But Corzine takes credit for creating hundreds of thousands
of jobs through mergers pushed by Goldman-Sachs and pointed to "I believe I may be the only union member ever to be chairman of a banking house on Wall Street," Corzine said. Corzine also reiterated his support for using the federal surplus to shore up Social Security. Polls released Thursday showed that about 80 percent of all
New Jerseyans have no idea who Corzine is. In addition to him and
Florio, Princeton's Tom Byrne is also running for the Several Republicans are considering a run for the seat next
year including Rep. Bob Franks, R-Union; State Sen. Bill Gormley; Staring out my backdoor at the muddy banks of Peter's Brook, it is easy to go on about the humbling power of Mother Nature and how an overpowering force like Hurricane Floyd puts life in perspective. But that still doesn't make it fair. The destruction of downtown Bound Brook isn't fair, no matter how you figure it. Nobody deserves the kind of devastation that the people in downtown Bound Brook are sorting though, but the fact that the flood waters washed out so much in that fragile little town is a particularly low blow. They had so little to start with. If flood waters had ravaged the main streets of Summit, Westfield or other stops in what has become known lately as the "wealth belt" that runs through Central Jersey, there would be the same stories of horror and loss from business people. But there is always a critical mass of capital in those "wealth belt" places. Even if people don't have lots of money, they know somebody who does and things seem to happen. Prayers are answered in a timely fashion. But Bound Brook doesn't have a Starbucks or a Gap. It is the oldest town in Somerset County, but it is decidedly distant from the Somerset Hills where folks like Steve Forbes and Christie Whitman live. Still, until last Thursday, Bound Brook was experiencing a kind of renaissance. It started several years back with the opening of the Palmyra Tea Room and art gallery which had attracted lots of arty types to the area. A couple of recording studios opened too. A golden age movie theater that was notoriously cold in the winter remained popular because people went there to show their support. There were some marginal antique shops, a few good restaurants and some greasy spoons whose owners were optimistic about the way business was picking up. Bound Brook was just beginning to generate a little bit of "blue collar meets the intelligentsia" cache. Some locals joked about it becoming a kind of New Jersey SoHo because it looksbit like the SoHo district of New York. But that is gone now. The downtown has been demolished. Rep. Bob Franks, R-Union told me on Tuesday that Bound Brook reminded him of photos of Germany after the Allied bombing campaign at the end of World War II. "Most stores in downtown Bound Brook have been completely gutted," Franks said. "There is nothing left but rubble and debris on the floor." It doesn't seem fair. Franks was shouted down at a public meeting on Monday by frustrated business owners who learned that the only help they could hope for from their government was more loans. Franks said he understands their frustration. There's lots to be angry about. Franks and a ton of other politicians have long pushed the GreenBrook Flood Control Plan, but politics always stopped it from getting through. Some folks think the richer towns that surround Bound Brook, particularly Bridgewater and Hillsborough, should have to pay for at least part of the flood damage because massive development in both places has reduced the watershed and other land available locally to absorb water. Water runs off parking lots and buildings but soaks into open fields. Another frightening thing about the flood is that there are over a dozen Superfund sites in the Somerset County flood zone area, many of which have the potential to leak and leech into the ground water. The EPA put up $1 millionearlier this week to hire contractors to find drums of hazardous waste. According to reports, about 1,000 gallons of hazardous waste materials have been recovered so far. Every town in the Raritan Basin is at risk of contamination, but the town that is most vulnerable is Bound Brook. It doesn't seem fair.
Mon,
Sep 20, 1999 When Christie Whitman showed up at the annual Governor's Gala held in
Edison on Saturday night, she said she had thought about canceling the
event because so many parts of New Jersey are still battling back from
the devastation of Hurricane Floyd.
"But when else are we going to get 2,500 people in one room that
we could put some pressure on?" Whitman asked.
Unlike most politicians, Whitman wasn't begging for money for her
next campaign or her pal from Texas, George W. Bush. Instead, she was
asking people to write fat checks to the Red Cross, the folks who had
been working round the clock for days, like Whitman herself, to help
flood victims in Central Jersey.
Whitman and her husband John forked over $10,000 and encouraged
others at the gala to do the same. As New Jersey's first couple glided
around the dance floor amid hundreds of people who'd paid a thousand
bucks to be in the same room with her, it was hard not to remember her
response in 1997, after she had barely won re-election. Some in the
press corps asked her if political clout had been weakened by the close
call.
"The last I heard, they still call me governor," Whitman
said back then.
Now, two weeks after she stunned the political world by dropping out
of the race she was winning for a U.S. Senate seat, Whitman faced the
party faithful for the first time and made it clear again that she is
still governor. She also seems to be taking steps to redefine exactly
what that means.
In refusing to be a lame duck, Whitman must battle both the
hair-pulling factions within the New Jersey Republican party and the New
Jersey media, who have always viewed her in a much harsher light than
the national press.
Oddly enough, at this point she's having an easier time with the
press than with her fellow politicians.
New Jersey journalists gathered for the end of the week wrap-up on
New Jersey Network's Reporters Roundtable admitted last week that they
were being forced to break the habit of second guessing her motives.
"We're not asking how all this will impact on the Senate
race," said Michael Aron, chief political correspondent for NJN,
amid a discussion on the tropical storm. "Are you happy
Christie?"
Her fellow Republicans are not so charitable. Senate President Don
DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, told said on Saturday that the GOP was
"letdown" because the governor chose to drop out of the Senate
race.
At table discussions at Saturday night's gala, the GOP power players
seemed to be rolling the dice over and over throughout the evening
trying to come up with a U.S. Senate candidate from the men who are
interested in running who could beat the top Democratic contenders,
millionaire businessman Jon Corzine or former governor Jim Florio.
No one could come up with a winning scenario. Whitman was their best
shot, maybe their only shot and she let them down.
Off the record, GOP county leaders and party bosses admit they are
more than a little angry. There are stories that in some offices, chairs
were demolished as Republican strategists vented their frustration.
These guys say Whitman's endorsement of another candidate in the U.S.
Senate race will mean nothing. They threaten to sulk and ignore her.
But they may not be given that political luxury. By what she calls
"doing my job"
Whitman's popularity just might shoot through the roof. She led the
fight against Hurricane Floyd tirelessly cheering on disaster workers
and making sure the federal relief checks are in the mail.
She's slated to tap the first African-American head of the State
Police and those property tax relief checks are still going to be in the
mail.
She also has earned the admiration of most everyone who hates
politics by turning her back on the offer of a free trip to Congress.
Perhaps that's what she means when she says she won't be a lame duck.
Her Republican colleagues may say her name is mud, but, as she has
said before, they still call her governor. Wednesday, September 15th The focus of "Love Your Body Day" is to speak out against "cookie-cutter images of women that say we need to be one size, one shape, on color, one age, one race, one sexuality to be beautiful," according to NOW President Patricia Ireland. Despite the fact that the female hourly wage is still over twenty percent lower than men's and there are only six women in the U.S. Senate, Ireland and NOW have decided to use the historic occasion of women's suffrage to bemoan the "fact" that "eighty percent of fourth grade girls have been on a diet." Beyond the fact that its a screwy priority, we don't know if that's true. NOW makes things up. Each January, for several years, the public was told that violence against women increased markedly on Super Bowl Sunday. They painted pictures of emergency rooms filled with women who had their lights punched out by football crazed men whose testosterone was somehow on overdrive because of the big game. But a quick review of the numbers revealed that Super Bowl Sunday has no affect on the rate of domestic violence. In the "Love Your Body" area, there's the feminist myth about the Barbie doll which was they floated on NOW's web site last year. According to the story, Barbie's figure is so exaggerated that if she were a full-sized woman, her breasts would be so big she'd fall over. Feminists insisted that Barbie was another part of the vast anti-body loving conspiracy that was trying to oppress little girls into becoming unreasonably thin. But the Barbie doll thing isn't true either. Folks who have measured her found that if Barbie were life sized, she would be a fairly regular looking woman. So just because NOW says eighty percent of all fourth grade girls have been on a diet, doesn't mean its true. But even if it is, anybody who has hung around an elementary school lately knows that is not necessarily a bad thing. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, American kids are too fat. Adolescent obesity has jumped forty percent in the last decade. Almost a quarter of adolescent girls are substantially overweight and like adults, at least another twenty-five percent are carrying more weight than they should. Kids aren't exercising much anymore either, even those fourth graders that NOW wants to stop dieting. In his book The Fat of the Land, Michael Fumento notes that by 1986, the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports found that teenage girls performed worse than they had ten years before and by the mid-nineties, despite gains in women's athletics, actual exercise times in schools had decreased dramatically. This hardly seems like the best time to lighten up about our fat kids and celebrate "Love Your Body Day." In fact, its a bit like taking the pressure off smokers and becoming more tolerant of people who use handguns. Because, like smoking and guns, fat kills. An estimated 300,000 people die prematurely from overweight and Fumento notes that while women fear cancer and AIDS most, more die from heart disease and obesity than anything else. NOW's "Love Your Body Day" seems to be targeting those poor girls who starve themselves as victims anorexia nervosa. But they represent a minuscule part of the population compared to the tons of fat girls who are eating themselves to death. Predictably, in getting us to love our fat selves, NOW says they want to "celebrate women in all our diversities." But this kind of political correctness will kill us. If they really want to go forward with the "Love Your Body Day" thing, they should urge American girls and women to eat an apple and go for a run. After that, what about a drive to get out the vote. CHRISTIE TALKS TO SHERRY Christie Whitman told her hair cutter that she wanted something a little shorter. When the scissors stopped snipping and the governor looked in the mirror and saw she had been turned into a Janet Reno look-alike, she realized it was not exactly what she was going for. "I have very straight hair and it has taken me awhile to get used to this," Whitman said in an interview with The Trentonian on Friday. "I just wanted something different." But the haircut obviously wasn't enough of a change. Last week Whitman rocked the political world by announcing that she was dropping out of the race for a U.S. Senate seat next year even though polls showed her far ahead of all her opponents. Her heart just wasn't in it, she said. "I was looking at the schedule saying, 'I want a life.'' Reflecting on her unorthodox move, Whitman believes she has put her priorities back in order, placing her gubernatorial agenda above her political ambitions and the needs of the Republican party. "We have a chance now to lock in the legacy," Whitman said when asked how she wanted her term to be remembered. "Now we have the opportunity to let people look at the reality behind the rhetoric," Whitman said. "We really did cut taxes 34 times. If I said that when I was running it would have been dismissed as a campaign spin, but we can document it." As Whitman rattled off a laundry list of policy reforms she wants to tackle, she sounded more like a newly-elected governor than a lame duck with most of her term behind her. "I had stopped enjoying being governor," Whitman said. "I really thought that, except for the fundraising, I could put off the actual campaign until April or so. But once I realized that all the second-guessing was putting our policies in jeopardy, then I remembered what I really don't like about it." Whitman said she never really sat down and weighed the positives against the negatives in reconsidering her Senate run. "I went on my gut," Whitman said, acknowledging that she will miss the "fun aspects of campaigning." "I'm a war horse and when there's a campaign, I feel like being a part of it," Whitman said, noting that she had looked forward to debating with either Jon Corzine or former governor Jim Florio, the leading Democratic contenders for the U.S. Senate. "The more I saw of Corzine, the more I thought it would be fun to argue the issues with him," Whitman said. "Florio would have been interesting, too. That was an apples-to-apples comparison for voters. There is a world of difference in how we approached this job and what we have done." LOCKING IN THE LEGACY Now there may be a world of differences in their legacies, too. Polls show Florio is the most disliked politician in New Jersey's recent history. Whitman is more popular though she has a solid core of detractors, too. But her attempt to focus public attention on her legacy by walking away from the Senate race seems to have already increased her stature. New Jersey is so accustomed to politicians who are driven by blind ambition that nobody blinked when Whitman's 1997 Democratic opponent, Jim McGreevey, explained to voters that he had chosen his political career over his wife and young daughter who left the state shortly before he began his campaign. By taking a pass on the U.S. Senate, Whitman once again signals that she is a different kind of politician. The move could undercut the skeptics who would have undoubtedly come out of the woodwork to second-guess her pending appointment of Special FBI Agent Carson Dunbar as the first African-American to head the New Jersey State Police. State Police reform remains high on Whitman's agenda. "I want to see the State Police reforms we have outlined put in place," Whitman said. "But I also want the State Police to understand that I am their greatest advocate." Whitman has been caught in the no-win political spin of racial profiling allegations that have plagued the State Police. She hopes her withdrawal from the Senate race will ease the strain between her and critics on the issue. "I believe Rev. [Reginald] Jackson and the Black Ministers Council are truly interested in seeing change at the State Police," Whitman said. "We are too." Whitman also is looking forward to pressing her open space agenda and making sure that her education reforms, particularly moves for pre-kindergarten, move forward. "We are up against people who like being in court better than they like educating children, but we are determined to get this program in place," Whitman said. There will undoubtedly be speculation that she is angling for a spot in the cabinet if George W. Bush becomes president. Education secretary has been mentioned as well as secretary of transportation and secretary of state. But Whitman quickly dismisses talk about serving with Bush, insisting that her only focus is her job as governor. However, she does not rule out a political future because, as she has just demonstrated, anything can happen in politics. I'M NO LAME DUCK Whitman also made it clear that she is not giving up control of the New Jersey Republican party, just because she's no longer running for the U.S. Senate. She noddingly admits that there are men in her party who are not always cheering for her and are pressing to take over the helm, but she doubts they can get her out of the way. "I don't envision myself riding off into the sunset," Whitman said. "Frankly, my influence will continue in the party because of the fundraising." Governors are always the best political fund-raisers in New Jersey, but Whitman's fund-raising expertise goes far beyond her job. She has become the GOP poster girl for moderate Republicanism and articulate pro-choice women. Last year she raised almost $7 million for Republicans around the country. In New Jersey, only the President can collect more cash in a night than she can. Whitman expects to endorse another candidate for U.S. Senate as soon as the November Assembly elections are over. When asked how she would choose among her friend Rep. Bob Franks, R-Union; Senate Judiciary Chairman Bill Gormley, R-Mays Landing, and her fund-raising chairman Lewis Eisenberg, Whitman said "the reality check will be fundraising." But Whitman believes the party should unite behind a single candidate quickly and avoid a bloody primary. "We need a candidate we can all get behind early on," Whitman said. "There's a Republican scramble now, but this will settle down." In thinking about the future, the governor also observed that her hair will ultimately grow out, too. Fri, Sep 10, 1999 Franks ready Sen. run When Gov. Christie Whitman decided last February that she was considering a run for the U.S. Senate, she called state Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Mays Landing, and Essex County Executive Jim Treffinger, the two Republicans who were seriously considering making the race. Both quickly bowed out. But on Tuesday when Whitman announced that her heart wasn't in the Senate run, another Republican, Rep. Bob Franks, R-Union, immediately jumped in the race. Franks, a former State GOP chairman who was elected to Congress in 1992, seems determined to duplicate the successful quick turnaround strategy employed in 1996 by then congressman Bob Torricelli. Torricelli cleared the Democratic field almost immediately after Bill Bradley's surprise announcement that he was leaving the U.S. Senate. Torricelli had over $1 million to help solidify his position while Franks only has about $300,000 in his federal campaign account. But that sum puts him ahead of Treffinger and Gormley, who are still likely to run but who have not yet established federal campaign committees. State GOP Chairman Chuck Haytaian told The Trentonian on Wednesday that New Jersey has a proud history of hard-fought political primaries. And next year's Senate primary is expected to be very hard-fought. "Give me a break," Haytaian said. "We've got Assembly elections in November. It's premature to talk about front-runners in next year's race." But Franks believes that Republicans need to unite behind a consensus candidate in order to win. "I was prepared to support Gov. Whitman and I believed we would win. Now we are somewhat behind," Franks said. "But when the Republican party unifies behind a consensus candidate, they can raise the millions they need and they can win." Franks said he was sorry to learn Thursday that Whitman has postponed making an endorsement in the Senate race until after the Assembly elections in November. "I still hope she'll do it sooner," Franks said. Franks also denied that he had made a deal with Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, for help in the race, although he admitted that he had spoken with him. However, DiFrancesco told The Trentonian Tuesday that because both he and Franks are Union County Republicans, he would be pressed to support his own candidacy. But DiFrancesco is also friends with Gormley and Treffinger and his office would not confirm his endorsement of any candidate on Wednesday. Sources close to Treffinger said Wednesday that they believe DiFrancesco has made a deal with Franks, but Gormley believes such early maneuvering is irrelevant. "The reality is that whoever can raise $2 million before January 1 will be a strong contender," Gormley said. Wednesday,
Sept 8, 1999 "How could she not do it?" DiFrancesco asked at the time. "Its the obvious next step and Frank Lautenberg's retirement presents a golden opportunity." DiFrancesco is a career politician. He served in the State Assembly before running for the State Senate and now he's waiting in line for the chance to be governor. On Tuesday, DiFrancesco didn't pretend to understand what went into Whitman's decision to back out of the race. Speculation went wild because few of her colleagues in the Republican party, who will immediately become candidates for Lautenberg's job, could figure out why anybody with a lead as large as Whitman's would drop out of a campaign. Most politicians rarely ask the big questions, like whether or not taking that "obvious step" is the best way for them to reach their goal. They don't have the time. Opportunities in politics are extremely limited. When a job becomes vacant, the good ones learn to act fast. Senator Bob Torricelli is believed to have made it to the U.S. Senate because Rep. Bob Menendez was on vacation when former Senator Bill Bradley dropped out of the race. By the time Menendez made it back to New Jersey, Torricelli had sewed up all the big party support. But Whitman's political success was not built on the quick turnaround. She took the GOP U.S. Senate nomination against Bradley in 1990 to launch her gubernatorial run in 1993. After she lost, she took the time to slowly and methodically built a base around the state to win upset elections both for She was singularly devoted to that effort, but this time, some Republicans believe that her heart just wasn't in it. "Christie Whitman may have figured out that she doesn't owe the Republican party anything," said Tom Wilson, a Republican political strategist who managed Whitman's re-election campaign. "We owe her. She has certainly been responsible for much of our success over the last eight years." Wilson and Whitman spokesman Pete McDonough both laughed off suggestions that Whitman backed down because she thought she couldn't raise the money or that she wouldn't win. "We were raising money hand over fist," said McDonough. "And the polling continued to look terrific." "This governor doesn't ever back down from a fight," said Wilson. "She seems to have decided that this job just wasn't worth fighting for." Both Wilson and McDonough believe that Whitman didn't like having her every move second guessed politically. Even Whitman's recent actions regarding the drought were evaluated in light of her U.S. Senate campaign. But there have always been those who questioned whether Whitman had much interest in a job in the U.S. Senate. When she ran in 1990, some insiders said her biggest fear was that she would win. Before her announcement last spring that she was going to run for Lautenberg's seat, it seemed that she was pulling together a resume more befitting a future Secretary of State or Education than a U.S. Senator. She has developed relationships with many heads of state and attends lots of education And while Whitman has become a media star who can hold her own on Meet the Press and Sam and Cokie, she's never really taken to governing by press conference which is the way U.S. senators function. She doesn't always get great marks as an administrator, but she clearly enjoys the executive role much more than the legislative side of government. In fact, more than one member of the legislature has speculated that the governor doesn't like lawmaking or lawmakers much at all. Whitman's surrender immediately spawned enough conspiracy theories to make a prime time television mini-series, and there are tons of people who believe that Whitman has made a deal with Texas Gov. George W. Bush for the number two spot on the GOP presidential ticket next year. Bush said yesterday that he is "sorry his friend Christie Whitman" decided not to run, but most knowledgeable observers agree that its far too early for deals. Does that mean that Whitman is telling the truth when she says she doesn't have time to run for the Senate because she's too busy being governor? Maybe. But what is more true is that Whitman has always picked her battles and run her races in her own time. As hard as that might be for political warriors like Torricelli or DiFrancesco to understand, Whitman's heart was just never in the Senate race. Friday,
Sept 3, 1999 Harrington said that the headline which read: Troopers' New Boss Will Have "Overseers," according to Harrington, were people who managed slaves for When told that Whitman had never used the offensive terms, Harrington didn't
seem to believe it. But on Wednesday, in an editorial, the Newark-Star Ledger The state's largest newspaper did not apologize to the governor or any of the Writing for New Jersey's only tabloid, which boasts a long tradition of screaming headlines, I am in no position to criticize any paper for overplaying a story. But this latest attempt by the Newark Star Ledger to pump more controversy into an issue that's already hot reflects a troubling pattern. This is not the first time the Star-Ledger has "inadvertently" fueled racial tension. In July of last year, the Star-Ledger reported that Newark Mayor Sharpe James immediately demanded a retraction, because he hadn't called Whitman They didn't apologize for that mistake either. The Star Ledger has also nurtured the misconceptions about racial profiling Attorney General John Farmer reiterated the one percent figure on Tuesday when he released the latest Uniform Crime Statistics, saying "I don't want people to believe that every trooper they encounter is a bigot." The Star Ledger did not print Farmer's statement. They have also repeatedly The Star-Ledger trumped up a rift between Senate President Don DiFrancesco, R-Scotch Plains, and Lt. Col. Andre Parker, the Illinois State Trooper who was Whitman's first choice for the new State Superintendent job. Parker, who is also African-American, was so upset by the reports that DiFrancesco had "dissed him" that he called me to say that the news stories had been "distorted." "I would not characterize my conversation with Mr. DiFrancesco as anything Newspapers make mistakes. We reporters are often blind to our biases and editors almost always push too hard for stories that aren't there. After the Star-Ledger erroneous report that Sharpe James called Whitman a racist last year, I wrote that the only way to keep the media credible is to make a big deal out of it when somebody steps over the line. The Star-Ledger has stepped over the line again and nobody except us has said a word about the newspaper that calls itself "The Voice of New Jersey." In their confession this week, the Star-Ledger editorial writers admit that Until they do, the only way to get peace between the Whitman administration Wed,
Sept. 1, 1999 But although it appears that Whitman will name Special FBI Agent Carson Dunbar to head the State Police sometime early next week, Jackson told reporters yesterday that Whitman hasn't done enough. As soon as Whitman fired
former State Police Superintendent Carl Williams, Jackson has said it was critical
that the next top trooper be an outsider.Whitman ignored pressure Both Whitman and Jackson say that the fact that Dunbar is African-American is irrelevant. "Carson Dunbar wasn't chosen because he was a minority," Whitman said Tuesday. "He was chosen because of his outstanding qualifications." Jackson said that he and the Black Ministers Council are "not interested in cosmetic change." "We are not excited about having a minority with a title," said Jackson. Jackson has also insisted that for any real change to occur, the entire culture of the state police must be re-aligned. He has said that it will be "business as usual" as long as the relationship between the State Superintendent and the Attorney General isn't changed. Whitman says she agrees that attorney generals haven't been successful in controlling state police brass which is why she announced on July 2nd that there will new lines of accountability between the State Police Superintendent and a specifically designated Deputy Attorney General. But Jackson said Whitman's proposal is a terrible idea. In fact, Jackson went so far as to say that Dunbar should be insulated from intervention from the Attorney General or anyone else implying that Whitman has somehow "dissed" Dunbar
because she won't allow him the same lack of accountability that has sometimes resulted in racism in the state police in the past. But on Tuesday Jackson seemed to lose his footing. Elaine Harrington, President of the New Jersey NAACP joined him at the State House where
she lambasted Whitman for what she described as the creation of a new overseer"position to supervise the
State Police superintendent. They seem to be sore winners. The Conservative Party went to court and pointed out that the New Jersey constitution defines a political party as a group that gets ten percent of the votes cast in the previous election. At the party primaries held this June, neither party came even close to getting ten percent of the votes that were cast in the last general election in 1997, when Gov. Christie Whitman was running for re-election. Almost nobody votes in primary elections in New Jersey except in those rare cases when some poor misguided soul mounts a challenge against the slate of candidates which has been
selected by the county chairman. Primary elections are usually the last resort to settle some kind of insider party squabble. They are almost never held so that voters can be allowed to choose The right to select who runs for office at every level from dog catcher to governor is reserved for the county political leaders. When faced with the choice of upholding their oath to abide by the state constitution or taking their marching orders from the county chairman in charge, county clerks didn't hesitate to
go with the party bosses. They set up the general election ballots the way they always do, including only
Democrats and Republicans in the top spots. State Democratic Chairman Tom Giblin told me last week that the Republicans had the most to lose from the Conservative Party lawsuit. "The Conservatives would get a better ballot position," Giblin said. "If people have an opportunity to vote for a more predominately positioned Conservative that would have a detrimental affect for Republicans." But State GOP Chairman Chuck Haytaian laughed when told of Giblin's remarks. Political cronyism and conflicts of interest that would be ruled illegal or scandalous in other states are simply business as usual here. No businessman would expect to be given a public contract in New Jersey without making at least one significant contribution to the political party in power. No professional from the opposition party in any county or town would ever expect to be selected for any public job, regardless of how qualified, if they didn't have the right political party registration. If New Jersey Democrats and Republicans have no legal standing as political parties, how could this Jersey style political patronage be continued? Even judges are appointed based on a political power sharing system. Some jobs are reserved for Democrats, some for Republicans. Would Conservatives and Libertarians be allowed to share in judicial patronage too if the legal challenge works? It was unthinkable. Judge Fisher's ruling was overturned last Friday. The rationale for upholding the political parties appeal was laughable and the Conservatives will undoubtedly push their challenge to the Supreme Court. But it is hard to imagine them winning there either. Supreme Court judges are appointed through the political patronage system too. Its no mystery how the constitutional amendment will read: "A political party in New Jersey is what ever the party bosses say it is."
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WINNERS
AND LOSERS
Copyright©1998 Sherry
Sylvester