Shock Jock Hosts Debate Among New Jersey GOP Hopefuls

In January, shock jock Craig Carton caused an uproar by insulting the acting governor's wife. More recently, he took aim at Asian-Americans.

On Thursday afternoon, the NJ 101.5 WKXW-FM radio personality switched off his irreverent persona and turned on his serious, public-service side to host a live, two-hour debate among five of the Republicans running for governor of New Jersey.

"Hopefully people know that at times we have the ability to be serious and straight and at other times, when it warrants it, to have a good time and not be so straight," Carton said during a commercial break at the end of the debate at the station's Ewing studio.

"It's more important that I'm not the story here today," he continued. "It's about what these five guys have to say. So I need to be straight for two hours to let voters hear what the candidates have to say. And, I'll do that every day of the week."

Carton never mentioned -- let alone insulted -- the two candidates who skipped the event.

In spite of a request from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's New Jersey chapter that the candidates stay away from the debate, only Bergen County lawyer Todd Caliguire agreed to do so.

"I do not want my participation to be constituted as supporting in any way derogatory remarks about certain ethnic groups," Caliguire said in a statement.

The campaign of Robert Schroeder, the other Republican who skipped the event, cited a scheduling conflict several weeks ago, but more recently said the candidate declined to attend "for all the right reasons." The campaign would not elaborate.

The other five, however -- front-runners Doug Forrester and Bret Schundler, along with Paul DiGaetano, Steve Lonegan and John Murphy -- all viewed the forum as too important to miss. The station attracts up to 600,000 listeners during the 4 to 6 p.m. afternoon drive time when the debate aired, according to station manager Andy Santoro.

NJ 101.5 WKXW-FM made headlines in January over comments co-hosts Carton and Ray Rossi made about first lady Mary Jo Codey's well-publicized battle with mental illness. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey confronted Carton in a studio hallway, and the two nearly came to blows. The station later agreed to run free public service ads promoting mental health to quell its growing chorus of critics.

Last month, the same co-hosts criticized Asian-Americans, beginning with Edison mayoral candidate Jun Choi, a Korean-American.

On the air, Carton said no minority group should dictate the outcome of an American election, even in Edison, with its burgeoning Asian American population. Carton delivered portions of his statements in mock-Asian accent, and his comments prompted calls for a boycott of the program's sponsors and demands that the DJs be fired.

Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson said the candidates who participated recognize the hosts' First Amendment right of free speech, even though they don't agree with what was said.

On Thursday, there was no mention of Carton's perceived racial insensitivity, and no inane questions, though Carton acknowledged the possibility by promising at one point not to ask the men whether they preferred boxers or briefs.

The questions, in fact, spanned a wide spectrum of topics on the minds of New Jersey voters, from property and gas taxes to schools and pensions. Candidates were given 60 seconds to answer a questions, and 30 seconds of rebuttal time.

"My goal was for the people of New Jersey who never get to hear these five guys speak on the issues speak on them," Carton said. "I thought it was important to give the people of New Jersey who ultimately decide this thing a chance to hear the candidates."

Afterward, the hosts, known as The Jersey Guys, did an hour-long on-air post-debate, taking calls from listeners, who critiqued the candidates' performances.

One caller liked Lonegan and Murphy, but fretted that neither stood much of a chance.

Gannett's Bob Ingle, who joined the Jersey Guys for on-air commentary Thursday, also thought Lonegan and Murphy did the best of the five.

The station has hosted debates in the past, but Thursday's was the first to be hosted by Carton and Rossi and air during rush-hour. Several of the Republican candidates have been guests on the Jersey Guys show, Santoro said.

Radio debate highlights GOP hopefuls' tactics

TRENTON — — Five Republican candidates for governor used a radio debate yesterday to label state government corrupt and wasteful and to call for cutting property taxes and spending.

During the drive-time face-off on New Jersey 101.5 FM radio, some candidates called for ending road tolls, selling the state's television station and banning contracts for campaign contributors.

No one favored an increase in the gas tax to raise revenue.

Vying to challenge presumptive Democratic candidate Sen. Jon Corzine in the fall election, the five answered questions from Gannett State Bureau Chief Bob Ingle and the station's "Jersey Guys," Craig Carton and Ray Rossi.

Bret Schundler, former Jersey City mayor, took the strongest swipe at Corzine, accusing him and other Democrats of failing to pass legislation that would end

government contracts at all levels for campaign contributors.

"You want to know how we get rid of this?" Schundler said. "You vote Republican. You want to know who is standing in the way? It is (acting Gov.) Dick Codey, (Speaker) Albio Sires and Jon Corzine. Jon Corzine is the presumptive nominee. He could go to them, and he could say, "We ought to ban this now.' Jon Corzine is not a leader. Jon Corzine just wants the bosses to anoint him."

Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, the most conservative candidate in the field, was the only candidate to oppose pay-to-play legislation that would stop campaign contributors from getting contracts. He said such limits on donations violate free-speech rights.

Lonegan's answer to corruption and high property taxes was increasing local government control.

"I think the biggest cause of corruption in the state of New Jersey is the size of the bloated state government," Lonegan said. "New Jersey's government is like a self-basting turkey. They just keep making their own juice."

The candidates disagreed on whether tolls should be eliminated from the state's highways.

Doug Forrester, president of a West Windsor prescription-benefits company, said tolls should end.

"Collecting tolls at the tollbooths is a notoriously inefficient way of collecting revenue," Forrester said. "We've got to find a way to eliminate it. . . . It takes so much gall-darn time."

Schundler said if elected, he would remove the tolls on the Garden State Parkway early in his administration. He said New Jersey Turnpike tolls would be second.

"You want to cut as many taxes as you can," he said, including the income tax.

Morris County Freeholder John Murphy said he would remove tolls in an ideal world but that education and roads had a higher priority.

Lonegan favored retaining the tolls as a way to make those who use the roads pay for them.

Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, R-Essex, said he would eliminate some tolls on the Parkway for equity. He favored high-speed E-ZPass on the Parkway and the Turnpike.

Three of the candidates — Lonegan, Schundler and DiGaetano — said they favored selling New Jersey Network, the state-funded television and radio station, to a private company.

"From my time in the Legislature, we Republicans have always thought NJN was a Democratic propaganda machine," DiGaetano said.

The candidates each had a solution to the high property taxes that have become an increasing burden on New Jersey homeowners.

"We've got to elect an independent auditor general. . . . Someone who has the investigative and the subpoena powers that can go into every nook and cranny of state government, that can follow the money," Murphy said.

Schundler proposed spending limits mandated by constitutional amendments with the savings shared with school districts and local governments.

Forrester said he would cut state government waste enough to lower property taxes 30 percent in three years.

DiGaetano favored budget caps tied to the rate of inflation and population growth.

Lonegan called for reducing the size of state government.

Todd Caliguire, former adviser to then-Gov. Tom Kean, and Robert Schroeder, a Washington Township (Bergen County) councilman, did not participate in the debate. Schroeder's campaign cited a scheduling conflict weeks ago.

Caliguire said he did not attend because of comments Carton made on the air on April 25 about Asian-Americans and Jun Choi, a Korean-American running in the Democratic primary for mayor of Edison.

Lonegan has starring role in political documentary

TRENTON, N.J. -- A documentary film reflecting on the oddities of a small-town mayor's race may not win Steve Lonegan any acting awards, but it will get New Jersey's aspiring governor free screen time when he needs it most: before the GOP primary.

Considered the most conservative of New Jersey's seven Republican gubernatorial contenders, Lonegan is front and center in "Anytown USA," a 93-minute film lauded at last month's Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. The documentary was to debut in New Jersey Sunday at the Trenton Film Festival before being shown in other cities around the country en route _ the filmmakers hope _ to a distribution deal that would allow it to be seen in theaters or on cable television.

The film documents the 2003 mayoral race in the tiny Bergen County town of Bogota (pronounced Ba-GO-da), where Lonegan, a tough-talking, fiscally conservative incumbent is running for re-election after angering many in town by restricting school spending.

Lonegan, who is legally blind, is challenged by Fred Pesce, a low-energy Democrat, and Dave Musikant, a big-hearted, former football player who lost his sight because of a brain tumor and is running as an independent write-in candidate.

"It's a microcosm of the national political scene," said director Kristian Fraga, who spent 18 months making "Anytown USA." The film was finished the night before it was flown to Minnesota for its first showing at the festival, where it won the emerging filmmakers best documentary award.

"We hope when people see it, they'll pay attention to the importance of voting, they'll say, 'Maybe my vote matters, maybe I should pay attention and I should get involved,"' said Fraga, who grew up in Bergen County.

This is the first feature-length documentary by Manhattan-based Sirk Productions, which includes Fraga and producer John Sikes and executive director Mark Perez, all from Bergen County, as is another producer, Juan Dominguez. Fraga said intense political discussions at work sparked the filmmakers' interest in making a documentary about the political process. Twenty-four hours later, they got wind of a peculiar race unfolding in Bogota.

"We wanted to take over those conversations we were having and make a picture to show the different facets of what goes into a campaign," said Fraga. "The idea was to stay with an overview of the political system, an overview of the small town and to make a movie people would talk about."

Besides being the only known local race in the country featuring two legally blind candidates, the Bogota mayor's race had other peculiarities. Lonegan is a controversial figurehead, for one, with plenty of detractors stemming from his stance on the school funding issue. And, a late-entry into the race was Doug Friedline, who helped Jesse "The Body" Ventura win the Minnesota governor's race, and signed on to help Musikant with his write-in campaign.

"I thought it was terrific," said Lonegan, who said he watched the film on a small screen Wednesday night and planned to view it on a large screen Sunday at the State Museum. "It was really fun. It caught the essence of a local campaign. What it didn't show was that Dave, Fred and I were friendly with each other."

In the documentary, Lonegan at times comes off strong-willed and mean-spirited, especially in a scene that shows him on the telephone, belittling Musikant's sight loss.

"I don't want to come across as being mean," Lonegan said Friday, "but I run a strong campaign.

"They want to be able to sell the movie, so it's better to show people beating me up than any of my supporters, which I have plenty of."

Fraga said filmmakers sifted through 300 hours of footage in an attempt to tell the story of the election without editorializing.

"We wanted to let the story tell itself," said Fraga.

Lonegan said the film is unlikely to affect his chances in the Republican primary, where he trails front-runners Doug Forrester and Bret Schundler by as much as 30 percentage points, according to recent polls. Nor will it directly help his campaign coffers.

"Unfortunately, I don't get any royalties," he said.

Before candidates debate, station tries to clear the foul air
Friday, May 13, 2005
BY SULEMAN DIN AND DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

Five of the Republican candidates for governor took part in a debate on New Jersey 101.5 yesterday after reaching an agreement with the radio station to avoid on-air confrontation over controversial comments the program's hosts made last month about Asian-Americans.

The radio station has been under fire from Asian-American groups and has lost advertisers after an April 25 broadcast of "The Jersey Guys" afternoon drive-time show, when hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi ridiculed Edison mayoral candidate Jun Choi, who is Korean-American.

Several ethnic organizations called for the Republican candidates to avoid the debate. Two candidates -- Robert Schroeder and Todd Caliguire -- canceled. Those attending promised they would confront the hosts about the statements.

But before the candidates went on the air, they all sat down in a conference room with Carton and the station's management to discuss their concerns about his comments, said Morris County Freeholder John Murphy.

"They didn't want to distract attention from the debate, so they decided to adjust their opening statement," Murphy said after the broadcast.

Bret Schundler, the 2001 Republican nominee and former mayor of Jersey City, said the candidates had asked Carton to include their objections in his introduction. "We needed to make it clear that we disagreed with what he said," Schundler said. "I said to him, if he didn't say something, I would."

Andrew Santoro, group vice president and general manager of Millennium Radio, the parent company of New Jersey 101.5, said the agreed-upon statement preserved the debate.

Carton broke away from a scripted introduction to make his first public statement on the matter.

"All the candidates have expressed to us, privately off the air, their concerns with comments that we made on the air on April 25th," Carton said. "And we've assured them that our company and us as a radio show are working actively with a certain segment of the population to rectify those comments and make sure the comments do not continue in any spirit unintended."

Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano said afterwards he was satisfied by Carton's statement. "I denounce all slurs against any race or ethnicity," he said.

Doug Forrester, a businessman and former state pension chief, said he wanted to follow up with the radio station to ensure it took action about the comments.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan hoped the criticism of the radio station would stop. "This is entertainment, these guys go after everyone," Lonegan said. "People should loosen up."

Santoro said a meeting was planned today with a number of Asian-American groups to address the broadcast and their concerns.

Asian-American groups welcomed Carton's statement. They have demanded the station take a number of steps to address the matter, including personal apologies by Carton and Rossi, and have pressured the station's advertisers. "It certainly is a positive step," said Veronica Jung, co-coordinator with the Coalition Against Hate Media.

During the debate, the candidates went on the record for the first time that they would unify behind the eventual nominee. Carton asked each of the five, if he didn't win the primary, which of the others he could support.

Forrester was first to answer, deftly ducking any endorsement of an opponent. "All of our candidates are good candidates. I would support the nominee," he said. "We have such common ground on so many issues, we only differ on the periphery." The other four chimed in along similar lines.

Candidates target N.J. spending

TRENTON — Republican gubernatorial hopefuls making their cases before a business organization's luncheon Wednesday beat up on state government as too big and wasteful, and even aimed a few jabs at the front-runners in the GOP race.

All seven candidates appeared at the Lafayette Yard Marriott, where they debated at a lunch of the New Jersey branch of the National Federation of Independent Business. The group represents small businesses.

Doug Forrester and Bret Schundler, far and away the two leading candidates in the polls leading up to the June 7 primary election, took most of the hits from lesser-known rivals. Schundler several times attacked Forrester, who defended himself but chose not to aim any barbs directly at Schundler.

"They do not control local spending at all," said Schundler, the party's 2001 candidate for governor and a former Jersey City mayor, of Forrester's plan for arresting the rise in property taxes, which all candidates agreed was the No. 1 issue.

"It's a darn good plan," said Forrester, a Mercer County businessman and the party's 2002 U.S. Senate candidate.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a conservative angry at the size of state government, told the crowd no other candidate had the backbone to mention "just four letters" in their speeches — NJEA, the New Jersey Education Association, the politically powerful teachers union.

Indeed, none did.

Each of the seven candidates had 90 seconds to answer questions posed from the audience. They concerned taxes, regulation, health care costs, lawsuit reform and state spending.

Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., certain to be the Democrats' candidate for governor in November, was invited but didn't appear. He sent a note saying he was occupied with Senate business in Washington.

Bergen County businessman and former freeholder Todd Caliguire, speaking of bills to cut health care costs and hold down liability insurance rates, said, "Whichever bill is opposed most strenuously by the trial lawyers, that's the bill that I favor."

"Get government out of your pockets," said eight-term Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, R-Passaic, who stressed that he alone — a GOP winner in a Democratic district — could beat Corzine. He called his campaign "work boots versus Gucci loafers."

"Small businesses are the canaries in the mine," said Forrester, saying their fate indicates the future and that businesses are leaving the state. The other candidates agreed.

John Murphy, a Morris County freeholder, got a laugh when he referred to Corzine, a former Wall Street chief executive who largely paid for his own campaign for Senate, as "the human ATM machine."

Robert Schroeder, a businessman and a councilman in Washington Township, Bergen County, led the charge, followed by most all, in criticizing state regulators, especially the Department of Environmental Protection.

Meanwhile, Schundler this week became the first gubernatorial candidate to release extensive personal financial information. He has sought an extension on his 2004 return and did not release that.

Forrester has said he will release his tax returns only if he wins the Republican primary, and Corzine has said he will release his tax returns before Oct. 15.

In his biggest income year, Schundler sold $2.1 million in Fannie Mae stock, at a gain of $1.9 million, to diversify his portfolio before running for governor, his campaign spokesman, Bill Pascoe, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday's newspapers.

Candidates running for statewide office in New Jersey are not required to release their personal income tax returns. The documents they are required to release are far less revealing than the forms required of candidates for federal office.

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