Posted on 05/25/2005 8:13:21 PM PDT by neverdem
WEST WINDSOR, N.J., May 25 - They were both Republican mayors who took office as development was beginning to explode in their communities. But beyond that, Bret Schundler and Douglas R. Forrester, the leading candidates in the Republican primary for governor in New Jersey, have about as much in common as a skyline and a subdivision.
Mr. Schundler was a political maverick from Wall Street who brought a burst of energy and conservative ideas to the state's second-largest city, Jersey City, in 1992. In his nine years as mayor, he slashed the city payroll and built charter schools. He persuaded investment firms from Manhattan's financial district to build gleaming office towers on what the city's Gold Coast, and he patched chronic budget gaps with novel, often controversial, financing.
Mr. Forrester was the imperturbable insider, chosen as mayor of the tiny township of West Windsor by Republican committeemen in 1981. Serving two single-year terms, he used a municipal tax increase to pay for a sewer-line project and other improvements to the infrastructure, allowing allowed West Windsor to triple its population and grow from a sleepy rural outpost to a quiet bedroom community bordered by the busy Route 1 corridor.
As the June 7 primary nears, those records have become a major focus, allowing each candidate to use selective memory and artfully chosen facts to trumpet his own successes and magnify his rival's missteps.
Four of the other candidates have served as legislators on the county or state level, and a fifth, Steve Lonegan, is mayor of Bogota. But Mr. Schundler and Mr. Forrester are the only ones polling above 5 percent, so the skirmish over their tenures as mayors has dominated the race.
An examination of their mayoral legacies - gleaned from public records and interviews with political analysts and elected...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
Steve Lonegan seems like the best candidate, hands down.
His "conservative minute with Mayor Steve Lonegan" radio ads are outstanding.
By the way, do we now have to excerpt the NY Times?
Maybe I didn't get the memo....
ping for the AM con cafe!
I'm seriously thinking Forrester for Gov., Schundler for Sen.
Let them each run for the jobs the other lost last time.
It works here.
Once the posting program recognizes the URL, it requires excerpting.
I really like the fact that Forrester's tax increase is what led to his town growing from "a sleepy rural outpost to a quiet bedroom community."
1) Tax increases don't grow things.
2) There ain't a whole lot of difference between "a sleepy rural outpost" and "a quiet bedroom community."
That sounds like a good idea.
"Maybe I didn't get the memo...."
The NY Times is tightening up their site. It's nothing against FR. The NY Post just started to require registration too, and they've really made a hash of it. Seems to be straightened out a bit the last few days. But the gremlins were ruling there for that last few weeks.
Go Bret go!!!
we sure do. the fr does it automatically.
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