If he is indeed running a neck and neck race with his challenger, Forrester, what does that tell you about NJ voters?
I expect Torricelli to close the gap in the polls (though I'd be most happy to be proven wrong!). But I think Forrester proved last week in the debates that he's up to the job, giving a lot of folks all the ammunition they need to pull the lever for him in November. And President Bush will be doing a fundraiser for him in a couple of weeks, which won't hurt.
How much help is Torch getting from the DNC? If they are not providing significant resources to Torch, it is an indication they are not going to throw money at a loser. If the race was as close as Torch claims, he would be getting plenty of money.
Because NJ is a Democrat State, it will be close.....But DA toorch will still lose ..
I wrote a letter to the editor that actually got published in the Trenton Times (very liberal)last week. The letters published have been running 9 - 1 against Torch. I've been watching for an offical endorsement by either the Times or The Star Ledger. None yet. If either endorses Torricelli I want to see the twisted rationale they use. My bet is, they will both take a pass, rather than do the right thing. Heck, given what the Senate did with ix42, I'm suprised they didn't try to confer sainthood on Torricelli.
Seems when the Torch ran the last time he had the brains to mention that he would cut Taxes. This Forrester dope is talking about RAISING TAXES, how stupid can he be?
Republicans should never mention raising or dedicating taxes. He was off to a good start about privatizing Social Security and strengthening the national defense. Now he is slowly ruining his campaign. I guess he likes to waste his millions.
Pascoe did not learn from the Schundler Campaign. KISS, keep it simple stupid!!!! Just mention tax cuts wherever he goes.
I guess his mentor Tom Kean Brainwashed him.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1031649030175727.xml
Forrester's call for federal gas tax increase is surprise
Senate candidate backs industry levy to fund Superfund cleanups
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
BY DAVID KINNEY
Star-Ledger Staff
U.S. Senate candidate Douglas Forrester said yesterday he supports an increase in the federal gasoline tax and a broad-based "environmental tax" on industry to clean up the nation's toxic-waste sites.
The Republican said, if left to him, his tax plan would replace the old method of funding the cleanup of the nation's abandoned Superfund sites by taxing only petroleum and chemical companies. Forrester also said he would support dedicating part of the federal income tax to help foot the bill.
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The call for tax hikes came as a surprise from a candidate who has staked out anti-tax stands in his run to unseat Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli on Nov. 5.
Forrester supports making President Bush's tax cuts permanent. He wants to repeal the "marriage penalty" tax, the estate tax and the tax on Social Security benefits. And he signed a pledge to oppose any income tax hikes.
Forrester's proposal came in a wide-ranging interview with The Star-Ledger's editorial board yesterday, during which Forrester accused Torricelli of distorting his stands on abortion, gun control and the environment.
"He doesn't understand my positions," Forrester said, "or if he does, he's indifferent to the truth."
One of Torricelli's chief attacks has been to cast Forrester as an opponent of the federal Superfund program, which Congress set up in 1980 to clean up hundreds of toxic-waste sites around the country.
Under Superfund, companies responsible for polluting a site are usually required to pay for cleanup. But to pay for work on abandoned sites in cases where polluters have gone out of business, Congress set up a special fund with proceeds from the petrochemical tax.
That levy expired in 1995, and Congress has not reauthorized it. The fund, which once totaled $3.6 billion, is expected to dwindle to $28 million by the end of 2003.
Torricelli supports reinstating the tax on the chemical and petroleum industry, saying it keeps with the Superfund principle of making polluters pay.
Forrester, on the other hand, has said he supports paying for cleanup out of the general treasury. But yesterday, he suggested tax increases are another option. He offered little detail of the proposal and did not say which industries might be hit by the environmental tax.
Torricelli campaign manager Ken Snyder criticized both of Forrester's ideas on funding environmental cleanup.
"Senator Torricelli thinks it would be very irresponsible to raise gas taxes on a commuter state already reeling from congestion," Snyder said.
As for a broader tax, Snyder called it "inexplicable" that Forrester would try to shield the chemical and petroleum industry from more taxes.
The broad-based tax idea is not new. Before 1995, a small levy on some of the revenues of all U.S. companies helped prop up the Superfund.
Industry groups in New Jersey said they support paying for cleanup out of the general treasury but welcomed Forrester's broad-based tax as a better alternative than the chemical and petroleum industry levy.
"The broad-based tax actually makes sense," said Steve Picco, an environmental lawyer who represents chemical and petroleum industry groups in New Jersey. He said the bulk of the Superfund sites involve other polluters.
"The petrochemical industry has been paying for the sins of a lot of industries," he said.
Even as he suggested a new funding stream, Forrester had harsh words for Superfund, a program he said has been "stalled" by burdensome litigation over who should pay for cleaning up what.
"I'm reluctant to put more money in Superfund now until we get the litigation problem solved," Forrester said.
Whether through Superfund or another way, Forrester promised he would be more committed to getting New Jersey's sites cleaned up than Torricelli has during his 20-year career in Congress. New Jersey still has 113 sites on the Superfund list. In the program's history, just 19 sites have been completed.
"He is being duplicitous," Forrester said. "If you look at his own track record, it's terrible. He continues to try to distract us from the fact that these sites are not cleaned up."
Forrester said the environmental tax should pay not just for Superfund, but also for other environmental woes.
On abortion, Forrester said he steadfastly supports abortion rights and said abortion would not factor into his decision about whether to approve a Supreme Court nominee.
Torricelli challenges Forrester's abortion-rights bonafides because Forrester opposes any public funding of abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. In New Jersey, Medicaid pays for abortions for thousands of poor women each year.
But Forrester said he would not go out of his way to limit publicly funded abortions. He said he would not, for example, try to bar hospitals from receiving federal funds if they perform abortions. He said his goal is to make abortions "safe and rare."
With each passing day and additional statements form Forrester, I see less and less reason to support him!
One voter interviewed on the news agreed he was a slime ball but added "but he's out slime ball". Go figure!