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Posted on 10/02/2002 1:37:04 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
New Jersey Democrats were in the state Supreme Court Wednesday to try and get former Sen. Frank Lautenberg on the November ballot to replace Sen. Robert Torricelli, who has withdrawn from the race.
New Jersey Republicans and Torricelli's Republican challenger, Douglas Forrester, were fighting the move saying it "undermined the democratic process."
The court's decision is expected Wednesday night or Thursday.
"Voters should be given a choice on the ballot," said Angelo Genova, attorney for the Democratic Party of New Jersey. "And that choice includes a ballot that is not confusing -- not with Torricelli's name on it -- since he has dropped from the race."
According to Genova, the filing deadlines for the state ballot were only an "administrative convenience and not a right to run unopposed."
Genova argued that the spirit of the election law was to make sure there was sufficient time in which to carry out an election, but there was more than enough time to have ballots reprinted and mailed out again, if necessary, to absentee and voters in the armed forces overseas.
He said only 1,600 absentee and armed forces ballots have been mailed so far.
New Jersey voters have several choices to vote for senator, but Genova argued that Democrats deserve a standard bearer.
In addition to Torricelli, the Democrat, and Forrester the Republican, Ted Glick is running from the Green Party, Elizabeth Macron is running from the Libertarians, Gregory Pason is running from the Socialist Party and Norman Wahner is running for the Conservatives.
"This is a desperate backroom deal by Democrats because they knew Forrester was going to win," Mark Pfeifle, a Forrester spokesman told United Press International. "We know at least five counties have sent military ballots to our sons and daughters fighting for freedom overseas. The election process is under way."
According to Pfeifle, 51 days before a statewide election, a candidate cannot be removed off the ballot.
"We've had candidates die while still on the ballot, for example, Rep. Patsy Mink, who died recently, will still have her name on the ballot in Hawaii," Pfeifle said. "You can't change the rules in midstream because it suits you."
The New Jersey Republicans argue that by replacing Torricelli's name because the New Jersey Democrat in his own words "vowed he would not be responsible for the loss of Democratic control of the Senate," would open the door to having any candidate bail when the polls looked bad.
The Democrats currently hold a one-seat advantage in the U.S. Senate.
A Newark Star-Ledger poll Sunday showed Torricelli trailing his Republican opponent by 13 points after an ethics controversy, and pollsters have said he was all but certain to lose the November election.
"It damages the credibility of the system and it changes the dynamic if candidates can be removed," Bob Davis, head of the Erie County Republican Party in Buffalo, N.Y., told UPI. "I thought it was bizarre when (Andrew) Cuomo dropped out of the Democratic primary for (New York) governor because he will still be on the ballot in the general election on the Liberal line and they can't take him off our ballot and this in New Jersey is even more bizarre.
"I've been in politics for 28 years and I don't recall anything like this, because I know if the Democrats prevail and Torricelli gets replaced, the next time I have a candidate not doing well in the polls people are going to tell me to replace the candidate."
John Carbone, representing New Jersey's 21 county clerks, said any change in the procedure would cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars," and anytime after next Wednesday it would "not be doable."
Genova told UPI that "interested parties could pick up the extra cost of changing the ballot" but he declined to say who the interested parties were and how much they might be willing to pay.
Meanwhile, Lautenberg, 78, said he was looking forward to "the shortest campaign I've been engaged." Co-founder and chief executive officer of Automatic Data Processing from 1952 to 1982, he was New Jersey's U.S. senator from 1983 to 2000.
He often feuded with Torricelli, and some have speculated whether their past would keep Torricelli from handing over some of his leftover campaign money.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Lautenberg had less than $7,000 in his campaign fund as of June 30, 2000, and in his last campaign he spent less than $1 million.
Torricelli raised $9.4 million for his race, spent $3.5 million, and reports filed as of June 30, 2002, had $6 million in cash left, according to the CRP.
Only!!!!
Every serviceman/woman matters.
Get them to drop out and put up a popular liberal to draw away Lautenberg vites.
The FL election was decided by only a few hundred votes. To scoff at 1,600 as if that was totally inconsequential displays ignorance.
Nice catch. What was the margin of victory in the last Florida presidential election?
The voters had that choice, and if it's gone now, it's only gone because Torocelli dropped out. The dems removed the extent of the voters choice, no one else.
According to Genova, the filing deadlines for the state ballot were only an "administrative convenience and not a right to run unopposed."
If I'm not mistaken, Forrester is not running unopposed. I believe their is a Green Party canidate running as well.
Sorry Dumb@ssocrats, you already made your choices!!!!
That's enough to win both the presidential race and the Flordia Democratic governers primary.
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