Posted on 09/20/2006 9:32:08 AM PDT by freespirited
New Jersey’s Democratic elite has developed a well-worn reputation for cockiness.
And for good reason: Since 1972, only two Republicans—Tom Kean Sr. and Christine Todd Whitman, each elected and re-elected governor—have won statewide elections in New Jersey, and only once did their victory margin exceed one percentage point.
But cockiness also explains the predicament that Garden State Democrats now face: Six weeks before what figures to be the most Democrat-friendly midterm election in a generation, it is very possible—if not probable—that they will squander what should have been one of their party’s safest Senate seats.
Through scandals that would have killed off an ordinary state party, New Jersey’s Democrats thrived this decade, growing more confident with each win that they’d found a recipe for immunity. But now there is fear that they overreached and, in 2006, nominated the one man to whom their misdeeds will actually stick.
The national implications couldn’t be more dire: If Robert Menendez, New Jersey’s appointed Democratic incumbent, fails to hold off Republican Tom Kean Jr., Euclid himself couldn’t devise a majority-producing formula for the Democrats.
For now, the Menendez-Kean race is essentially a tie, something of an achievement in its own right for New Jersey’s G.O.P., which typically enjoys all the September success of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. What’s more, the most recent polls haven’t even measured the impact of a recently revealed federal criminal investigation of Mr. Menendez, the consequences of which Democrats privately describe with words ranging from “pretty bad” to “fatal.”
That quiet angst, though, isn’t entirely owed to the investigation itself, which was launched by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie two weeks ago. It has more to do with context. Just consider what else is in the news in New Jersey these days.
There’s Jim McGreevey, some 22 months after skipping town with federal investigations into his gubernatorial administration swirling, who barged back into our lives last week to let us know that the sexual affair with the unqualified Israeli sailor he appointed as his state’s homeland-security advisor actually began while Mrs. McGreevey lay in a hospital bed clutching the couple’s newborn daughter. If that’s not enough, Golan Cipel, Mr. McGreevey’s supposed romantic partner, has himself re-emerged—to declare that the governor had actually liquored him up with Jägermeister and tried to rape him.
There’s also John Lynch, the onetime New Jersey Senate president (and Mr. McGreevey’s political godfather), whose plea agreement on federal corruption charges landed on the front page of last Friday’s Star-Ledger—right next to the news that Mr. McGreevey had been smitten with Mr. Cipel “from the first kiss.”
And then there’s this week’s report from a federal monitor essentially charging Wayne Bryant, a powerful state senator and loyal cog in the feared Camden County Democratic Committee, with shaking down administrators at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to secure a no-show job for himself.
And those are just the biggies.
It may be hard for someone in, say, Kansas to understand this, but this is far from the first time that New Jersey Democrats have handed Republicans political ammunition this potent. But it has never mattered—until now.
In last year’s governor’s race, Republicans tied Jon Corzine, through his obscene personal campaign contributions and politically reckless business dealings, to a host of unseemly—and even indicted—characters. But Mr. Corzine won by 10 points: Few voters believed that the former Goldman Sachs C.E.O. would dirty himself doing business with ward-heelers.
The same goes for 2002, when Democrats switched a wheezing, wounded Robert Torricelli out of a Senate re-election race that he was about to lose, instead coasting home with the innocuous Frank Lautenberg.
Mr. Menendez may not be so lucky.
The public, even before word surfaced that U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie was probing his past role as a Union City landlord, already seemed inclined to tie Mr. Menendez to the sins of his party. The Senator has since intimated that Mr. Christie, a G.O.P.-appointed prosecutor, is motivated by politics and swears that the matter is overblown. It may well be.
But Mr. Menendez was always playing a risky game, betting that he—and, more importantly, New Jersey’s voters—had heard the last of some of the uglier chapters from his days as Hudson County’s Democratic boss.
Like earlier this decade, when he used his fierce and unforgiving muscle to paralyze the government of Jersey City. And why? To teach a lesson to the mayor, a man named Glenn Cunningham, who had run afoul of Mr. Menendez.
Tragically, Mr. Cunningham died two years ago. The city shut down for his funeral, and some 4,000 residents made their way to the armory for the ceremony. Mr. Menendez was barred from coming anywhere near it. But who delivered a eulogy? Why, Chris Christie. Of course.
Maybe, for both New Jersey Democrats and Mr. Menendez, the old saw is true: What goes around, comes around.
Just goes to show how MANY moron's acually do exist in the state of N.J.. I can't wait to get the HELL out of here.....
Yup. This state is terrible. And the people keep buying the Democrats' bull.
I know Kean's a RINO, but I really hope he wins.
Just because Christie spoke at Cunningham's funeral or is a Republican-appointed prosecutor doesn't mean what he's found on Menedez doesn't have legs. The substance of the charges stand on their own and indeed appear to be trouble for Menedez regardless of who the prosecutor is.
Me too. I even gave a little money to his campaign. Kean is very conservative on economic issues like tax cuts and spending control. Works for me. In any event, if nothing else Kean needs to be supported to punish the decades of corruption by the evil New Jersey Democratic machine.
NJ corruption summary ping....
I'm glad I got out. I'm glad I don't have to vote in that Senate race. Kean's old man spoke at my high school graduation. His speech was completelt idiotic and the only coherent point he made was that everyone from California is insane. (where I am from)
John Gotti would be better.
Maybe they can dump Menendez and replace him with Tony Soprano. At least he would be livelier than Lauttenburg.
Well, look at that. Election Day is in 48 days. Too late to pull a Toricelli, 'RATS, unless you are willing to go back to court.
Are any voters dumber than those of New Jersey, Illinois or Louisiana?
California. Massachusetts.
NJ should take pride at being only the 3rd dumbest state.
I should have been more specific and said "What states are more tolerant of corrupt public officials." Cal. and Mass. do not have the rampant corruption of the Big Three they are merely insane.
Menendez figures he has nothing to worry about, that no matter what dirt spills out, he's a shoo-in.
Why?
B/c there are said to be some one million illegal aliens in the Democratic voting base.......not counting all the illegals they'll truck in from other states to vote on election day.
They will vote Menendez no questions asked b/c he is their ticket to amnesty, and millions and millions of free US government benefits.
Menendez is prepared to loot the US Treasury and would ship the US Social Security system across the border to payoff illegals who keep him in the Senate.
Menendez himself was once a foreign national......but he has yet to produce his "citizenship" papers, and will not say whether he entered the US legally.
HER'S A GOOD LINK TO EXPLORE ALL OF THE MONEY ANGLES
http://www.getnj.com/onlygameintown/messages/4954.shtml
Kay Licausi's Gold Mine?
Former Aide to Congressman Robert Menendez gets hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.
Lists the loot Menendez's girlie Kay LiCausi rakes in. LiCausi's lobbying group called "KL Strategies, Inc." Fronts to rake in the cash as Bobby legislates federal grants for her clients. KL Strategies, Inc. is at an address where LiCausi and Menendez share an apartment.
THE KUSHNER CONNECTION LINK
Menendez's Millienum PAC rakes in money from anyone it can including Convicted Tax Cheat Charlie Kushner:
KUSHNER, CHARLIE FLORHAM PARK
NJ 07932 09/15/2003 5000.00
BRUCKNER PLAZA ASSOCIATES/PARTNER 23992202605
KUSHNER, DARA FLORHAM PARK
NJ 07932 04/15/2004 5000.00
HOMEMAKER 24961364432
KUSHNER, JARED LIVINGSTON
NJ 07039 04/15/2004 5000.00
STUDENT 24961364431
KUSHNER, JOSHUA LIVINGSTON
NJ 07039 04/15/2004 5000.00
STUDENT 24961364420
KUSHNER, NICOLE FLORHAM PARK
NJ 07932 04/15/2004 5000.00
STUDENT 24961364422
KUSHNER, SERYL (wife)
LIVINGSTON NJ 07039
03/23/2004 5000.00
WESTMINSTER (one of 50 Kushner businesses)
Ah yes, the Bundle family...
I guess you're right. NJ liberals in power certainly don't have quite the same socialist insanity and do exhibit some shred of reason on occasion.
They just rob the state while doing so.
Illinois' RAT governor has been caught handing out jobs for cash, paying off his supporters with chushy jobs, accepting cash for his daughter's college education and is currently under federal investigation for jobs misdeeds. Even the RAT Attorney General has not endorsed him in the current race.
Does any of that matter to the voter? Nope, he has a 20+ point lead in the election polls.
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