New Jersey Democrats pulled it off. Halfway through the ball game they pulled out their starting pitcher and brought in the relief, and the New Jersey Supreme Court let them get away with it.
Democrats think that by bringing Frank Lautenberg to fill the shoes of unpopular Robert Torricelli as their candidate for the U.S. Senate they can win an election polls said they couldn’t have won otherwise.
Giving new meaning to taking his ball and going home, Torricelli quit the team this week, leaving Democrats to scramble for a replacement. While even the most cynical of us shed a tear or two over his resignation speech, many in the general public — particularly Republicans – basically heard: “I can’t win, so I’m taking my ball and going home.”
The Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Wednesday night to allow Democrats to make a switch that could have repercussions on future elections. If Republican candidate for County Executive Ira Jersey decides he can’t win and wants to replace himself with Bret Schundler on the ticket, why can’t he? The scramble for last-minute replacements could be endless.
Democrats argued that Torricelli never got a chance to get to the issues because his opponent Doug Forrester kept hammering on questions of ethics. Duh! Isn’t the ethical behavior of an elected official a legitimate issue? Torricelli sniffed his way through his list of accomplishments during his resignation speech, expecting the public to accept them as part of his record. Clocks, watches and other gifts to the senator are part of that record, and something voters would need to consider as much as Torricelli’s vote on Social Security.
Torricelli’s whining can’t disguise the fact that his ethical record seems far less dignified than his voting record, and he can’t get Forrester to talk about anything else.
Forrester – the man nobody really knows – was quick to pick up on the fact that Torricelli’s replacement, Lautenberg, wasn’t particularly happy in the Senate when he was there and questions Lautenberg’s sudden change of heart. Is maintaining Democratic control of the U.S. Senate good enough reason?
Always a remarkably astute analyst of the political scene, State Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny of Hoboken understood Republican objections to the switch.
“If I were in their place, I would fight this, too,” he said.
Kenny said the court’s decision had to weigh two important elements: setting a precedent for future elections vs. the right of the public to have a choice in this election. Somehow Democrats managed to present conditions that make this situation unique from any that might follow, and the court agreed to let Lautenberg run.
Would the public’s dislike and distrust of Torricelli qualify as a unique condition?
Whose Two Cents?
Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons has every right to be upset at personal attacks made against him in an unsigned flyer being distributed in Hoboken. The flyer, “Our Two Cents,” is thick on distortion but short on courage.
It is easy to lie when you don’t have to sign your name to it, and easy to raise issues when hiding behind a bush. As Gov. Jim McGreevey’s request for the resignation of the state’s poet laureate points out, there are limits to free speech. But at least Newark poet Amiri Baraka didn’t spread lies in hiding. The scoundrels who wrote this piece of claptrap and personal innuendo might take a lesson from Torricelli and at least take their lumps in the open. Distributing unsigned flyers is a good way to present distortions without having the burden of proof or fairness that legitimate publications have.
Speaking of free speech, we wonder what ever happened to Bo Scannavino’s threatened lawsuit against State Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco? Scannavino promised to file civil rights violation charges against the mayor for attempting to silence him at public meetings. Perhaps Scannavino’s run for commissioner has put the case on the back burner. He is part of a three-way North Bergen race to fill out the term of Peter Perez – who resigned from the commission after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges. Allen Pascual is Sacco’s choice against Scannavino and Denis Jaslow.
Like a Monty Python comedy, Scannavino and Jaslow – both ex-employees of the town who claimed to have been unfairly fired – are so busy targeting each other, Pascual looks like the only dignified choice.
Judged by a crook?
George Heflich, one time council candidate in Secaucus, cried foul this week after hearing that North Bergen’s Joseph Auriemma – former township business administration as well as director for the Municipal Utilities Authority – pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud charges.
Auriemma once served as hearing officer in a dispute between Heflich and Secaucus Town Administrator Anthony Iacono. Heflich became the target of various charges after he ran for council in 1997. He claimed the charges were political and that the move eventually reduced his job to a part-time position designed to force him to retire.
“Now I’m finding out that the man who ruled against me is a crook,” Heflich said. “Now what does that tell you?”
Charity for lawyers?
As reports last week in the Jersey City Reporter showed, big bucks are flowing out of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency and into the needy hands of – attorneys.
Although Donald Scarinci may well be right in that his firm’s fees are not on the top of the $700,000 totem pole, he does need a lesson in Robert’s Rules. When several members of the JCRA moved to table a resolution dealing with Scarinci’s contract, Scarinci – serving as counsel for the board – ruled the move invalid. He claimed the resolution had been moved and seconded, requiring the body to move ahead with the vote. Unfortunately for our learned lawyer, Roberts says tabling requests take precedence over all other motions. Such requests must be voted on immediately, before a motion can continue. Don’t worry, Donald, we’ll buy you a copy of the book.
Mayor Glenn Cunningham has been a sharp critic of Scarinci’s contract with the JCRA, but failed to notice other contracts that exceed Scarcini’s — one legal firm had actually received in excess of $200,000 last year for a case supposedly already settled.
Cunningham’s camp had a hard time figuring out its position on the upcoming election. While Cunningham stood side by side with Tom DeGise as he promised to support Robert Torricelli and the Democratic team, staff members kept struggling to figure out if this meant Cunningham had actually endorsed DeGise for county executive. Cunningham had led the primary fight against DeGise last June.