Democrats Unseat Top Republican in N.J. Senate

Associated Press ^ | 11-04-03

[Brian S]

November 4, 2003 — Spending record amounts to try and win control of the Legislature, Democrats beat the state's top elected Republican senator Tuesday and looked to end talk that Gov. James E. McGreevey's unpopularity would sink the party.

Republican Senate President John O. Bennett, the subject of a series of newspaper articles questioning his ethics, conceded his race to Democrat Ellen Karcher, ending his two decades in the Senate.

"Friends, we fought a good fight, even a great fight but the odds were heavily stacked against us," Bennett said as he thanked supporters and faulted the newspaper's coverage of his business. "The politics of personal destruction and intimidation should not play a role in public service."

Karcher told supporters: "It is time to do what we can to restore faith in our public officials. It's time to end the perception, or worse the reality, that people enter public service for personal gain."

That loss put Democrats closer to winning the state Senate, and breaking a tie between parties in that house.

"It speaks volumes about this misplaced strategy of attacking the governor personally," McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen said.

Going into the election, Democrats held key advantages in the number of registered voters, campaign donations and they spent record amounts to win the Senate and Assembly, victories that could boost their party and put McGreevey on track for re-election in 2005.

Turnout was reported to be light Tuesday with no statewide candidates topping the ballot. Four years ago in the last such election, only 31 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

Both parties were seeking to end the unprecedented 20-20 split in the state Senate and gain control of the closely divided, 80-member state Assembly. After a series of defections from the Democratic Party, the Assembly consists of 41 Democrats, 38 Republicans and one Green Party member. But the Senate races attracted the most attention. Democrats targeted Bennett, trying to capitalize on ethics allegations stemming from news reports that the longtime legislator and lawyer double billed Marlboro Township for municipal legal services. Karcher has gotten nearly all of her campaign money from state and county Democratic organizations. In southern New Jersey, Democrat Fred Madden, a former state police superintendent, was on track to double the record of $1.78 million for spending by a legislative candidate. Madden collected at least $3.3 million to beat George Geist, a tireless campaigner who is one of the few Republicans to win consistently in the region. With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Madden had 51 percent of the vote, or 17,796 votes, and Geist had 49 percent, or 17,340 votes.

Candidates overall were on track to break the $28.3 million record set two years ago for the most expensive round of legislative races in New Jersey history. Both parties spent millions in the final days of the campaign on election advertising in the costly New York and Philadelphia media markets to woo voters.

Democrats hold a sizable advantage in fund-raising. The state party itself had $14.5 million, which is about five times as much as the $3.8 million raised by Republicans. Political action committees controlled by Democrats also outpaced GOP groups.

Other key figures showed advantages for Democrats. Of the more than 4.5 million state residents registered to vote, 1.1 million are registered Democrats and 870,936 are registered Republicans. More than 2.5 million voters are unaffiliated with political parties, but many tend to vote for Democrats.

But the most troubling figure for Democrats had been McGreevey's approval ratings, a record low of 61 percent in recent polls.

McGreevey, known for his tireless campaign style, stayed nearly invisible on the campaign trail and fellow Democrats rarely named him or their party in ads. Instead candidates used McGreevey to help them raise money from party faithful.

[Brian S]

Blah!!!

[oceanview]

NJ is a Dem state, this should come as no surprise. The NJ teachers association is very powerful, the state has urban concentrations, and many spaced out suburban soccer moms who buy this "for the children" stuff all the way. McGreevey will win re-election also, his poll numbers now mean nothing.

[HostileTerritory]

Bennett was a slimeball but his Dem replacement won't last past the next election.

[Ciexyz]

My sympathies.

[Parley Baer]

Well, I'll take 3 state governors for 1 state senator. Come on Haley. Parley

[At _War_With_Liberals]

That hurts... but it is true.

[Political Junkie Too]

This means that Bush is in big trouble in 2004!!

-PJ

[oceanview]

for sure. there are some locales that are Dem and that's it. where I live on long island, its gone solidly Dem. the demographic shift is unstoppable. when the defense industry here was gutted, the people who made up the republican base left with it.

[Bogey78O]

Next time the NJ GOP needs to do a Clinton fundraiser.

Yes, you read that right.

[F16Fighter]

Bennett was a slimeball, and an arrogant one at that. ..

If we're going to toss out ALL slimeballs, let's begin though with McGreevey.

[TheBigB]

Terry McAuliffe is en route to this district as we speak to give a live TV interview about how this spells doom for W. next year. :)

[oceanview]

local NYC media proclaiming "McGreevey is the big winner in NJ".

[qam1]

Terry McAuliffe is en route to this district as we speak to give a live TV interview about how this spells doom for W. next year. :)

Oh Yeah! Just like Bustamonte in Cali claiming even though he lost the recall was a sucess because prop. fifty something failed, The National Democrats even though it looks like they will lose the governor races will point to NJ and claim 2003 as a sucessful election.

[oceanview]

the schoolteachers will be headed for $150K salaries now, they are all partying this week in atlantic city.

[oceanview]

huh?

[Incorrigible]

No surprise. He did himself out of the job. The epitome of a RINO.

[Political Junkie Too]

Don't forget the corrupt Philly mayor, too! If I were Bush, I'd drop out now and prepare my "I won't run... I won't accept... I won't serve..." speech.

-PJ

[Antoninus]

McGreevey will win re-election also, his poll numbers now mean nothing.

He will because the GOP in this state will implode again. They're already lining up to force ultra-RINO Diane Allen on us as the nominee. She's one of the weasels who cut the legs out from under Bret Schundler last time around. I will NEVER vote for her and should she get the nomination, I will actively campaign against her, even if it means putting McSleazy back in office. And I reckon I'm not the only one around here who feels that way.

I will never ever EVER vote for another stinking RINO.

[Coleus]

the schoolteachers will be headed for $150K salaries now, they are all partying this week in Atlantic city. >>

My friend does taxes and sadly it's the case, many teachers make over 100 K plus $35.00 per hour for all the other side jobs working on committees, day care, staff advisors, coaches, etc.

[qam1]

Don't forget the lawyers, They will also be partying.

Unfortunately it looks like now I will have to drive to Pennsylvania to go to the doctor because I am sure they are going to be fleeing.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

where is AP's headline exclaiming ky's first REPUBLICAN gov in 67 years

[lasereye]

It says his approval rating is 61%. What's so bad about that?

[lasereye]

Democrats hold a sizable advantage in fund-raising. The state party itself had $14.5 million, which is about five times as much as the $3.8 million raised by Republicans.

This says it all.

[qam1]

It says his approval rating is 61%. What's so bad about that?

It's a typo his approval rating is probably 31%

[qam1]

NYTIMES HEADLINE

In a Pretext to 2004 DEMOCRATS Make hugh gains in New Jersey and Phildelphia

And on page 41

Republicans win 2 governorships

[Coleus]

John O. Bennett (RINO) is 100% Pro-abortion and has been involved with steering state business to himself, conflict of interest and bill payments for services as township attorney.

http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2003/0827/Front_page/027.html
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/news/stories/20030923/localnews/310763.html
http://www.politicsnj.com/kornacki102403_LD12.htm
http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news4-usattorney.htm
http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2003/1022/Front_Page/031.html
http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/september/m092103d.htm
http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/october/m100503b.htm

McGreevey wants state to become breeding ground of Life Sciences
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/855577/posts

State of the GOP is dismal
Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Gov. James E. McGreevey will be giving his State of the State speech today. In anticipation of this great event, the state's Republican leadership held a press conference last week to highlight all of the failures of the McGreevey administration.

It was held in the Statehouse. That's the very same Statehouse where, just one year earlier, the Republican Party was enjoying its last days in control of the state government by attempting a spending splurge of historic proportion. I was in the Statehouse on Jan. 7, 2002, and I remember it well. It was the last legislative session of the Whitman-DiFrancesco era. The Republicans were about to go out of power, but not before they did their best to clear the shelves like one of those TV contestants who gets two minutes in a supermarket to fill a shopping cart.

There was a $355 million sports arena bill for Newark. There was $46 million for other construction around the state, including a couple of sports facilities and a zoo. There was even a $180 million Camden bailout package.
That permitted McGreevey, who would take office a week later, to adopt the pose of a fiscal conservative.
"Such a proposal at this point borders on being incomprehensible," McGreevey told the press.

It certainly was incomprehensible to me. I still don't understand why, in its death throes, the Republican Party was trying to ship hundreds of millions to the Democratic strongholds of Camden and Newark.

A few days later, McGreevey took office and proclaimed, "The days of irresponsible borrowing and runaway spending are over."
By which he meant: Now the Democrats get to hand out the pork.

That's all that's changed. And the Republicans aren't fooling anybody. The 28-page handout the GOP gave reporters at that press conference last week amounted to a call for more government spending, not less.

Here's the entry describing what happened on Jan. 7, 2002: "Newark Arena Plan Stalls: In the midst of a fiscal crisis, McGreevey says he will push for a bill to help finance the project and would like to sign it into law by June."

Note the absurdity. In the middle of a fiscal crisis, the Republicans were trying to spend more on sports arenas than McGreevey ever dreamed of. And now they want to criticize him for it.

He certainly can be criticized, but not by the likes of John Bennett, the Republican Senate co- president, who was at the microphone last week, or by Assembly Minority Leader Paul DiGaetano, who was helping him present the report.
Those two were in on government giveaways that McGreevey will never be able to equal. There was that $8.6 billion school construction bond issue that the GOP put through without voter approval.

Then there was that 9 percent hike in public employee pensions five months before the 2001 election. It was an obvious bid to buy votes, but the giveaway came after the state's pension fund had already begun its swan dive in the stock market. The pension costs are up; the market's down. Thank the GOP.

And then there's the question of rising property taxes. The Republicans are promising more state aid to middle-income school districts. But they won't say where the money will come from. A reporter asked DiGaetano whether he will support the next state budget if McGreevey again freezes education aid.

"If in fact he does what he did last year and talks about a freeze in education aid when it's really a decrease in aid because he ignores the increase in population in the 560 middle-income districts in this state, absolutely not," he replied. "That's not an increase. It's a decrease."

True enough, but there's only one way to increase aid to the middle-income districts without raising taxes. And that's by decreasing aid to the 30 Abbott school districts, the mismanaged urban schools that consume about half of state aid. Republicans in other states, such as Michigan and California, solved that problem years ago by equalizing aid among all districts, urban and suburban. Our boys, however, want to increase aid all around. Their handout blasted McGreevey for freezing Abbott aid as well.

Where's the money coming from? The GOP's not saying. It will say, however, that McGreevey was wrong to hike corporate taxes by $1 billion. I'll agree with that. But let's do the math. The Republicans want him to collect a billion less in taxes. They want him to spend perhaps a billion more on schools. Great. That means cutting $2 billion somewhere else. Where?

Bennett and DiGaetano aren't saying. Their specialty is increasing budgets, not reducing them.

Their message, when you filter out the nonsense, is this: Vote for us and you'll get the same policies you get from the Democrats. But we'll get more patronage to hand out.
If you're looking for the reason the Republicans are doing so well nationally and so poorly in New Jersey, look no further. Our Republicans govern exactly like Democrats. So why not vote Democratic?

Paul Mulshine is a Star-Ledger columnist.

[Calpernia]

CA bankrupt first, NJ will be second

[Davea]

"This means that Bush is in big trouble in 2004!!"

LOL! Is that you Terry?

[Political Junkie Too]

Shhhh...

-PJ

[dead]

the schoolteachers will be headed for $150K salaries now, they are all partying this week in atlantic city.

You're smoking crack.

My wife's a NJ public school teacher, and if she made half that salary, I'd be popping champagne myself.

Where do you get such asinine information?

[Huck]

Not only that, but most of our GOP isn't worth spit either. We got some good Republicans up here in Sussex County, which is solid Red zone, but we get drowned out statewide by the urban areas and the suburban ditzes, as you mentioned.

[dead]

Not only that, but most of our GOP isn't worth spit either.

I disagree. I have a mouthful of spit that most of them have earned, if they just get close enough.

[Intolerant in NJ]

"It speaks volumes about this misplaced strategy of attacking the governor personally," McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen said...this is a laugh - all the ads I saw had 'rats running away from McGreevy as fast as republicans did - Geist (R) accused Madden (D) of wanting to go to Trenton to support the govenor and Madden shot back that he only wanted to be a good chief of state police and rejected McGreevy's budget and didn't want to cut benefits for schools like McGreevy did and on and on - unless McGreevy's 30% approval rating jumps dramatically in 2 years, it's going to be fun watching these characters try to support their governor but stay from him next time around........

[Belisaurius]

Ask yourself...WWTSD?

What Would Tony Soprano Do?

[Huck]

Point taken. My mouth is so dry, to get a good hocker, I'd have to get up, get something to drink....too much of a hassle. I'd rather just heckle them from the couch.

[pawdoggie]

NJ is a Dem state, this should come as no surprise.

Right on! But notice how AP finds such significance when the Dems win where they're supposed to. Then watch 'em spin Republican victories in KY and MISS.

[WOSG]

Antoninus, as a Texas Conservative raised in NJ, this breaks my heart.

The lesson is that RINOs destroy the party.

Please - first take back your party ... this means running for all the party offices and getting the RINOs out.

Then, when you've cleaned up the party, start running candidates anywhere and everywhere.

Over time, you can win again. Texas was very Democrat even in 1990! Now it is GOP dominated. Back in 1990-1992 of course, the GOP took over from the Dems in NJ, thanks to Florio. The GOP muffed it with "me-too" politics and they slowly lost control... now the Democrats run the show, with mcGreedy on top. Very sad, but it can be changed. God speed!

[WOSG]

"Perhaps Democrats are what the people of New Jersey deserve."

Please, dont be cruel.

[republicanwizard]

Ooooooooooooooooooh...Democrats won in Philly and Pittsburgh....gee...what a suprise...

[freeperfromnj]

The NJ teachers association is very powerful

That's what put them over the top. That, and one and a half hour delays on NJ Transit out of Penn Station last night. I got home after the polls closed. I guess the people of NJ like high taxes, high car insurance rates and didn't have a problem giving up their homestead rebates. Oh well.

[neverdem]

"This means that Bush is in big trouble in 2004!!"

NJ has been as pathetic as NY, city and state, for quite a while. I believe Bush should concentrate on the gaps of fly-over country.

[neverdem]

See comment# 28. Chuckles

[oceanview]

how many years does she have on the job?

i live on long island, tenured public school teachers with 20+ years on the job make $100K. i know many of them personally. and its the same in NJ. i don't know what district your wife works in, or how many years she has on the job. but its reality.

[oceanview]

in 1995/96, the AVERAGE salary was $49,277:

http://www.state.nj.us/njbiz/r_primed.shtml

and since 1996, salaries have gone way up for teachers. NJ is #1 now in the nation, up from #4 in 1996.

i didn't say they were making $150K now, I said they were "headed" there. and the top salaried teachers already make over $100K, so they are indeed headed for $150K over the next 5 years.

[dead]

how many years does she have on the job?

About ten.

i live on long island, tenured public school teachers with 20+ years on the job make $100K. i know many of them personally.

Well $100K is still a long haul from $150K.

and its the same in NJ. i don't know what district your wife works in, or how many years she has on the job. but its reality.

No teacher in her district is making $100K, let alone $150K! But that’s “tip money” for the administrators.

[oceanview]

the superintendants on long island make $200K+, right now.

generally speaking, I have no problem with a teacher making $75K plus here in the northeast. but its going to go beyond that now in many cases, well beyond that. and the administrator salaries are insane as you mention. we know one person, a "purchasing manager" for the schools, making $76K to buy school supplies.

[dead]

generally speaking, I have no problem with a teacher making $75K plus here in the northeast.

Me neither, and not just for selfish reasons. Anybody with a union job for twenty plus years in NJ is making over 100K. If toll booth collectors and telephone operators deserve it, certainly teachers do.

The administrators and union reps are the real crooks who deserve massive salary cuts, though it’ll never happen.