| Stem cell studies and gay marriage lead GOP debate Saturday, May 25, 2002 Differences on same-sex marriage and stem cell research highlighted the third and probably final debate among the three Republican U.S. Senate candidates vying in the June 4 primary for the nomination to challenge Democrat Robert G. Torricelli. The debate, which airs today at 1 p.m. on Channel 7, again saw Republicans Diane Allen, Douglas Forrester, and John Matheussen take turns vilifying Torricelli as unfit for a second term because of a federal investigation into his fund-raising and dealings with donors. Allen and Matheussen, who are both state senators, said they did not think the Constitution should be amended to ban same-sex marriage, as some Republicans in Washington have advocated. Allen said the government should work to make sure there is no discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation. Forrester said he opposed legal recognition of same-sex unions, but thought regulation of the question should be left to the states. He would not say how he'd vote on a constitutional amendment without seeing what the amendment said and how it affected states' rights. Forrester also avoided a direct answer on whether he would vote to ban research on embryonic stem cells, saying only that he was opposed to "using human beings as guinea pigs." Matheussen said he would vote against a ban, while Allen cited her father's battle with Alzheimer's disease and indicated that she supported research. "If we can end Alzheimer's, if we can end juvenile diabetes, if we can end Parkinson's ... then I think we have to move forward. It would be my choice to do it without any further stem cell research, but if we must, I would vote for it," Allen said. The Republicans unanimously attacked Torricelli for voting for a 10-year, $190 billion farm-support bill that they said provided huge benefits to growers of wheat and other commodity crops while offering little help to fruit and vegetable farmers who predominate in New Jersey agriculture. Forrester, a businessman who has financed most of his own campaign, said he could not understand why Torricelli supported the bill until his staff pointed out that Torricelli had received donations from agribusinesses. "We need a senator who will represent New Jersey's interests and not the interests of the Midwest," Forrester said. Matheussen charged that Torricelli "was asleep at the wheel" on the vote, while Allen called it "waste and mismanagement beyond belief." Ken Snyder, Torricelli's campaign manager, said the senator worked with the New Jersey Farm Bureau, "which strongly supported the legislation because for the first time in history it provides specific benefits to protect small dairy farmers." President Bush, whom all three debaters said they support, had urged Congress to pass the bill. Allen, of Burlington County, and Matheussen, of Gloucester County, cited their record of cutting taxes as legislators. Allen rapped Forrester for raising property taxes when he was on the Township Committee in West Windsor, but Forrester said the taxes were needed to build a new sewer system to replace a failing septic system that posed a public health threat. Forrester has the endorsement of party leaders in counties with large concentrations of Republicans, including Bergen and Passaic. He also had the most money going into the end of the campaign. But Allen argued that polls showing her doing the best in a head-to-head matchup with Torricelli, and she said people have told her Torricelli is concerned about facing her. "He says I'm his worst nightmare, and I'm hoping to make his dreams come true," Allen said. Snyder, Torricelli's campaign manager, responded: "Diane Allen has misheard. He said she's new Jersey's worst nightmare." Allen and Matheussen are to meet in one last debate on News12 on Thursday, but Forrester has declined the invitation. On Sunday at 11:30 a.m., Channel 4 will air a debate the three candidates taped earlier this week. 3708101 |
TRENTON, May 24 Ñ Their differences were often slight, but in their third and last debate, New Jersey's three candidates for the Republican nomination to the United States Senate revealed some disagreements on stem cell research and the use of troops to guard a Middle East peace settlement.
While State Senator John Matheussen said he would need more information before he would vote to commit troops, Douglas Forrester, the former mayor of West Windsor, said that "generally speaking," he would support the president in such a deployment. State Senator Diane Allen said she would vote to send troops if the purpose was to stand with Israel and resist terrorism.
"If we don't end terrorism where it is abroad," Senator Allen said, "it is coming back on our shores."
The three Republicans answered questions from a panel of reporters for an hour at the Trenton studios of WPVI Philadelphia, an ABC outlet. The taped debate will be broadcast Saturday on WABC Channel 7 in New York at 1 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Channel 6 in Philadelphia. The primary is June 4.
Despite the candidates' occasional disagreement, the debate repeated the pattern of their earlier encounters. They agreed on supporting President Bush and standing with Israel, and on criticism of the incumbent, Robert G. Torricelli, a Democrat who is seeking a second term.
All three attacked Mr. Torricelli for supporting the recently passed 10-year, $190 billion farm bill, which was opposed by New Jersey's junior senator, Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat. Mr. Forrester implied that Mr. Torricelli had voted for the bill to please his campaign contributors.
"The fact that Bob Torricelli would vote for a $190 billion farm subsidy bill that will go to agribusinesses in the Midwest is outrageous Ñ absolutely outrageous," Mr. Forrester said. "After all, Jon Corzine voted against it, and I asked my staff, `Why did this happen?' And they plopped down a contributor list."
Ken Snyder, Mr. Torricelli's campaign director, said afterward that the farm bill provided unprecedented amounts of money to preserve New Jersey open spaces, and helped the state's dairy industry.
"The bill was strongly supported by the New Jersey Farm Bureau," Mr. Snyder said, adding that it provided small dairy farmers with a safety net.
The three Republicans agreed that the embargo on Cuba should not be lifted until democracy is given a chance there, and said they would not apply an abortion-rights litmus test to nominees to the United States Supreme Court. They agreed with President Bush's plans to spend more for the military and for a proposed federal program to encourage welfare recipients to marry.
Mr. Matheussen likened research using human embryo stem cells to experimenting on humans. "I absolutely would vote against it," he said.
Mr. Forrester seemed to agree, saying there were better alternatives. But Ms. Allen described how her father had been devastated by Alzheimer's disease, and said that if the research could end that and other diseases, she would support it.
Ms. Allen, who has spent most of her adult life in television, appeared more adept at leaning into the camera and speaking directly into the lens, while Mr. Forrester often looked at the floor in thought, and Mr. Matheussen kept his eyes on his questioner.
As she has in the past, Ms. Allen ventured the only attack on an opponent by going after Mr. Forrester, likening his refusal to release his income tax documents to what she called Mr. Torricelli's failure to come clean on his relationship with David Chang, a businessman who was sentenced on Thursday to 18 months in prison for making $53,000 in illegal contributions to Mr. Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign.
"We don't need ducking, we don't need hiding Ñ that's what Mr. Torricelli does," Ms. Allen said.
Mr. Forrester, who has put about $3.1 million of his own money into his campaign and is leading in the polls, pointed out that he had filed disclosure forms listing the sources of his income with the United States Senate, as required.
"I really, really don't like any implication that somehow there's any similarity between the kinds of things Bob Torricelli has done and my behavior," Mr. Forrester said.