Bobby J must be reading this
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Jersey Journal

Gotta love the revelation that an operative of the Republican candidate for Senate, Rep. Tom Kean Jr., went to disgraced and federally jailed former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski to dig up dirt on rival U.S Sen. Robert Menendez.

As one political wag noted, Kean's people only had to offer him a carton of cigarettes and Janiszewski would be willing to come up with anything against anybody. In this latest episode of "As The Mud Flies," the GOP candidate is the one who looks bad. It is one thing to charge an opponent with mingling with corrupt individuals, it's hypocritical to then rely on a political felon for assistance.

Janiszewski is remembered for extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars during his 13 years as county executive.

The funny thing about this story is Janiszewski's recollection of events and relationships. In the Star-Ledger, he wrote to Kean "operative" Chris Lyon about how he "approached Menendez and encouraged him to run for Assembly on his ticket in 1987," and that the relationship turned sour when the then executive thought about running for governor in 1997.

He is quoted as writing: "Menendez discerned that he couldn't control me. So in the 99 primary, he (and) Scarinci tried to generate opposition to my re-election. Typical, they tried to do this behind my back (and) got caught, I chose not to accuse Menendez. Within 90 days, I was the target of another FBI investigation."

Bobby J was always concerned with his image. Even today, he reads The Jersey Journal online to see what people are saying about him. He should know that Menendez had his political ascension planned long before 1987. Also, things went sour a lot sooner - when Menendez's power buddy, Bruce Walter, decided to become chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization in 1991. The problem then was that Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann also wanted to be chairman. At separate meetings, both McCann and Walter were elected chairman by their supporters.

The evening of the election, Menendez and Walter transported a weak-kneed Janiszewski to a rally at Schuetzen Park in North Bergen. As he was "escorted" to the front of the packed house, a smiling Donald Scarinci, attorney and Menendez buddy, said: "We had to shoot some testosterone into Bobby J to get him here." Janiszewski took the podium and praised Walter as the true chairman of the HCDO. Eventually, Walter became the sole chairman.

Right from the beginning, the Menendez crowd viewed Janiszewski as a lightweight who filled a void in county government.

As for Janiszewski's aiding the Kean camp, one state lobbyist said, "From what I've read, they could have obtained the same info by reading newspapers."

For several weeks there have been rumors that Menendez was quitting the race. Hudson Dems say any attempt to change the rules again - as was done when Robert Torricelli bolted against Republican Doug Forrester in 2002 - would not fare as well. The New Jersey Supreme Court allowed Frank Lautenberg to replace Torricelli on the ballot, but Dems say a second request would draw a spanking from the court.

South Jersey Dems are nervous because many of their local races are partisan and Menendez will top their line. They may stay nervous because last week the governor reiterated his support for his hand-picked senator. The race is a statistical dead heat and both candidates are in it to the finish. So where do the candidates stand on the issues?

Democrats' Jersey Barrier

By Ruth Marcus - Washington Post
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; Page A25

JERSEY CITY -- It's 1 in the morning, and Bob Menendez, a red bindi dot on his forehead, is at his third Navratri festival of the night. "Namaste," says the Democratic senator, pressing his palms together and looking out over a street thronged with Indian Americans who've taken a break from the exuberant dancing at the traditional Hindu festival.

On this day, Menendez's pitch to keep his Senate seat has taken him on a marathon spin through the ethnic kaleidoscope of New Jersey politics. He dropped by the city's Irish Festival, a backyard barbecue with the Latino community, a meeting with African American leaders and a Korean celebration -- before boarding a bus full of Indian American supporters for this late-night blitz.

"I always drive myself hard," he says, but this fall the 52-year-old Menendez has especially good reason to push. In a year when Democrats across the country are doing better than expected, his race could be a glaring counterexample -- and a potentially costly one, given Democrats' outside chance of retaking the Senate.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine tapped Menendez, then the House's third-ranking Democrat, to fill his unexpired Senate term. Winning election on his own should have been the easy part -- this reliably blue state hasn't elected a Republican senator for 34 years, and President Bush's popularity is low. But Menendez now finds himself in a too-close-to-call race against Republican Tom Kean Jr., the 38-year-old son of the popular former governor. The scion of a patrician family, Kean is waging a decidedly ungentlemanly campaign against Menendez, the son of poor Cuban immigrants.

The race, in broad strokes, comes down to Bush fatigue vs. corruption fatigue. Menendez is doing his best to lash Kean to the president and his policies. Kean hardly mentions Bush or his party, though he's been happy to accept fundraising help from Laura Bush and Karl Rove. Instead, much as Menendez seeks to link Kean to Bush, Kean paints Menendez as "an individual who personifies the system that has hurt New Jersey for so long."

In hammering on corruption, Kean may have lucked out -- in his timing and opponent. Even in a state where tales of corrupt officials are as common as turnpike traffic, this has been a busy season. One powerful Democratic state senator was implicated in arranging a no-show state job for himself. The former state Senate president pleaded guilty to taking bribes. The attorney general, a Menendez protege, had to quit after intervening in a traffic stop of her boyfriend. Former governor Jim McGreevey, who resigned after admitting he put his gay lover on the state payroll, has just published a book.

And Menendez, who got his start in the notoriously corrupt politics of North Jersey's Hudson County, has offered Kean ample ammunition. Some of the attacks on him have been decidedly below the belt, others overstated even by the loose rules of political license, but some involve the kind of back-scratching coziness that looks even worse in the unforgiving light of a 30-second attack ad.

Kean accused Menendez of being "part of a massive kickback scheme" in Union City 25 years ago, citing his 12 appearances before a federal grand jury that culminated in the racketeering conviction of Menendez's political mentor, Mayor William V. Musto. In fact, four former federal prosecutors in the case contradicted Kean's assessment. "[I]t was certainly an act of courage for him to testify against the entire city government," one told the New York Times.

Similarly, Kean assails Menendez for "putting $350,000 of federal taxpayer money in his own pocket" -- accusations that arise from Menendez renting a house he owned to a nonprofit agency he helped to get federal funds, even as agency employees donated to his campaigns. Reports from the time indicate that the rental was at market rates; Menendez says the ethics panel approved the arrangement. Still, federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records, and Menendez himself says he wouldn't do it again.

Adding to Menendez's woes, last week he had to sever ties with his childhood friend and closest political adviser, Donald Scarinci, after a tape surfaced in which Scarinci urges a Hudson County contractor to make a particular hire. "That would be a favor to the congressman," Scarinci says, adding that "it makes sense for you because it gives you protection."

Kean tries to bring home the corruption issue, linking it, not entirely convincingly, to the state's "unaffordability," especially high property taxes -- never mind that local taxes aren't something a U.S. senator can do much about. "That type of personal profiting from public office is what raises people's taxes and makes this state more unaffordable," he says.

Politically, Kean is no Lincoln Chafee moderate -- or even a Tom Kean Sr. moderate. He is pro-choice and supports federally funded embryonic stem cell research, but he backs the Bush tax cuts, would have voted for his Supreme Court nominees and the war in Iraq, and denounces Bush's immigration plan as unacceptable "amnesty."

Menendez, for his part, seems offended by having to run against the unseasoned Kean in what he describes as "probably the most vile campaign I have ever participated in."

Dismissing the closeness of the polls, he says, "New Jersey is a late-deciding state." The open question is what, 34 days from now, its voters will decide they're most fed up with.LINK