DISPATCHES by Hank Kalet: A choice between bad and bad

A race in which neither horse is fit to run

By: Hank Kalet
   "Perhaps the most persistent of the fables from which the political process proceeds has to do with the ‘choice’ it affords the nation’s citizens, who are seen to remain unappreciative." – Joan Didion, "Political Fictions"
   There are two basic storylines governing the state’s U.S. Senate race:
   The first one is a simple story of the need for change. It is being told by Democrats across the nation who hope to capitalize on the anger and dissatisfaction with the president and his handling of the war and the economy and it features a general appeal to the state’s somewhat more liberal voting record (it hasn’t backed a Republican for U.S. Senate since 1972) by talking about the war and Social Security and reminding voters that a GOP victory in New Jersey is almost certain to keep the U.S. Senate in Republican hands.
   That’s the script that Robert Menendez, the incumbent Democrat, has been following. He has attempted to turn his opponent, state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., R-Union, into a surrogate for President George W. Bush, reminding New Jersey voters that Sen. Kean has been less than steadfast in his support for Social Security (he has continued to offer a vague endorsement of the retirement plan, while also saying it needs to be reformed) or his opposition to the war (he has called for the resignation of the secretary of defense, but has been unwilling to criticize the president).
   And while the voters of New Jersey seem to agree with his positions on these core issues — at least according to the polls — Sen. Menendez is facing a far more difficult fight than he should be in what has become one of the bluest states in the nation.
   There are a couple of reasons, the most compelling of which is storyline number two, in which the powerful fail to resist the temptation to use the authority of their offices to enrich themselves.
   Consider this recent chain of events:
   A state newspaper breaks the story that Sen. Menendez is being investigated by the U.S. attorney’s office — the Star-Ledger reported that records pertaining to an old rental agreement were subpoenaed and that Sen. Menendez, when a member of the House of Representatives, may have profited from some federal funding he directed to the tenants.
   This was bad enough, lending a heft to Sen. Kean’s more generic accusations that his somewhat scattershot attempts to demean Sen. Menendez’ integrity had been lacking.
   Sen. Menendez, however, now finds himself fending off legitimate questions about his ethics at a time when New Jersey Democrats find themselves under siege for some truly despicable behavior.
   Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran on Sunday outlined some of the more egregious examples:
   "Sen. Wayne Bryant, chairman of the Budget Committee, talked his way into a no-show job at the state medical university," he writes, "where he did nothing more than show up occasionally and read newspapers."
   And there is former Newark Mayor and current state Sen. Sharpe James, who Mr. Moran says has been accused of "taking money from the city police budget for a trip to Rio de Janeiro while kids back in Newark are getting shot on street corners."
   And most spectacularly, there is former state Sen. John Lynch, one time among the most powerful men in the state. He pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges last week, admitting that he took a bribe from an unnamed South Brunswick sand-mining firm that in 1998 was seeking approval from the state to eventually build a recreational park on its facility as part of a larger land swap.
   (The Lynch probe touched Monroe, as well; Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci had done consulting work for Sen. Lynch’s political action committee until earlier this spring when the relationship came to light and left the mayor in a politically untenable position.)
   So now, Sen. Menendez must fend off questions not only about himself, but about his party, while Sen. Kean can run as a clean-government reformer.
   This battle of narratives has left the Senate race in a dead heat, a toss-up according to the various political handicapping organizations in a state that has not seen a Republican U.S. senator since Clifford Case won re-election in 1972.
   In the end, it will be up to the voters to decide whether between another two years of Republican control of the Senate — which means, for instance, that an arch anti-environmentalist like James Inhofe will continue to chair the committee that oversees environmental legislation — or a Democrat with ethical questions swirling around his head.
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. He can be reached via e-mail, or through his weblog, Channel Surfing.