|
Governor's race energizing coalitions
Originally appeared in the Bergen Record on Tuesday, October 16, 2001
The red, white, and blue bumper sticker being distributed by catholicvote.org reads "U Can't B Both Catholic & Pro-Choice" and comes with a flier that assails Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim McGreevey as a hypocrite.
The cable-TV ad from 4 Our Families, a new coalition committed to "women's issues," slams Republican nominee Bret Schundler's positions on abortion, gun control, and school aid.
A Washington-based group committed to tax cuts is using a mock game show in a $100,000 ad campaign that attacks McGreevey, while the state's largest teachers' union plans a $400,000 campaign promoting McGreevey and the state AFL-CIO is running a $1 million grass-roots effort for the Democrat.
Like the fall foliage, the 2001 campaign season is approaching its peak, and the stark contrast on hot-button issues between Schundler and McGreevey is attracting independent groups like no gubernatorial election before.
The effort undermines a spending cap in the gubernatorial race that is supposed to provide a level playing field.
Under state law, candidates receive $2 in public financing for every $1 they raise if they agree to the spending limit, which this year is $8.4 million.
But even before the candidates received their match from the state, the Republican National Committee found a loophole in the rules and announced plans in August to spend $2.3 million to help Schundler. Democrats sued, but after they lost in September, the Democratic National Committee announced it would spend $1.6 million to help McGreevey.
Those party expenditures could be banned in future elections if the loophole is closed by the Legislature, but spending by groups independent from the established parties, spanning the political spectrum from the Christian Coalition to Planned Parenthood, will likely remain because courts have ruled that political ads are equivalent to free spech.
"It has to be reported if they spend more than $800, but unless it's coordinated with a candidate's campaign, it cannot be regulated or capped," said Fred Herrmann, executive director of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. Determining whether an expenditure such as an ad campaign is coordinated is a judgment call ELEC is frequently asked to make, and in the past the commission has looked at whether the campaigns shared strategies. Simply spreading the same message that the campaign is spreading is not enough, Herrmann said.
"Somebody could have been watching the TV and saw a candidate's ad and say, 'I like that, let's use that in our ad,' " he said.
Such spending was possible in past campaigns, but in most of the recent races for governor independent committees did not spend a significant amount of money on the gubernatorial race. In previous gubernatorial matchups, the differences between the candidates on issues such as guns, abortion, and public education were more nuanced than they are between McGreevey and Schundler.
When McGreevey ran four years ago, for example, the New Jersey Education Association did not make an endorsement. In the 1993 election between Christie Whitman and then-Gov. Jim Florio, the teachers' union ran radio ads promoting its positions but did not back either candidate.
This year, however, Schundler's outspoken criticism of the union spurred it to support a Democrat it refused back in 1997.
"It's not been shot yet, but we're going to be airing a TV spot that will explain why NJEA believes Jim McGreevey is the better choice as far as we in public education are concerned," NJEA spokeswoman Karen Joseph said.
Groups committed to ending abortion are going all out for Schundler. Larry Cirignano, president of catholicvote.org, said he's sending mailings to Catholics around the state, including the bumper stickers reminding the state's 2.5 million Catholic adults about the group's opposition to pro-choice politicians.
"McGreevey's playing to the Catholic vote, but he's not Catholic," Cirignano said, citing his definition that someone who supports abortion rights cannot be Catholic. "He goes out and gets endorsed by Planned Parenthood and NARAL (the National Abortion Rights Action League), which are blatantly anti-Catholic."
Schundler's candidacy also provided the spark for a group that had been considering forming a political advocacy committee for women's issues, according to spokeswoman Meryl Frank, mayor of Highland Park.
The group, whose founders include leaders of groups committed to abortion rights and gun control, is running an ad promoting itself but slamming Schundler in the process.
"We are not endorsing a candidate. We're taking a position on his positions," Frank said. "What we want to be able to do is send a message that if you run a candidate with the positions Bret Schundler has, we will fight you."
|
