NJ-Sen: Tom Kean emulates Rove - Sleazy all the way
Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 11:04:48 AM PDT
How has it come about that some polls are trending red in New Jersey, one of the bluest states in the country? Where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a large margin?
Cheap shots, that's how. Tom Kean Jr, once thought to be able to ride high name recognition and the respect accorded his father (the moderate Republican) to an easy win, slipped badly in early polling against Bob Menendez. So he changed strategy, hiring the least ethical campaign operatives he could find. Since then, his campaign has been "one never-ending attack ad." And most of these attacks are completely baseless.
Tom Moran's column in today's Newark Star-Ledger tells the whole sick story.
Kean is surprising a lot of people these days by showing a ruthlessness that never surfaced during his years as a legislator in Trenton.
At 38, he still looks like a choir boy. But he knows he can't win this race on the issues. So he's hired a team of consultants and turned his campaign into a snarling machine that would make Karl Rove proud.
More after the fold...
Moran's overview of this race is worth a complete read, but here are some of the highlights:
To troll for dirt on Menendez, Kean's campaign has enlisted Chris Lyon, a political hit-man who was last seen fleeing New Hampshire after the attorney general there deemed his tricks too sleazy for the Granite State.
It seems Lyon was spreading rumors that the wife of a gubernatorial candidate in New Hampshire was a member of a cult that worshipped orgasms. That is not a joke.
This story puts the lie to that ludicrous contention.
Here in New Jersey, Lyon has become pen pals with Robert Janiszewski, the former Hudson County executive who is now in prison on corruption charges.
Yes, Janiszewski is a liar with a grudge against Menendez. But Kean needs dirt, and he's not real fussy about the source.
Not real fussy? I wonder how Tom Kean Sr, who often spent quite a bit of time getting his details right, now feels about his son's tactics.
In his latest broadside, Kean claims that a secretly recorded phone conversation reveals that a close ally of Menendez was "caught" using his name to "shake down" a government contractor for a job.
Sounds pretty sinister.
But when you listen to this tape, you find no such thing.
No surprise here. Another Repug trying to lie his way into office. The sad truth is that most New Jersey voters will hear the attacks, but not the rebuttals.
An interesting sidelight, and some reason for optimism: New Jersey 101.5, probably the talk radio station with the largest listenership, definitely leans right. But they reported this morning that they intend to host both Senate candidates in a forum where listeners can call in and ask questions directly. So far, only Menendez has accepted the invitation.
Where is Kean? Digging for more dirt.
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