Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

by Mike Schiller

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Tom Kean, the Republican running against Bob Menendez for the U.S. Senate seat recently
vacated by John Corzine, is trying very hard to avoid talking about the issues. For instance, he’d
rather avoid letting New Jersey know that he would have voted to confirm Samuel Alito to the
Supreme Court. He’d rather avoid discussing whether he would have voted for the Bush tax cuts
that devastated our economy. What about the Patriot Act? Next time it comes up for
reauthorization, and Democrats try to filibuster it to either force some additional civil liberties
protections (or sink it completely), would Tom Kean support such an effort? Not likely, but he’s
not talking about that. What about the defict? What will Tom Kean do to rein in the ludicrous
spending policies of the Bush administration? Probably nothing. And Iraq... a war that almost
everyone in New Jersey opposes... what will Tom Kean do to bring our troops home? Probably
nothing, but he’s not talking about that. We already know that Bob Mendendez’s positions on all
these issues and more are consistent with New Jersey’s mainstream. We already know how Bob
Menendez voted every time one of these issues came up.

Tom Kean can’t talk about what he would do in the Senate because he doesn’t want us to think
about that. He doesn’t want us to know that if we elect him, we lose our voice these issues. So
he’s sponsoring a blatantly false video that mischaracterizes Bob Menendez’s record. He’s trying
to tie Menendez to a Hudson County past that Menendez actually helped Hudson County
overcome.

Menendez is one of the reformers who helped clean up Hudson County’s politics, and the results
speak for themselves... in the years since Menendez became the #2 House Democrat, Hudson
County’s economy has soared while big cities in other states have been in economic despair.
Hoboken and Jersey City have seen astronomical growth in the housing and corporate sectors
attracting companies like JP Morgan while home resale values skyrocket and new luxury
apartment buildings are springing up everywhere. Hudson County’s politics have changed
dramatically since the 1980’s as have New Jersey’s statewide politics. The fact that we have
reached a point where the most serious scandal is an attorney general getting a boyfriend off on a
traffic violation or a gay governor hiring his boyfriend is actually saying that overall, the real
corruption in New Jersey politics is for the most part a thing of the past.

Years ago, there were very, very serious crimes being committed by public officials from both
parties all over the state, but that trend declined throughout the 1990’s as those officials were
gradually voted out of office, and since 2000 the state of New Jersey has actually become one of the states leading the fight against corruption, banning pay-to-play well before the Washington
lobbyist scandals broke out. In fact, New Jersey’s anticorruption initiatives have served as a
major source of inspiration for some of the stronger and more effective national legislation being
considered in Washington (mostly being advanced by Democrats). In recent years, Robert
Menendez has played an important role in helping recruit good, honest Democratic candidates for
public office who have helped clean up our state’s reputation and advance good government
principles. Hudson County has changed over the years for the better, and Bob Menendez is
largely responsible for reforming the County’s Democratic Party and thus reforming County
Government, making this change possible. He deserves credit for that.

Even though Tom Kean says he won’t take marching orders from Bush and the national
Republicans on some issues, the reality is, electing Tom Kean would be the same thing as
electing a Joe Lieberman or a Zel Miller... someone who claims to be independent but who,
when it counts, sells us down the river. We definitely need to elect Bob Menendez if we want our
state to continue to lead the fight against corruption, especially the most serious corruption of
all... that of the President himself (as well as Congress).

Bob Menendez has got an excellent track record of supporting tough reforms, among other things
important to the people of New Jersey. New Jersey has, in many ways, been the most influential
progressive state in the nation throughout the past 6 years. Our Senators have often been the first
to take positions which later defined the national progressive debate. We need to re-elect Bob
Menendez to the Senate if we want to keep defining the debate on the issues that really matter.
Tom Kean can lie all he wants, but I am confident the people of New Jersey will see through him.