New Jersey: DSCC, Menendez Team Up for Anti-Kean TV Ad

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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is helping Sen. Bob Menendez fund his latest TV ad, as the embattled Senator’s campaign seeks to rebuff the corruption charges leveled by Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr.

Kean, a state Senator who began the race with decent favorables and a degree of statewide name identification thanks to the lasting popularity of his father, has led Menendez in most recent polls. Kean’s father is former Gov. Tom Kean (R), who recently co-chaired the 9/11 commission.

On Wednesday, the DSCC moved to shore up support for Menendez, sharing the cost of a spot that seeks to counter corruption charges stemming from a federal probe of the Senator’s relationship with a community group that rented space in a building Menendez used to own. The group was a regular recipient of

federal funds during the time it rented space from Menendez, who spent many years in the House before being appointed to the Senate in January.

Menendez campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the ad is running on New York broadcast and statewide New Jersey cable stations.

“Federal prisoner 25038050. He’s Tom Kean Jr.’s newest adviser. The Star-Ledger reports Kean Jr. conspired with a convicted felon to smear his opponent. The Times says Kean Jr.’s smears are ‘wholly unsupported by the facts,’” begins the ad’s voice-over. “The truth: Kean Jr. sides with George Bush, would stay the failed course in Iraq, privatize Social Security, and Kean Jr. would say anything to hide that.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee said the fact that the Kean campaign was forced to consult a felon to adequately research Menendez says more about the Democrat than it does about his GOP opponent.

“Learning about Menendez is a pretty sordid undertaking,” said NRSC spokesman Dan Ronayne. “The basis of the [ad] just seems preposterous.”

In a related development, Kean is refusing any more debates with Menendez until the Democrat agrees to a face-off invitation extended to both by NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

To prove his point, Kean this week pulled out of an Oct. 14 League of Women Voters debate he previously had agreed to, with his campaign manager saying in a letter to the organization that the Republican plans to

decline all duels until Menendez agrees to submit himself to the mercy of host Tim Russert.
— David M. Drucker

Working Women Throw Support Behind Stender

Business and Professional Women USA, a group dedicated to promoting equity for women in the workplace, this week announced that its political action committee is endorsing state Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D) in the 7th district race.

“We recognize Linda’s commitment to issues affecting economic equity, worklife effectiveness and civil rights,” said Elisabeth Gehl, director of public policy for BPW/USA.

Locally, the New Jersey branch will be presenting Stender with a $500 check from the PAC, according to BPW/NJ President Jeanne Jameson, as well as helping drum up support for Stender, who is trying to knock off third-term Rep. Mike Ferguson (R) in the Republican-leaning 7th district.

“We will be doing our usual drive to make sure everyone is registered in local areas, and we will, of course, be mentioning in district seven that Linda is running and please vote for her,” Jameson said. “So in that respect, we will be volunteering our efforts.”
— Tom Gottlieb

PENNSYLVANIA
A Contrite Sherwood Apologizes for Affair

Rep. Don Sherwood (R) unveiled a television ad Wednesday in which he acknowledges his extramarital affair with Cynthia Ore and asks for voters’ forgiveness.

The affair was revealed last year after a police report was leaked in which Ore alleged that Sherwood choked her after a disagreement in his Capitol Hill apartment. Sherwood never was charged with any crime, and he settled a $5.5 million lawsuit out of court with Ore in November 2005.

Sherwood released the ad after his Democratic opponent, Chris Carney, first mentioned the affair in a TV ad last week. An independent poll released this week showed the challenger in the lead.

“I made a mistake that nearly cost me the love of my wife, Carol, and our daughters. As a family, we’ve worked through this because of my deep regret, our love and the fact that the allegation of abuse was never true,” Sherwood says in the ad.