GOP tries to block Toricelli funds

The GOP is now trying to prevent Toricelli from transferring his war chest to either Lautenberg or the Democratic Party. I don't know the relevant law, but from a common sense standpoint, it seems he should be able to transfer it to the party, but not directly to Lautenberg (which would seem to violate the donations limit). Of course, once the party has the money, it can spend all of it on Lautenberg, which once again highlights the stupidity of current campaign finance laws. But, I have no solution to the problem (not even public financing of all campaigns), so I'll stay out of that hornet's nest.

But on a political note, it seems to me that all these legal maneouvers against Lautenberg by the GOP are counterproductive. Who needs Toricelli's $5 million? The GOP tactics are providing Lautenberg with all the free media he needs. The GOP sics attack lawyers on Lautenberg, the press covers it, and he can then be quoted as saying "tsk, tsk. It's too bad that my opponent cannot debate me on the merit of the issues, but instead hopes to subvert democracy through the courts."

Lautenberg is not invincible. But the GOP obviously doesn't think it can win a fair election against an untainted candidate.

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In an update of the poll numbers listed in the previous post, a new Q-poll has just been released. The highly regarded, no partisan Quinnipiac University poll gives Lautenberg a 49-45 lead over Forrester. The poll also shows the majority of NJ voters thought the vote swap was "unfair", and I might not totally disagree. But unfair is a far cry from illegal. And, the voters clearly sweep away any notions of fairness now that they get a chance to vote for two clean candidates.

Posted October 07, 2002 09:23 AM | Comments (0)