By Harold Kane
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Let’s take a quick trip back in time: in 2002, the citizens of New Jersey were preparing to choose a US Senator for a six year term in the November election. The candidates were selected, via the primary system, to be Democrat incumbent Robert Torricelli and Republican Douglas Forrester.
As the election wound toward November the Democrats found that they had several ethics issues with Mr. Torricelli and his reelection was far from assured. Mr. Torricelli, following President Truman’s dictum “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen,” proceeded to withdraw his candidacy on September 30. The Republicans began their victory dance as Mr. Forrester was now unopposed and the Democrats would be prevented from replacing Mr. Torricelli because of the legal time constraints.–
The Democrats were not about to let the State Constitution stop them from replacing Mr. Torricelli.
They petitioned the Judiciary for an exemption from the constraint for switching candidates and asked the Court to allow them to replace Mr. Torricelli with former U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg. The petition was heard by the State Supreme Court. What should have been a slam dunk for the Republicans became a slam dunk for the Democrats as the Deborah Poritz-led court ignored the State Constitution and voted 7-0 to allow Mr. Lautenberg on the ballot.
The still-popular Mr. Lautenberg defeated Mr. Forrester 54% to 44% on Election Day.
On August 5, 2020, the Republicans will again petition the Supreme Court to uphold the rule of law. The issue this time is the $9.9 billion that Governor Phil Murphy and Democrat Legislature want to borrow for the 2020-2021 state budget. The State Constitution is clear in that borrowing must be presented to the voters for approval. Nothing has been scheduled. As in the Torricelli case. the Supreme Court will hear the Republican petition in lieu of the lower courts.
The question is simple:
Will the Court uphold the Constitution and deny the borrowing or will it ignore the Constitution, as it did in the Torricelli case, and approve the borrowing. In the Torricelli case the Court, said that by leaving Mr. Torricelli’s name on the ballot, it would give Mr. Forrester an “unfair” advantage.
What is “unfair” is burdening the citizens of New Jersey with billions in debt that they never approved. What the Court needs to do is to approve the Republican petition, which will deny the borrowing, and in a small way say “we’re sorry” for 2002. That apology is long overdue.
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HAROLD KANE is a U.S. Navy Veteran, retired telecom analyst. and a former candidate for council in Monroe Township.
