Frank Herbert on Gordon Johnson

State Senate candidate Frank Herbert doesn’t want to condemn Assemblyman Gordon Johnson for donating to Lyndon LaRouche’s political action committee. 

Herbert, who was ousted from the state Senate by Gerald Cardinale in 1981, did the Democratic Party a favor in 1994 by stepping in and running a successful write-in campaign for the party’s Congressional nomination so that its nominee would not be the white supremacist candidate John Kucek.

The Bergen Record reported today that Republican state Senate candidate Clara Nibot criticized Johnson for donating $1,850 to LaRouche’s political action committee.  Johnson said that he donated the money to help the group uncover corruption in the Bush administration, but the Anti-Defamation League considers LaRouche to be anti-Semitic.

“He’s a sweet talker, LaRouche,” said Herbert, who noted that, despite a reputation as an anti-Semite, LaRouche’s PACs deal with issues that appeal to a lot of Democrats.  “At times he might grab on to good issues, and I guess Johnson has to speak for himself.”

Herbert, 76, is currently running a bare-bones state Senate campaign against entrenched incumbent Senator Anthony Bucco. 

“(Johnson) must have good reason why he sent all that money, but he should have sent it to Frank Herbert.  My opponent has over $100,000, and my last report, I think, was $4,100.”