June 2, 2008 - 3:13am
With organizational advantages - Zimmer in a fight to prove he's legit
By Max Pizarro
Category: US SenateTags: Frank Lautenberg, Murray Sabrin, Steve Lonegan, Joseph Pennacchio, Dale Florio, Martin Marks, DICK ZIMMER, ROB ANDREWS
SOMERVILLE - State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) never convinced party leaders that he could be the darling of the GOP, most of whom instead backed former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer for U.S. Senate.
Now, with a full day remaining before Election Day, maverick conservative leader Steve Lonegan, a former mayor of Bogota and gubernatorial candidate, says he will vote for Pennacchio, while questioning Zimmer’s ability to generate energy among rank-and-file Republicans.
Zimmer in response says he has plenty of pep for this contest, and anticipates winning on Tuesday.
"Anybody who saw me today or any other day in this two month campaign knows that I’ve been working 18 hours a day, working very hard to reach out to voters individually to raise the necessary money," he said Sunday, standing in front of his party’s booth at the annual Somerville street fair.
He had just arrived from Monmouth County, where he pounded on doors with Assemblyman David Rible (R-Wall).
His two GOP rivals, the pro-life Pennacchio and libertarian economist Murray Sabrin, jab persistently at the primary campaign openings they see in Zimmer. He’s pro-choice, in favor of suspending the federal gas tax, and against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
"He thinks caribou are more important than the energy needs of the American people," Sabrin says of Zimmer’s hand-off ANWR approach in their ABC debate, which aired yesterday afternoon.
Pennacchio tackles Zimmer for being a loser in his past campaigns, but most pointedly, of course, for being a late entry into this campaign, who came with the blessing of the party power structure.
"Dick was a poor choice when he ran against Torricelli, and he lost," Pennacchio says in the same ABC debate. "He could not even win back his state Republican Congressional seat. He lost. And he’s a poor choice now when he was anointed by the elitists in the party after 23 other people said ‘no’ or left."
But Zimmer appears unruffled in his moderate stance, and takes pride in his history with the party. Over the past month-and-a-half he’s tailored his message around the simple proposition that government should spend tax dollars "as carefully as individuals spend their own paychecks."
It's a message he figures he can back up with his record.
When he talks about his three terms in Congress from 1991-1997, he points out that the National Taxpayers voted him the most fiscally conservative congressman on three occasions, and Citizens Against Government Waster every year named him a taxpayer hero.
"The last thing they (New Jerseyans) need is an ineffective U.S. Senator like Frank Lautenberg, who allows the state to give away far more money to the other 49 states than it takes back," says Zimmer.
Pennacchio tries to plug him in their network television debate by reminding viewers that during his time in the state Legislature, Zimmer voted to increase the state sales and state income tax.
Ken Kurson, spokesman for Zimmer, says the challenger needs to get his facts straight.
"He's right about the sales tax vote," he says. "Fair point. Bad vote. But Dick Zimmer never voted to increase the income tax. We looked it up. What he's saying is not true."
With an eye on either Lautenberg or Lautenberg’s longshot Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1), Zimmer argues that his two primary opponents aren’t electable in a general.
The book that Pennacchio wrote in the early 1990s has some "very bad ideas" in it, according to the former congressman, including "cutting the defense department by $75 billion, drafting convicted criminals to serve side-by-side with regular Army personnel, and using military bases to house the homeless."
Then there’s Sabrin, whom Zimmer dismisses as the engineer of a campaign that went into attack mode early and never relented.
"Murray Sabrin is interested, it seems, in making war on the Republican Party," said Zimmer.
Still, when it comes to the former Congressman, who works as a Washington lobbyist, there lingers the storyline about how he came to be the frontrunner and holder of the most county organizational lines.
"What I’m hearing on the ground is a lot of Republicans don’t like the bait and switch," says Lonegan, referring to the party’s juggling act of successive millionaire candidates, each of whom melted down for one reason or another, even as Pennacchio and Sabrin appealed to the bosses for some consideration.
They didn’t get it - all the way up to when the party finally picked Zimmer in the 11th hour and Zimmer stuck. Lonegan argues that Pennacchio especially is owed some respect.
That’s why Lonegan’s voting for the first term state Senator on Tuesday and encouraging family and friends to do the same.
"I like Dick Zimmer, and Murray Sabrin’s a friend of mine, but in Bergen, for example, it’s not good when the county committee made their selection (in favor of Pennacchio), and then the party leadership appears to go off in its own direction," said Lonegan, who argues that Pennacchio has a "perfect" voting record, which includes pro-life and pro-Second Amendment positions and votes against tax increases and paid family leave.
"Joe’s put himself in this thing 100%," Lonegan said. " They found a good guy in Dick Zimmer, but I don’t know if he’s as motivated as Joe."
Pennacchio may be more motivated, but other questions are how motivated - in the face of Zimmer - those organizations will be for him in those seven counties where he holds the line, and how ginned up other jilted or disappointed party members are for his candidacy.
"That wasn’t the right thing to do, I wouldn’t have felt good about doing that," said County Republican Chairman Dale Florio, referring to the actions of other county chairmen, who staged do-over endorsements.
When he was asked about what his organization is doing for Pennacchio to help him win, however, Florio shrugged.
Among the other Republican underdogs on Tuesday, Scotch Plains Mayor Marin Marks, who also could not find favor with the party leadership in his bid to be the nominee in the 7th Congressional District, said the leaders embarrassed themselves when they bypassed Pennacchio in their quest for another candidate they deemed more electable.
He’s low-key in what he has to say positive about Pennacchio, but he says it as he heads down the stretch of his own quixotic effort, even as he gets in a dig on Zimmer, a lawyer.
"I have a little affection for Dr. Pennacchio, said Marks, who like the Senate candidate is a dentist by profession. "I think we need fewer lawyers and more dentists in government."
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Spend Carefully?
Zimmer's comments about "careful spending" tell us more about his utter misunderstanding of the job of a U.S. Senator than almost anything else he could say on the subject.
Zimmer is quoted above as saything that Congress should spend tax money as carefully as citizens spend their own paycheck, or words to that effect.
Congress spends money on all matters that are clearly outside of its enumerated, delegated powers; thus, spending illegally and acting ultra vires. Even if Congress spends this money "carefully" (whatever that means), such expenditure would still be uttely wrong and indefensible.
Zimmer should care less how much money Congress spends in pursuit of its delegated, enumerated powers than he does about its spending "carefully" pursuing unconstitutional wars, federal control of education, social security and medicare and all those other unconstitutional spending programs currently funded by Congress.
People's behavior in spending their own paychecks is as varied as the number of people themselves. All believe that they are spending their paychecks as they see fit ("carefully" might be the word they use), but their respective subjective circumstances and priorities dictate how they spend their money. There is simply no way to quantify or qualify this personal behavior in a way that would impose any control whatsoever on the Congress. Thus, Zimmer's words are content-empty.
Actually, Zimmer's popularity among the NJGOP leadership and elite is more a reflection of how ill-informed and ill-suited the GOP is to govern than it is a reflection of Zimmer's shortcomings as a candidate. Their hand-picked candidtaes routinely throw out this populist "fiscal conservative" garbage as a bone to the voting boobocracy rather than leading by example and following the Constitution by advocating real limited government.
I find it funny
that Max could only list Jersey Joe as "pro-life". He has the most cynical approach to the subject by advocating a Constitutional Amendment - a near impossibility.
As far as Mayor Marks, it wasn't the County leadership that didn't back him. He couldn't get a "favorite son" edge over out of county candidates during the Union County Convention. Look at Dr Kelly's endorsements in the County outside of the 7th CD.
Zimmer
"Murray Sabrin is interested, it seems, in making war on the Republican Party," said Zimmer.
Looks like Rep. Zimmer reads what Dino writes!
I'm voting for Zimmer for two reasons. One, Zimmer's experience in Washington as a congressman and two, both Pennacchio and Sabrin have run underwhelming campaigns to say the least. The fact that Zimmer instantaneously became the (real) frontrunner in this race is testament to that.
As far as credentials and qualifications go, Zimmer is the man and that's why he will be the winner tomorrow.
"Blah Blah Blah - establishment rhetoric - Blah Blah Blah" - NJMurrayPaultard
7th Congressional District Race
Handicapping the 7th Congressional District Race:
http://www.gopusanj.com/wordpress/?p=1912
Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy runs good campaigns and has plenty of Beltway experience and credentials, so I guess we should vote for him or his ilk . . . He's the man!
On the other hand, not so fast. Maybe we should consider what a candidate is actually saying in his campaign . . . well-run or not; maybe we should not support someone who has demonstrated by his own words that he has no understanding of the legal limits and responsibilities of the office he seeks.
In other words, maybe we shouldn't vote for Dick Zimmer.
Blah, blah, blah - rational, legitimate, informed, responsible GOP primary voter- blah, blah blah.
TheBullhorn
Ted Kennedy runs good campaigns and has plenty of Beltway experience and credentials, so I guess we should vote for him or his ilk . . . He's the man!
You're comparing Dick Zimmer to Ted Kennedy???
Wow, you're really starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel now! That's a pretty dimwitted ananlogy if I've ever heard one.
Dick Zimmer was a good congressman and is hands down, the most qualified candidate in the field to be a US Senator.
"Blah Blah Blah - establishment rhetoric - Blah Blah Blah" - NJMurrayPaultard
A.J.
Liked your handicapping on your blog. For my money, I'll take Lance/Marks in an exacta box. Whitman spent a lot of money being very negative on Lance. That will probably be effective to an extent, but I'm not sure the direct beneficiary is Kate. If Kate does not win, she may have burned all her bridges for a future race at any level. Off to the glue factory?
Ted Kennedy is More Honest
No one is comparing Ted Kennedy to Dick Zimmer. But Kennedy is more honest than Dick Zimmer.
Kennedy outwardly and overtly advocates adherence to the idea of a "living Constitution", and idea that permits the federal government to assume any power it so chooses, notwithstanding the clear and plain delimiting meaning of the words and phrases and the structure of the U.S. Constitution. Zimmer, on the other hand, claims to be a "fiscal conservative", and a "strict constructionist", all the while supporting and voting for unconstitutional programs and policies while he was in Congress. In other words, a criminal and a usurper (perjury, or lying under oath, is a crime).
In order to be qualified to be a U.S. Senator, the Constitution of the United States requires that the Senator-elect take an oath of office " . . . to support this Constitution" (Article VI, Para 3). By his own programs and policies, and out of his own mouth, Zimmer already has shown that he is not constituionally qualified to hold the office of U.S. Senator.
As far as I can tell, Dr. Sabrin is the only person on the ballot seeking that office who meets at least that minimum, threshold criterion, even if his campaign was less than stellar (which it clearly was).
The problem is the GOP and its leadership can no longer claim the mantel of constitutional legitimacy. The GOP routinely offers and nominates candidates who do not meet the threshold criterion, a criterion which is just as indispensable as the constitutional requirement that a U.S. Senator be of a certain age, a citizen of the U.S. for a number of years and residence of the state she will represent at the time of her election (Article I, Sec. 3).
Apparently, some GOP primary voters don't care if they nominate criminals and usurpers. Time for a change . . . hands up or down.
Blah, blah blah . . . rational, responsible, legitimate, informed GOP primary voter . . . blah, blah, blah
Aren't we done with this
Aren't we done with this yet? None of the Republican candidates have what it takes to beat either Lautenberg/Andrews. Zimmer's basically a dem-lite anyway.
???????????????
Zimmer, on the other hand, claims to be a "fiscal conservative", and a "strict constructionist", all the while supporting and voting for unconstitutional programs and policies while he was in Congress. In other words, a criminal and a usurper (perjury, or lying under oath, is a crime).
That's a pretty heavy accusation to make. Are you actually, in all seriousness, calling Dick Zimmer a criminal and a usurper???
Boy you've studied Madman Murray's playbook quite well.
"Blah Blah Blah - establishment rhetoric - Blah Blah Blah" - NJMurrayPaultard
Done With This?
Done with what? The debate about what kind of government officials are or or not legitimate?
The Democrats havn't fielded a legitimate candidate for President since Thomas Jefferson, and even he eventually violated his oath of office by his unconstitutional authorization of the Louisiana Purchase.
No, we are not done with this. This is not a fight about people running for office, about who is "going to win the election in November". This is a fight about legitimacy or at least it should be a fight about legitimacy.
In my view, if we are to enter a closed place and cast a secret ballot that will or could impact the lives and liberties of our fellow Americans, we are absolutely bound and obligated to vote only for those who are qualified to hold the office, BY CONSTITUTIONAL DEFINITION. After all, this is the document that legitimizes all government action.
If all the candidates in the race could legitimately take the Oath of Office and were otherwise qualified, the question of experience and policy might then be considered. Unhappily, only one person in the race is constitutionally qualified.
Dick Zimmer was affiliated with Common Cause, an institution which has no understanding of or respect for the First Amendment. He also wrote (and brags about in his campaign literature) the Federal Megan's Law. Congress is without any delegated, enumerated power to legislate in this area. Only piracy, treason and counterfeiting are legitimate, federal crimes under the Constitution. So . . . he Zimmer violated his Oath of Office by penning Megan's Law.
None of this is to say that Megan's Law is either good or bad law; like campaign finance law, it's just beyond the power of Congress to legislate in this area.
So now Mr. Zimmer wants to go to the U.S. Senate presumably to do all other manner of violence to our organic law. How any American can permit this to happen, let alone support it, is beyond me, given what we know of his record.
Study the Constitution
The Constitution creates, empowers, limits and legitimizes the Congress and its actions. We have no higher authority that that in respect of the federal government and its operations.
If you seek an office intending to promulgate laws that do volence to that document, all the while intending to take an oath to uphold it, then you are, by definiton, a usurper and a criminal.
The shoe fits. If you support such a person, full well knowing his intentions and the applicable constititutional limitations, you are a secret accomplice to the evil.
Republicans used to know this, and used to run against their adversaries on the basis that only GOPers could take the oath with a straight face. Over time, they have abandoned the Constitution and the Rule of Law; thus, they can make no claim of legitimacy.
Sabrin ran a really bad campaign, as campaigns go. Who cares? He's the LEGITIMATE candidate seeking the office. The others are admitted usurpers.
WHAT????????????
The Democrats havn't fielded a legitimate candidate for President since Thomas Jefferson, and even he eventually violated his oath of office by his unconstitutional authorization of the Louisiana Purchase.
WHAT???????????
You are certifiable, my friend.
It just goes to show what kind of people will be turning out to vote for Murray Sabrin tomorrow.
"Blah Blah Blah - establishment rhetoric - Blah Blah Blah" - NJMurrayPaultard
Ah yes, name-calling
Go get yourself a copy of the U.S. Constitution and actually read it; read a few books on the subject of the Founding; read the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers; read and study Max Farrand and Madison; read and study the State Ratification Debates . . .
When you're all finshed and you find out that all I have told you is factually accurate, you will be able to draw your own conclusions based upon promary source information. After that, you will (or might) have enough information to allow you to cast an informed and legitimate vote.
But not before that.
Zimmer is yestarday's news; Pennacchio just may win
Zimmer may be the favorite of the GOP "elite". But, when was the last time this bunch of fools actually won? The track record of the NJ GOP establishment has been dismal for nearly 10 years. They obviously don't hear the wake-up call. So, it's up to the rest of us to deliver it first hand. A primary defeat sends that message!
Zimmer has been just plain lying in his campaign ads and nearly everyone knows it. We all know he'll be destroyed in November. Given the choice of a real Dem versus a RINO, NJ always votes for the true blue. Joe Pennachio is no RINO. Having met both men in person, it's obvious to me that Jersey Joe has the fire needed to win that Dick Zimmer lost years ago. At the very least, a general race with Jersey Joe in our column will certatinly be more interesting.
I read that "manifesto"
Pennacchio is worse than Zimmer. At least at the time he wrote that crazy, brown-shirt manifesto of his, Pennachio couldn't take the Oath of Office, either. I have heard that Pennacchio has recanted on some of the postions he took in that document, but I haven't heard which, and I haven't heard the reasons why. As it stands unamended, however, that document is full of prescriptions for outright negation of all forms of guaranteed constitutional rights as well as added powers to the list not delegated to the Congress. Pennacchio, as a State Legislator and without the authority vested in a federal employee, was likely less dangerous . . . but as a Congressman??? Forget it . . . I'll retire to Bedlam.
Zimmer is "dem-lite"
I like the term. It well describes the problem with many GOP candidates in NJ. Then, we wonder why they loose elections. Too "dem-lite"!
"Remember, thou art Republican!"
...what every GOP nominee should be reminded...
Namecalling?
Last I checked, smearing an individual's good name by calling them a "usurper and a criminal" is not only namecalling, it's libel.
I would expect somebody as "enlightened and well educated" as you to know that.
"Blah Blah Blah - establishment rhetoric - Blah Blah Blah" - NJMurrayPaultard
Surprise . . . I do know that
And to show you how well I know it . . . here's are some even better legal facts: truth is an absolute defense to a charge of libel; labeling Zimmer's anti-constitutional record as constituting criminal behavior and a usurpation is what's known in the law as "fair comment" on a political subject and is completely protected speech under the First Amendment.
As I always tell you all with nimble fingers and small brains . . . "you can look it up"!