April 8, 2008 - 12:03pm
Congressional Democrats condemn Andrews candidacy
By Matt Friedman
Tags: U.S. Senate, Frank Lautenberg, Albio Sires, Frank Pallone, Donald Payne, Steve Rothman, Rob Andrews, Bill Pascrell
New Jersey’s Democratic Congressional delegation issued a scathing statement on Rob Andrew’s Senate candidacy today, saying that he broke his pledge to fully support incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg for reelection and that his conduct has been “both outrageous and unacceptable."
Six of the state’s seven Democratic Congressmen -- Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Rush Holt, Albio Sires and Donald Payne -- co-signed the statement, in which they called on their Democratic colleague to drop his candidacy.
"It is now clear that Congressman Rob Andrews has failed to gain thenecessary support to realistically compete in this race, and therefore, we urge Congressman Andrews to end his campaign,” they said.
The congressmen, four of whom are interested in succeeding Lautenberg some day, also argued that Andrews’s primary challenge will weaken the eventual Democratic nominee against his Republican challenger.
“An Andrews candidacy will no doubt drain resources from a strong general election campaign against a Republican nominee who will be a vote for more of the disastrous policies of the last seven years,” they said. “Congressman Andrews pointlessly staying in this race is exactly what the Republicans desperately need and doubtlessly want."
The Congressmen said that during a dinner last October with the delegation and Sen. Lautenberg, Andrews joined them in pledging his “full and complete” support to the incumbent Senator.
“We did so enthusiastically, and with no quid pro quo or conditions,” read the statement. “Now, Congressman Andrews is breaking his promise to each of us and to Senator Lautenberg.”
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July 4, 2008
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
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In the News
Read the expanded Wake Up Call, our summary of today’s news media coverage.
Today’s Must Reads:
Bob Torricelli is Mad at the Big, 'Mean' Bergen Record― THE MEDIA MOB
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MUCHAS MARGARITAS― ANDY UNANUE
NJ Economic Growth chief leaves office― Gary Rose
Candidates spend plenty of their money― Philadelphia Inquirer
News anchor sizing up run for governor― Star-Ledger
Political parties get right down to business― Daily Record
Ex-city official should give all of it back― Star-Ledger
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Andrews is a bum
And a bad Democrat to boot. He was a tool of Bush on the war. And he is being a Republican tool waging this primary too.
Ulterior Motives On Steroids...
WOW! ONLY FOUR OF THEM WANT FRANK'S JOB.
HOPEFULLY, ONE OF THEM ISN'T RUSH HOLT!
He's another of those Toll Road shills, besides Andrews.
WOW !
God forbid we have a Primary instead of having County Chairs & Mob Bosses pick our puppet candidates for us.
The Democratic Party isn't very Democratic?
Hahahahahaha
With all due respect to New Jersey's Democratic Congressional Delegation, this statement is hilarious:
"It is now clear that Congressman Rob Andrews has failed to gain thenecessary support to realistically compete in this race, and therefore, we urge Congressman Andrews to end his campaign,” they said.
I wonder what made that so clear...was it the fact that Andrews submitted 1000 more signatures on his nominating petition than did Senator Lautenberg?
Lautenberg has been running since...from this statement, October. Andrews has been running for five days. How on EARTH did Andrews collect more signatures from Lautenberg? Talk about being unable to realistically compete in this race...
The Andrews Candidacy
As mentioned previously, Rob Andrews signed the Republican "Contract with America", when Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House. Now, his behavior only supports the Republican attempts to take control of a U.S. Senate seat. He is not a team player, and has repeatedly put his own blind ambition ahead the the good of the Democratic Party and the needs of New Jersey.
GOP attempts to take over
GOP attempts to take over the U.S. Senate seat? With Andy "Colorado" Unanue? Jersey Joe...who barely qualified for the ballot? Murray Sabrin?
C'mon...if there ever was a time for a divisive Dem primary, it's against Tom Wilson's GOP.
The Dems will be fine...regardless of who wins the primary or how nasty it gets.
Who is more Conservative?
Rob Andrews or Andy Unanue? I think the former. I hope Andy had a nice flight back from Vail.
our Dem delegation
they're just upset that Andrews is the only one with the stones to run.
Any one of them tries a similar challenge they would get ZERO county lines and no support.
How can they say Andrews has no support? He's got half a dozen county lines, not to mention the support of a bunch of State Legislators from Northern districts.
That's more than enough to continue.
Did they make the same request of Mayor Cresitello?? Or do they only criticize real challengers that they're scared of??
>>>God forbid we have a
>>>God forbid we have a Primary instead of having County Chairs & Mob Bosses pick our puppet candidates for us. <<<
Emphasizing!!!
Blue Envy
This statement from the six pack of lightweights the Democrats have sent to Washington is hilarious. Each one of them has taken turns checking Fossil Frank's pulse, positioning himself for the inevitable mid-term vacancy appointment by Corzine. Andrews is the only person with the stones to challenge our Weekend-at-Bernie's Senator, whose lone achievement in four Senate terms was to name a train station in Secaucus after himself. Perhaps for the first time in over a decade we could be represented by a Senator who was not a complete nitwit.
no stones andrews
he waited till the last minute to declare his candidacy ensuring that no one else would be able to run.. and you call that having stones? having stones would have involved coming out a lot earlier and declaring your intention to run. furthermore, while his wife is a special and talented person, her being named to run for his seat as a placeholder doesnt seem like a move that one with stones would endorse. andrews as previously noted is not a team player and has supported failed republican measures.
AND FL and andrews share a lot of the same views, so what's the point of a primary? FL is old? how is that different than saying he is black or hispanic or jewish, poor or rich? look at his voting record. he got an A on middle class issues. he has voted against bush, and has brought home lots of money for transportation (although i will concede that secaucus station is awful).
GET OVER YOURSELF ANDREWS
Shame on You Congressman Rush Holt!
"Six of the state’s seven Democratic Congressmen -- Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Rush Holt, Albio Sires and Donald Payne -- co-signed the statement, in which they called on their Democratic colleague to drop his candidacy."
"It is now clear that Congressman Rob Andrews has failed to gain thenecessary support to realistically compete in this race, and therefore, we urge Congressman Andrews to end his campaign,” they said.
How would you have reacted if Mayor DelVecchio said in 1996 that you should drop your bid for Congress when he had the support of all or most of the county chairmen? Seems both hypocritical and anti-democratic of you to take this position. Would have expected more from you.
The incumbent protection society.
Say what you want about Andrews, but he has the right to run against an old, unpopular, nasty guy who should have retired.
This is typical Lautenberg. Overreacting emotionally to the fact someone dared to challenge him. This is looking more and more like the 1980 GOP Primary when Al D'Amato took out Jacob Javits or when Bell defeated in Case in 78.
This is really dumb for the congressional delegation to attack a colleague in this way. If he loses, he still going to be in the delegation anyway so who does this sooth other than the fossil's massive ego?
The way to win the primary is to ignore Andrews completely and run a positive campaign. If Lautenberg can't hold the nomination after 25 years in office, what does that sau about him and his demeanor?
Maybe Torricelli was right afterall about this jerk.
Vote Column "A" - All the way!
Sore losers
Does anyone really think that if the "four of whom are intersted" in the delegation had the opportunity to enter in the same way with the same support that they WOULDN'T do it? Come on, of course they would! Unfortunately for them, they didn't have the forsight to come up with it - Andrews did. I think this show his ability to think outside the box, strategize and lead. Furthermore, the congressional delegation shouldn't be criticizing Andrews for being in this predicament. Lautenberg brought it on himself. Maybe if he would have spend the majority of his time caring about NJ rather than NY or Washington he would have had a better grip on things. The man never had any true allies and this is proof of that. That's not Andrews' fault, it's Lautenberg that decided that NJ should be taken for granted - especially South Jersey.
Fossil Frank Irony Alert
I would have shied away from the age issue had our nasty, do-nothing senior senator not won his first race in 1982 against Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick by suggesting she was too old for the job. At the time, Fenwick was 72 years old, over a decade younger than the El Cid impersonator is now.
What is this nonsense about, "middle class issues," by the way? One wonders what middle class is in New Jersey these days considering the taxes and cost of living. Anyone who has consistently voted against every broad based reduction in the income tax has crippled the middle class of this state. Your hero fits that bill.
As for this "bring home the bacon" nonsense you've attributed to Lautenberg, you should be reminded that New Jersey is sporting the largest differential per capita between taxes paid to Washington versus pork brought back to the Garden State. Lautenberg has been a waste of space in DC for four terms. If NJ elected a ham sandwich it would be about as useful as another Lautenberg term.
Where The Truth Lies
The following is cross posted from Blue Jersey...
http://www.bluejersey.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7458
There is a snippet of news that came out a few days ago that I believe deserves a bit more of a spotlight. To quote...
The thrust of that diary was whether or not there should be debates, and that question was fairly well ventilated; however the event described in the above quote raises some deeper questions.
Were all these guys lying about the commitment that was made by all of them to Lautenberg?
Because if they're telling the truth; then what Andrews did was indeed sleazy, dishonest and would undermine the moral (if not legal) legitimacy of his campaign.
I want to hear Robert Andrews either deny or confirm the veracity of the joint statement of his colleagues. And I want to hear more details from all involved about just what was said and agreed to at that meeting.
Let's hope some enterprising journalists will pin all these gentleman down on the specifics of that dinner last October.
Meanwhile, the floor is open for discussion here...