june 27, 2001 New York Times

"The opposition are typically of the left," Mr. Kemp said. "If they see something moving they want to tax it, when it keeps moving they'll want to regulate it, and if it stops moving, they'll want to subsidize it. I guarantee you that is not what Bret Schundler is about."

THE VICTOR

Schundler Harnessed Conservatism to Defy Centrist Wisdom

By IVER PETERSON

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 26 — He ran as an outsider and he celebrated his victory as one, too.

While the Republican establishment, including the state's two most recent governors, stood by glumly as Bob Franks conceded defeat tonight, Bret D. Schundler greeted a euphoric crowd with a celebration of conservative values — albeit values already being given a new coat of mainstream political appeal.

Even Mr. Franks, in conceding at 9:40 p.m., acknowledged that Mr. Schundler had accomplished a remarkable feat, defying the conventional centrist wisdom of New Jersey politics with a combination of spiritualist values, tax-cutting rhetoric and the bare- knuckle organizational skills of the conservative wing of the Republican Party, which sent money and manpower to support him.

"I want there to be a day when African- American children in the lowest-income sections of this state don't feel that there is a wall separating them from the opportunities other children have," Mr. Schundler, 42, said in his victory speech to a packed ballroom at the East Brunswick Hilton. "I want senior citizens to know that they will not have to worry about paying their taxes or feeding themselves or losing their homes. And I want each one of you to know that New Jersey will not become one great L.A. sprawl out to every corner and paving over every green space."

In the battle for outsider status, Mr. Schundler has credentials that are solidly in order. A former Democrat who joined the Republican Party only 10 years ago, he defeated the Jersey City Democratic machine with his election as mayor in 1992. By appealing to the right-leaning segment of his party, by condemning abortion and by favoring looser gun laws, along with standard Republican chestnuts like supporting lower taxes, he spent his time in the state's second- largest city carefully assembling the supporters who crowded the hotel ballroom tonight.

The evening's tone of rock-ribbed conservatism was struck by, among others, Jack Kemp, who was a cabinet official in the elder George Bush's presidency. Mr. Schundler credits Mr. Kemp with converting him to Republicanism.

"The opposition are typically of the left," Mr. Kemp said. "If they see something moving they want to tax it, when it keeps moving they'll want to regulate it, and if it stops moving, they'll want to subsidize it. I guarantee you that is not what Bret Schundler is about."

Mr. Schundler won by running as a Ronald Reagan government-is-the-problem insurgent, capturing the loyalty of anti-abortion conservatives, and challenging what he sees as the too-cozy ties between New Jersey's Republican Party and the state and county bureaucracies.

"My strength as a leader is that when the people believe in an issue, I have been willing to fight to make progress on that conviction," Mr. Schundler said in an interview before today's voting. He was talking about his position in favor of allowing people to carry concealed weapons, if they can prove a need to protect themselves. But it could as well have applied to his arguments for allowing parents to choose their children's schools, condemning abortions, weakening teacher tenure laws or cutting taxes. All, he says, are aimed at increasing individual freedoms.

To his critics, and until tonight they included Mr. Franks, Mr. Schundler is an extremist far out of step with New Jersey's moderate, nonconfrontational Republican electorate. There is broad support for abortion rights, for example, but Mr. Schundler would curtail them if, he said, he was able to build a majority for such a move. During the race, Mr. Schundler emphasized bread-and- butter issues like cutting taxes and ending parkway tolls, and casting many issues as matters of morality rather than practicality.

Mr. Schundler was a worker in Gary Hart's failed campaign for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.

But tonight, far from his Democratic beginnings, Mr. Schundler took a congratulatory phone call from President Bush and stood with James S. Gilmore III, the governor of Virginia and the chairman of the Republican National Committee, before the cheering throng.

"Folks, we have a moral responsibility to get taxes down," Mr. Schundler told his supporters. "Some people say it's impossible, but I tell you it is not. What is impossible is for so many of our citizens across our state to find a way to pay those taxes."

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001

Answers

This is ghastly. If this barbarian should win the governership of NJ in the general election, I will never step foot in that benighted state again.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

Oh dang, I out-clevered myself. I meant to sign the above bump as "Barbra". Then I was going to have Paulie Walnuts answer her by saying "Ya promise, ya hoooer?"

The best laid plans of mice and men..........

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

What is a Gubanator?

-- (freaky@TGI.Friday's), June 27, 2001.

Democrat Leads in New Jersey Governor's Race

rotflmao.....

-- (hahah@ha.ha), July 03, 2001.

From your article--

``It's still four months to the election, and Schundler has shown he can overcome tough odds,'' said Mickey Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Schundler's the real deal. Underestimate him at your peril.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 03, 2001.

Overestimate him at YOUR peril. LOLOLOL.

-- (hahah@ha.ha), July 03, 2001.

Whatever.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 03, 2001.

I thought you liked them hypocritical conservatives Lars! As long as I don't have to live in Jersey, I hope you get the fascist of your dreams!

-- (good luck with your new @ holier than thou. bigot tyrant), July 03, 2001.

"(good luck with your new @ holier than thou. bigot tyrant)"---

I love you

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), July 04, 2001.

You wanna piece of me? HUH?????

-- Newark Cabbie (joey@garbagestate.com), July 04, 2001.