Acampaign ad furnished by the New Jersey State Republican Committee underscores the problem with the replacement of Sen. Bob Torricelli (D-N.J.) with former Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).
In the ad, a schoolchild taking a test tells his teacher, “I can’t do this! I quit! Teacher?” The teacher asks what is wrong, and the child responds, “If I fail this test, can I have Frank Lautenberg take it for me?” An announcer says, “Torricelli and Lautenberg are teaching our children the wrong lessons.”
In the same ad, a young basketball player says, “Aw, I’m losing. I quit. Let Frank Lautenberg play for me.” To this, an announcer says, “Tell your children you don’t just quit because you’re losing.” Walking away, the discouraged player says, “Torricelli can quit, I can quit. I’m not gonna lose.”
The state Republican Party in New Jersey (not Doug Forrester, Lautenberg’s opponent) produced the ad, which aired on New Jersey cable television this week. The ad emphasizes an important and obvious point – Torricelli should not have quit simply for having been behind in the polls, teaching a bad lesson and setting a terrible precedent.
The move to replace the flailing Torricelli with Lautenberg after the deadline for submitting candidates for the ballot establishes a dangerous precedent – in key elections, candidates nominated by their party can simply be switched with a pinch-hitter if their prospects for election grow dim.
Mike Taylor, a Republican candidate for Senate in Montana running against four-term Democrat Sen. Max Baucus dropped out of his election on Oct. 11, 10 days after Torricelli. Taylor cited a financial shortfall and what he called “the most negative ad running anywhere.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (not Baucus) ran an ad featuring old footage of Taylor, dressed gaudily while discussing various beauty supplies he had owned.
Republicans in Montana had suggested running a write-in campaign, but the successful transplant of Torricelli with Lautenberg via the New Jersey state Supreme Court encouraged GOP officials to consider the same procedure in Montana.
William Safire asks in The New York Times, “Are primaries for naught? Will there never again be a Truman-Dewey upset?”
New Jersey law sets parameters for when a candidate can and cannot be replaced. Were Torricelli dead, incapacitated or in jail, the New Jersey state Supreme Court would have had grounds to wave the 51-day limit for the replacement of a candidate on the ballot. But poll results displeasing to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and the Democratic leadership do not satisfy exemption from the law.
As in the Florida election debacle in 2000, Democrats have again tried to change inconvenient election laws during an election cycle, again using a state Supreme Court loaded with Democrats to make exemptions to the very laws they are supposed to enforce. In 2000, the Supreme Court stepped in. In 2002, it did not, even though the Constitution explicitly stipulates that state legislatures, not courts, are to set methods for the election of each state’s representatives in Congress and the Electoral College.
Laws will not enforce themselves. Courts are usually the last line of defense in enforcing these laws – laws which should be made by the legislature, signed by the governor and enforced, not edited, by the courts.
Still, the idea of a one-candidate election is equally distasteful, and some accused Republicans of being anti-democratic by opposing Lautenberg’s name being placed on the ballot, supporting a Soviet-style one-candidate election.
Nonetheless, the New Jersey Democratic Party knew full well about the allegations against Torricelli when it nominated him. Even on the last day to legally change the ballot, Democratic leadership gambled on its chances with Torricelli, while it could have opted for Bill Bradley, Frank Lautenberg or anyone else. Instead, they waited until 35 days before the election to rely upon the court to circumvent the law.
“By switching candidates in the middle of an election simply to improve their own prospects, Democrat party bosses are sending a message . that it’s OK to change the rules in the middle of the game if you don’t like your odds,” State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, New Jersey State Republican Party Chairman said. “This television ad highlights the absurdity of the situation and provides humorous insight as to what life would be like if we all followed the example of the Torricelli-Lautenberg machine and disregarded the rules of ethics and fair play.”
Republicans now face making the same ethical mistake that Democrats did after Oct. 1. Rather than replace Taylor in Montana, Republicans should run a write-in campaign against Baucus – the alternative that Lautenberg should have chosen in New Jersey.
New Jersey voters, as truly the last line of defense, should consider the precedent the drop-and-substitute tactic establishes when casting their ballot on Nov. 5.
Nick Timiraos is a freshman in the College.
