A House seat on Washington--anywhere, at any price

When 26-year-old Mike Ferguson came to my office in 1997 and told me he was going to oppose Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone in New Jersey's 6th District, I was impressed. The former head of the Catholic Campaign for America and the son of an affluent Garden State businessman, former teacher Ferguson had nationwide financial contacts. He also had a strong conservative message that included a fervent pro-life stance and a discourse on how to abolish the Department of Education.

Ferguson would actually outraise ten-year incumbent Pallone in a race that was profiled in such nationally read publications as the Washington Post. But he still lost 3 to 2. Vowing election night that "I am not going away," Ferguson signaled to National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis (Va.) and New Jersey GOP Chairman Chuck Haytaian he would seek a rematch with Pallone.

But, as a deed obtained by HUMAN EVENTS shows, Ferguson instead arranged a swap of his house in Red Bank with that of one Patrick J. McMorrow in Warren, N..J., in the 7th District and ran for the seat Franks was giving up. The house-swap deal was completed on Jan. 4, 2000.

And while he has not changed his views on abortion, Ferguson has toned down his conservatism in other ways-- never mentioning scrapping the Department of Education and, as Morrisey noted, "never specifically endorsing school vouchers for private as well as public schools. When I pressed him on it at our last candidate forum, he said he was for choice in public schools but he didn't mention private schools.It's as though he learned from the last race not to say anything controversial." I say if you're going to run for office be specific and stand for something!"

Similarly, State Assemblyman Joel Weingarten drew Bronx cheers from the audience when, at-a recent candidate forum, he was the only one of the four House hopefuls who refused to say whether he was pro-life or pro-choice.

Rounding out the field is the one candidate who does say he is pro-choice: Tom Kean, Jr., a former Franks aide and namesake-son of the liberal Republican governor of the state from 1982-90. Beyond abortion, however, young Kean's issue stands are unclear and, in fact, the "issues section" of his website has been "under construction" since he became a candidate. He is clearly counting on the widespread name recognition of the elder Kean and allies of his father (notably, Rep. Marge Roukema, one of only eight House Republicans who oppose a ban on partial-birth abortion) to see him through June 6. (As popular as he was statewide, Kean was never a well-liked by grass-roots party activists, who are more likely to vote in primaries. Young Kean may also have been hurt by recent reports that his father made a $1,000 donation to former Democratic Rep. Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky, who in 1993 cast the deciding vote in the House for Bill Clinton's record-high tax increase.)

"By the end of the campaign, Mike Ferguson, Tom Kean, and Joel Weingarten will either take positions on the issues or ask having large numbers of voters abandon the Republican Party," declared Morrisey. "If this is what the Republican Party is putting up for higher office, then we are in trouble against the Democrats in the fall."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. May 19, 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved