Whitman Endorsement Strictly a Party Favor

By Fred Snowflack
Daily Record

Christie Whitman is no real fan of Bret Schundler. Anyone who tells you 
different is not being honest.

Likewise, Schundler is no big fan of Whitman.

But presto, Wednesday night in Parsippany, there was Whitman showing up at a 
Schundler rally sponsored by the Morris County Women's Republican 
organization. Things are apparently pretty slow at the federal Environmental 
Protection Agency these days if director Whitman can take time off for 
partisan politics.

Cynics might say there are more similarities between Whitman and Democratic 
candidate James McGreevey than there are between the former governor and 
Schundler.

Let's look at some of the issues.

Whitman backs a woman's right to have an abortion; Schundler does not.

Whitman supported the recently passed $8.6 billion school construction bill; 
Schundler suggests the measure will benefit only teachers and the 
construction industry.

During her nearly eight years in office, Whitman did nothing to derail the 
state Supreme Court's Mount Laurel decision; Schundler wants the court 
ruling overturned.

Whitman was an enthusiastic supporter of the state development and 
redevelopment plan; Schundler has doubts about it.

None of that seemed to matter Wednesday night.

Whitman was introduced by Lynn Schundler, the candidate's wife, and entered 
a very festive, a very hot and a very crowded ballroom in the Parsippany 
Hilton.

"It's really important that Republican women get out there and support 
Bret," Whitman said. Schundler, she said, cares about issues that are most 
important to women. She said they include good schools, safe neighborhoods 
and low taxes.

And in sticking with the recent theme of the Schundler campaign, Whitman 
said a win for McGreevey would be a return to the bad old days of "high 
taxes, high unemployment and high anxiety." She said it took Republicans to 
clean up the mess that Democrats had left. And why, Whitman asked, would the 
state want to go through something like that again?

You expect a former Republican governor to support a Republican candidate 
for the statehouse, but the philosophical differences between Whitman and 
Schundler made Wednesday's event more noteworthy than it ordinarily would 
be. After all, Schundler has still not been endorsed by acting Gov. Donald 
DiFrancesco.

"It's something that you need to have," said Assemblyman E. Scott Garrett, 
R-Sussex. "Christie Whitman coming out here and saying, 'Come on aboard.'" 
Garrett pointed out that Republicans need the moderates to win Nov. 6.
Mark Peck, a Madison councilman and a man who backed Schundler before it 
became fashionable, stressed the similarities between the two.  All 
Republicans, he said, support limited government and low taxes. Peck tried 
to put a positive spin on the differences between them.

"Perhaps she (Whitman) has seen the error of her ways," he said, implying 
that the former governor has turned to the right. Unlikely.

Whitman's visit, naturally, had a strong political message: Something along 
the lines that Schundler really is all right. It came when polls show the 
Republican getting no more than 70 percent support from his own party.

And support for Schundler from women who normally vote Republican is 
noticeably lacking. Witness a McGreevey appearance earlier this week with 
Barbara Lasaracina, the state's reigning teacher of the year. Lasaracina, a 
Republican, said she will vote for McGreevey because she likes the 
Democrat's views on public education.

Schundler's strategy as the campaign winds down is to suggest that McGreevey 
will emulate former Democratic Governor Jim Florio and raise taxes. That 
strategy helped Whitman get elected (narrowly) in 1993.

But how effective is it going to be in 2001? Florio hasn't held public 
office for eight years, and you have got to wonder how much political 
capital there is in dragging his name before the voters.

Democrats eventually had to stop running against Richard Nixon, and New 
Jersey Republicans are going to eventually have to stop running against 
Florio.

Fred Snowflack can be reached at fsnowflac@morristo.gannett.com or (973) 
428-6617.

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