Genovese campaign says Craig donations to Kean "tainted"
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com ReporterState Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., today said he would not return $10,000 he received from the political action committee of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, while his District 21 opponent said he should have already given back the money.
"The money that I raised, I expended over the course of the campaign," the Republican said of his failed 2004 bid against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Unable this week to withdraw his plea of guilty to a disorderly conduct charge following his June 11 arrest in an airport men’s room sex sting, Craig remains in office as a U.S. Senator despite his initial announcement that he would resign.
Former Long Hill Township Mayor Gina Genovese, a Democrat challenging Kean, said, "The office of Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman confirmed that the $2,500 they received from Senator Craig’s Alliance for the West was donated to charity on August 30. Tom Kean Jr.’s website states that ‘The time has come for real ethics reforms, not half-measures that further fuel the public's ever-growing cynicism.’ But the reality is that Kean Jr.’s Senate campaign has been funded by donations from the political action committees of Halliburton and a senator who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in an airport men’s room."
A long shot candidate in a Republican district, Genovese received a boost today from Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean.
"I guess their intention is to keep Kean from using this campaign season to expend money in other districts, and to prevent him as much as possible getting his name out there in a positive context with a message of ‘I told you so,’" Prof. David Rebovich, managing director of the Rider Institute of New Jersey Politics, said of the Democrats.
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Why should Kean give Craig's money back?
Is it because Craig is or may be gay? Seems a little tortured...the Genovese argument, not Craig.
Gop"animal" The Reasons JR Should Give The Money Back Are...
......obvious. When you receive money from a tainted source; it reflects poorly on the recipient.
Returning the money or giving it to charity like REPUBLICAN SENATOR NORM COLEMAN DID is standard operating procedure. Ask Coleman why he wouldn't keep Craig's money?
Holding on to tainted money after one knows that it is tainted means that you don't care; therfore you (Kean Jr) share in the taint.
Senator Larry Craig's problem/taint is not that he's gay; it's that he's a lying hypocritical sleazball.
His latest lie is that he would resign if he couldn't reverse his GUILTY PLEA by month's end. Well here it is October and it seems he wants to serve out his full term.
If Craig had any integrity he would allow his REPUBLICAN governor to appoint a REPUBLICAN to take his place.
There's an expression in politics, "ya dance with them that brung ya", well Larry Craig brought $10,000.00 to Tom Kean Jr.
Does anyone in the 21st District really want their state senator to be obligated to the likes of lying hypocrite Larry Craig? I don't think so,
If Tom Kean Jr is willing to sell/trash his reputation for a measily 10K; then he clearly doesn't deserve any votes from anyone of either party in District 21.
From Frederick Douglass
Yawn
A desperate attack by a candidate that stands no chance.
I also wasn't aware that last year's Senate race actually took place in 2004.
"I can remember way back when a liberal was one who was generous with his own money."- Will Rogers
Yawn? Dino, I'm Surprised At You!
I bet that if the situation were reversed and it was a Democrat that had taken tainted money from a lying hypocrite you would be the first one to point out that fact...and you would do so with great enthusiasm.....no yawning anywhere.
Larry Craig represents everything that's wrong with the national Republican party; perhaps we should borrow a phrase from Senior:
Junior & Craig: "Perfect" Together!
Hmmmmm, that might fit on a bumper sticker...
***********************************
PS And if you doubt/question that Craig's cash is tainted; ask Republican US Senator Norm Coleman why he chose to give his share away to charity.
From Frederick Douglass
Double Yawn
It's apples and oranges. The money donated to Kean's senate campaign was donated last year before this incident ever happened. The money donated to Coleman was donated to his re-election campaign for next year.
This is a shameless attempt at "guilt by association" by a desperate hack that has no legs. He did nothing wrong by taking the money last year and he has done nothing wrong by choosing to keep it.
Gina Genovese is grasping at straws to attack Kean who is 99.9% safe in his race.
"I can remember way back when a liberal was one who was generous with his own money."- Will Rogers
bad lento soup
I severly doubt the Kean campaign truly had any money left over from donations for the 06' race...come on Lento..that is old potatoes and you know it.
By the way is it just me or is Genovese actually attacking a homosexual senator..I dont even have to say it.
Just unbelievable the brass of her campaign.
It's just you backwardsjersey. . .
it's just you.
1) this is about Kean Junior, not Craig. From what I see Genovese simply said the mild-mannered Kean hasn't had the gumption to say or do ANYTHING on this issue. . .SURPRISE SURPRISE. . .and
2) CRAIG ISN'T GAY! He just solicits sex with men in airport toilets. C'mon - that's what EVERY straight guy does. C'mon, you've been there, right?!? Then there's the whole pleading guilty, then saying he'll resign, then not resigning. . .Hey - that's all standard practice in the Republican Party - isn't it?
another failed candidate
Convinced that she would get the support of Dem power brokers, Genovese chose to become this year's sacrificial lamb in 21. Now she is making a fool of herself by making this her number one issue.
I guess she has nothing else. What can she say? Send me to Trenton to send more of your tax money to the open sewers run by the bosses who would finance me if I had a chance in hell of winning. Great message to sell to suburbia.
Another heralded challenger going nowhere.
gina genovese
As many of the residents of Long Hill Township already know, Gina is the master of dirty politics. So for her to even question Tom Kean's ethics is the most hypocritical thing i've seen in a long time. And as the election gets closer and it becomes even clearer that GIna could never win this election, she will become one of the most unethical politicians in the state. On the eve of the Long HIll election in 2005, Gina, her partner, and her campaign manager, placed anonymous flyers on hundreds of township mailboxes implicating that the opponent(who was the current mayor) had a "sweatheart deal on his taxes" which turned out to be a completley fabricted story created by MS. Genovese. Gina should worry more about her own ethics before she throws any stones at anyone else!!!
'Taint So
Coleman returned the tainted money when he realized he had taken money from a lying hypocrite.
I've used the term lying hypocrite in re Craig because that's what he obviously is....and so far, I see no one here disputing that reality.
Yes, Kean took the money last year before Craig was so blatantly outed as a lying hypocrite; and, to his credit, Republican US Senator Coleman gave the dirty money away rather than have it taint his own reputation.
Yes, Kean also received money before Craig's becoming persona non grata with the civilized world; but the fact that he has chosen not to return the money (I'm sure he has at least 10K in his treasure chest ;-) says a lot about him....as does the fact that he has not acnowledged that Craig is a lying hypocrite.
Is this this largest or sole issue in this race? Hell no; but it is indicative of Kean's poor judgement.
It shouldn't need repeating at this point, but I suspect that some of y'all have pretty thick skulls so I'll go ahead and remind you that no one in the Democratic Party gives a flying duck who Craig has sex with. What makes Larry Craig so reprehensible (that even George Bush would like to see him step down as he promised to) is the obvious fact that he's a lying hypocrite........and a smart person would not wish to be associated with such a creature.
It's not a matter of "guilt by association" most of the Republicans in Congress along with the President want Craig to step down if only to allow a Republican to have an established seat in time for the 08 elections.
Craig is not only a lying hypocrite; but he has no loyalty to his own Party. Any money from him is tainted. Period.
I am looking forward to Junior and Gina having a few real debates on the full gamut of NJ issues!
Bring those debates on asap.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467347/
From Frederick Douglass
Genovese would have no answers in those debates
She clearly hasn't made her campaign (if there even is one) about the issues.
My only argument for this whole Craig donations thing is just the small fact of Kean Jr. using them before Larry became a hypocrit. Frankly though, I'm not jumping on the Craig must resign ship, I didn't care when Clinton cheated on his wife and I certainly don't care when Craig spreads his legs in the men's bathroom.
at least it gives us something to banter about...
I give Genovese credit... she's trying make news. It's pointless, baseless and pathetic, but it's a try.
kean is going to crush her.
And the Dean visit to Kenilworth was more about Stender than Genovese. That's a race they want to win.
Genovese is morally superior
Is Genovese asking Kean to give back the money because it was donated by a guy who solicited sex in a men's toilet? Or is it because it was donated by a guy who is duplicitous? Sure, Craig was backed into a corner and couldn't admit that he was bi-sexual. Sure he publicly supported the "straight" and narrow. Sure, he looks like a creep. And the Republican, Christian wingnuts look like the morons that they are.
However, no one has the right to dictate morality. Maybe pornography should be illegal? Maybe we should go into the bedroom and watch what the president and the first lady do? Maybe we should resurrect that great bastion of moral values, Roy Cohen? And Senator Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon with him? How about Herbert Hoover and that closet full of dresses? Not to mention the Kennedy's!
Is Genovese really morally repulsed? I think not. Craig lied just like every politician. He made us all think he was someone he wasn’t. He is just another gay-bashing bi-sexual politician. If one in ten men is really gay or bi-sexual, as studies indicate, then there are a lot more of these kinds of characters running around the halls of Congress (and New Jersey’s State Senate) on both sides of the aisle.
The real question is whether a politician should take a campaign contribution, or keep one, if the donor is found to be morally corrupt. Wait a minute ... what is considered morally corrupt? Where is the “morality police’s” headquarters? Is Genovese morally corrupt because she is a lesbian? Is Governor Corzine morally corrupt because he is divorced? Is former Governor Whitman morally corrupt because she is married to a union basher? Is former Governor McGreevy morally corrupt because he was bi-sexual and never told anyone? Are politicians who have affairs morally corrupt? So many questions; so little time.
Let’s see who Genovese’s campaign contributors are.
1) Garden State Equality ($4,000): New Jersey's political action organization uniting LGBTI and straight voters who support equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community;
2) Jana Belot ($500): owner of a dance studio in Martinsville, NJ;
3) Craig Hutchison ($500): An “investment portfolio manager” who is openly gay; and
4) Fran Goldstein ($500): of Lambda Legal, a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
For a grand total of $5,500. I wonder what these contributors think of Craig and his need to deal with his sexuality problems. I’m certain they all unequivocally condemn him.
As for Genovese’s indignation at Kean’s source of campaign contributions, I am certain that there are enough voters who believe that homosexuality is morally corrupt in and of itself.
Let she who is free from sin cast the first stone.
www.longhillobserver.com
Short Hill sighted. . .
It is said that we see things not as they are, but as WE are, and this is certainly true of Short-Hill-Sighted.
Did you happen to notice that Genovese tied the monies Kean has received from Halliburton AND Craig directly to Kean's claims to be "ethical"? It's about the ethics of Kean keeping money from the company so closely associated to the Washington administration that lied to everyone to drag us into Bush's War, and a senator who PLEADED GUILTY to acts that violate laws.
Is that so hard to see or understand?
Fascinating how you can parcel out each and every one of Genovese' (non-war-profiteering and non-criminally-admitting) contributors, but you can't see the issue that's laid out right in front of you.
Let me know if you need any more help keeping it "straight", and yes I do mean that both literally and figuratively, because the notion that there's some ethical compenent in what gender(s) a person is sexually attracted to just means you aren't aware enough to know that "choice" does not apply. Ethics are about choices of actions. Sexual orientation (straight, gay and bi) is about brain chemistry.
Long Hill Observer, That Was The Rhetorical Equivalent....
.....of throwing a handful of sand into the face of someone that you don't want to fight head on.
I sure would like to see Gina and Tom engage in a few debates on a full range of substantive issues.
Wouldn't that be cool! Actually allowing the electorate to see/hear the candidates in a live setting! Democracy, what a concept!!!
From Frederick Douglass