For Immediate Release: April 18, 2008

Contact: Amanda Woloshen, 908-267-1613

  Courier News

Ferguson rips Whitman ad

 By Martin C. Bricketto
Staff Writer 

U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-7th District, on Thursday blasted a cable television advertisement by one of the Republican candidates running to take his place in the state’s 7th Congressional District.

  The 30-second ad from the campaign of Kate Whitman attacked fellow GOP hopeful state Sen. Leonard Lance, R-Clinton Township, accusing Lance of failing taxpayers during his time in the Legislature. 

“I was very disappointed to see Kate’s ad, because it’s false, it’s misleading, it’s a complete distortion of Senator Lance’s record,” said Ferguson, calling Lance a “taxpayer’s champion in Trenton for years.”

  Ferguson announced last year he would not seek re-election and has not made an endorsement in the race. 

Whitman stuck by the ad, which she said was based in fact.

  “I am not saying that Leonard Lance hasn’t been down in Trenton and hasn’t fought the good fight. I think he has fought, but he has failed,” Whitman said. “My point is that he had his chance, he failed, and now it’s time for someone new.” 

The ad states “spending skyrocketed 124 percent” and “property taxes soared 103 percent” with Lance in the Legislature, according to a transcript provided by the Lance campaign.

  Lance said he was “outraged” by the ad. 

Supporters noted that Lance voted against his party over the 1997 pension bond issue and sued former Gov. Jim McGreevey in 2004 to stop the state from using borrowed money to balance its budget. Lance has voted against the last six state budgets along with 93 tax and fee increases since 2002, according to the campaign.

  “My record in Trenton is based on fiscal responsibility and fiscal conservatism,” Lance said. “I call upon the Whitman campaign to set a higher standard.” 

Lance added that he does not intend to “get in the mud” with other candidates.

  Ferguson said he urged Whitman in a private conversation to take down the ad. 

“One of these candidates is ultimately going to be our nominee, and obviously I think you could make an argument that Senator Lance is the frontrunner because he has the county organization support in both Hunterdon and Somerset counties,” Ferguson said. “To launch this kind of an attack on the frontrunner candidate who may well end up being our nominee, and have that attack come from a fellow Republican, is really just out of bounds…”

  The field of candidates hoping to secure the Republican nomination to run against state Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Fanwood, recently went through a series of county screening conventions across the district. 

Lance secured the endorsements of the Somerset and Hunterdon Republican committees. Former Summit Councilwoman P. Kelly Hatfield won the Union County GOP Committee’s endorsement, while Whitman won the endorsement of the Middlesex County Republican Committee.

…

 Martin C. Bricketto can be reached at (908) 707-3176 or mbricket@gannett.com. 

Paid for by Lance for Congress