Former Denver mayor injects an issue into New Jersey Senate race

DENVER – As unlikely as it sounds, the former Mayor of Denver has raised a campaign issue in the New Jersey U.S. Senate race.

After praising Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-Cliffside Park) help in securing funding to build the Denver International Airport in the 1990s in a speech to the New Jersey delegation yesterday morning, former Mayor Wellington Webb joked that a wing of the facility should be named after him.

That brought a harsh response yesterday from former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, who called him “Colorado’s third Senator.” Zimmer has made his anti-pork credentials central to his Senate candidacy against Lautenberg.

“Senator Lautenberg’s pork-barrel spending may be helping Coloradans but it’s hurting New Jerseyans,” said Zimmer. “We now see one reason why New Jersey is dead last in the rate of return on our federal tax dollars. Former Mayor Webb has confirmed that Senator Lautenberg has been taking money out of the pockets of New Jersey taxpayers to fund extravagant projects in other states."

Lautenberg's campaign responded that Lautenberg was only looking to improve the transportation.

"Washington Republican Dick Zimmer has a lot of gall attacking Senator
Lautenberg for improving transportation and our national
infrastructure," said spokeswoman Julie Roginsky. "While Senator Lautenberg has been standing up to the special interests throughout his career, Zimmer has been kowtowing to he special interests in Washington both as a congressman and as a lobbyist."