Merkt says he should be included in ELEC debates
Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) is excluded from the two official GOP gubernatorial debates because he did not raise $340,000

Merkt says he should be included in ELEC debates

By Matt Friedman | April 21st, 2009 - 1:04pm
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Merkt, who is not allowed to participate in the two televised debates sanctioned by the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) because he did not raise or spend enough money to qualify, is considering a legal challenge to force his inclusion.

"I understood you had to debate if you accepted money, but I never realized the statute was drawn in such a way as to preclude anyone else from participating, which I find as a good metaphor for how the closed the system is," said Merkt, who is also an Assemblyman from Mendham.  "If you think about this, what it means is the chosen candidates -- those who accept taxpayer dollars - basically get a huge unreported in-kind contribution from the networks involved."

Since ELEC started sanctioning debates for public-financed candidates in 1989, its statute has limited participation to those who have qualified for matching funds by raising at least $340,000, or those who have opted not to take matching funds but have raised and spent at least the same amount.

Merkt is considering challenging the statute in court, though he has not yet decided whether it's worth the trouble.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan, who are the only two candidates of either party to qualify for and accept matching funds, are required to participate in the two debates, scheduled for May 12 and 17.

The law is intended to prevent the debates from being crowded with minor candidates.  While the cash threshold may not be a perfect measure, ELEC Executive Director Frederick Herrmann said that it's based "not a question of viability, but a question of probability."

But with the three other minor Republican primary candidates having been thrown off the ballot for lack of proper signatures last week after challenges from the Lonegan campaign, Merkt, the only Republican left standing aside from Christie and Lonegan, is the odd man out.

"We're talking three candidates.  We're not talking fifteen candidates in this race," said Merkt.  "What's really amazing is that here you have a three-way contest for governor, but in effect only two viewpoints are going to be presented. I find this all problematic, which is why we're examining all our legal options."

As an Assemblyman since 1998 and a former Deputy Attorney General in the Kean administration, Merkt said he is the only candidate of the three with any experience in state government, making his exclusion all the more inappropriate.

"I think it's ironic that they're going to exclude the only candidate who has lots of state experience here, and frankly the most knowledgeable candidate on state issues," he said.

Although the Lonegan campaign said yesterday that he would engage Merkt in several additional debates - as long as Christie signed on as well - they want to keep the two ELEC debates between Christie and Lonegan.

"We've got to get at least two with [just Christie]," said Lonegan strategist Rick Shaftan.  "He does not want a one-on-one confrontation.  He just can't handle Steve Lonegan."

Christie has said several times he wants all candidates to be able to participate in the ELEC debates, but his campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said he was at a loss as to how Christie could assist Merkt any further.

"I'm not sure what else Chris could do.  He's offered his verbal support and is the only candidate running who's done that," said Stepien.

 

Tags:

OOOPS Rick...you've been kissing up to the wrong guy

Submitted by gorednj on April 21, 2009 - 12:58pm.

For the entire primary process Merkt has been following Lonegan like an 9th grade girl with a crush. And predictably, Lonegan and Shaftan have turned on him the first chance they got.

It's not Lonegan or Christie

Submitted by Carl Bergmanson on April 21, 2009 - 1:22pm.

It's not Lonegan or Christie that is keeping him out of the ELEC debates, it's the law.

And it's really an outrageous law if you think about it. Any rich candidate can write his campaign a check for the difference between what he's raised and $340,000 and *poof* he's in the ELEC debates - but only if he wants to be.

It's a joke to say that we live in a democracy or that we have free elections, the whole "election" process is designed to exclude all but the rich and the machines. NJ is a plutocracy that is fast becoming a kleptocracy, and those not "connected" are just glorified serfs.

Go away Rick

Submitted by CliffordCase on April 21, 2009 - 3:34pm.

You're making a fool of yourself.

I used to have some respect for you as a Yale alumnus, Penn grad student and Fordham JD but now you're just an ass.

Why don't you complete the transformation from respectable Assemblyman and corporate lawyer to professional wingnut and get yourself arrested for crashing the debate like Alan Keyes back in 1996.

Merkt is a nice guy, but....

Submitted by Republican Cons... on April 21, 2009 - 4:20pm.

Nice guys finish last. What can he add to the debates? He's likable but he obviously lacks the judgment necessary to be Governor. He gave up his Assembly seat for a shot at the top seat.

We don't need any delusional candidates gumming up the debates. We need to see Christie and Lonegan toe to toe. They are the only ones with a chance.  Then we can get the Buffer Guy to start with "Letttttsssss get ready to Rummmmmmmmmbbbbbblllle!!!"

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."   Thomas Jefferson

 

Silly, Rick...

Submitted by JoeSchilp on April 21, 2009 - 5:28pm.

"I understood you had to debate if you accepted money, but I never realized the statute was drawn in such a way as to preclude anyone else from participating, which I find as a good metaphor for how the closed the system is," said Merkt, who is also an Assemblyman from Mendham.

Rick, any attorney will tell you that ignorance is no defense for failing to follow the letter of the law.  The statute was written long before you announced your candidacy and it was there for you and your campaign team to see. You failed to follow it. 

You lose. End of story.

"We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work!"
- FDR's Treasure Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, in 1939, on 8 years of New Deal spending as an attempt to end the Great Depression.

"Rick, any attorney will

Submitted by CliffordCase on April 21, 2009 - 7:06pm.

"Rick, any attorney will tell you that ignorance is no defense for failing to follow the letter of the law."

I have to wonder if these idiots like Merkt and Levine ever stop to consider how their clients/potential clients must feel when they act like this. It seems they're borderline delusional, even psychotic to imagine they can have any impact at this point. They're in danger of becoming marginalized from polite society ala Alan Keyes. And we all know how he ended up.

Bottom line is if I was their client I'd be looking for someone else to manage my affairs.

And yet, Cliffy...

Submitted by JoeSchilp on April 21, 2009 - 7:33pm.

Cliffy, you call Merkt & Levine idiots, yet you rip Lonegan for working to keep these two guys out of the debates.

So is it your position that you'd rather have two "idiots" wasting fully half of the debate time?

"We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work!"
- FDR's Treasure Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, in 1939, on 8 years of New Deal spending as an attempt to end the Great Depression.

"Cliffy, you call Merkt &

Submitted by CliffordCase on April 21, 2009 - 8:24pm.

"Cliffy, you call Merkt & Levine idiots, yet you rip Lonegan for working to keep these two guys out of the debates."

Not me. I've ripped Lonegan for alot but not the debates. In fact, I've already stipulated that Lonegan will kick Christie's more than ample tush, put him in a sleeper hold and stomp all over him.

And since nobody will watch it except a handful of wingnuts and political junkies, Christie will whip Lonegan into apple sauce and mashed potatoes on June 2.

Few people...

Submitted by ImWithStupid on April 22, 2009 - 6:23am.

are as right about how wrong our State finances are as Rick Merkt. He is right when he says this state is headed to bankruptcy... and unlike Codey, he says it for more than political theater.

Money Should Not Keep people oot

Submitted by mq2dc on April 23, 2009 - 9:14am.

MONEY?MONEY/MONEY/ The rich want it all and if you don t have the money/ people that do not don t matter. Shameful seems the RICH REPUBLICAN LIKE CORZINE,S VALUE SYSTEM// CHRISTIE IS NO CHOICE AND SHOULD BE SENT OVER TO HIS REAL PARTY.Poor people don t have money so we get garbage like Christie supporting ILLEGAL ALIENS and the rich keep making the poor poorer. KICK CHRISTIE OUT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

t7b.com

Submitted by ksall on April 23, 2009 - 5:49pm.


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