Murray Sabrin’s candidacy begins amidst Ron Paul woes

Yesterday may not have been the most ideal time for Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin to announce his Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Sabrin, who ran for the Senate as a Republican in 2000 and for governor as a Libertarian in 1997, is a friend of presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and has been one of his most visible New Jersey supporters. Sabrin even kicked off his campaign yesterday with a personal endorsement from Paul.

For a candidate who garnered low votes during his last two runs for statewide office -- 5% in his gubernatorial campaign and 13% in the 2000 Senate primary -- the Paul connection could prove beneficial. If Sabrin can attract even a small fraction of Paul supporters, who raised $6 million for their candidate in a single day last month, then he may be able to raise enough money to have a significant impact on the Senate race.

“There’s a tremendous amount of (Ron Paul) volunteers of all ages, all ethnic groups here in New Jersey and we’re going to give them the opportunity to use all the energy, that money and that message,” said Sabrin spokesman George Ajjan, a GOP activist who challenged Rep. Bill Pascrell in 2004.

But there could be a downside to the Paul connection. Sabrin’s campaign announcement yesterday coincided with a controversy over racially charged newsletters sent out under a Ron Paul masthead during the 1980s and 90s that have made national headlines. The newsletters, which included derogatory references to blacks and gays, were first raised as an issue in 1996 by Paul’s Democratic congressional opponent, and reemerged earlier this week in a report by The New Republic.

Yesterday, Paul told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he did not write any of the material and repudiated any racist sentiment expressed in them

Sabrin was unavailable for comment today, but to Ajjan, Paul’s denunciation of the statements was explanation enough.

“Anyone who’s ever seen Paul, there’s not a single piece of footage of him ever making such a comment. I don’t consider that an issue, especially what we’re going to be doing in New Jersey,” he said.

Moreover, Ajjan said, he doesn’t think that the newsletter controversy will dampen enthusiasm among Paulites, thus hurting Sabrin’s fundraising ability. In fact, rather than try to distance himself from Paul, Sabrin plans to continue stumping for the presidential candidate until after New Jersey’s Feb. 5th primary.

To show just how seriously Sabrin intends to take this campaign, Ajjan pointed out that he’s hired New York-based fundraiser Patrick Donohue’s Max Consulting to run the operation. Donohue was the finance director of former New York Gov. George Pataki’s successful1994 and 1998 campaigns. In 2000, Donohue was caught up in a scandal related to securing early parole for convicts whose families donated to the Pataki campaign, but was never charged. Donohue is also known for recently launching the Sarah Jane Brain Project, an open source project that makes public the medical records of his two-year-old daughter, who suffers from Post Traumatic Brain Injury, to aid research on the topic.

“Murray’s going to run a spirited campaign. This is not going to be a bare bones operation.”

Ron Paul’s most prominent New Jersey supporter, Assemblyman Michael Doherty, endorsed Joe Pennacchio for U.S. Senate when he dropped his own prospective candidacy in August. Although Doherty said that he respects Sabrin, he’s sticking with Pennacchio, and worried that a Sabrin candidacy could take support away from the more conservative of the other two candidates. Doherty said that he encouraged Pennacchio to meet with Murray.

“I think anybody to the right of center in the Republican Party should stick together,” said Doherty, who added that Pennacchio’s experience as a legislator makes him more qualified. “It would be tragic for those two guys to split the vote and have Anne Estabrook get the nomination.”

Doherty also said that he’s not shaken by Paul’s newsletter controversy.

“If he did not come out so strongly in repudiating those comments, it would make me think twice. But things happen over the course over a 30 year public career. He’s clearly acknowledged that it’s an error, a mistake,” said Doherty.

Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray also said that Sabrin’s candidacy could hurt Pennacchio, who he said would have the edge if a primary between just him and Estabrook were held today.

“Right now, it’s going to be a low turnout Republican primary as it normally is in this state. And given that, I would say that Pennacchio has an edge right now in the primary, with the base,” he said. “With Sabrin in the race, the deal is he’s going to take from Pennacchio more than he would from Estabrook. Now the issue is that Ron Paul is not going to be a factor, but if Sabrin gets his mailing list and his donor list, that could help him in the Republican primary… It’s possible he could be the spoiler.”

Pennacchio said that he’s not particularly worried about Sabrin draining votes from his base. Although shares a lot of economic values with Sabrin and Paul, he said, he differs substantially with him on other issues like national defense.

“I’m not going to look back and see who is and isn’t there,” he said. “We live in a mean world, there are a lot of bad people with evil in our hearts that want to hurt us –we’re not an island.”

Ajjan said that Sabrin is in it to win – that he can indeed channel support for Ron Paul into a primary and general election victory for Sabrin.

“The first phase is with Ron Paul’s effort in New Jersey, carrying through to Murray winning the primary, the general and onward from there,” he said.