Andy Unanue

Sen. Frank Lautenberg was called a "swamp dog" by his 1988 Republican challenger, Pete Dawkins: Getty Images Photo
Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson  faxed an angry letter to Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg this morning, accusing his reelection campaign of being the source of today’s Star-Ledger story that quoted a lawsuit related to an intra-family business spat that led to Senate candidate Andy Unanue’s ouster as Chief Operating Officer of Goya Foods.

“It is telling that after nearly 25 years in office, the best you have to offer the people of New Jersey is a tired, old gutter campaign replete with sleazy personal attacks,” said Wilson. “Frankly, the legal proceedings from Andy's family business dispute are no more relevant or appropriate campaign fodder than your divorce proceedings.”

The four year old testimony quoted in the article alleged that Unanue showed up to work drunk. In his own testimony, Unanue disputed that, but admitted that he had come to work hung over.

Wilson went on to outline past Lautenberg campaigns where he said he smeared his opponents, like the campaign against Republican Millicent Fenwick that launched his Senate career.

U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue says that a Star-Ledger article alleging that he came to work drunk or hung over is false, and says this came from an “uncorroborated source” during a legal battle involving control of his family business, Goya Foods.

“I just got off the phone with a reporter from the Star-Ledger who plans to run an article in tomorrow’s newspaper that contains false allegations made against me years ago. I wanted you to hear from me personally that these allegations, made by one uncorroborated source, are absolutely false. They were no true then and are not true now,” Unanue wrote to PolitickerNJ.com last night.“I am disgusted that Frank Lautenberg and the Democrats are so frightened of facing me in a general election that they are already resorting to these tactics. We haven’t heard Democrat whisperings about the other candidates in the Republican primary. The only reason they’re doing it now is because they feel they have an opponent who can retire Frank Lautenberg in November.”

PolitickerNJ.com has obtained copies of partial transcripts of the Goya dispute trial, outlining testimony by Andy Unanue; Robert Unanue, his cousin; and Joseph Perez, a Goya executive who made many of the allegations against the Senate candidate.

The Monmouth County Republican Screening Committee voted unanimously tonight to recommend that the county committee vote for Senate candidate Andy Unanue over rivals Joe Pennacchio and Murray Sabrin at its convention tomorrow night.

The screening committee interviewed Unanue over the phone from his vacation spot in Vail, Colo.

Cape May Republicans became the first county party to award the party line to Senate candidate Andy Unanue.

“As of today, Cape May County formally endorsed Andy for United States Senate, and we’re giving him the line,” said local GOP Chairman David Von Savage. 

Over the course of the next week, brand new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue will have a chance to cement his status as the Republican favorite to take on incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg in a marathon series of eight conventions.

Between tomorrow and next Wednesday, there are Republican county conventions coming up in Monmouth, Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Middlesex and Somerset. County committees will decide between Unanue, a businessman who's an heir to the Goya Foods fortune and the heir apparent to the campaign of former candidate Anne Estabrook, and his two Republican competitors: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin.

The person who each committee picks will be awarded a coveted spot on the party line, which typically provides a boost to the candidate whose name occupies it.

But Pennacchio, not to be counted out, is focusing on winning the line in traditionally Democratic counties where he believes he can appeal to a working-class "Reagan Democrat base" in the general election - specifically Mercer and Middlesex. He already has the line in Bergen County, although that may change if Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz meets with his executive committee and opts to give the line to Unanue, a personal friend who he recruited. He's also got the line in Hunterdon, Passaic and Union counties.

Another similarity between bar owning U.S. Senate candidates Andy Unanue and Frank Lautenberg: Unanue launched his first campaign from Vail, Colorado and Lautenberg finished his from the same place.  On December 27, 1982, interim Senator Nicholas Brady resigned, so that Lautenberg, elected the previous month, could get a little extra seniority.  Governor Thomas Kean appointed Lautenberg to fill the remaining week of Harrison Williams’ term; Lautenberg, vacationing in Vail, took the oath of office there.

Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson will not run for U.S. Senate and will instead back Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue for the seat. 

“He’s a dynamic young man, wants to get involved,” said Levinson, who received a courtesy phone call from Unanue today.  “He comes forward without the political baggage that so many of our candidates have.  It’s exactly the way things should be.”

In Ocean County, things are looking up for Andy Unanue, even if he won’t attend Thursday’s convention in person.

The local party’s screening committee met Saturday – before Unanue had even officially announced his candidacy – and voted to back him 14-0, with one abstention. He’s also got the powerful Republican Chairman George Gilmore in his corner.

“Historically, the screening committee’s recommendation is generally followed,” said Gilmore.

Rival Joe Pennacchio has one thing going for him – he’s backed by all three of the county’s Republican state Senators: Bob Singer, Andrew Ciesla and Chris Connors.

As Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue starts his first ever race for elected office, he’ll have an experienced team waiting for him.

Once he gets back from Colorado.

Unanue is on a vacation with his extended family in Vail, and he won’t be returning to New Jersey in time to attend the Republican conventions scheduled for this week in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Middlesex and Salem Counties. He planned the trip a year ago, he said, and even a Senate candidacy isn’t enough to make him shirk the familial responsibility.

Instead, he’ll send surrogates to the conventions, and will address screening committees in conference calls. He plans to return to his homes in New Jersey and New York City early next month.

“I’m not a politician. I don’t really worry about how hard it’s going to be,” Unanue said when asked if not being able to attend the conventions will hurt his chances. “I’m worried about winning the primary and the election. I’m in the process of aligning myself with what I would consider the best and most talented staff.”

Political foes of new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue – Democrats and Republicans – seemed quick to paint him today as some playboy night club owner, although one guy (Nick Acocella would call him a wag) noted that the 84-year-old Democratic incumbent, Frank Lautenberg, also owns a bar/restaurant: Frank’s Waterside in Edgewater.  The wag suggested that in the week that follows revelations of Eliot Spitzer’s high-priced call girls and James E. McGreevey’s threesome, owning a trendy club in the meatpacking district (when did meatpacking become a bad word?) might not be so awful.