NJ-05

U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be in two of New Jersey’s most competitive congressional districts tomorrow.

Van Hollen will make an appearance with congressional candidate Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) in the morning, and move up to the 5th District to campaign with candidate Dennis Shulman in the afternoon.

Joining Van Hollen for Shulman will be U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) and Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).  The rally will take place at IBEW Local 164's Paramus headquarters. 

Shulman, whose race has long been watched by the DCCC, was recently bumped up to its top tier classification of candidates. There are few indications about which way that district is going, but those that do exist show it tightening.

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There’s plenty of outrage to go around in the 5th Congressional District.

Today, the Dennis Shulman campaign decried a mailer from incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) that put a small picture of Shulman, a rabbi, in front of a much larger picture of a Hamas member carrying an AK-47.

“Should we be talking with terrorists,” it reads in large, blood red letters.  “Dennis Shulman thinks so.”

Garrett also put out a commercial asking “What do we really know about Dennis Shulman, the man spearing Scott Garrett?,” and referring to him as an “extremist who believes America must negotiate with terrorists.” 

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WOODCLIFF LAKE – At a temple on a hill overlooking the Bergen County portion of the 5th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) and his challenger, Dennis Shulman, engaged in an occasionally contentious 90-minute debate focused heavily on the economy, health care, foreign policy, energy and even a little scripture.

Over 200 people showed up to watch tonight’s debate at Temple Emanuel, the first of three between the two candidates.

It could have just as easily been a match of wits between President Bush against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), however, with each candidate trying to link the other to his respective party leader.

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State Sen. Paul Sarlo, who last year was subpoenaed during a federal probe of “Christmas tree” items, today called for an investigation of the tax status of the farm where U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett’s brother grows actual Christmas trees.

Garrett (R-Wantage) lives on a large estate in Wantage that is mostly classified as farmland – earning Garrett a large property tax break. The campaign of Democratic rival Dennis Shulman has been mocking that classification for weeks and using it in television advertisements.

Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) said that Garrett told the state that his farm produced more than $520 in revenue in order to get the tax break, but he didn’t report any farm income on his federal financial disclosures. Garrett has defended the charge by saying the income goes to his brother.

"Ordinary taxpayers know they can't play a 'get out of taxes free' card with their local assessor, and they have a right to be confident that their elected representative is no different,” said Sarlo, who’s also the mayor of Wood-Ridge. “We need to make sure that the Wantage Township Tax Assessor is complying with the law, can justify her decision to give Scott Garrett this enormous tax break, and is not giving Garrett special treatment because he is a Congressman."

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The fundraising race is neck-and-neck in the 5th Congressional District, where Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman raised almost exactly as much money as incumbent Scott Garrett (R-Wantage).

Shulman raised $274,231.85 last quarter to Garrett’s $276,589. That brings Shulman’s total raised so far to $823,462, and Garrett’s to $1,259,604.

Shulman also kicked in $50,000 of his own money into the race.

Garrett does have a larger war chest remaining, however, with $570,777 on hand to Shulman’s $279,096.

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In the 5th Congressional District, incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett will debate Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman three times this month.

The debates could provide good political theater in this potentially competitive race.  Shulman, a blind rabbi and psychologist, has unleashed his considerable campaign war chest on Garrett (R-Wantage) in the form of advertising, highlighting Garrett’s Farmland Assessment Tax Break.  Garrett, meanwhile, has kept a high profile in Washington as one of the most outspoken critics of the recently passed financial bailout package.

The first debate will take place at Temple Emanuel in Woodcliff Lake on Sunday, October 19th at 7p.m.  The candidates will debate the following Wednesday at Sussex Community College at 8p.m., followed by a Friday debate on WRNJ radio at 11:00 a.m.

 

 

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The Joe Ferriero indictment has spilled over into the 5th District Congressional race.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin today asked Democrat Dennis Shulman, who’s challenging U.S. Rep. E. Scott Garrett in the Bergen-dominated district, to call on Ferriero – who was indicted last week on eight corruption counts along with former BCDO general counsel Dennis Oury – to permanently resign from his chairmanship.

“If Mr. Shulman is to seriously demonstrate his commitment to the people of the Fifth District and to clean government, why then has he not called for the resignation of a corrupt party boss?” said Yudin. “At a time when Democratic leaders such as Gov. Jon Corzine and Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan have already asked for Ferriero to step aside, I question why Mr. Shulman has not followed suit?”

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The Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) seems confident that Democrats will pick up two House seats in New Jersey this year, but stopped short of promising financial help to Dennis Shulman, a blind Rabbi who is challenging Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th district.

"The closer we got to Election Day the more opportunities developed. Sometimes as you get closer some fall off the list. The last time we went through this in 2006, the closer we got to voting day the more competitive," said Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.) in a conference call with reporters today.

The DCCC's third priority in New Jersey is Shulman, who has raised a lot of money for a challenger in a long-shot district, and whose unique personal story has recently drawn national media attention from publications like Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker.

"The short answer is that we're very impressed with what they've done and we see that campaign on an upward trajectory," he said. Read More >

Dennis Shulman, a blind Rabbi and psychologist challenging Rep. Scott Garrett in the fifth district, has raised $585,000 and has $258,000 remaining in his warchest – more  than $100K more than Christopher Myers, the GOP congressional candidate in the third district.  Myers, who faces Democrat John Adler for the seat of retiring Rep. Jim Saxton,has raised $626,549 and has $155,406 cash on hand.  Shulman and Myers each won contested primaries.

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A campaign consultant for Rep. E. Scott Garrett (R-05) called out Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman for hypocrisy today regarding the influence of lobbyists in his campaign.

A week after Shulman’s campaign criticized Garrett for hiring a new chief of staff who used to lobby for mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, Garrett consultant Matt Leonardo sent out a blistering email pointing out that Shulman Campaign Manager Jeff Hauser was a lobbyist for the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) last year.

“It appears Dennis Shulman and Jeff Hauser have egg on their faces,” said Leonardo.

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