ANDREWS SAYS LAUTENBERG WANTS FREE PASS TO SENATE

ANDREWS SAYS LAUTENBERG WANTS FREE PASS TO SENATE
Incumbent Desires Coronation;
Dismisses Democratic Voters As Bystandards
Andrews Campaign Wins Key Newspaper Endorsements

TRENTON -- With one week left before the June 3 primary, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rob Andrews said today that New Jersey citizens are embracing his message of change and new leadership in Washington while rejecting Sen. Frank Lautenberg's brazen dismissal of Democratic voters as mere bystanders in the election of a United States Senator. He said that Lautenberg's "sense of entitlement" concerning the Senate seat should disturb every voter in the state.

"It is becoming more and more apparent that Sen. Lautenberg regards this election as a nuisance," Andrews said at a Statehouse news conference. "He seems to believe he deserves a free pass to another term to one of the most important elected positions in our country. He acts as if the Senate seat is his personal birthright – his for lifetime tenure – rather than a position to be earned at the ballot box."

"Whether it's arrogance or fear, Sen. Lautenberg has refused to stand before the Democratic voters of this state to explain why they should return him to Washington," Andrews said. "His refusal to do so is the ultimate sign of disrespect to them. If he either won't – or can't – explain his positions on the issues and his vision for the future during this campaign, how does he expect to defeat the Republican candidate in the November general election? And how can he possibly represent New Jersey over the next six years in the United States Senate?"

Andrews said he believes that his campaign of presenting his detailed positions on the issues to voters throughout New Jersey – contrasted with his opponent's dismissive attitude toward the state – is the reason that he gained the endorsements over the weekend of the Star-Ledger and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He said it was also why countless elected officials and community leaders in North Jersey are supporting him over Lautenberg on the senator's home political turf.

Andrews said that meeting with Democrats across New Jersey has only stiffened his resolve to be the strong, energetic voice residents need on the increasingly serious hardships they face. Hearing their personal stories, whether in diners, union halls, senior centers or college campuses, has made him more eager than ever to roll up his sleeves and represent them in the Senate, Andrews said.

In launching his final week of appeals to Democratic voters, Andrews said the contrast between himself and the incumbent senator could not be any clearer. Perhaps most important, he said, has been their completely different treatment of the voters. Andrews said that he has spent every day of the campaign personally offering New Jersey Democrats his views on critical issues such as skyrocketing gasoline and grocery costs, jobs, health care and education. He has held countless Town Hall meetings throughout the state, appeared at numerous candidate forums and agreed to every one of the more than 10 debate invitations from reputatble news and civic organizations.

Sen. Lautenberg, by contrast, has largely ignored the voters, hiding behind an avalanche of misleading or outright false TV ads and one or two hired PR agents who do all of his speaking for him. The incumbent has refused to participate in all network TV, newspaper and college-sponsored debates. He agreed to show up at one TV debate – on a Friday night, three days before the election, on public television. He declined to participate in all candidate forums where Andrews would be present.

Sen. Lautenberg, incredibly, even snubbed the NAACP candidate forum in Bergen County last week.

"Sen. Lautenberg plays by his own rules, and he makes them up as he goes along," Andrews said. He noted the following blatant inconsistencies in Lautenberg's campaigns:

• In 1982, Frank Lautenberg said there should be 21 debates in his Senate campaign against Millicent Fenwick and chastised her for agreeing to five. In this campaign, he's agreed to two – one on TV and one on radio.
• In 1982, Lautenberg said that Millicent Fenwick at 72 was too old to serve in the Senate and made her age the central theme of his campaign. This year, he is 84 years old and would be 91 at the end of the next term. He says age should not play any part in the campaign.
• In 1982, Lautenberg said electing Fenwick would hurt New Jersey because, at age 72, she did not have enough time to accumulate the seniority that would help the state. This year, Sen. Lautenberg is running for reelection as a freshman senator. When he retired in 2000, he lost all the seniority he had accumulated from his previous three terms.
• In 2002, Lautenberg criticized his Republican opponent for refusing to release his income-tax returns, accusing him of trying to hide his financial holdings in pharmaceutical companies. In this campaign, Sen. Lautenberg has adamantly refused to release his income-tax returns and those of his wife - most likely to conceal their millions of dollars of personal investments in the oil and natural gas companies that are making unseemly profits on the backs of the American consumer.

"The Democratic voters, and the state of New Jersey, deserve a senator who will be honest and open with them and who will represent them in a vigorous way," Andrews said. "I will work in the Senate the same way I have worked in this campaign – around the clock and committed to be the active, progressive advocate New Jersey deserves in Washington.