N.J. campaign picking up

It's the Republican reformers vs. the entrenched Democratic politicians.

So goes one of the themes of attack ads filling mailboxes and airwaves in South Jersey a little more than two weeks before the Nov. 8 elections. Republicans are hoping to grab a few seats in the Democrat-controlled Legislature, and Democrats are fighting back with ads of their own.

You can even hear the noise from Southeastern Pennsylvania, where many fall races are sleepy by comparison. Some of the South Jersey ad wars are on Philadelphia TV and radio.

A couple of the ads, and a look at the facts behind them:

Seventh District. In western Burlington County, Republican challengers Chris Halgas and Mount Laurel Mayor Jaim Keenan want to unseat veteran Assemblyman Herb Conaway and recently appointed Assemblyman Troy Singleton, both Democrats.

The GOP has slammed Singleton as a pension abuser in campaign mail, and says in TV ads that he "cashed in with a taxpayer funded political patronage job."

At issue is a $1,500-a-year part-time job Singleton took as a community outreach aide in 2007 to then-Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D., Camden) after about nine years' work as an Assembly aide. The job paid the minimum salary to keep Singleton in the state pension system as he neared the 10 years of service needed to be vested.

Singleton withdrew from the pension system soon after the Star-Ledger of Newark reported that he and other aides were earning the minimum needed to stay in the pension fund, and just before he became vested. He received about $41,000 by cashing out of the system, and is no longer pension-eligible.

Singleton said he cashed out for personal reasons unrelated to the news report, and had voted against accepting a pension-triggering salary last year when he served on the Burlington County Bridge Commission.

The same GOP ad says Conaway, a legislator since 1998, voted for 112 tax increases. A list provided by Republicans includes his votes to raise taxes and fees on cigarettes, explosives, auto registration, and top wage earners.

Conaway pointed to the New Jersey Taxpayers Alliance's recent naming of him and 63 others in the 120-member Legislature as "taxpayer champions" based on two years' voting records.

"Do [the Republicans] have an interest in spinning or slanting the information to make a point?" Conaway asked. "This nonpartisan group who has evaluated records across the political spectrum does not have that kind of political self interest."

Democrats, meanwhile, are airing an unflattering ad of Keenan's record in Mount Laurel, which has struggled financially in recent years. The ad suggests the mayor mismanaged municipal government and Keenan proposed a 17 percent tax hike in 2010. In the end, that year's eventual tax increase stayed within what was then a 4 percent cap on such hikes. Keenan said in an interview that the bigger increase was proposed in order to show unionized employees how taxes would rise if they did not make concessions.

Some employees eventually agreed to pay cuts; others consented to wage freezes.

Second District In South Jersey's most competitive race, second-term Republican Assemblyman Vince Polistina is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Jim Whelan in Atlantic County.

Polistina, owner of a small engineering business, has slammed the incumbent in ads as a "typical greedy politician" who makes $150,000 without working a full-time job. The income is from Whelan's part-time jobs as a legislator and Atlantic City swim teacher, plus his pension from the Public Employee Retirement System.

Whelan took early retirement after 25 years in government - including his time as an Atlantic City councilman and mayor, four years as a Philadelphia teacher, and brief service as a part-time redevelopment consultant for Ventnor after he lost the 2001 mayoral race. Republicans have criticized his Ventnor work as pension padding.

Whelan said attacks on his public jobs prompted his campaign to launch ads on the more than $6 million in municipal contracts received by his rival Polistina's firm.

Still, Democrats don't claim Polistina violated any laws or overbilled clients.

Polistina earns $20,000 as a part-time engineer for the Egg Harbor Township Municipal Utilities Authority, and nearly $50,000 for a part-time legislative job. He denies any hypocrisy in criticizing Whelan's part-time government gigs.

Polistina contends that Whelan sought special treatment and tried to pad his pension, which "is completely different from what my record is."

In a Democratic ad, Atlantic County women berated Polistina's record on funding women's health care, citing his vote against Democrats' state budget in June. But as Polestina points out, that budget far exceeded what Gov. Christie certified was available in revenues.

"They added [money] into the budget that we didn't have to spend," said Polistina.

He called the ad "as low as you could possibly get."