In N.J. race, corps of Democrats fields GOP lobs at Corzine

Gov. Corzine's surrogates are working overtime tossing criticism at the opposition in his re-election campaign, while the incumbent presides over the government in Trenton or travels the state promoting his budget.

Corzine has resisted engagement in the race, even though Republicans Christopher J. Christie and Steve Lonegan have railed against his policies.

But the Republican attacks are not going unanswered.

The state Democratic Party has used a series of legislators, a congressman, and other elected leaders to challenge perceived frontrunner Christie to return some campaign contributions and to write a detailed alternative to Corzine's budget.

These surrogates also are recycling criticisms used by Democrats on the national level by calling the GOP the "Party of No."

Late last week, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D., Bergen), who has long fought for tough ethics laws, called on Christie to return $24,000 in campaign contributions. The money came from people associated with a law firm that Christie, while U.S. attorney, appointed to monitor the scandal-ridden University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Christie said there was nothing inappropriate about the contributions. He said the monitor, Herbert Stern, was a friend of his whose work at UMDNJ saved taxpayers millions of dollars.

Christie dismissed the attack as "politics. Crazy."

Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin said the recent attacks are coming earlier than expected in the race but "inevitably, the Corzine campaign would go after Chris Christie and challenge him on his image."

A former U.S. attorney, Christie built his reputation as a corruption-buster by securing guilty pleas or convictions of about 130 elected and appointed officials in the state.

The Democrats are not always reacting precisely to what Republican candidates are saying, such as Lonegan's idea of a flat income tax or Christie's call to restore property tax rebates for those making more than $75,000 a year. But they are acknowledging the existence of the perceived frontrunner, Christie, with the shots.

Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Cryan, also a Union County assemblyman, said the attacks are coming because Christie has "opened himself up to a variety of criticisms. . . . He's not really specific or willing to stand up on any issue. Democrats can see that when it comes to leading New Jersey, so far he's all talk and no action."

Bill Stapien, Christie's campaign manager, said, "Joe Cryan is a sitting legislator, just like Jon Corzine is a sitting governor. There are major problems in the state - like the budget crisis and I hope they would be working on fixing our fiscal mess. That's what's most important."

Republicans blame the state's budget crisis and high unemployment rates on Corzine, saying he hasn't done enough to make New Jersey a business-friendly state. But Corzine and the legislature counter that they have lowered business taxes and reined in state spending.

Corzine's surrogates are hitting Christie while he is vulnerable. Though ahead of Corzine in public polls, Christie is not well known around the state.

And Democrats have come to believe the leading Republican primary candidates won't bloody each other enough to make the June primary winner into wounded prey for Corzine in the general election.

"In the end, [Corzine] will have enough money and find enough stuff on this guy [Christie] to take the bloom off the rose," said Philadelphia-based political consultant Neil Oxman, who has run races in New Jersey and around the country.

Because Corzine is behind in the polls, he can't simply tout his record to voters, Oxman said.

"The important thing is you define him, you can't let that guy define himself," he said.

And Democrats have been doing just that.

After Christie told a public radio interviewer that it was Corzine's job to write a budget and his job to critique it, Democrats thrashed Christie for not coming up with a detailed budget.

Christie has outlined structural changes to state finances, which included using the governor's veto power to cut spending, appointing a special prosecutor to root out waste, consolidating some state agencies, changing how employee contracts are negotiated, and trimming the state payroll.

He also noted that when Corzine was first seeking the governor's office in 2005, he had few specifics to offer on fixing the state budget.

A survey of newspaper clips from that period show candidate Corzine's proposals were similar to Christie's. Both have spoken in general terms about cutting spending through painful budget cuts, reducing patronage and other staff positions, reviewing effectiveness of government departments and consolidating state agencies.

The flurry of Democratic attacks against Christie indicate they at least believe Christie will be the eventual winner of the June 2 primary.

And that has left Lonegan's spokesman Rick Shaftan saying, "I hope Christie's people feel that way. It's not over."