CAMPAIGN 2002: Corruptions.(New Jersey senator caught in a extorsion case)(Brief Article)

There will be no Soprano jokes in this editorial. The reality of New Jersey politics outruns the whimsy of HBO.

Sen. Robert Torricelli's campaign for re-election began failing after it became evident that he had shaken down a New Jersey businessman, David Chang, for illegal campaign contributions and little goodies, such as a Rolex watch. The FBI investigated him, the Senate Ethics Committee "severely admonished" him, and the release of a memo by federal prosecutors summarizing the evidence sent Torricelli into a death spiral. Republican rival Doug Forrester catapulted from sacrificial lamb to runaway leader.

So Torricelli pulled out of the race 36 days before Election Day. His farewell address was a classic of modern bathos, weepy, self-pitying, and accusatory: "When," he asked, "did we become such an unforgiving people?" Two days after this performance, the New Jersey Democratic party plugged former senator Frank Lautenberg into his slot on the ballot. Forrester and the GOP challenged the substitution, but the supreme court of New Jersey ruled, 7-0, that it was permissible. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear an appeal.

The New Jersey maneuver stinks like a toxic waste dump. New Jersey law says that substitutions must be made at least 51 days before the vote. Sen. Torricelli was not dead, or in jail, or otherwise incapacitated. He had simply been revealed as a sleazebag, and was becoming a deeply unpopular one. Yanking him off the ballot canceled the will of New Jersey's Democratic-primary voters; popping in Lautenberg at the last minute deprives all New Jersey voters of the back-and-forth of a normal campaign. In some cases, it ...