Independents are long on odds and short on cash

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

BY JOE DONOHUE
Star-Ledger Staff

As the lone third-party member now serving in New Jersey's Legislature, Green Party member Matthew Ahearn is battling for re-election with little money and lousy ballot position.

The one-time Democrat, who quit the party a year into his first term in the state Assembly, said he is running against the odds because he is a "true believer ... that the democratic system can work, that people can ultimately prevail if they don't give up.

"If you don't try," he added, "that's losing."

The 44-year-old lawyer from Fair Lawn in Bergen County's 38th District is one of 60 people running for the Legislature this year as so-called independent or third-party candidates. Thirty-eight independents ran for state office two years ago. This year's number includes 39 Green Party members, plus individual candidates running under such banners as the Socialist Party USA, the Unemployed Party and HealthCare for All.

"We're not going to go away," said Jane Hunter, the state Green Party's chairwoman and an Assembly candidate in the 16th District in Morris and Somerset counties. She said the party hopes to recruit 100 candidates next year for state, local and federal offices in New Jersey.

"We are not business as usual," she said. "We don't play with the big money guys. It's very important for New Jersey voters to realize they have an alternative."

So far, history says the odds are against them. Only one independent, the late Anthony Imperiale of Newark, has won a seat in the Legislature in the last 30 years, though Murray Sabrin, the Libertarian candidate for governor in 1997, may have helped Christie Whitman squeak by James E. McGreevey to win a second term. Sabrin tallied 113,881 votes in an election decided by 25,426 votes.

"In a strong party state (like New Jersey), independents generally don't fare very well," Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, said. "I think the contributors of this state are very reluctant to give to independents."

Sabrin, a Ramapo College political science professor who later ran for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, said that while "in many ways, third party candidates are the real idealists ... the deck is stacked against challengers, especially from a third party perspective."

He pointed to New Jersey laws that he said discourage third parties from becoming a force -- they cannot form county committees, nor hold primaries of their own, which would enable their candidates to raise money twice from the same donors, once each in the primary and general elections.

That hasn't stopped Steven Fenichel, Constantino Rozzo, Joshua Jacobs and others from each gathering the 100 signatures from registered voters required for a spot on the ballot. They are among the 21 non-Green Party members running for the Legislature as independents.

Fenichel, a dermatologist from Ocean City, said he was "outraged" when Democrats failed to nominate a candidate to challenge Assemblyman Nicholas Asselta (R-Cumberland) for the Senate seat in the 1st District. Fenichel is running under the slogan HealthCare For All and favors universal health care. "It's very exciting. I've been very energized by getting out there and meeting people," he said.

Rozzo, a Paterson native who now resides in Vineland, is a computer repairman who has run for Congress and governor. The Socialist Party USA candidate, whose father was an Italian immigrant, said he was partly inspired by a relative who is a town councilman in a suburb of Naples. "When you know change is necessary, you just have to stand up for the cause. It's hard to sit back and not do anything," he said.

And Jacobs, a 22-year-old Rutgers University graduate with a philosophy degree, formed The Unemployed Party after finding a tough job market despite what he said was his stellar academic record. He is running for the Assembly in the 21st District, which includes parts of Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union counties. His main selling point, he said, is, "I'm unconnected ... I can be 100 percent devoted to politics with no conflicts at all."

Of all of them, Ahearn may stand the best chance. The former Army captain is the incumbent, though the $48,300 he had raised through Oct. 6 was dwarfed by the $285,040 raised by his opponents, Democrats Joan Voss and Robert Gordon and Republicans Ed Trawinski and Louis Tedesco Jr.

After winning election as a Democrat two years ago, Ahearn quit the party in January after butting heads with party leaders.

"There was no room for internal criticism," he said -- a charge Democratic leaders deny. They say Ahearn lost support among local party officials and failed to campaign or raise money aggressively.

Ahearn knows he faces an uphill struggle, particularly since the Democratic Party has resurged in recent years in Bergen County and is spending heavily on this year's race.

But he is out on the hustings nonetheless and said he is banking on his passion for public service, his ideas and volunteers to make the difference.

"I got my literature out with volunteers and none of them want jobs. None of them want anything. I've got 80-year-old senior citizens dropping literature door-to-door. That is what is keeping me going," he said.

At a recent debate at a senior citizen center in Paramus, Ahearn was greeted with applause when he vowed not to be caught up in "silly partisan games that have gotten in the way of reform."

He railed against "legalized corruption in this state," said he favored caps on malpractice lawsuits as long as they can be amended by judges, and called for a temporary income tax surcharge on the rich.

Irving Gall, an 82-year-old Democratic member of the Paramus council, was in the audience. He said he is supporting his party's nominees but thinks Ahearn is a "good man" and hopes he will stay involved in politics.

Ahearn says he will, even if he loses.

In the Army, "I was taught you lead by example. Do something. Do anything. But don't do nothing. Why do I do this? Because this is how I was raised," he said.

Joe Donohue covers state government. He can be reached at jdonohue@starledger.com or (609) 989-0208.