Legislature's lone independent mounts crusade to hold his seat

By STEVE KORNACKI
PoliticsNJ.com 

August 27 - Upset by his reluctance to accede to their demands, Democratic Party leaders plotted earlier this year to deny freshman Assemblyman Matthew Ahearn (G-Fair Lawn) organizational support in his bid for re-election in the Bergen County-based 38th District.

But before he could be formally dumped, Ahearn caught on to the plan, bolted the party and became only the third Green Party state legislator in the country.

Now as he runs for re-election as the Green Party's sole 38th District Assembly candidate, Ahearn stands as a formidable obstacle to his former party's attempt to maintain its Assembly majority.

In 2001, the top vote-getter in the 38th District's Assembly race received only 803 more votes than the last-place finisher.  Even if he doesn't win in November, many observers believe Ahearn could receive enough votes to swing the election to the two Republican candidates, former Fair Lawn Mayor Edward J. Trawinski and Bergen County Freeholder Louis A. Tedesco, Jr.

But make no mistake about it: Ahearn thinks he has a shot to hold his seat. 

Third party candidates have a poor track record in New Jersey, where until two years ago a voter could not register with a party other than the Democrats or the Republicans.  But Ahearn thinks the heavy-handed county Democratic leadership has left many progressives in the party frustrated and receptive to his message.

"The Democratic machine may be well-oiled, but the rank-and-file...is about as disenfranchised with the leadership, the patronage, and how it's all about the money at the county level, and a lot of them are plugging me quietly," he said this afternoon at the Paramus law office where he worked until earlier this year.

The last Independent to win a seat in the New Jersey Legislature was Anthony Imperiale, a gun-toting vigilante from Newark who won races for the State Assembly in 1971 and for the Senate in 1973.  Two incumbents dumped by their party in 1977, State Sens. Joseph L. McGahn and Thomas G. Dunn, won 22% and 33%, respectively, in their unsuccessful re-election campaigns.

Ahearn left the firm to become a full-time legislator, a consequence of not being affiliated with a major party, he said.  But he says the experience has made him a more knowledgeable legislator.

"Because I didn't have the huge partisan staff to rely on, I've had to do all the work myself in terms of researching legislation," he said.  "I'm probably the only legislator who's read every piece of legislation I've voted on since January."

Ahearn said the switch from the Democrats to the Greens has allowed him to speak his mind.  He describes himself as a progressive who is committed to women's rights, environmental protection, campaign finance reform and curbing the power of large corporations.  He's also taken some positions -- like his support of the Second Amendment -- that are at odds with many on the left.  

The Assembly caucus of either party is a tough place to be for a legislator with such an independent vision, Ahearn said.

"It was a good thing for the first six months after I got elected," he recalled.  "It was kind of like the glow of victory.  The next six months was not too fun, having caved too many times on not voting the way I wanted to, and, more importantly, the way I think my constituents felt I should."

In addition to feeling he was compromising his principles, Ahearn said he was also unhappy as a Democrat because of pressure from the party's leadership to raise money from individuals and companies with business before the state.

He recalled an instance earlier this year when a state Democratic staffer came to his law office with a list of potential donors and the bills they were interested in.  The staffer, Ahearn said, instructed him to call the people on the list, discuss the bills with them and insist that they purchase tickets to a Democratic fundraiser.

According to Ahearn, the staffer stood over him while he sat at his desk and made a few calls.  But Ahearn wasn't comfortable, and soon told the staffer he wanted no part of the scheme.

"It was pay-to-play," he said.

"That's probably what 'uncooperative' referred to," he added, a reference to news reports from the time of his party switch that indicated party leaders in Trenton felt the adjective described him.

Ahearn says the publicity from his party switch has given him a reputation in the district as a straight-talking politician.  He said that when he first became a Green, he feared people would dismiss him as a flake, but that the reaction has been different.

"What I've gotten is, 'Oh, you're that Ahearn guy. Keep it up!  Give 'em hell!'...It's really kind of energized me," he said.

It's also convinced him that he can win the race, a view that Republicans and Democrats don't share.

But that doesn't mean the Republicans don't want him in the race.

"It's assumed that he's going to only peel away voters from the Democrats, but it all depends on his ability to get his name out there," said Kenneth Bassett, who is managing the GOP's 38th District effort.

Bassett added that "it would be silly for anyone to say that he won't have an impact here," and said he wants Ahearn included in any Assembly debates that are held.

Democrats are just as quick to downplay Ahearn's significance.

Former Fair Lawn Mayor Robert Gordon, one of Ahearn's Democratic opponents, said he and his running-mates -- Assembly candidate Joan Voss and State Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D- Paramus) -- have knocked on 8,700 doors this summer, getting a good sense of what's on the mind of voters in the district.

"Of that sample, I've heard two people mention [Ahearn's] name," Gordon said.

Gordon, who, like Ahearn, calls Fair Lawn his hometown, said most Democrats are offended by Ahearn's attacks on their party and won't support him this fall.

"He's really irritated everybody," Gordon said.  "I think that's part of Matt's problem.  He doesn't get along well with people."

Ahearn said Democrats are starting to worry he may cost them one or both Assembly seats.  Gordon, he said, had been civil to him earlier this year but that his attitude has changed as the campaign has unfolded.

"Over the summer, when I've seen him, he does not look very happy and he's been down-right rude to me, and that indicates to me that I'm scoring," Ahearn said

Another reason Ahearn thinks he's doing well is a poll one of the campaigns conducted and shared with him in June.  The poll, he said, showed him with higher name recognition than he had two years ago, and a favorable/unfavorable margin of at least two-to-one in each of the district's towns.

The Democrats and Republicans will have much more money than him, Ahearn admits.  But he says that won't stop him from getting his message out.  His campaign is set to begin its first round of mailings, and Ahearn says he has spent the summer attending community events throughout the district and doing constituent work.  Even his Democratic and Republican opponents concede he has been visible this year.

Ahearn also has his own web site --which he designed himself -- and has hired Douglas Friedline -- a strategist for Jesse Ventura in his 1998 campaign for governor of Minnesota -- to run his campaign.

Ahearn says he's in the race to stay, even if his bid ends up helping the Republicans pick up the seats. Far more meaningful than whether Democrats or Republicans hold the Assembly seats, Ahearn said, is whether an alternative political voice, like the Greens, will have an opportunity to be heard.  To be recognized as an official party, the Greens must score an average of 10 percent in Assembly races throughout the state.  Ahearn wants to prove that the threshold is attainable.

"It's not just a gimmick with me," he declared.  "I'm the real deal, a true believer...That's how I see myself."

Steve Kornacki can be reached at kornackinj@aol.com