June 16, 2003

State’s third party candidates are still looking for equal time Last year’s exposure is unlikely to come their way again

By THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7201, E-Mail

New Jersey's third party U.S. Senate candidates got almost equal billing last year when they shared the debate stage with their Republican and Democratic rivals in October.

Greens, Libertarians, Conservatives and Socialists liked the experience, and expect more of the same this year.

"I would say we expect to be treated as equal players in any forum leading up to the general election," said Jane M. Hunter, who chairs the Green Party of New Jersey.

But it is unlikely they will get the chance.

They got to participate in the U.S. Senate debates last year because it was the only way Democrat Frank Lautenberg would agree to go issue to issue with Republican Douglas Forrester.

While the entire Legislature is up for election this year, there's no top-of-the-ticket statewide race on which to focus. That leaves New Jersey's third parties to force themselves as best they can into candidates nights or debates in any county or legislative district where they are running their own candidates.

They already are starting to do that, with limited success.

For instance, Atlantic County Green Party candidates pushed hard just to participate in a candidates' forum in Pleasantville before the June 3 primary.

"They didn't want us, then they did want us, then they didn't want us," said Ray Higbee, who chairs Atlantic County's Green Party and is a 2nd District Assembly candidate. "They finally decided to let us in. Once they see you're serious, they let you in."

But still unresolved is a problem for debate and candidates' night organizers: When is a third party big enough or viable enough to be included in those events?

"It's a self-fulfilling prophecy," said David Rebovich, a political science professor at Rider University. "If you don't allow them to debate, it's not like they're going to get more than a percent or two of the vote.

"Debate sponsors will say, 'We love to have you, if you get 5 percent of the vote.'"

It's a simple matter in at least one legislative district, the 38th, which covers part of Bergen County. One of the district's assemblymen, Matt Ahearn, bolted the Democratic Party several months ago to join the Green Party.

"We'd love to get him company," Hunter said.

The Greens are perhaps the most active third party in the state.

They are running 31 Assembly candidates, eight state Senate candidates and are fielding candidates in several county and local races.

With Democrat Patricia Wild dropping out of the Atlantic County executive race, Higbee contends that the Green candidate - Steve Thonus - is the only viable challenger to the Republican incumbent, Dennis Levinson. That should conceivably make Thonus a shoo-in to participate in candidates' nights and debates, he said.

But the dominant Republican and Democratic parties feel otherwise, Rebovich contends, and view the participation of third parties in debates as something that confuses the electorate.

Republican and Democratic challengers also want no third-party candidate interfering in their quest to knock off an incumbent, he said.

Those excuses don't satisfy third-party leaders.

"If we're not invited, then we have to do something, maybe raise caine as best we can," New Jersey Libertarian Party Chairman Emerson Ellett said.

"We hope we don't have to go through that this year, but they could slam the door closed again."

Third parties raised some ruckus last year to protest being shut out of some of the U.S. Senate debates.

Third-party members blocked access to some debate sights and the sights of Republican and Democratic candidate gatherings by using an old tactic from the protests of the 1960s - they just sat down and wouldn't move.

The Green Party U.S. Senate candidate, Ted Glick, was arrested twice for trying to force his participation in debates.

But those actions only enforce the image of the third parties being radical or fringe parties, some Republicans and Democrats argue.

Not surprisingly, third-party leaders disagree.

"We're not kooks," Hunter said. "We're people with a well-thought out platform that's in the best interest of the voters."

Ellett concurs, saying the third-party candidates who participated in the U.S. Senate debates presented the electorate with "reasonable, alternative points of view."

"The exposure surely presented (the electorate) with a good image," he said.

To e-mail Thomas Barlas at The Press:

TBarlas@pressofac.com