Bendar on Adler and Runyan

by: deciminyan

Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 09:43:41 PM EDT

Right off, Barry Bendar expressed disappointment with John Adler's loss in the congressional election.  He pointed out that Adler worked hard and was very accessible to the Ocean County constituency unlike Adler's predecessor Jim Saxton who Bendar pointed out was not very visible to county voters.  Bendar is afraid that as a congressman, Jon Runyan will be an embarrassment to the Third District.  He cited ex-New York Giant and broadcaster Harry Carson, who posits that being an NFL player can have an effect on one's brain, and cited three separate conversations that he had with Runyan as being "difficult".

On the campaign, Bendar wishes that Adler had concentrated more on issues like Runyan's flip flop on Social Security instead of personal attacks on Runyan's tax situation with donkeys.  His advice to Jon Runyan is to remember that his New Jersey constituents should be his first priority and dealings in Washington are number two.  He hopes (but is not counting on) that the new Congress will tackle campaign finance reform as one if its top priorities.

As far as his own political future is concerned, Bendar stated that he is not interested in running for higher office at this time.  His goal is to leverage his recent successful GOTV effort and work toward helping elect more Democrats to local office.  Bendar positions himself as a fiscal conservative who is more of a liberal on social issues.   I hope we will see more of Barry and Democrats like him to help move New Jersey forward.