Myers should announce his candidacy

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 03:01:57 PM EDT

I think Chris Myers expects to lose his bid to take over the Third Congressional District seat. His ambition, I believe, is really directed at making it to the State Senate.

The Evidence:
August 21 - Myers attacks Adler for state debt.

August 19 - Myers attacks Adler on MOM rail issue - a state transit issue

August 15 - Myers attacks Adler for state fuel taxes and state Department of Environmental Protection.

August 13 - Myers attacks Adler for state fuel taxes.

August 4 - Myers attacks Adler over state police fees.

Thurman Hart :: Myers should announce his candidacy

John Adler is a State Senator and his record as a State Senator is fair game for an opponent. But somewhere around fifty percent of all press releases put out from Chris Myers' campaign for federal office deal strictly with state issues. Fuel prices and the environment have federal overtones, but those are not brought out by the Myers campaign. They never say, for example, that Chris Myers wants to repeal the federal gas tax and John Adler doesn't. They just talk about how John Adler has plugged away at state issues. End of story.

The first thing to say about this is that it is just amateur hour stuff. They have no agenda of their own, and they know the National GOP agenda is unpopular. So they just run against their opponent.

But by focusing solely on state issues, with no connection to federal issues, it ceases to be a campaign for federal office. It has become a de facto state-level campaign. Chris Myers is more than welcome to run for the State Senate, but to stay in compliance with state and federal campaign laws, he needs to set up a "Myers for State Senate" campaign. Otherwise, he is defrauding the contributors who think he is trying to get elected to a federal office.

Myers is capable of addressing federal issues. He rushed out a press release calling on Russia to pull out of Georgia. He issued a thirteen point energy plan that calls, in part, for shale oil production - something that simply would never happen in New Jersey (no shale). He knows the difference between federal and state, he just prefers to run for a state office.

If he won't voluntarily take the proper steps to separate his federal and state campaigns, then state Attorney General Anne Milgram, federal attorney Chris Christie, NJ ELEC, and the FEC should take steps to make sure he does under the threat of legal action.