Color me confused. If it's okay for Rob Andrews to launch a primary challenge against Frank Lautenberg, then why is it not okay for Donald Cresitello to do the same thing?
One of the lawyers challenging whether Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello should be on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate today said she was working for Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.), who has already announced his own candidacy.
I want to be fair to Rob Andrews - the story reports that there was confusion among the two lawyers as to who they represented (shouldn't that be the first thing a lawyer knows before going into court?). Just to be sure there is no confusion, I believe Mr. Andrews should publicly denounce the effort to remove Cresitello from the primary ballot. And just to be sure there is not a wink-and-nod type of agreement (because those never happen in Jersey), he should offer to counter-sue on behalf of Mr. Cresitello. Then he should, I don't know, punch the litigant, John Kwasnik, right in the face on the steps of the courthouse and then cry out, "I strike a blow for freedom! I pledge my life and my land against tyranny and oppression!"
I'm not a fan of Cresitello. I think he's a laughable Goober that should be thrown head over heals out of the Democratic Party for pandering to the Klan and neo-Nazis. But if we're going to have an open primary, let's make it wide-open. Let's let in all the crazies and nut-jobs and freaks that can scrape together enough signatures to make it.
I'm willing to bet that Cresitello would get less than two percent of all votes cast anyway. So why make him feel important by trying to keep him off the ballot? Well, that's business as usual in Jersey politics - common sense does not apply.
Update
Via email, I have been informed that Bill Caruso says "They are not our attorneys and they do not represent us."
Update II
As it turns out, John Kresnik - the lawyer who knew he wasn't representing Rob Andrews - serves as legal counsel for the Prodigal Foundation (which, incidentally, looks to be a worthy cause). Also serving that organization, as a Honorary Trustee, is State Senator Joe Vitale (as well as Middlesex Freeholders John Pulomena and H. James Polos). Vitale has endorsed Andrews, and the Middlesex Dems have thrown their weight to Andrews.
So how likely is it that Kresnik is actually doing this of his own volition? His bio from the Prodigal Foundation doesn't list any experience in elections law: Mr. Kwasnik concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate, trust and estates, community association law, land use, civil litigation, commercial transactions and corporate law.
Yet Cresitello's lawyer finds it hard to believe that this case filed itself: Cresitello's lawyer, Paul Bangiola of Morristown, said earlier the challenge raises "every conceivable, arcane minutiae of election law" to question the validity of more than 700 of the 1,384 signatures on the mayor's petition. Lautenberg filed 4,950 signatures while Andrews filed 5,970.
"I might be darkly cynical," Bangiola said, "but I have a feeling either Congressman Andrews or Senator Lautenberg or the state Democratic Party are at work here."
I believe Mr. Andrews when he says he has nothing to do with it. But I don't understand how Kwisnik, who has no experience in the area, suddenly files a lawsuit focusing on "every conceivable, arcane minutiae of election law". It looks like there might be a behind-the-scenes connection with the Middlesex Dems trying to work on behalf of Andrews - but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. |
