Lance lacks general election experience of his predecessors
By Wally EdgeOne difference between Leonard Lance and the other Senate Republican leaders over the last thirty years is that Lance has never run himself in a competitive general election. His predecessor, John Bennett, began his legislative career by ousting three-term Democratic Assemblyman Walter Kozloski in 1979. Donald DiFrancesco, the Senate President from 1992 to 2002, unseated Democratic Assemblywoman Betty Wilson in 1975, and won a State Senate seat against Joanne Rajoppi, now the Union County Clerk, in a politically competitive district that included Plainfield and Rahway. John Dorsey, who followed DiFrancesco as Senate Minority Leader in 1984, defeated incumbent Democrats Gordon MacInnes and Rosemarie Totaro to win an Assembly seat in 1975, and beat incumbent State Senator Stephen Wiley in 1977. And Thomas Gagliano, who was Minority Leader in the late 1970's, won a competitive race for an open Senate seat in 1977, defeating Marlboro Mayor Arthur Goldzweig in a district that elected one Republican and one Democrat to the Assembly that year.
Lance, whose father served as an Assemblyman in the 1930's and as a State Senator in the 1940's and 1950's, has only run in a solidly Republican legislative district since winning a Special Election for the State Assembly in 1991. His only bid for higher office, a campaign for an open congressional seat in 1996, ended when he lost the GOP primary.
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But of course ...
Tom Kean Jr. hasn't either -- in his district. (Obviously, even losing, he has much more thrust-and-parry experience than perhaps-too-much-the-gentleman Lance with his statewide contest against Bob Menendez last year.)
This Lance Thing is Proof That CD 12 is Cursed!!!
"His only bid for higher office, a campaign for an open congressional seat in 1996, ended when he lost the GOP primary." Well, it’s quite apparent that primary he lost in ’96 was in the cursed CD 12.
A few cases:
Republican Dick Zimmer (who served as U.S. Rep from 91-97) ran for U.S. Senate in 96 and lost to Torricelli by almost double digits. He was subsequently unsuccessful in regaining his seat..losing by an extremely narrow margin to Rush Holt in 2000.
Conservative Republican Mike Pappas, the upset victor of the 1996 open seat, was narrowly elected (in both the primary and general). After his infamous praise of Kenneth Starr on the House floor he was narrowly defeated in 98 by a relatively obscure Princeton-based physicist (and third place Democrat primary winner in 96). He was subsequently unsuccessful in seeking the GOP nomination for his former seat in 00. Pappas now serves as a deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (not exactly a lateral move).
Republican John Bennett, in 1996, then state Senate majority was all but assumed a victory in 1996. However, he was narrowly upset by the more conservative Mike Pappas (defeated in no small part to fellow moderate and third place primary Leonard Lance finisher siphoning off many of the moderate votes). He was subsequently selected as Senate Co-President and even served a stint as “Co-Acting” Governor. As we all know, after numerous ethics allegations, he lost his state Senate seat by a huge margin to Ellen "No Transfats in My Food" Karcher in 2003. He now serves as Republican State Committeeman for Monmouth County (clearly the spot for County dog catcher was filled).
David Delveccio, the Democrat Mayor of Lambertville and 1996 general election nominee was narrowly defeated and has not received another nod for higher office since.
Carl Mayer, who came in second place in the 1996 Dem primary in later years felt shafted by the Dems and moved onto “Greener” pastures. He now serves as an activist lawyer where instead of losing primary elections, he loses court cases.
Frank Abate, the 1992 Dem nominee who was clobbered by Zimmer in that race was subsequently appointed executive director of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA). After being found guilty of taking bribes, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison.
And finally, Leonard Lance who was pretty much handed a “promotion” from state Assembly to state Senate in 2001 succeeded Bennett as the Senate’s GOP party leader in 2004. He’s now in the fight of his life to keep that job. Holt is proof that it does take a rocket scientist to figure out how to thrive in very choppy 12th district waters. If history repeats itself Lance is looking for a nose-bleed seat in the state Senate this fall.