Supporters of former Jersey City Mayor Bret D. Schundler's unsuccessful bid for the G.O.P. gubernatorial nomination did not miss the fact that Bogotá mayor Steve Lonegan's candidacy echoed that of former independent presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. Perot ran as an independent for President in 1992 and was seen as siphoning votes away from President George H. W. Bush's reelection campaign, enabling the election of William Jefferson Davis Clinton.
Lonegan, a supporter of Schundler in 2001, is said to have had a falling out with the former Jersey City mayor, a conservative reformer. Lonegan's votes exceeded Forrester's margin of victory over Schundler. Lonegan has stated that his main intent was to deprive Schundler of the nomination. There are theories as to why Lonegan would go to all that trouble. One was that Lonegan was approached by Democrats eager to stop Schundler, whom they feared in a general election. Lonegan, mayor of an otherwise Democrat town, may have feared the fact that millions of Democrat dollars have been wheeled into Bergen County and that some of that funding would become available to a future mayoral opponent of his. He would have been agreeable to use his falling out with Schundler to remain in office locally.
No comments:
Post a Comment