Picking a Senate Candidate is a Dicey Proposition For Some

By Keith Brown 

The state’s Sierra Club is in a bit of a pickle.

The 20,000-strong environmental organization has backed U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone and Rush Holt throughout their entire careers in the House of Representatives. And the organization has also retained a good relationship with state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver.

Now, the three are foes in a race for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches, according to Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club’s NJ chapter.

But favoring one means shafting the others. The group is trying to figure out which candidate, or group of candidates, to throw their support behind, Tittel said.

“Very rarely do you have an election where there are so many people you’d like to endorse,’’ Tittel said. “But in this one we have several.’’

It’s a dilemma facing several stalwart Democratic-leaning organizations in this shortened primary election season.

The Communications Workers of America, the state’s largest union, has so far been silent. The New Jersey Educational Association, the state’s teacher’s union, has simply decided to sit out the primary race and not endorse anyone, according to a union spokesman.

And the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental lobbying group, also has not endorsed a candidate in the Senate race, but has in Senate races in Massachusetts and Hawaii. The organization has given Pallone and Holt high ratings for their environmental voting records – 97 and 100 percent lifetime records, respectively.

“These organizations don’t want to commit themselves,’’ said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University professor and former Brookings Institute research associate. “They’re very wary of picking favorites.’’

There has been no shortage of political endorsements so far, the majority going to Booker. The Newark mayor has picked up, by his campaign’s estimate, 59 percent of the Democratic organizations in the state. He’s also gotten the support of a construction workers union – the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters.

Pallone, who has been endorsed by a handful of Middlesex County Democrats, also has picked up the support of an 8,500-strong Sheet metal workers union, while Holt and Oliver trail. 

His competitor, Alieta Eck, a doctor from Somerset, trails significantly, with just a handful of individual endorsements.

But in terms of attracting voters, do endorsements really mean anything?

Yes. And no, says Baker.

“It’s certainly a morale boost to have a lot of endorsements,” Baker said. “But in terms of the average voter, I don’t think it makes a lot of difference.”

But, he said, the lack of endorsements may speak louder than a collection of them.

“It’s ironic, though, that it’s sometimes the absence of endorsements that have more effect,” Baker said. “If you don’t have them, people can wonder why.’’

A spokesman for Holt said the veteran Congressman’s campaign, because of the unusual nature of the election season, is focusing more on direct contact with voters than collecting endorsements.

“New Jersey voters just aren't used to going to the polls on a Tuesday in August to vote for a senator,” said Thomas Seay, Holt spokesman. “In that context, our sense is that what matters most is speaking directly to individual voters about Rep. Holt's perspective as a teacher and scientist and about his record as a progressive.”

The Eck camp expresses the same sentiment.

“Our priority has been getting the only endorsement that truly matters -- election to the US Senate,” said Thomas Roberts, Eck spokesman.

Tittel said the Sierra Club would endorse someone he just wasn’t sure whom. The organization also could choose to endorse more than one candidate, or throw support behind one, or more, but stop short of an endorsement, he said.

Tittel said the group was sussing out its options in the normal method it takes leading up to an endorsement. He gave no timeline.

“We’re beginning the process,’’ Tittel said last week.