Andrews enters Senate fight with attack on Kean
2006-10-05
Source: Glouchester County Times
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rss feedThe slugfest for New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat continued on Wednesday as a prominent South Jersey Democrat joined the fray.
In a Statehouse press conference, U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews, D-1st. Dist., of Haddon Heights questioned how independent GOP candidate Tom Kean Jr. could be on the Iraq War since his backers include those with a "vested interest in the status quo policy of the Bush administration in Iraq."
A spokeswoman for Kean, Jill Hazelbaker, called the assertions by Andrews a red herring in light of the ethics charges facing the Democratic contender, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Andrews said Kean has accepted $87,900 in donations from former New Jersey Congressman Jim Courter and IDT, the company where Courter serves as CEO. Courter has been implicated with former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, a Democrat, in seeking contracts from the tarnished oil-for-food program under Saddam Hussein, according to published reports.
Andrews said the matter was under review by a Senate subcommittee but acknowledged that there has been no proof Courter did anything wrong.
"My point is that he had connections in the Saddam era which he attempted to exploit, and it's quite plausible he has connections in the new government since a lot of the same people are there," Andrews said.
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