By ALFRED P. DOBLIN

RECORD COLUMNIST

On Thursday Johnson was aware of past allegations about LaRouche, but on Friday, he was not. The flip-flop is inexplicable.

"Just because he's different doesn't mean he doesn't have some good ideas." Lyndon LaRouche has been called many things. Different may be the kindest. But that is how Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, saw the convicted felon and oft-alleged anti-Semite when he spoke to The Record Thursday.

During 2005 and 2006, Johnson made seven contributions totally nearly $2,000 to LaRouche's political action committee. When asked about the contributions Thursday, Johnson was neither apologetic nor contrite. He claimed he was aware of allegations against LaRouche but was not convinced that LaRouche was prejudiced.

It's a remarkable conclusion. Either Johnson is a man whose sees the inherent goodness in every person or he's a fool.

Equally remarkable, on Friday, Johnson issued this statement: "Had I been aware of the LaRouche record of anti-Semitism I obviously would not have made my contributions. I am asking for a full refund of those contributions."

On Thursday Johnson was aware of past allegations about LaRouche, but on Friday, he was not. The flip-flop is inexplicable. So is the pathetic statement that a state assemblyman was not aware of the allegations surrounding LaRouche.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, Johnson's running mate in the 37th district, was "disappointed" by Johnson's comments reported in The Record on Friday. "He should not have been defending this," she said.

"I'm not going to make excuses for Gordon," she added, but Weinberg does not think Gordon should drop out of the Assembly race because of his remarks or contributions to the LaRouche PAC.

Weinberg sees it as a gross error in judgment. "It indicates that he had an antenna missing," she said.

In a digital world, Johnson is one rabbit-ear short of full reception.

Contrast Democrats' willingness to hear out Johnson with their expulsion of a freeholder candidate last year. Lebanese-American Sami Merhi was a Passaic County Democratic freeholder candidate. But he was not a candidate for long after reports surfaced about alleged comments at a 2002 fund-raiser for Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. Merhi allegedly said there was no comparison between the Sept. 11 terrorists and Palestinian suicide bombers. Merhi's godson was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Soon many state Democrats, including Assemblyman Gary Schaer, D-Passaic, Governor Corzine and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, were calling for Merhi's removal from the ticket. The appearance of being sympathetic to Palestinian terrorists, despite Merhi's denial that he supported terrorism in any fashion, led to his quick political demise.

A year later, a sitting assemblyman representing a large Jewish constituency has given money not once, but seven times, to Lyndon LaRouche. Where is the outrage?

In a written statement, Schaer said: "For more than a generation, Lyndon LaRouche's neo-fascist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Catholic remarks and writings have been well documented by numerous groups committed to fighting prejudice and bigotry."

But Schaer, who spoke with Johnson Friday, also praised his past commitment to Israel and the Jewish community. Schaer said, "[Johnson's] contributions to an organization headed by an individual whose views appear diametrically opposed to his own make no sense."

He wanted Johnson to offer an immediate apology. No call for resignation or dropping out of the race.

"I sincerely and humbly apologize to those whom I have hurt," Johnson said in his statement Friday. But seven checks to Lyndon LaRouche's PAC cannot be erased with a belated apology. Johnson may not be an anti-Semite. But he clearly is not a responsible elected official.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden, said "[Johnson] should have done some due diligence," with regard to the LaRouche PAC. But Roberts was satisfied with Johnson's apology and request for the return of his contributions.

Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero sent Johnson a letter on Friday demanding his resignation from both the Assembly and the Englewood City Council. But Ferriero's indignation is more political than righteous. He wanted to dump Johnson from the ticket in the spring.

Attempts for comment from Menendez and Corzine were unsuccessful on Friday.

There is a double-standard in New Jersey's Democratic Party if Merhi's alleged comments justified immediate removal from a freeholder race while Johnson's prolific check-writing to LaRouche's PAC merely warrants an apology.

Democrats claim they are the "Big Tent" party, but what's under the tent is not a banner proclaiming intolerance for bigotry. Instead the ground is covered by something less pleasant, something usually attributed to circus (or partisan) elephants.

And an apology doesn't mask the stench.