Wednesday, October 31, 2007

By JAMES AHEARN

IT WAS MIND-BOGGLING. Jaw-dropping. A Democratic assemblyman running for reelection in the most liberal district in New Jersey admitted donating substantial sums to Lyndon LaRouche, the nutcake, allegedly anti-Semitic, perennial presidential candidate and convicted felon.

The assemblyman, Gordon Johnson of Englewood, did this not once but seven times, in gifts totaling $1,850, a significant sum for him. He did it not when he was too young to know better but as recently as 2005 and 2006. He said he did it because LaRouche was exposing corruption in the Bush administration and Johnson thought that was a good thing to do.

Dumb. If he wanted to encourage Bush criticism, there were lots of legitimate groups to give money to. Like the Democratic Party, for example. The Johnson disclosure last week prompted rare, albeit partial, agreement by the Bergen Democratic chairman, Joseph Ferriero, and Loretta Weinberg, the doughty senator who heads the legislative ticket that includes Johnson.

Belated apology

Johnson shouldn't have done it, they said, and he ought to apologize. Which, belatedly, Johnson did, sort of. He said that had he known that LaRouche was an anti-Semite, he would not have contributed to him. Johnson said that he, a black man, had spent his whole life fighting discrimination of every sort.

But Johnson should have known. We elect people to represent us in town halls and the State House and Congress expecting of them some minimal knowledge and competence. Johnson served in law enforcement for more than three decades, as an Englewood cop and Bergen County undersheriff. He is currently an Englewood council member, as well as an assemblyman, seeking his fourth term in Trenton.

He has considerable experience, but, given the facts here, his judgment is, at best, questionable. He seems to be another New Jersey embarrassment.

Johnson's legislative district, the 37th, is one of three chosen statewide for a "Clean Elections" experiment in which candidates receive tax-paid campaign funds in return for forgoing pay-to-play contributions from lawyers, contractors and the like. The 37th is reliably Democratic, so much so that the party slate had been expected to win easily. The outlook now is cloudier.