Isn't an independent prosecutor supposed to be "independent"? If Ray is independent then I am a Republican!! LOL
rollcall.com
March 07, 2002
Ray Scrambling For GOPSupport
By Paul Kane and Chris Cillizza
Legally barred from running for office while still a federal prosecutor, Independent Counsel Robert Ray has been quietly taking steps for at least the past two months to mount a bid for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.).
With his various investigations into the Clinton family now officially concluded, Ray could soon announce that he will be a contender for the GOPSenate nod. But according to numerous party insiders, he'd already begun to lay the groundwork even before wrapping up his official duties, moves that included:
o attending a large GOP dinner at the home of New Jersey's governor on Jan. 10, the last full night a Republican occupied the Drumthwacket mansion;
o meeting with the state's Republican chairman, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, and other top operatives and fundraisers;
o reaching out to other conservative candidates already in the race, which is sure to revive earlier speculation that Ray will try to clear the field on the right and run as the consensus conservative in a crowded primary.
Officially, Ray had no comment about his possible entry into the New Jersey Senate race. "He hasn't made any decisions as of today what he's going to do. As of today, his job is independent counsel," Lynda Flippin, Ray's spokeswoman, said yesterday.
It's unclear when Ray's last day on the government payroll will be. The only tasks remaining in the independent counsel's mission are administrative in nature, such as archiving and dealing with attorneys' fees.
What few steps Ray has made publicly so far - openly pondering political office in a media interview and indirectly attacking Torricelli's "paralysis of investigations and scandals" at a GOP fundraiser last month - have been met with condemnation from a leading House Democrat. Rep. John Conyers (Mich.), ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, has accused Ray of violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the law governing his appointment.
In a bitter exchange of letters, Conyers accused Ray of Clintonian contortions of legal definitions regarding actual campaigning and fundraising to avoid breaking the law.
"As you conclude an investigation that has decried legal hair-splitting and verbal gamesmanship, I would hope you would not hide behind a false distinction based upon what the meaning of the word 'candidate' is," Conyers wrote to Ray on Monday.
In his only direct comment on the Torricelli race, Ray wrote to Conyers that he has not broken any laws because he has not actually undertaken a campaign. "I am not now a candidate or running to be a candidate for partisan political office. I have not filed as a candidate or as a nominee. I have not sought or solicited campaign contributions, raised money or sought or received endorsements. In short, there is currently no campaign for office of which I am a participant whatsoever," Ray, of Rumson, N.J., wrote last week.
But interviews with numerous lawmakers, candidates, fundraisers and other GOP operatives in the Garden State painted a different picture, one of an individual with lofty political aspirations who is seeking the attention necessary to transform him into a viable candidate for the rapidly approaching June primary.
To be sure, Ray has been very careful in how he has worded his pitches, taking pains not to officially ask anyone for their support, either financially or through endorsements. "He's been very, very careful not to cross over the line," said one New Jersey Republican official who met with Ray. "I know it's very frustrating for him."
On Tuesday, the day before his last official action as independent counsel, Ray called state Sen. John Matheussen, the only anti-abortion candidate currently in the GOPSenate field.
"We got to know each other for a few moments," Matheussen said yesterday. "He was not committed to say whether he was running."
Ray has also spoken with Assemblyman Guy Gregg, who has been trying to mount a campaign targeted at supporters of Bret Schundler, the conservative former Jersey City mayor who won the GOP gubernatorial nomination but lost the general election last fall.
"He thinks that this notoriety of the special prosecutor can give him name recognition," explained Gregg, who was heavily involved in Schundler's governor's race.
Some New Jersey GOP insiders are already speculating that Ray, whose ideological positions on matters beyond law and order remain unknown, will try to push aside Matheussen and Gregg.
With the filing deadline set for April 8 and most big county endorsements already being decided, Ray isn't likely to have any institutional backing if he runs. Essex County Executive Jim Treffinger has been locking up most of the large county endorsements,and state Sen. Diane Allen has the backing of some prominent fundraisers looking for a moderate woman to contrast with the scandal-plagued Torricelli. Douglas Forrester, a businessman, could also play a big role, particularly if he's willing to spend in the seven-figure range from his fortune.
In a crowded field, one candidate with solid conservative backing could possibly overtake the moderate GOP establishment figures.
Gregg, for one, is skeptical about Ray's conservative credentials. "People don't know his political ideology," he said, vowing to stay in the race. "Washington thinks he is a conservative, but I don't know."
In a new poll conducted by Quinnipiac College, Torricelli led all his potential GOPopponents. Ray's showing against the Senator, 53 percent to 28 percent, was statistically indistinguishable from his potential Republican rivals.
But the first problem for Ray may be simply getting acquainted with the major players in Garden State politics. He attended high school in the Washington, D.C., area and went on to attend Princeton University, calling Rumson home since buying a residence there in 1998, commuting back to New Jersey from D.C. on weekends.
One prominent New Jersey GOP fundraiser recalled returning home from a New Year's vacation to discover a phone message from "Robert Ray from Rumson."
Puzzled, the fundraiser said he returned the call and left a message, only to get a return call the next day from a new phone number with a Washington, D.C., area code. It finally dawned on the fundraiser that the man trying to reach him was Robert Ray the independent counsel.
"It didn't register to me at first," the fundraiser said, requesting anonymity.
When the two finally connected on Jan. 7, the fundraiser told him he was staying neutral in the Senate race, but said he encouraged Ray to keep up his efforts, as none of the other candidates had yet "caught the imagination."
Ray, however, knew virtually nothing of New Jersey politics. According to the fundraiser, he didn't even know the name of the state party chairman, Kyrillos, even though Kyrillos hails from Middletown, next-door to Ray's listed hometown of Rumson.
In an effort to begin making inroads, Ray and his wife were given an invitation to the Jan. 10 event at the governor's mansion, where he mingled with many key players. "He had a very positive evening," the fundraiser said.
Ray has since had a meeting with Kyrillos, according to two GOP operatives.
By Feb. 12, Ray attended a GOPfundraiser in honor of Abraham Lincoln in Monmouth County, his home county. Quoting from Lincoln's first address in his maiden campaign, the 41-year-old prosecutor said, "I am young and unknown to many of you. ... My case is thrown exclusively upon the ... voters."
He went on to call for "new leadership with renewed energy" by the "young and the young at heart" for New Jersey. Without naming Torricelli, Ray jumped into full campaign mode, launching what was probably his first political attack ever, official or not.
"If President Bush can restore honor and dignity to the Oval Office, then we can have - and deserve - principled, ethical and trustworthy leadership for New Jersey in the United States Senate," he said.
"I look forward to the debate in the months ahead, the battleground of ideas and results, rather than the paralysis of investigations and scandal." |
