Newsday
September 11, 2008
By Angela Delli Santi

TRENTON, N.J. - Democrats say two Republican congressional candidates have intentionally tried to downplay an upcoming fundraising visit to New Jersey by President Bush.

Republicans denied the charge.

Bush is scheduled to be in Colts Neck Sept. 22 for a private fundraiser for state Sen. Leonard Lance and Chris Myers.

But the Lance-Myers New Jersey Trust, which is hosting the event, has not announced the visit by the unpopular president, leading Democrats to charge that the candidates do not want to be publicly associated with Bush.

"This has become the game plan for Bush loyalists in New Jersey who want to take the money the president can bring in without getting caught on film," said Democratic State Committee spokesman Richard McGrath. "But Chris Myers and Leonard Lance are Bush Republicans and they have the campaign cash to prove it."

Invitations to the event began circulating Thursday.

The invitation to the afternoon fundraiser, at the home of Juan and Marta Gutierrez, lists ticket prices at $1,000 per person to enter and $5,000 per person for a photo with the president.

"When the president of the United States, regardless of his political party, visits any state, people know about it," said Republican Party Chairman Tom Wilson. Trying to conceal a presidential visit "would be like trying to hide an elephant in a fishbowl," he said.

Bush is exceptionally unpopular in New Jersey. In a Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind poll out this week only 22 percent of the voters surveyed approve of the job President Bush is doing while 71 percent disapprove.

Poll director Peter Woolley said it's no surprise that Lance and Myers, who are both running for open congressional seats against strong Democratic competition, would not want to publicize their affiliation with Bush.

"Everybody handles an unpopular president with hospital gloves on," Woolley said. "Why allow the Democrats an extra two or three weeks to criticize you for being next to the president?"

Woolley said concerns over presidential security also could be behind the lack of publicity.

Lance's campaign manager, Amanda Woloshen, did not return an after-hours phone message for comment. Earlier, she did not mention Bush's visit when asked about upcoming fundraisers for Lance. Myers could not be reached.

Myers and Lance lag far behind their Democratic rivals in fundraising.

Democratic state Sen. John Adler, who is campaigning for an open congressional seat in the 3rd District, had 10 times the cash on hand as that of Myers as of June 30, according to Federal Election Commission reports. And, in the 7th District, Democrat Linda Stender has a $1.1 million advantage over Republican Lance for New Jersey's other open congressional seat.

State Sen. Tom Kean Jr. was accused of dodging his own fundraiser headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2006, when Kean was a Republican Senate candidate. Kean showed up 15 minutes after Cheney left the Newark event. Though Kean said he got stuck in traffic, critics questioned the route he took.