[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 127 (Wednesday, October 2, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9838-S9839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE NEW JERSEY SENATE RACE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, there is another thing I want to talk about. 
The Senator from Pennsylvania talked about the terrible situation in 
New Jersey. It is a very unique situation in New Jersey. A sitting 
Senator had a procedure before the Ethics Committee. It took a lot of 
time, and the only focus of the election for the Senate seat in New 
Jersey was that ethics procedure.

[[Page S9839]]

  I said yesterday, on the Senate floor--and I say again today--Bob 
Torricelli is my friend. We came to Washington to serve in the House of 
Representatives together. We sat together in the same committee, the 
Foreign Affairs Committee, in the House.
  We developed a friendship then, 20 years ago, that has remained. I 
feel so bad for my friend, Bob Torricelli. Mr. President, I cannot 
determine all he went through, but he went through enough that he 
dropped out of the Senate race. He did it because, for those of us who 
know him, the emotional toll was tremendous.

  Now, would it be better for the people of New Jersey to have no 
Senate race? The sitting Senator is out of the race. Would it be better 
that the people of New Jersey have no election, no choice?
  The paramount interest that the New Jersey Supreme Court determined 
was that the people of New Jersey should have a choice. Now, they heard 
that argument today, and they have already decided by a 7-to-0 vote. It 
was, as they say in basketball, a slam dunk. This was not a difficult 
legal proceeding. The people of New Jersey should have a choice as to 
who is going to serve in the Senate.
  I would hope people would drop all the litigation. I am sure some of 
my friends in the minority are clamoring to get to the Supreme Court 
and have an election determined there like they did a couple years ago. 
But I think it would be to everyone's best interest to let the people 
of New Jersey decide that, with a 7-to-0 determination by the New 
Jersey Supreme Court, and let these two people--Lautenberg and his 
opponent--have a race where they have debates and public forums, run TV 
ads, and have an election like we have in America. New Jersey deserves 
that. That is what this is all about.
  So I hope the election can go forward, as the New Jersey Supreme 
Court, by a 7-to-0 vote, said it should. And I am sure it will. I 
cannot imagine even this Supreme Court would change that.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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