N.J. Marine makes vow to march with Kerry
By MICHAEL SYMONS, Gannett from the Home News Tribune July 29, 2004
BOSTON -- New Jersey congressional candidate Steve Brozak used the spotlight of the FleetCenter stage yesterday to lob firsthand criticism at management of the war in Iraq, aiming to lend a uniformed voice to Democrats' criticism of President Bush.
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The
Associated Press
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Retired
Marine Lt. Col. Steve Brozak, 43, of Westfield, a Democratic House
candidate in Central New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, addressed
the Democratic National Convention in Boston last night
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A political novice tapped for a prominent time slot because he is a Marine Corps reservist who volunteered to return to active duty after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Brozak gestured stiffly over and over with his right hand and pledged confidence in Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"John Kerry is a leader, and this Marine will proudly follow John Kerry into battle," Brozak said.
Brozak said that, when he was deployed to the Middle East, he saw a military that's overextended, with tours of duty being extended, and struggling to complete its mission without the proper equipment.
"Iraq is filled with professional soldiers, patriotic reservists and Guard members who long for a mission that is planned and purposeful, and are long past ready to be reunited with their families," Brozak said, promising to watch after the family of a friend now in Iraq.
Brozak -- a retired Marine lieutenant colonel in Iraq who spent three years on active duty, then 18 years in the Reserves -- is the only House challenger allowed to give a speech from the podium at the convention.
"It's really a high honor, and it shows what we think of him," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Brozak, 43, is a Westfield resident, an investment banker -- and a former Republican.
He switched parties last year, angry at President Bush over the planning for the Iraq war, but insists he didn't change.
"What changed was the direction of the Republican Party, so I did the honorable thing.
I changed parties, and I became a Democrat," Brozak said. "I have never considered myself to be a very partisan person.
But the Republican Party left me behind."
Brozak is facing two-term incumbent Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-7th Dist., who represents an area that stretches across Central New Jersey from Hunterdon County to Edison, Linden and Woodbridge.
Ferguson's campaign manager, Amanda Woloshen, dismissed the significance of Brozak's speech, saying that "everyone's entitled to their 15 minutes of fame."
She said Brozak's positions, such as reversing federal tax cuts, don't jive with the GOP-leaning district.
Regarding Brozak's remarks criticizing Bush and the Republican Party on homeland-security issues, Woloshen said, "Partisanship and bitterness are not going to win the war on terror."
Earlier yesterday at the FleetCenter, Lautenberg gave a three-minute speech in which he touted Kerry's positions on Israel.
He said Kerry defends Israel's construction of a West Bank security barrier an international court has said is illegal and should be torn down.
"I know John Kerry. John Kerry is a friend of mine. And John Kerry is a great friend of Israel," Lautenberg said, playing off a famous retort uttered by Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, in the 1988 vice-presidential debate.
There are no Senate elections in New Jersey this year. All 13 House members -- seven Democrats, six Republicans -- are seeking re-election.
Skeptics, noting Ferguson defeated Democratic candidate Timothy Carden by 17 percentage points in 2002, said Democrats overestimate Brozak's chances.
Despite losing the state by a landslide, Bush got more votes than Vice President Al Gore in the 7th District in 2000.
Ferguson also enjoys a substantial financial advantage -- one Brozak hoped to narrow through the attention his speech yesterday received among party faithful.
As of June 30, Ferguson had more than $1 million in the bank, compared with $205,000 for Brozak.
Ferguson's victory margin was closest in the state in 2002.
Heading into the 2002 elections, some people thought the races in the 5th, 7th and 12th districts could be close.
But each turned into blowouts, a sign of just how much protection incumbents have gained through redistricting.
"The districts are worse than we thought, gerrymandered to a degree that we didn't anticipate," said Ingrid Reed, director of the Eagleton New Jersey Project at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
"These are really safe districts, which means that New Jersey voters never get to see an incumbent defend their record or be seriously challenged," Reed said.
"That's simply not good for democracy."
Still, Reed thinks Brozak has a chance to defeat Ferguson. She said Democrats seem more excited for Brozak than they did for Ferguson's past opponents and that suburban voters in New Jersey have been drifting away from the Republicans.
"The wild card in that district is Middlesex County and Woodbridge, in particular," Reed said.
"They simply didn't turn out the vote for Tim Carden. I don't know what the dynamics of that were, but in a presidential election year, more people are going to turn out."
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