NEWARK, N.J. -- Amid all the laments of too much partisanship in politics as displayed in the impeachment and trial of President Clinton, some recent inter-party squabbling here has caused a lot of political turmoil.
The cause was a report that junior Democratic Sen. Bob Torricelli had some nice words to say about Gov. Christine Whitman, who happens not only to be a Republican, but also a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate next year.
Since Mr. Torricelli is chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, these nice words apparently did not sit well with Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the retiring senior New Jersey senator.
Mr. Torricelli and Mr. Lautenberg already had a history of feuding, and Mr. Torricelli reportedly added fuel to the fire by failing, in a recent Senate Democratic caucus discussing the party's prospects in the next election, to talk about the New Jersey seat coming open as a result of Mr. Lautenberg's retirement.
Congressional sources told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the two Democratic senators exchanged heated words about a published report that Mr. Torricelli had said he had a better Whitman working relationship with the GOP governor than he did with Mr. Lautenberg.
Later, a Torricelli spokesman, Jamie Fox, told the Inquirer that his boss "did go up to Senator Lautenberg and in no uncertain terms told him of his displeasure" over what he saw as "an attempt to embarrass him in front of his Democratic colleagues." Mr. Fox said it was true that "over the last two years, our office has had a professional working relationship with the governor's office and a less than adequate relationship with the senator."
Mr. Lautenberg subsequently told the paper that "I said that it doesn't help to have the chairman of the Senate Democratic committee talking about his friendly relationship with Gov. Whitman. . . . It was a poor tactic if we wanted to elect a Democrat to that seat."
Both senators apparently are ready to drop the whole matter. Mr. Fox, Torricelli's spokesman, says "there's nothing to resolve." And a Lautenberg spokesman says of Mr. Torricelli: "Bob sometimes has a temper. That's why Torricelli they call him 'The Torch.' "
New Jersey Democrats say Mr. Lautenberg and Mr. Torricelli have been at odds ever since Mr. Torricelli was elected in 1996 to replace the retiring Sen. Bill Bradley, who as a former basketball star and innovative policy man often left Mr. Lautenberg in the shadows. Even before Mr. Torricelli's election to the Senate, he was a media star in the House as a result of a celebrity social life, and his appointment to the campaign committee post as a freshman put him even more in the limelight. Mr. Torricelli was front and center again recently when Mr. Clinton, for whom the New Jersey senator was a staunch defender during his impeachment trial, came to Newark and helped him raise a reported $2.1 million for his own re-election campaign nearly three years off. The take exceeded the reported $1.5 million that Mr. Bradley took in at his first major fund-raiser in the state the next night for his presidential campaign.
The matter of Mr. Torricelli's good relationship with Ms. Whitman took on added political pertinence with the subsequent announcement that one of the leading Democratic prospects to vie for Mr. Lautenberg's seat, Rep. Robert Menendez, would not seek it. Instead, he said he would remain in the House to help Minority Leader Dick Gephardt win Democratic control in 2000 and move up the party leadership ladder to chairman of the Democratic Conference, the No. 3 position.
Mr. Menendez acknowledged he was acting at Mr. Gephardt's urging and pointedly said he was not being scared off by the prospect that the popular Ms. Whitman might run.
Among other likely candidates are former Gov. Jim Florio, defeated for re-election by Ms. Whitman, and Rep. Frank Pallone. Holding Mr. Lautenberg's seat could be critical in the Democrats' efforts to pick up the five seats they need in 2000. With 19 Republican seats at stake to only 14 Democratic, the Democrats are considered to have an outside chance to gain them.
Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover write from the Washington Bureau.
Pub Date: 3/15/99