Opinion

They probably could have looked the other way.

The news that Assemblyman Neil Cohen is under investigation for allegedly having child pornography on his office computer was painful to read.

But learning that it was his legislative runningmates -- Senator Ray Lesniak and Assemblyman Joe Cryan -- who turned him in was most shocking.

Lesniak and Cryan often get tagged as the bad guys in Jersey politics. And yet despite how difficult it must have been, they did the right thing by turning in their colleague.

We shouldn't lower the bar too much on what constitutes ethical behavior, but let's give credit where it's due. Not all legislators would have done the right thing in the same situation. Less than two years ago we learned that some of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's colleagues knew about his advances toward underage pages, yet remained silent. Some still remain in office.

We'll probably learn more about how this unfolded in the days and weeks ahead, but we should at least give credit to Ray Lesniak and Joe Cryan for the unenviable role they played in this sad chapter in New Jersey politics.

And while we're on the topic, if the legislators are looking for bonus points, they can extend their do-gooder streak by pushing to make sure that whoever replaces Cohen looks a little more like the people they represent.

Although the 20th district's residents are over one-fifth African American, one-third Hispanic, and one-half female, the delegation has been 100% white and male for a long time.

Who wants extra credit?

The entrance of a third-party candidate in the 3rd Congressional District race could have an impact on the November election. Calling himself a "disenfranchised Goldwater Republican", Edward Martin announced that he will run as a Libertarian candidate for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Louisville).

Could Martin attract enough other "disenfranchised Republicans" to give Yarmuth the winning margin over former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup (R-Louisville)?

The last time a third-party candidate played a potentially deciding role in the district was in 1994 when Democrat Mike Ward edged out Republican Susan Stokes by 44.4 to 44.1 percent. That year, Richard Lewis ran as an anti-abortion candidate for the Taxpayers Party of Kentucky and drew 11.5 percent of the vote.

Other than that recent exception, third party candidates have had minimal impact. In 2000, Libertarian candidate Donna Walker Mancini received 2.9 percent of the vote when then-incumbent Anne Northup defeated Eleanor Jordan (D) by 52.9 to 44.2 percent. Northup was easily re-elected in 2004 when Libertarian candidate George C. Dick received 1.9 percent of the vote. But in a tight race in 2006 when Yarmuth defeated Northup by a narrow 3 percent margin, Mancini managed just 0.9 percent of the vote.

This latest episode demonstrates how in politics, opponents' first instinct is often to assume the worst about each other.

The Ohio Republican party accused 15th Congressional District candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) of having a body-double take her place in a parade last weekend, but it's unquestionable that she wasn't trying to pull a fast one on the crowd. It's certainly an unforced error for State Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and the GOP. On the other hand, by bringing up their volunteer's "intellectual disability" in a press release, the Kilroy campaign's latest response turned an innocent volunteer into a political football.

It's not the best day for either side.

The current Real Clear Politics poll average gives U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) a 7.7 percentage point lead over Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) suggesting the race at least has the potential to be competitive. And U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) -- the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee -- is among those who think Democrats have a chance in Kentucky. Today he said that Lunsford is "going to beat Mitch McConnell. We think that this is a winnable race."

He's definitely putting his money where his mouth is. This fundraising quarter the DSCC contributed the maximum allowable amount to Lunsford's campaign: $39,900.

But the DSCC, with over $46 million on hand at the end of the second quarter, has nearly twice their Republican counterparts and can afford to spread it around. So are they legitimately bullish on the race or are they just playing the odds and trying to broaden the playing field?

The man who calls himself the "only candidate for federal office whose campaign exposes visual evidence disproving the official conspiracy theory of 9/11" is challenging U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Windsor) in the Democratic primary for the state's At-Large Congressional District seat.

And if history is any indication, Welch can expect to face Montpelier resident Craig Hill again in the general election even after defeating him in the primary.

Hill ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2004 and lost to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Middlesex) who received 94.3 percent of the vote. After losing the primary, Hill then challenged Leahy as a Green party candidate in the general election and finished fourth with 1.3 percent.

In 2006, he again ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and drew just 1.3 percent against then-U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Burlington), who received over 94 percent as a write-in candidate. Hill then ran as a Green in the general election and drew just 0.5 percent of the vote, finishing fourth.

The Plain Dealer's politics blog reports that President Bush will be in Northeast Ohio next week to discuss energy and possibly attend a fundraiser. According to Quinnipiac, the President has an upside-down 22 to 71 percent approval rating in the state

The latest Real Clear Politics average of Ohio polls shows U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) with a narrow 46.5 to 45.0 percent lead over U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and considering the other competitive U.S. House seats at stake this year, is this the kind of publicity Buckeye State Republicans want?

One hesitates to quote Shakespeare to the Editors of The Record. The thought of all that dust rising from their library shelves is enough to make me sneeze. They do, however, "protest too much".

The Editors of the Record (known affectionately as the "Hacks on the Hackensack") announced that they were closing their main office, firing photographers, and reporters would operate from homes and automobiles by cell phone. This announcement, in the context of falling subscription rates and declining advertising revenues, led to the inevitable observation that the Record is on a course to bankruptcy.

It was a fair point. Newspapers are failing every day. The Record is located in one of the best demographic regions of the nation but has been increasingly marginalized. Its readership is aging and limited to the least educated and lowest economic base of Bergen County. Subscription rates and the County mortality rate are almost exactly equal.

The Record probably would have died anyway but the decision to abandon its role as the staple of suburban living and adopt an angry and mean tone accelerated the larger destructive trends. Newspapers are dying every day but some survive by filling niches. The Star Ledger has become the only credible source of state news while the New York Times and Washington Post have become indispensable as sources of international or national information. The Record decided that it had a role as the mirror of everything that was ugly on the face of its own constituency.

Bear with me here...at least I'm not proposing something patently ridiculous like self-serve gas stations!

It's true that rising energy prices pose serious financial hardships, particularly for those with little to no disposable income, and politicians should take action -- possibly through targeted tax cuts for those hurting the worst -- to ease the burden while the economy adjusts to a new reality. But there is a silver lining to the energy crisis, and most politicians are unfortunately trying to run away from it.

Bucking a decades-long trend, Americans are actually driving less than they did last year, while public transit ridership is surging. Despite Al Gore's best efforts, a heightened public awareness of the effects of climate change couldn't accomplish what basic market forces could.

The recently created 7th Congressional District was drawn to be a very competitive district -- and some considered it the most competitive in the country -- but this year's race appears to be anything but competitive.

In 2000, Vice President Gore narrowly carried the district over George W. Bush by 49.8 percent to 48.9 percent. In 2002, Bob Beauprez (R-Arvada) won the seat by just 121 votes, representing a miniscule 0.07 percent margin. U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) won the district by 51.4 percent to 48.2 percent over President Bush.

Republicans held the district since 2002 but lost control in 2006 when Beauprez vacated the seat to run for governor. That year, Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Aurora defeated Republican Rick O'Donnell by 54 - 37 percent.

Recent trends suggest the district is becoming more Democratic. The percentage of voters registered as Democrats increased from 33.5 percent in 2004 to 34.0 percent in 2007, while Republican registration dropped from 31.8 percent to 30.5 percent during the same period.

Now it appears that Republicans have all but given up on trying to win back the district. Perlmutter's Republican challenger, John Lerew, has raised under $6,000 so far and had under $3,000 in cash on hand as of the end of the 2nd quarter.

For Bernie Sanders, persistence has paid off. With every statewide run since 1972, he was able to increase his percentage of the vote, until ultimately winning a seat in the House in 1990 and later a U.S. Senate seat in 2006.