>New Jersey Senate Race a Referendum on Christie as Unions Back Democrats
New Jersey’s organized labor and major political parties are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a special election to serve one year of a vacated state Senate seat, a race that may test the strength of first-term Governor Chris Christie’s attack on employee unions.
Candidates in the 14th District, which includes suburbs of the capital city of Trenton and is home to thousands of state workers, have spent $1.2 million, more than 80 percent of the total for New Jersey’s legislative elections on Nov. 2. The Democrat seeking that seat, Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, raised $876,000 through Oct. 26 with help from unions for teachers and public employees, campaign-finance reports show.
Greenstein faces incumbent Tom Goodwin, the first New Jersey Republican to seek election since Christie won the 2009 governor’s race. Christie has since gained national fame for assailing the cost of public-sector pay and benefits. He isn’t on the ballot until 2013, so Goodwin is drawing the labor attacks in his place, said Statehouse lobbyist Jeff Tittel.
“I think it’s the unions’ line in the sand,” said Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, which endorsed Greenstein. “If Greenstein loses, they’re going to be in much more serious trouble next year.”
