By Tom Moran/ The Star-Ledger
Frank Lautenberg is 88 years old now, ripe enough to finally admit he doesn’t do push-ups anymore.
Gov. Chris Christie called him a “hack” and said he should resign from politics. Senate President Steve Sweeney called him “bizarre” and “vengeful.”
And George Norcross, who built a political empire by raising money from firms with no-bid government contracts, blasted Lautenberg for raising money from firms with no-bid government contracts. Go figure.
“I was astonished by it,” Lautenberg says. “I don’t know what elicited this anger, this hatred.”
With the rage directed at him, you might think that Lautenberg had done something really awful.
But you would be wrong. What he did was dare to ask a few questions about the latest back-room deal struck by the powers in Trenton — the plan to let Rowan University absorb the Camden campus of Rutgers University.
The merger is a big deal, and the governor wants to charge ahead and make it happen by July 1, possibly by executive order.
The problem is the proposal remains half-baked. It was hatched in secret and presented as a fait accompli, even though big questions remain unanswered. Lautenberg’s crime was his attempt to pry open the door and get some answers.
More>>
