What is it with my law school classmates?
First it was Eliott Spitzer.
Now it’s Congressman John Adler. No, not in that way.
Adler, a Democrat from southern New Jersey, is a freshman congressman, swept into office on Obama’s coattails in a conservative district. Adler came out early against Obamacare, recognizing his precarious position, and has been among the most conservative Democrats in the House.
Adler was popular in his district, but he really pulled a boneheaded move which may cost him the election now that it has become public.
Adler’s campaign staff, apparently with Adler’s knowledge, set up a faux Tea Party candidate to run in order to take votes away from Adler’s Republican rival.
As reported by the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier Post, Adler campaign backed Tea Party candidate
Congressman John Adler’s campaign and the Camden County Democratic Committee recruited “”NJ Tea Party” candidate Peter DeStefano to confuse conservative voters and hurt Adler’s Republican challenger this fall, Democratic operatives say.
“The goal was to take 5 percent of (Republican Jon) Runyan’s vote,” said a Democrat with direct knowledge of the Adler campaign and CCDC operations….
Regional Tea Party groups had never heard of DeStefano until the Adler campaign released partial results of an internal poll last summer that indicated he might be a viable third-party spoiler….
Democrats said Adler’s recent allegiance with conservatives on a number of issues was calculated to help him hang on to his seat, held for 25 years by Republican Jim Saxton. Which is why the DeStefano plan, announced before three dozen young party volunteers at CCDC headquarters last May, struck some as foolish….
“A lot of people said, ‘This is not how you win.”’
The Courier Post has an extensive investigative article in this morning’s paper, as well, Dems Pick Spoiler Candidate.
I think my classmates are doing pretty well on “legal ethics,” a subject taught in law school. Other types of ethics, not so well.
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