Press Pushes Sex Charges in Wild New Jersey Governor's Race

By: E&P Staff With the help of reporters and their newspapers, the once-sleepy New Jersey gubernatorial race turned into one of the seamiest in memory this weekend. On Friday, reporters carried charges of extramarital affairs back and forth between the two major candidates, Sen. John Corzine, the Democrat, and Republican Douglas Forrester.

Both candidates had to rebut allegations of sexual affairs, a day after the release of a television commercial that quoted Corzine's ex-wife. She has accused Corzine of having an affair with an aide, among other charges.

Then Forrester denied he had an extramarital affair, which was reported in a New York Daily News gossip column that attributed the allegation to an e-mail it received.

"These are false accusations. It is wrong. It is despicable. It is the example of the kind of campaign that Jon Corzine has been running from the beginning,'' Forrester, who approved the ad featuring Corzine's ex-wife, said at an appearance in Woodbridge. He has also been showing a video at campaign stops linking Corzine to former Gov. James McGreevy, who resigned after disclosing an affair with a former male aide.

Corzine has refused to comment on his ex-wife's claim that he had an extra-marital affair with Carla Katz, the president of a union that represents thousands of state workers. He has confirmed that he was later romantically involved with her and that he had made, and later forgiven, a $470,000 mortgage for her.

On Friday, however, Corzine did deny a new allegation raised by reporters yesterday regarding another woman.

Corzine, campaigning in Newark, was asked by reporters whether he had a sexual relationship with a former staffer. He said the rumors were not true and said, "I'm not going to comment on that kind of low, guttural politics going on in this state.''

The Democrat also denied that his campaign was behind the rumor about Forrester. "I have no knowledge at all about the issue you're talking about,'' Corzine said.

Forrester said Friday he thought it was fair to use a remark by Corzine's ex-wife, Joanne Corzine, which first appeared in Wednesday's New York Times. "All I could think was that Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too,'' she told the newspaper.

She has said her former husband's political ambitions destroyed their 33-year marriage. The couple divorced in 2003, three years after he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

"It has everything to do with governing. It has nothing to do with private life,'' Forrester said.

The Corzine campaign responded by accusing Forrester of bringing "Bush-Rove smear tactics to our state.'' Karl Rove is President Bush's top political adviser.

Polls show the race is tightening.

At one point during a press conference Friday, Forrester campaign director Sherry Sylvester reprimanded a reporter for citing information attributed to anonymous sources in a blog on the Web site PoliticsNJ.com.