by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Staff Writer

January 17, 2008

The man with the most seniority among Jewish legislators in the New Jersey Senate is hoping to become a freshman again — a freshman in the U.S. Congress, that is.

Sen. John Adler of Cherry Hill, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced in September that he is running for the Third District congressional seat that has remained firmly in the grip of Republican Congressman James Saxton of Burlington County since 1984.

The 64-year-old Saxton, best known for his successful battles to prevent the closure of McGuire Air Force Base in Wrightstown, announced last fall that he would not seek a 14th term in the House of Representatives because of health concerns.

His withdrawal leaves the congressional race wide open in the district, which dominates a stretch of Ocean County shoreline at New Jersey’s waist, meanders across a swath of Burlington County, and takes a small bite out of Camden County in the shape of Cherry Hill.

Adler lost to Saxton in a previous run for the congressional seat in 1990, but he is hoping that the climate for change will prove more promising this time around. He is poised to run unopposed in the NJ primary in June. Three or four possible contenders are gearing up on the Republican side, although conventional wisdom says that either Chris Meyers, Medford’s deputy mayor, or Ocean County freeholder Jack Kelly will be Adler’s opponent in the general election.

But no matter whom the Republicans run, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is said to be betting on Adler’s chances in what it sees as a priority race.

“The Democrats have been very supportive of this campaign — financially, with their advice, and with their enthusiasm,” Adler said during an interview in the Cherry Hill law offices of Earp Cohn, where he is a trial attorney specializing in contract disputes and other commercial litigation.

“All the top Democrats in the House have been very helpful,” he said. “All have met with me. It’s been very gratifying. But it was just as gratifying to have a lady come up to me in the borough of Beechwood and give me a $50 check. She had seen me speak and she wanted to support my campaign. That’s just as good as having the House majority leader give me a call.”

‘Stagnation in Washington’

A Jew by choice, Adler grew up in Haddonfield and graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where he met his wife, Shelley. An attorney and homemaker, Shelley Adler serves as a member of the regional advisory board for the NJ office of the Anti-Defamation League and as regional cochair of the ADL’s Civil Rights Committee. The couple has four sons — Jeffrey, 19; Alex, 16; Andrew, 12; and Oliver, six — and attends Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill.

If there’s any bump along the road toward Congress, Adler acknowledged, it’s the time it takes away from being with his family. “Sometimes, I’m torn between watching my son play soccer and being at an event in Burlington County or Ocean County,” he said. “I enjoy being with my family.”

Asked to define the issues central to his campaign, Adler responded, “For many people, the main issue is not a single issue. For many people, it’s just a sense of resentment toward Washington, because Washington seems controlled by special interests who are not serving America, but who seem to be serving more narrow corporate interests.

“People are frustrated with the stagnation in Washington and with the apparent inability to address the problems that affect our country,” he said. “I think people are concerned about health care — both affordability and accessibility. People are concerned about this disastrous foreign policy President Bush has undertaken. And they’re increasingly concerned about the state of our economy. It really is about standing up for the people and against special interests.”

In a very real sense, Adler said, he wants to help bring common sense back to Washington. That, in essence, is what his 16 years in the state Senate have been about, he said. For example, he spent 10 of those years fighting for a smoke-free indoor policy for all public places in New Jersey — a legislative effort that finally met with success in 2006.

“That was a lot of work,” he said. “With all the special interests resisting, that was a fight. I’m very proud that New Jersey has joined the ranks of states that have banned indoor smoking.”

Adler also expressed pride in his successful sponsorship of 2007 legislation that mandates swift and certain consequences for public officials found guilty of corruption — prison terms, fines of up to $200,000, and the forfeiture of pensions. “I’m very pleased I was a leader in standing up to the wave of corruption that seems to be plaguing New Jersey,” he said.

In all of these efforts, Jewish values play a central role, Adler added.

“There’s a clarity of thought that comes from faith that makes decision-making easy,” he said. “Being a member of a minority religion continues to sensitize me to the concerns of other minorities in society and makes me cling to our values and to the rule of law as the best protection for all minorities.”

Jewish values also play a role “in terms of social concern for the oppressed and the poor, in terms of environmentalism and making sure the Earth itself is healed, and, for me personally, when we voted to abolish the death penalty recently,” he said. “For me, it was a matter of faith. It was really a belief that government should not kill — that we should follow that commandment.”

Adler is pursuing his congressional campaign with the fact of his father’s death at the age of 47 ever in mind. When he turned 48 this year, he said, “It was liberating…to know that I have the blessings of health and a happy family and the opportunity to do something significant to help all the families of America — maybe for years to come.

“It gives me a lot of energy to think I have a chance to be a part of doing great things,” he said. “I wake up really excited at the prospect of campaigning and perhaps winning and going and serving at a time when the opportunity to reverse the course for America is one election away.”

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John H. Adler (D)

Legislative service: NJ Senate, 1992-present; Democratic Conference chair, 2002-03; assistant minority leader, 1994-2001

Born: Aug. 23, 1959

Education: BA, Harvard College; JD, Harvard Law School

Occupation: Attorney, Earp Cohn, PC.

Public service: New Jersey-Israel Commission, 1995-present; Cherry Hill Township Council, 1988-89

Personal: Wife Shelley Adler is regional cochair of the ADL’s Civil Rights Committee; four sons; members, Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill