by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

May 01, 2008

At the age of 50, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Dist. 1) is more than 30 years younger than Sen. Frank Lautenberg — a contrast mentioned frequently in reports of his bid for his fellow Democrat’s Senate seat.

But as he sought votes in Essex County on April 23, Andrews insisted that “I’m not going to run a campaign based on age.”

“Whether or not Lautenberg is vulnerable is for the public to decide, not me, and I think it would be disrespectful for me to say otherwise,” said Andrews.

Andrews spoke with NJ Jewish News three weeks after announcing he would challenge the 84-year-old incumbent in the June 3 Democratic primary.

“I do not have a problem with Frank Lautenberg. I am running because I think I have issues and attributes that would make the country better,” he said. “My campaign is about why I would be a better senator.”

To Andrews, Lautenberg has been less than specific on plans to revamp the nation’s healthcare system and not critical enough about international trade agreements that “have disregarded environmental standards and labor standards.

“I’ve been opposed and he has been for them,” said Andrews.

But between the two men, no issue on the national agenda has been as contentious as the war in Iraq.

Lautenberg was an early and vocal critic of the war, and his campaign insists that he “has consistently voted to bring our troops home.” His campaign describes Andrews as a close ally of the White House whose “record and his rhetoric have often been in lock step with the Bush administration’s.”

But Andrews thinks he has the better plan for Iraq.

“I have been willing to put forward a specific plan to stabilize Iraq and get us out and he has not done that,” said Andrews as he sat in an armchair at the Newark Airport Holiday Inn sipping coffee from a cardboard container. His First Congressional District comprises Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties.

As for his vote authorizing the war, Andrews has a far different interpretation than Lautenberg’s supporters.

“I voted for the war because the intelligence community said Saddam Hussein had the ability to use chemical and biological weapons, and when you’re confronted with that evidence, I think it is a responsible decision to say, ‘Yeah. Let’s remove this person.’”

Since that time, he continued, “It has become obvious that after successfully removing Saddam Hussein from power the Bush administration failed miserably on the objective of creating a stable government in Iraq. Iraq has degenerated into a civil war that the United States has spent far too much blood and money intervening in, and we should get out.”

Andrews called for a “safe, sure, steady timetable to withdraw our troops. I proposed a plan in November 2006 to do precisely that. Had we followed that plan we would be out today. We didn’t have a commander-in-chief who would follow it.”

The congressman said that at one time, the senator also supported the war.

“In 2002, Frank Lautenberg said he definitely would have voted for the war if he had been in the Senate. In 2003, after he was in the Senate and had the same access to intelligence reports we all did…he was an enthusiastic supporter of the war. He said he ‘was on the president’s train on this one.’”

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Andrews drew criticism from the Lautenberg campaign by seeking votes in New Jersey on a day when the committee was being briefed on Syria’s alleged nuclear capabilities. The briefing focused on a site destroyed by Israeli warplanes. Israel will not comment on the incident.

“I am up here trying to convince people I would be the best senator. If you ask the people on the House Armed Services Committee, I’ve been one of Israel’s most vocal effective proponents on the committee. I would match my record against anyone’s,” said Andrews.

The congressman said he opposes “any negotiations with Hamas until they not only renounce the language of violence but the practice of violence. The conduct of Hamas is what matters, not their rhetoric.”

He said he believes “it is not good for Israel that the Iraqi state has degenerated into a failed state in the middle of a civil war,” and views Israeli settlements on the West Bank “as a reasonable exercise in sovereignty and self-defense.

“For me the issue of the rights of the Israeli people is very personal. My wife is Jewish,” he said. “She grew up in the only Jewish family in a small rural town in Pennsylvania. I understand that in the Holocaust my children would not have survived.

“I am raising my children Christian, but we recognize and celebrate all the Jewish holidays,” Andrews continued. “We have had seders at our house. We fast on Yom Kippur. We have apples and honey on Rosh Hashana. We light our menora on Hanukka. My support of Israel predated my marriage, but it took on a new meaning when I married Camille.”

Containing Iraq

The conversation turned to Iraq and its president’s threat to wipe Israel off the map.

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The question is how best to prevent that from happening,” he said. “I believe the best way is to build an international coalition that would apply economic sanctions to preclude them from doing so.”

But he believes “it is going to take George Bush’s departure” to build such a coalition. “Bush has alienated people all over the world. Any new president has a chance to achieve those coalitions. I think a Democratic president has a much higher chance. The United States has got to be seen as a progressive, tolerant citizen of the world, and not as a cowboy swinging a six-shooter.”

The congressman is highly critical of what he called “the president’s desire to grab more power with wiretapping. The Bush administration’s overreach has been unjustified.”

On a related issue, he said that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp “should be closed. I think we have tortured people. It is a disgrace to the United States. It has become a symbol of American hypocrisy.”

Although he is a superdelegate pledged to Hillary Clinton, Andrews promised to “enthusiastically support whomever wins the Democratic nomination. John McCain is a very credible candidate. Polls show either Democratic candidate will tie with him in New Jersey.”

The congressman suggested that in November, an energetic Senate candidate would be an asset to the Democrat at the top of the ticket. “In the Senate race, the issue for us is which one of us would be more prepared to campaign around the clock for the ticket and elect a Democratic president,” he said.

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Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Dist. 1)

Residence: Haddon Heights
Terms in Congress: 10
Chairman: Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions
Other committees: House Budget Committee, House Armed Services Committee, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee
Education: BA, Bucknell University; law degree, Cornell University
Personal: Married to Camille Spinello Andrews. Two daughters, Jackie, 15, and Josie, 13

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