Courier-News — Sunday, November 5, 2006

The 7th Congressional District race is widely viewed as the most competitive – and perhaps the only competitive – House race in New Jersey this year.

Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson this year faces a genuine challenger: Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender, who has proven an effective vote-getter on the local, county and state levels.

Ferguson presents an unusual mixed bag of positions and philosophies. He is ultra-conservative on certain social issues such as abortion, and is a Bush administration apologist on many issues, particularly the Iraq war.

But Ferguson has displayed a quiet independence from Republican leadership in some areas, particularly the environment, and has shown himself to be an active and productive congressman for his home district. He has, for instance, helped wage successful annual fights to keep funds flowing for the Green Brook Flood Control Project. And he has been front and center in the long battle to remove mercury supplies in Hillsborough – a battle apparently won, although the mercury has not yet been shipped out.

We have had differing opinions on Ferguson ourselves over the years, endorsing his opponents in 2000 and 2004 but supporting his first re-election in 2002. We find Ferguson to be an acceptable representative in Congress. But given the current state of the nation, we're not persuaded that he is the representative we need today.

Stender has an impressive background in local government in the past two decades, serving as a Fanwood borough councilwoman and mayor, on the Union County Board of Freeholders and in the state Assembly. It's a far more impressive record than Ferguson's when he was elected to Congress.

Ferguson's campaign has focused almost solely on the "Stender is a spender" theme. The phrase is catchy – and grossly oversimplified, using questionable data in some cases dating back to the 1980s.

That phrase also is shameless, coming from a sitting Congressman who has consistently supported budgets that have driven the federal debt to levels Republicans would once have considered unthinkable.

Stender's views starkly contrast to Ferguson's on women's rights, and she is part of the growing Democratic chorus calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq within a year. That timeline can be debated, but it's still an improvement over Ferguson's stay-the-course parroting of Bush.

Ferguson's extremist abortion views make him seem more archly conservative in some eyes than he really is. Stender and Ferguson actually find more areas of agreement than disagreement on, for instance, the environment and gun controls.

One concern about Stender is a minimal record of accomplishment as an Assembly member, despite serving in the majority party. In fact, Ferguson has arguably been more effective in Washington for his constituency than Stender has been in Trenton.

This endorsement is a close call. If only issues specific to New Jersey were involved, we would probably support Ferguson on the basis of what he has achieved.

But control of Congress is on the line. Years of ineptitude and failure in Iraq policy have cost thousands of lives (both U.S. and Iraqi), hurt the U.S. in the eyes of the world and further destabilized the Mideast. Even the rights of U.S. citizens are less secure.

The need to send representatives to Washington to help counteract the mistakes and abuses of the Bush Administration sways our final recommendation.

Linda Stender's long history of public service qualifies her for the job, and she wins our endorsement in the 7th Congressional District.

Copyright 2006 Courier-News