In Fourth District, Democrat Kleinhendler mounts long-shot bid against incumbent Smith

Manhattan trial lawyer Howard Kleinhendler relishes tough jobs, such as his recent work representing victims of Bernie Madoff's investment scam.

"I'm a fighter," he said.

The Democrat will have to fight extra hard to topple his latest adversary, who comes not from the courthouse but the House of Representatives. His name is Chris Smith, and he is a longtime incumbent who is considered one of the most effective members of Congress.

Kleinhendler is mounting a long-shot bid against the Republican, who went to Congress in 1980 at age 27. The seat is in the Fourth District, spanning Northern Burlington and parts of Mercer, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties.

Kleinhendler, of Lakewood, initially studied to be a rabbi and is now a partner at the New York law firm Wachtel & Masyr.

"I'm trying to convince people 30 years is too long," the 47-year-old Temple Law graduate said over coffee at Mastoris Diner in Bordentown.

In an interview in his Hamilton campaign office, Smith countered that the length of his incumbency is beside the point because he gets results through "aggressive activism."

The nonpartisan organization GovTrack ranks Smith as third in the 435-member House for the number of sponsored bills enacted into law since 1987.

"We really do sweat the details when it comes to policy-making, and we find real problems and try to provide solutions," said Smith, 57.

He has gotten passed laws that clamp down on human trafficking and address international humanitarian concerns. In one recent high-profile case, Smith was successful in securing the return from Brazil of the abducted son of Tinton Falls, N.J., resident David Goldman.

Kleinhendler was dismissive of those efforts abroad, saying, "We need to fix our house before we fix someone else's house, and we have trouble here."

The candidates diverge on major national issues, such as the health care overhaul.

Smith voted against the program, citing concerns that it ended the incentive for employers to provide health care, would federally fund abortions, lowered the quality of medical care, and cut Medicare funding for the elderly.

Smith said he wants to replace the law with "commonsense" reform. He supports the idea of people pooling across state lines to buy health insurance at better rates and also thinks there are existing outlets that could fill the gaps for the uninsured. He singled out community health centers as one of the best means to deliver care to the uninsured working poor.

Kleinhendler said he doesn't think the law is perfect. He called a provision that penalizes businesses for not providing medical insurance "unconstitutional." But he said he supports a public option and thinks people should be able to enroll in a government health plan at any time, saving money in the long run through preventative care.

Smith also wants to continue the Bush-era tax cuts. He said letting them expire at the end of the year would amount to "the biggest tax increase ever," resulting in estate taxes so high they amount to confiscation; an increased burden for married tax filers; and a lower child tax credit.

"I believe Americans in general are overtaxed, not under-taxed," he said.

Smith, who voted to extend unemployment benefits, said he is worried that raising taxes in an economic downturn will hamper job creation.

Kleinhendler is also concerned about the return of the estate tax if the tax cuts are eliminated, and favors raising the threshold under which it could take effect, to protect small businesses.

Yet he still wants the tax cuts to expire, reasoning that doing so will provide trillions of dollars to reduce the national debt and invest in transportation and infrastructure to create a more efficient economy.

"I'm not here to be popular, I'm here to do what's right," he said.

Kleinhendler said he wants to stimulate the credit-tight economy by having the federal government guarantee loans to small businesses.

The candidates also disagree on the $700 billion financial bailout that was initiated under President George W. Bush and Obama's $787 billion stimulus package.

Kleinhendler said that the first spending package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), saved the banking system and that the economic recovery spending had brought thousands of jobs to the state.

He questioned why Smith voted against the spending plans, saying, "There you have somebody who doesn't get it when it comes to the economy."

The congressman said the deficit has exploded under Obama and would multiply over the next decade. Increasing debt mortgages everyone's future, especially those of his children and grandchildren, he said.

Even so, Smith stands by his vote to authorize the Iraq War, which added billions of dollars to the national debt and was called a catastrophe by his opponent.

Smith said the government at the time believed Saddam Hussein was trying to acquire nuclear weapons. He acknowledges U.S. troops will remain there for at least a little while longer, and sees value in Iraq eventually being a "stable" part of a volatile region.

Smith called into question the more recent handling of the economic recovery package.

"You should appropriate money when you have something to give it to, not have the money sitting in a pile and go looking for anything under the sun you want to fund, and that's what happened [with the stimulus package]. . . . It's like a big slush fund," he said.

Smith, a staunch opponent of abortion, counts among his accomplishments a national program to promote stem cell research and treat disease using umbilical cord blood. He's also had written laws enhancing services to homeless veterans and bolstering autism research, and fought to prevent the closure of the Lakehurst Navy base in Ocean County.

He secured $4 million for an impact study for a Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line, which supporters hope will be a boost for the local economy, but said it is being held up by Middlesex County officials. Even so, Kleinhendler vowed to make the project a reality.

Kleinhendler also wants to get New Jersey a higher level of return from the federal government, saying residents receive only 59 cents for every $1 they send out. He wants to boost federal support for state education spending, noting that school expenses make up the majority of property taxes.