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N.J. Senate candidates spar over train station

The U.S. Senate race in New Jersey yesterday extended from a train station in Secaucus to the port in Camden, with the candidates sparring over government spending.

The U.S. Senate race in New Jersey yesterday extended from a train station in Secaucus to the port in Camden, with the candidates sparring over government spending.

In the morning, Republican candidate Richard Zimmer stood in the Frank R. Lautenberg Train Station in Secaucus to say the Democratic incumbent wasted $1.4 billion in federal and state money on a train station he said is "renowned for its extravagance and its emptiness."

The station was to be part of an office and retail complex that is stalled because the original developer pulled out.

In an interview, Zimmer said the project "takes the cake because here we're only getting 61 cents back from our tax dollar and this is the way he spends our 61 cents - on a vanity project that is a huge empty building constructed at great cost when we have crying needs in this state and New Jerseyans are having trouble making ends meet."

But Lautenberg, touring the Broadway Terminal in Camden, said the station was "essential" as a hub where 11 of the state's 12 major train lines meet, allowing commuters to get to work in Manhattan as well as to cut down on traffic and auto emissions.

"I don't understand Zimmer's view. Is he saying: Don't bring money to Cooper Hospital, to the hospital in Atlantic City, to East Orange?" Lautenberg asked. "It's preposterous."

He noted he had brought home funding for 50 rail cars for the PATCO High-Speed Line and for a 911 radio system in Camden County.

Zimmer said the Secaucus station money could have been better spent on the state's crumbling infrastructure including the rail system.

"Paying for this indulgence takes money away from legitimate mass transit expenditures," he said.

Lautenberg said it wasn't an indulgence and quipped: "It certainly was not built to accommodate my sign."

The station was named by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.).

Zimmer said that among the project's biggest wastes of money was a New Jersey Turnpike exit that was built to serve the station. The problem is, the station has no parking lot.

Lautenberg said that once the site was developed, it would have parking.

Lautenberg campaign spokeswoman Julie Roginsky said "attacking your opponent for actually getting results is what you do when you play the old Washington partisan game, and Dick Zimmer has apparently spent so much time in Washington that he's mastered playing it." Zimmer served three terms in the House from 1991 to 1996.

While Zimmer was criticizing the Lautenberg station, Lautenberg was touring South Jersey, starting at a labor breakfast in Atlantic City and winding up at a fund-raiser in Camden.