Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Inquirer Editorial: Sabrin is GOP's best choice

New Jersey Republicans haven't won a U.S. Senate race since 1978. Although the party has had recent success with candidates for governor, including Thomas Kean Sr., Christie Whitman, and Chris Christie, it has been unable to send a statewide winner to Washington.

Murray Sabrin
Murray SabrinRead more

New Jersey Republicans haven't won a U.S. Senate race since 1978. Although the party has had recent success with candidates for governor, including Thomas Kean Sr., Christie Whitman, and Chris Christie, it has been unable to send a statewide winner to Washington.

The task has been so daunting that mainstream moderates seem to have given up trying. But four conservatives are hotly pursuing the GOP nomination to give freshman Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker a run for his seat.

Of them, MURRAY SABRIN appears to be Republicans' best choice. The finance professor at Ramapo College is a human library of monetary theory and a paragon of libertarian principals. Having been a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008 and the Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997, Sabrin also seems most prepared to carry out a vigorous campaign.

The other candidates include Jeff Bell, who beat the state's last Republican senator, Clifford Case, in the 1978 primary. Bell, who worked for Presidents Reagan and Nixon, has made returning to the gold standard a key component of his campaign. Also running are Rich Pezzullo, a technology specialist who spent 20 years in the Army reserve, and Brian Goldberg, a contractor active in Essex County politics.

Sabrin's compelling personal history should be an asset as he campaigns. Born in Germany just after the war, his parents were the only members of their respective families to survive the Holocaust. They moved to America in 1949. Sabrin says his being a naturalized citizen has served to make his strong feelings about keeping the Constitution intact even stronger.

The proponent of free-market principles opposes the Affordable Care Act, supports a smaller government, and wants to strip down taxes and regulations. But Sabrin says those positions wouldn't keep him from crossing the aisle to work with Democrats, especially when it comes to civil liberties.