Republicans focusing on admonished New Jersey senator

WASHINGTON -- In publicly admonishing Sen. Robert Torricelli, the Senate Ethics Committee gave Republicans a new weapon in their campaign to oust the freshman New Jersey Democrat this fall -- and, potentially, to regain control of the Senate.\nHis Republican opponent, Douglas Forrester, seized on the issue Wednesday, declaring Torricelli "unfit for office" because the committee had chastised the senator for accepting unauthorized gifts.\nForrester said Torricelli should release information that vindicates him or step down.\nTorricelli's campaign manager, Ken Snyder, said Forrester needs to accept that nearly four years of investigations of Torricelli are now over. "Maybe he feels that's problematic for him, because it's all he had," Snyder said.\nTorricelli, "severely admonished" by the committee Tuesday, said he trusts "that people will balance the good that I've done to change people's lives versus the mistakes that I've made."\nEven before the ethics ruling, polls showed Torricelli facing a competitive challenge from Forrester, a businessman who has poured nearly $6 million of his own money into the race.\nA June 19 poll by Quinnipiac University showed Torricelli leading, 44 percent to 36 percent, with the remainder undecided.\nThe stakes are enormous: New Jersey Republicans have lost 10 consecutive Senate elections, and the GOP is seeking to overturn the one-seat majority Democrats hold in the Senate.\nDavid Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University in New Jersey, said Torricelli has time to move the campaign back onto issues where he is less vulnerable.\n"Jerseyans are used to the rough and tumble of politics and can tolerate a lot," Rebovich said.\nIn a three-page letter released Tuesday night, the Senate committee said Torricelli accepted and failed to disclose gifts from a former supporter whom the lawmaker aided.\nThe supporter, David Chang, is in prison for making illegal donations to Torricelli's 1996 campaign.\nTorricelli quickly took to the Senate floor and said: "I agree with the committee's conclusions, fully accept their findings and take full personal responsibility."\nWith three months until the election, Torricelli is apologizing for the flap while maintaining he did not knowingly do anything wrong.\n"It has always been my contention that I believe that at no time did I accept any gifts or violate any Senate rules," he said on the Senate floor.\nThe National Republican Senatorial Committee and the New Jersey Republican chairman, Joseph Kyrillos, both challenge Torricelli to release transcripts of his closed-door interviews with ethics committee members and staff. Torricelli said that is a decision for the committee to make.\nThe degree of the rebuke also is an issue. The panel issued its letter of admonition under a provision of the Senate ethics manual involving cases of "inadvertent or technical violation" of the institution's rules.\nStill, any public action by the committee is rare. Its last public action was a 1995 recommendation that the full Senate expel Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., on the ground of sexual and official misconduct. Packwood later resigned.\nAn official close to the ethics committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the panel has admonished other senators since 1995, but those letters were kept private. The official would not elaborate on those cases.\nSenate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the committee's action "should not be dismissed as insignificant" Asked what its impact will be, Lott said, "That's for the people of New Jersey to decide."\nSenate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., predicted that New Jersey voters "will recognize the leadership he's provided and the issues on which he's worked and re-elect" Torricelli to another term.