GOP seeks distance from Glouco candidate

When Lee Lucas declared himself an Assembly candidate in the Republican primary race, many South Jersey party leaders cringed.

They tried to ignore him when he called poor people who have "too many children" inferior, and proposed drastic cuts in poverty and school programs to save the middle class from high taxes.

But then, after a nasty primary battle, the 51-year-old commercial oven repairman won the nomination for one of two Assembly seats in the Third District, which covers the lower reaches of the state.

It was the Gibbstown man's first victory after two earlier primary losses, and now he is a candidate his party can no longer ignore.

Gloucester County Republican Chairman Bill Fey last month called on Lucas to resign, saying his "hateful ideology" and "Darwinian nonsense" make him unfit for office. Lucas refused.

Now, Assembly Republican leader Alex DeCroce is taking the unusual step of asking Lucas to step down after learning of a police report that quotes Lucas using a racial slur.

"I am appalled and disgusted by the racist remarks attributed to Mr. Lucas. His attitude, behavior and statements are intolerable," DeCroce said in a statement. "If Mr. Lucas remains a candidate, he will receive zero assistance of any kind from the Assembly Republican Victory '09 campaign committee. His views have no place in our party, or anywhere in our society for that matter."

According to a police report, Lucas complained on Sept. 4, 2006, that his neighbors had trespassed onto his property and cut down part of a tree. The report also said Lucas lost his temper and used a racial slur as he told them, in front of their 6-year-old child, that if they wanted "to live like" minorities, they should move.

Lucas admitted the statement and using the slur, but said his speech is protected under the First Amendment when he is on his own property. He also said he believes it is not taboo for white people to use the slur among themselves and for black entertainers to use it to make a point, but said it is wrong to direct a racial slur against a black person in anger.

Gloucester County NAACP vice president Loretta Winters disagrees with his reasoning and says Lucas should exit the race.

"He's an unashamed racist," she said after reading the report. "He's obviously not going to be a good candidate for all the people because of the way he feels about certain groups of people. When he makes decisions or legislates, will he represent the poor, or the black constituents?"

Winters said racial slurs should never be used, because "they're harmful and degrading."

Lucas, a former Navy sailor who dropped out of college, says he won't give up the campaign.

"I'm a fighter and I like to fight, not physically, but for a just cause," he said, calling himself a champion of an overtaxed middle class. It's wrong, he said, for low-income people to have numerous children and expect the middle class to pay to raise them.

"I hate political correctness," he said.

He said his viewpoint was nurtured when he was denied tuition assistance at Rutgers University 23 years ago; he said he got no assistance because he is white.

"I couldn't afford it, and I had to go to work while someone else got their college paid for because of their color," he said.

Political experts say Lucas is the kind of fringe candidate a major party must control.

"In this day and age, it's pretty extreme" to blame poor people for draining the budget, said Julian E. Zelizer, a Princeton University public affairs professor and author. "When you have a strong extreme minority tied to your party, it's something you have to deal with."

Mark Duffy, executive director of the state Assembly Republican Victory '09 campaign, said party organizers inherited Lucas as one of their candidates after former Gloucester County Chairwoman Loran Oglesby recruited him.

"We preferred other candidates," he said.

Oglesby - who was voted out last month - put Lucas on the ballot as an endorsed candidate when she could not find anyone willing to run on her slate. The Gloucester County party had fractured into three factions, from hard right to moderate, and each won a few seats after an ugly primary campaign.

Previously, Oglesby declined to endorse Lucas when he approached her about running a few years ago for freeholder and for council in Greenwich Township, which includes Gibbstown. She did not return calls for comment.

Robert Villare, who is on the ballot with Lucas as a GOP Assembly candidate for the Third District, which covers parts of Gloucester, Cumberland, and Salem Counties, also ran under a cloud in the primary. Oglesby had endorsed him, while the state GOP and Fey's slate opposed him. They feared he had residency issues that could disqualify him for office.

Election rules call for a state candidate to have resided in New Jersey for at least two years, but Villare voted in Delaware last year.

In recent weeks, Villare, a heart surgeon, assured GOP leaders that he has long been a New Jersey resident and that he meets the requirements, Duffy said. Bill Winkler, Villare's campaign spokesman, said Villare used a provisional ballot to vote in Delaware when he was on call at a hospital there.

If changes are not made on the ballot, Lucas and Villare would oppose Democrats John J. Burzichelli and Celeste Riley in an area that has long been a Democratic stronghold.

"I have no comment," Burzichelli said of Lucas' viewpoints. "It's intraparty stuff and it's their issue at the moment."

The GOP is pushing hard to recapture the governor's seat with Christopher J. Christie as its candidate and also wants to take some state Assembly seats, which are all up for grabs this fall.

Duffy said he thinks Villare will be a viable candidate, willing to fight against government spending and high taxes. But he said he also wants Lucas to step aside and make room for "an honorable person" to run in his place.