Kean touts book, and his son

BY JOSHUA KEATING
(Jersey Journal, July 14, 2006)

"People in Washington won't believe me when I tell them there's 100 Republicans at a gathering in Jersey City," author Alvin Felzenberg joked yesterday at the Liberty House Restaurant.

Felzenberg was on hand with former Gov. Tom Kean and scores of fellow Republicans to kick off a publicity tour for his new biography, "Governor Tom Kean: From the New Jersey Statehouse to the 9-11 Commission."

The former governor - and father of state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who is running for U.S. Senate against Hudson County's Robert Menendez - also spoke, fielding questions ranging from his childhood to current events. He lamented what he sees as an increasingly bitter and fractious political climate.

"When I was governor, the Democrats and Republicans would work together," Kean said. "There wasn't the same partisanship there is now."

Kean traces his bipartisan beliefs back to his father, Robert Kean, a U.S. congressman for over 22 years.

In fact, Kean was elected Assembly speaker at a time when the Democrats were in power.

"Both parties had positions of power," he said. "If you wanted to pass a bill you had to cross the aisle."

When an audience member asked about Kean's son's campaign, the ex-governor quipped: "I'm all for him."

In an interview, Felzenberg denied any connection between the book's release and Kean Jr.'s campaign.

"We signed the contract for this book in 2001," he said. "Junior was nowhere near politics at that time."

© 2006 Jersey Journal