Ex-Gov. Kean Cites GOP Right in Decision Not to Run for Senate

NEW YORK — Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who has announced he would not seek to replace retiring Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), said Thursday he backed away because he is repelled by the growing influence of “right-wing radicals” in the Republican Party and believes that, as a GOP moderate, he would not have been allowed a voice within the party or the Senate.

Echoing growing disillusionment in Washington by moderates in both parties--including Bradley--Kean criticized a “lack of civility” and “meanness” in national politics and his own party’s “green-eyeshade mentality,” which he said has shortchanged the environment, education and the disadvantaged.

“If the whole priority is just reducing the budget, you’re just crunching numbers and you don’t have a guiding philosophy, and that’s not governing,” said Kean, who enjoyed broad popularity as New Jersey’s governor from 1981 to 1989. He would have been the front-runner for the Senate in 1996 and his candidacy would have provided a major boost to the GOP’s presidential prospects in New Jersey, according to political operatives.

Asked whom he blames for radicalizing the party, Kean mentioned only presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan, but one of Kean’s longtime associates said he believes the “radical right” in general is taking the party’s agenda captive.

Kean, interviewed as he was leaving for China to attend the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, said he was not criticizing Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), whom he said he likes and respects, or House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). He said he senses that Dole shares some of his concerns. Dole could not be reached for comment.