The Second Best Kept NJ Secret

The Intrigue and Interest About Congressman Tom Kean, Jr.

I’ve spent most of the past few months focused on The Deciders, The Friday Reporter podcast and client work, which means Authentically Speaking has been a little quieter than usual. But there is one political story I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.

Not because of what we know about it. Because of what we don’t.

By now, most politically engaged people have followed the story of Congressman Tom Kean Jr.’s extended absence from Congress and the campaign trail while dealing with a health issue. By all accounts, he’s recovering and intends to seek reelection, which is welcome news. What I find fascinating isn’t the health story itself. It’s the fact that in a political environment where virtually nothing stays private, so little information has emerged about one of the most recognizable political figures in New Jersey.

That observation immediately brought me back to another New Jersey political mystery. For years, the best-kept secret in the state was the identity of Wally Edge. Political insiders read him, candidates worried about him and reporters chased him. While political operatives spent countless hours trying to figure out who was behind the byline. Everybody knew Wally Edge. Nobody knew it was David Wildstein.

Today, of course, everyone knows David. His New Jersey Globe has become required reading for anyone trying to understand New Jersey politics. When I interviewed him several years ago for The Friday Reporter, he was already running the Globe. But like many people who spent time in and around New Jersey politics, I first knew him as Wally Edge, the anonymous observer who always seemed to know what was happening before everyone else.

Back then, the mystery was David Wildstein. Today, the mystery is Tom Kean Jr.

What makes the Kean story so unusual is that it runs contrary to everything I learned during my years in New Jersey politics. Before moving to Washington, I spent nearly a decade working on campaigns, serving in government and lobbying in Trenton. That’s long enough to understand how information actually moves through the state. Contrary to popular belief, New Jersey politics isn’t fueled by gossip as much as it’s fueled by relationships. The same people have known one another for years, sometimes decades. They’ve worked campaigns together, served in administrations together and competed against one another often enough to know where all the bodies are buried. Information moves quickly because those relationships exist.

But relationships don’t just spread information. They also create trust.

That’s the part I keep coming back to when I think about Tom Kean Jr. We’re talking about a sitting member of Congress representing a district that could help determine control of the House. We’re talking about someone carrying one of the most recognizable names in New Jersey politics. Under ordinary circumstances, months of absence from Congress, public events and campaign activity would generate an endless stream of leaks and anonymous sourcing. Instead, remarkably little has surfaced. In fact, the only reporter who appears to have spoken directly with Kean during much of this period was David Wildstein, which is a fitting twist given his place in New Jersey political history.

The simplest explanation may also be the most New Jersey explanation. The Keans have occupied a unique place in the state’s political culture for generations. Tom Kean Sr. built one of the most respected political brands in modern New Jersey history, earning goodwill that extended far beyond Republican circles. Whether you agreed with him politically or not, he was viewed as someone who approached public life with seriousness, discipline and decency.

People often assume New Jersey politics is incapable of keeping a secret because it is so intensely political. My experience has been almost the opposite. New Jersey can keep a secret when the people involved decide it’s worth keeping. The same network of relationships that can spread information across the state in a matter of hours can also close ranks when circumstances call for it. Looking at the Kean story, I can’t help but wonder if that’s exactly what happened.

As someone who spent years in New Jersey politics and now watches it from Washington, that’s the part I find most interesting. That beneath all the noise, New Jersey remains a relationship business.

For years, the best-kept secret in New Jersey politics was the identity of Wally Edge. The Tom Kean Jr. story may be the closest thing we’ve had since.