Will Chris Smith's Gay Adoption Remarks Make Him Another Endangered N.J. Republican?

Press Release

Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., New Jersey's longest serving congressman, was the only Garden State Republican considered safe.

But a controversy over his views on adoptions by same-sex couples could change that.

The furor erupted after the Washington Blade, a newspaper in the nation's capital that covers the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, published excerpts from a tape recording of Smith's May appearance at Colts Neck High School.

The tape appeared to quote Smith suggesting that placing children in orphanages would be a plausible alternative to letting same-sex couples adopt them.

Smith then released the entire tape, which contained an earlier comment that explicitly rejected that suggestion.

"No, Lord no," he answered when asked, "So you would say that foster care and orphanages would be in the better interest of the child?"

Smith said his Democratic opponent, Josh Welle, unethically edited the tape to distort his remarks, while the challenger said the lawmaker's comments on the entire recording showed him as an anti-gay extremist.

So will this move the needle in the race?

"There is an initial temptation to assume this is a game-changing moment when it might be but it also might not be," said Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections. "It's going to take a couple of weeks and maybe a poll or two to see whether it changes the fundamental dynamic of the race."

Smith accused Welle, a Navy veteran and founder of a software company, of selective editing.

"Fortunately, we have the full tape, which shows this unethical distortion," Smith told NJ Advance Media. "When you falsify the record purposely, as he has done, that is an ethics issue of the highest caliber. People want lawmakers and politicians to tell the truth. He did not tell the truth."

Welle spokeswoman Aubrey Fink referred all questions about the tape to the Blade, whose editor, Kevin Naff, said the excerpts he published provided an accurate picture.

"Those students came away from their meeting with the clear impression that Smith opposes adoption rights for gay couples and thinks orphanages are a better option for children," Naff said. "When Rep. Smith is asked a direct question about adoption rights for same-sex couples and he pivots to talk about orphanages, we know what he means."

Gov. Phil Murphy's commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, Christine Norbut Beyer, waded into the controversy.

"History and research has proven that living in orphanages can cause lasting psychological and physical damage," she said. "A loving family, regardless of race, religion, gender, marital status or sexual orientation, is always the best option."

Welle seized on the full recording as proof that the congressman offered an "exclusionary vision for this country" because of his opposition to same-sex marriage.

"Maybe if he had held a town hall in the last 25 years, Smith would know that the people of the 4th Congressional District will not stand for injustice and inequality," Welle said. "Not in 2018. Not in Central Jersey."

Welle appeared to know about the version of the tape that went to the Blade before it appeared. At a Sept. 6 press conference on gun violence, he mentioned Smith's appearance at the high school and quoted him as saying, "If you are in a foster home, you are better off there than you are in the home of a gay couple."

And Welle raised money off the reports on Wednesday. "During a recent event caught on tape, Chris Smith implied that orphanages would be better for children than gay adoption," his campaign posted on Facebook.

Until now, Inside Elections and the Cook Political Report, two Washington-based publications that track congressional races, both rated Smith as a safe bet for re-election.

"Up to this comment, this was not a race Republicans were particularly worried about or Democrats were particularly excited about outside the district," Gonzales said, "We should have learned not to make stone-cold lock declarations, but the congressman was in a strong position, at least before this."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken note, though has yet to add Welle to its list of Democratic challengers most likely to win Republican-held seats.

"Mr. Smith is bringing more and more attention to himself," Rep. Ben Lujan, D-N.M., the DCCC chairman, said Thursday at a session with Washington-based reporters from local news outlets, including NJ Advance Media. "Welle is a very strong candidate and he had the courage to run in a very tough district."

On the tape, Smith, a leading opponent of abortion rights in Congress, pointed out President Barack Obama once agreed with him in defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Smith said the U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex marriage made adoption questions "moot," and his complaint was about religious agencies that oppose same-sex marriage being excluded from handling adoptions

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