For N.J. Senate The best candidates

New Jersey's Legislature faces crucial challenges next year, including a projected $3 billion state budget shortfall and property taxes that have been rising at about 7 percent annually.

Voters should remember that when they cast ballots for state Senate and Assembly on Nov. 6.

One of the most competitive Senate races is in the 8th District in Burlington County, where veteran GOP Sen. Martha Bark is stepping down amid a criminal investigation into possible pension-padding with no-show jobs. The Republicans are running County Clerk Philip Haines, 56, of Springfield Township, a former freeholder. The Democratic candidate is Assemblyman Francis Bodine, 71, of Moorestown, a lifelong Republican who switched parties in April after the GOP withdrew its support for him.

Both candidates are well qualified; our endorsement goes to PHILIP HAINES. He has a sound record working on redevelopment and open-space preservation in the county. Haines also presents a more convincing case that he'll work in Trenton to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live. Bodine has served as county freeholder and mayor of Moorestown, among other posts. But his agenda for Trenton is not as well focused as Haines'.

In the Seventh District, which includes western portions of Burlington County plus Camden County towns Merchantville and Pennsauken, incumbent Republican State Sen. Diane Allen, 59, of Edgewater Park, is being challenged by Democrat Rich Dennison, 30, of Florence.

DIANE ALLEN has served her constituents well and has earned another term. It's the first run for public office for Dennison, a licensed funeral director and attorney whose campaign has misfired.

In Camden County's Sixth District, Democratic incumbent State Sen. John Adler, 48, of Cherry Hill, faces Republican challenger Joe Adolf, a former mayor of Magnolia.

Adler has an exemplary record in the Senate, where he was first elected in 1992. He was primary sponsor of the state's indoor smoking ban and has been willing to buck his party occasionally; for example, opposing this year's property-tax rebates as a "one-year fix."

Adolf, 70, of Berlin, pledges to "make a fuss" about wasteful spending in Trenton. But he also seems too willing to cut state aid to low-income Abbott school districts in favor of giving more to suburban schools.