ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDMINSTER, N.J.
SOURCE: DONNA DE LA CRUZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
... OR ``CITIZEN FORBES''? The wealthy presidential candidate is seen as an average Joe by some of his neighbors.
Steve Forbes could afford to fly a famous chef to his 500-acre estate here to fix his breakfast. But he prefers the $2.22 deal at Friendly's Restaurant.
He's seen driving around this affluent township not in a Mercedes or Cadillac, but in a Plymouth. If he's doing the grocery shopping, he might take the Ford Crown Victoria station wagon with more than 50,000 miles on it.
His wife, Sabina, eschews the social scene, preferring to tend to the 60 to 70 cattle she raises. She calls herself ``a farmer's wife,'' said a longtime family friend, political economist Jude Wanniski.
The family is so private that they did not want to comment for an article on their lifestyle. Yet the heir to the Forbes' publishing business is traveling the country these days spending a chunk of his personal fortune to make himself a household name - and a credible GOP candidate for president.
To neighbors, Forbes seems like a regular guy.
``He's a very quiet man, very reserved - you wouldn't know he was so wealthy,'' said Joe Romo, owner of Romo Books in neighboring Far Hills, where Forbes sometimes shops for books on history, current events or the economy.
When he's done with the books, he often donates them to the township library, said library director Patricia Anderson, who has spotted Forbes in the local Quick-Chek buying a newspaper.
Not everyone who comes in contact with Forbes in the affluent suburban hills of central New Jersey sees him as an unassuming neighbor. Local aviators were upset when, to block expansion of a runway at Somerset Airport near his property, he bought the land the airport needed.
``He's Citizen Forbes,'' said pilot Joe DuPont, likening Forbes to the arrogant billionaire publisher in the film ``Citizen Kane.''
``He has his own helipad on his property, so why is he against the runway extension? It's like `let them eat cake,''' DuPont said.
DuPont and another pilot, Jack Elliott, said if Forbes' late father had had a problem with the runway extension, he would have discussed it with them personally instead of sending a lawyer to township meetings on the plan.
``Malcolm Forbes used this airport,'' DuPont said. ``He used to fly Elizabeth Taylor in here all the time.''
But Steve Forbes - or Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. - is not his father, those who know the family agree.
While the senior Forbes held lavish parties at his estate, often inviting Taylor, the only party Steve Forbes has held recently at his Southdown estate was for his family on New Year's Eve. That involved Steve, Sabina and their five daughters, ages 8 to 22, ``dancing and wearing party hats,'' Wanniski said.
The senior Forbes was outgoing, friendly and engaged in a variety of extracurricular activities, such as hot-air ballooning and motorcycling. The younger Forbes' passion is the economy and history.
``Steve is quiet, reserved; but once you get to know him, he's very friendly,'' said Romo, who met him as a customer. ``I didn't know who he was until he used a credit card one day - he usually pays in cash.''
Before launching his presidential campaign, Steve Forbes focused on two things - his family and his job as president and chief executive officer of Forbes Inc.
But politics was always a passion: As a child, he held mock elections for his stuffed animals. His thesis at Princeton University, where he graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in history, was titled ``Contest for the 1892 Democratic Presidential Nomination,'' won by New Jerseyan Grover Cleveland.
Forbes went to private schools in New Jersey and Massachusetts. He attended the exclusive Far Hills Country Day School with Christie Todd, now Gov. Christie Whitman of New Jersey.
Whitman, also from a wealthy family, recalled how she and Forbes presented dolls to Patricia Nixon when Richard Nixon was campaigning in New Jersey in 1952 for the vice presidency. Forbes was 5 and Whitman 6.
Whitman said Forbes is happiest when he's with his family.
``It's always been a wonderful contrast in his life,'' she said. ``He's got these fabulous homes all over the world and he'll play in that world one minute, but he's happiest when he's home with the girls.''
Memorabilia displayed at Forbes' campaign headquarters here include framed pictures of Forbes with various dignitaries - some aboard his family's private jet, the Capitalist Tool, or on the 151-foot, 14-bathroom yacht, the Highlander.
There's Forbes with Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing St., Forbes with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and Forbes with Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn. Then there's the autographed photo of Forbes with two of his close friends, former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp and former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, taken at an ``Empower America'' gathering.
Wanniski, who encouraged Forbes to run for the presidency, concedes the Forbes clan is not your ordinary American family, because of its wealth. Forbes has been unwilling to reveal his net worth, but rival Fortune magazine estimated it at $439 million.
But the family likes doing what other families do, Wanniski said.
``They like going to the movies, going to the bookstore, going out for pizza,'' he said. They have no maid, cook or live-in help, and Forbes does the family shopping at local supermarkets.
``He checks out the prices and looks for the good deals,'' said Wanniski, who lives about a dozen miles away in Morristown.
``Steve's favorite breakfast is that $2.22 deal at Friendly's'' - two eggs, two pieces of sausage or bacon, two pancakes, waffles or slices of toast. Waiters and waitresses at the Friendly's in neighboring Bernardsville confirmed that Forbes is a customer but did not wish to speak about his ordering or tipping habits.
``They are very, very wealthy people, but they don't put on airs or anything,'' said Joseph Metelski, former mayor of this township of just over 7,000 where the median house value in 1990 was $199,200. ``They seem like pretty normal people.''
The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, plays Little League, and the family attends the yearly picnic, Metelski said. ``I've been told he's been seen at McDonald's.''
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. To neighbors, Republican presidential candidateby CNBSteve Forbes seems like a regular guy. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PROFILE