Occasionally, a newspaper source or public official is able to sum up a situation with one pithy quote. Other times, he is able to contradict himself when his comment is proven untrue months later. Sometimes, the quote can just make us laugh.
The quotes below are able to elucidate a complicated issue with just a few words. Here are some of the most evocative, witty, interesting, or heartfelt remarks printed in our newspaper in the past 12 months.
Countywide
"Corruption is a blight on government. In Hudson County or any county or municipality in New Jersey, we are determined to find it and stamp it out." – U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, in October, after the indictment of former County Executive Robert Janiszewski on extortion charges.
"Frank Hague is dead! I’ve seen his grave. And we don’t need another Frank Menendez Hague in this county." – Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham, during a county executive primary rally in March.
"If a boss finds an employee working against him, that employee ain’t going to work for that boss any more." – Kenneth Marino in explaining to a judge why county workers were fired in April for political reasons.
"This was a victory of new politics over old politics." – Bob Menendez, after Tom DeGise beat Bernard Hartnett in the June primary for county executive.
"People think I was being clever by waiting for the last minute. I wasn’t being clever." – Gerry McCann, after being dumped from the county freeholder ballot due to lack of proper signatures on his nominating petition in May.
"I see a lot of privatization as passing the buck, throwing the problems onto someone else. I think Bill O’Dea may have had a good idea in our taking the operation back." – Freeholder Brian Stack, about the closing of Pollak Hospital in February.
"I am not guilty of these charges and intend to fight them to the fullest extent possible." – Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon, after she was indicted in November for allegedly passing bribes to former County Executive Robert Janiszewski.
"I have been a good freeholder. I have been a voice of social consciousness on the board. I have been a positive force." – Freeholder William Braker when indicted for extortion in December.
Guttenberg
"We might have fallen off the horse, but we dusted off the jeans and got back on the horse already. I wish the opposition the best. There are no hard feelings." – Guttenberg council candidate Thomas Rizzi, who was unsuccessful for a second straight year in his attempt to run for public office, this time for Town Council.
"I haven’t had anyone talk to me about the particulars concerning the job. It’s a great position and I’m honored to be selected, but there’s nothing official to it." – Former Guttenberg Councilman Ramon de la Cruz, prior to the Democratic primary for Town Council in June, talking about a possible state appointment that would force him to step down from the council. Two weeks after winning the nomination for Town Council, de la Cruz had to resign to become the state director of Election Law.
Hoboken
"He will single-handedly help our economy" – City Councilman Tony Soares on Sen. Jon Corzine’s decision to move to a rental apartment in Hoboken in September. Corzine had gotten divorced this year. Corzine had spent more than $60 million, mostly his own money, on his senate campaign years earlier.
"I’ve gotten over 100 e-mails asking to do interviews or attend events. I’m trying my best not to think about it all the time, but whenever I come home there it is on my answering machine, in my e-mail and on my TV." – A Hoboken woman, in September, who had lost her husband in the World Trade Center
"Most folks at the shelter are minimum-wage workers and are the first to be laid off in a bad economy." – Sister Norberta Hunnewinkel of the Hoboken Homeless Shelter on the increasing homeless problem, in September.
"Obviously we have a problem and it is festering" – Councilman Christopher Campos on the rise of gang activity and open-air drug dealing in the Hoboken Housing Authority projects, in October
"They come in and make the area fun and trendy, but then before you know it, the area is gentrified and the artists are gone. Cities really need to be resilient and nurture the artist, because their diversity makes an area a better place to live." – Hoboken Director of Cultural Affairs Gerri Fallo, in January, about the current trend that Hoboken is following and the need to nurture the artist community.
Jersey City
"I don’t know how this is a racial issue, because I’m not a Martian." – City Council President L. Harvey Smith, rebutting claims by residents in November that the council was being racist in declining to confirm Mayor Cunningham’s appointment of Rev. Ralph Brower to the Jersey City Redevelopment Committee. Brower, Cunningham and Smith are all Africa-American.
"The ball’s in his court." – Michael Kates, an attorney representing Mountain Road residents attempting to stop the construction of a neighbor’s tennis court on the roof of his house in December.
"When I was a rookie, if you were alone and in trouble, you’d have to break a store window to set off the alarm." – Mayor Glenn Cunningham talking about the dangers faced by lone patrol officers, while walking a beat in January.
"They’re the size of Cleveland!" – Dorcey Winant, a Paulus Hook community activist commenting in April on electricity transformers that had been installed at a new building on Warren Street. The Jersey City Planning Board ruled that the five-foot-high, six-foot-wide transformers would have to be buried out of the public view.
"This is not just a Newport problem or a Jersey City problem. This is a national problem that could endanger the hardwood forests of America." – Carl Schulze, a representative of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, remarking in November on the damage that could happen if the Asian Longhorned Beetle were to spread outside the quarantine zone in Newport.
North Bergen
"I have not been implicated. There is no truth to it whatsoever. I have no idea where it’s coming from. It didn’t happen. I’m telling you, they didn’t search my home." – Former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Peter Perez in April, four months before Perez pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
"Some wild thoughts crossed my mind to make me want to go to Nashville. I saw something in a newspaper that Nashville was ‘The Music City.’ I love all kinds of music, like pop music, so I wanted to go." – 18-year-old North Bergen resident Minkesh Patel, who vanished without a trace for two weeks, only to be found in Nashville.
"I know what happens at pool halls. Gambling is part of what happens." – Local activist Rocco Arciola in May, when a proposed billiard parlor was voted down by the township Planning Board. Arciola died in November.
"You see all these movies and pictures about ‘The Battle of the Bulge’ and unless you were there, you have no idea. There was snow, fog. It was hell." – Nick "Smokey" Fortunato, who was named the Grand Marshall of the North Bergen Memorial Day parade.
"What do you hear? Did you hear anything about me? Am I next… I don’t think so. But then again, Joe and Vinnie didn’t think they had anything to worry about either. I just wanted to be sure." – A North Bergen official, asking a reporter after a public meeting if he had heard any rumors about his involvement in the town’s ongoing FBI probe.
Secaucus
"The thought of someone 50 years from now removing or paving over such a memorial, a marker for a place where death and burial took place, for strictly commercial reasons is unthinkable." – Rev. Will Henkel in March, after the New Jersey Turnpike Authority asked local religious leaders about relocating a poor people’s graveyard in Secaucus.
"Even using the most conservative estimates of risk, residents exposed to these chemicals would not exceed levels that the EPA considers a risk to health." – Richard Welsh, a toxicologist retained to assess possible health risks due to contamination spreading under residential homes in area of Keystone Metal Finishing Plant in Secaucus, in January.
"The local unions were selected for review because of their location in an area or region historically known to be susceptible to the influence of organized crime." – Kurt Muellenberg, a federal monitor, when replacing John Agathos as head of Local 106 hotel and restaurant union in Secaucus in April.
"I’m not using [my Board of Education seat] as a springboard to get to the council." – Tom Troyer, when he filed as an independent candidate for council seat in Secaucus.
"I just had to do it." – Resident Bryan Breckmeyer, a bugler who appeared out of nowhere to play taps at a 9/11 anniversary ceremony in September.
"This is not a shabby operation. These are quality units that will contribute to enhancing the quality of life in Secaucus." – Mayor Dennis Elwell, in responding to critics of a new 212-unit townhouse development in July.
"More Secaucus High School students are on the honor roll than ever before." – Secaucus High School Principal Pat Impreveduto, after learning his school was rated among the top in the state in September.
Union City
"How many paychecks away are any of us from being homeless?" – St. John’s Director of Programs Tom Harrigan, during a tour of the shelter in October.
"Just because I live in the city doesn’t mean that I need noise all the time." – Carol Gusevich reacting to the approval of a new church in her already crowded neighborhood, at a Planning Board meeting in January.
"I am not leaving Union City. I am just leaving City Hall." – Assemblyman Ralph Fraguela on his move from city to state politics, in January.
"That is your desk, your chair and your office; I am only here to serve you." – Newly-elected Town Commissioner Chris Irizarry on his appointment, in January.
"The city needs a shot in the arm." – Attorney Dennis Oury on the proposed redevelopment of the Swiss Townhouse Property, in March.
"With the kind of money they’re giving us, we should make improvements." – Union City Superintendent of Schools Tom Highton on the state of Union City’s schools, in May.
Weehawken
"WIN? Lose." – An elderly man, after being handed a campaign palm card promoting the Weehawken Initiative Now ticket on election day in May. He gave a thumbs-down sign, tossed the card to the curb and continued to walk down Boulevard East. The WIN team later lost to the incumbent Weehawken and You team.
"I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never seen anything like this. I guess it’s safe to say that Hudson County politics have finally come to Weehawken." – An anonymous police officer, watching the shenanigans that took place on election day in May.
"I wanted to be a rock star. I had a paper guitar that I had drawn and cut out, playing along with the Beatles, wearing those cute go-go dresses." – Weehawken resident Linda Chorney, who appeared on the adult contemporary Top 40 in June.
"If 60 percent is a landslide and a mandate, then 77 percent is a super mandate." – Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, after getting the returns Election Night in May.
"I think it was important for all of us to get back to the waterfront. I think it was a way of healing, to go back where it all started. We went back to doing what we did before Sept. 11." – Weehawken resident Melody Tinker, talking about the Weehawken Day Festival in September, which returned after having been canceled in 2001 due to the World Trade Center tragedy.
West New York
"I am breaking all sorts of barriers here." – West New York Mayor Albio Sires, in April, on his one-day tenure as governor of New Jersey when both Gov. McGreevey and Senate President John O. Bennett were both out of the state.
"It becomes a bug." – West New York resident Dr. Armando Riverol on his other vocation as a cabaret dancer.
"The kids keep me coming back." – New Jersey 2002 Teacher of the Year and Memorial High School librarian Ellspeth Corrigan Moore, in November, speaking about her calling.