Gov. Jim McGreevey made very few friends in the arts community by proposing to slash the arts portion of the state budget.
The state’s arts granting process has always been a bloated institution involving favored groups of insiders that doled out the cash or collected it or both. While many artists and arts groups around the state used state funding as a kind of welfare, the funding has also salvaged many programs necessary to communities where arts would ceased to exist without state aid. The surgery McGreevey performs in his budget fails to distinguish fat from muscle.
In this case, he may well kill the patient rather than reduce its bloat. It is his inability to distinguish between the two that makes the governor’s budget so dangerous, and caused such a howl of outrage from local officials.
Present taxpayers paying for past mistake
Hudson County’s past irresponsibility in dealing with its dead may come to roost in balancing several county budgets, as officials from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority backed off from a promised $5.5 million purchase price for 10 acres of land in Secaucus for an interchange. Now that the Superior Court has said the Turnpike must relocate the remains of as many as 3,500 people from that land, with the removal costing the Turnpike $5 million, the agency is offering the county a lot less money to buy the land. So Hudson County taxpayers may have to pay the price.
Hudson County abandoned the graveyard in the 1960s and for three decades, those buried out of Hudson County institutions went forgotten – one more scandal to plague county government. Tom DeGise, elected county executive last November, was pressed between responsibility to the dead of Hudson County’s past or those living in Hudson County today – an undesirable Sophie’s Choice. With cuts to the state budget and loss of expected Turnpike revenue, DeGise’s upcoming county budgets can’t be good news, leaving him vulnerable to political criticism he doesn’t deserve.
Board of Education filing deadlines
Filing date for school board elections is Feb. 24. Although Hoboken has made a lot of noise as far as potential candidates for council, the school board possibilities have slipped under the rumor mill’s radar. With the council elections several years away in Secaucus, the school board has become the center of political rumor mongering. Speculation has board members Michael Pesci and Ed Rittberg withdrawing from the race. The rumors about Pesci – whose personal commitments have tied him up over the last six months – have some merit. Rumors about Rittberg, this year’s board president, have less.
Board member John Voli will likely seek re-election. Former board member and President Angelo Andriani may seek to return to the board. Former Councilman George Heflich took out petitions to run. Kathy McFarlane, a candidate several years ago, has been rumored in the running.
The more things change…
Jamie Vazquez of Jersey City said he had taken out petitions for county executive seat in the June Democratic primary. This will pit him against DeGise (and maybe others), repeating a historic confrontation. Vazquez may feel he has a lot of get even about. In 1993, Vazquez was poised to take his place as president of the Jersey City council, when then-Councilman-at-Large DeGise stole his thunder.
Strangely enough, the names popping up in this year’s county and state elections strongly reflect previous Jersey City battles. DeGise’s ability to become council president came partly as a side effect of council battles led by Jersey City Council L. Harvey Smith. Smith has been loyal to DeGise this year and apparently hopes to take the place of Joe Charles as state senator in the 31st District on DeGise’s ticket.
How Stack stacks up
Stack’s possible moves to unseat Rafael Fraguela as assemblyman have sent a message to the rest of the county, and could see Stack as the next assemblyman – although he may have to run for office in a brand new landscape if the districts are realigned.
Union City might wind up with North Bergen, Secaucus and west Hudson. The question is not how well Stack gets along with Assembly Speaker and West New York Mayor Albio Sires (D-33rd Dist.) – a union that seems likely lately – but how well Stack gets along with state Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco and state Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto (D-32nd Dist.)
Joan Quigley, currently assemblywoman in the 32nd District, said she has no qualms about moving from the 32nd Assembly district to the 33rd – this part of a court ruling that said Jersey City must divest itself from one of its three assembly districts.
“My section of Jersey City is about the same population as Union City,” she said during a telephone interview. “It will be a clean switch.”
Stack said he refuses to believe reports that a recall movement against him has been orchestrated by Rep. Bob Menendez (D-13th Dist.)
“This is the act of one man who has no credibility,” he said, referring to Joe Falto, who is leading the movement. But this is not to say Stack feels safe in Union City, which explains part of his reasoning for talking about Fraguela – who many claim is Menendez’s representative in Union City. Some sources said Stack has no choice to go against Menendez. Recent resignations from the board may indicate a power shift on the board, and he may have to fight for his life. In Union City, the real political power is in the Board of Education. It is likely where the money is coming from.
Sad passing
The recent blizzard was rough on many, especially two local politicos. Weehawken Deputy Mayor Louis Ferullo died tragically of a heart attack while shoveling now last week. Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell fractured a rib doing a similar chore near his house.
Chess
Bob Jasek, Hudson County engineer, claimed it was Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell’s crafty manipulation of the state Department of Transportation, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and Norfolk-Southern rail lines that resulted in a $30 million bridge built in south Secaucus.
“He was like a chess player,” Jasek said.
Even political opponents have admired Elwell’s refusal to fire state Senator Ray Lesniak, employed for the town as an attorney.
“Elwell’s felt pressure from North Hudson,” one source said. “But he’s like a bulldog. He won’t budge.”
Welcome back, Becht
Gov. McGreevey has made a series of appointments to various state boards. Helen Lai Brzozowski of Union City was named to the Asian-American Commission. Anthony P. Vainieri of North Bergen was named to the state Board of Mortuary Science, and Joseph Lepis, Jr. of Jersey City was reappointed to the state Noise Control Council.
More locally, Dan Becht, one-time Republican candidate for the 31st District Assembly seat, has quietly made his way back the Hudson County Improvement Authority.
Becht will serve a similar role in Secaucus, where he has been working to help get the state to pass a hotel tax. Becht also served as a special liaison for Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler in the 1990s, lobbying for Jersey City in Trenton and Washington D.C.