In a slight perversion of the “lions and tigers and bears” song in the film “The Wizard of Oz,” in the last week before the June 3 primary, rubber chickens, car thieves and dead relatives dominated the political rhetoric – especially in the 31st state election district where Vincent Militello, L. Harvey Smith and Glenn Cunningham vie for the coveted Democratic nomination to State Senate to replace outgoing state Senator Joseph Charles.
The biggest surprise about these things is how little of a surprise it is. After all, this is Hudson County, where nearly anything is possible.
The rubber chicken was an innovation of Militello, who as the dark horse in this race, needs to get Jersey City Mayor Cunningham and Jersey Council President Smith to pay attention to him. Militello’s sending messengers around with rubber chickens did that and more, and is a variation of the old game of chicken kids play, along with double-daring, riding double on a bicycle, and other reckless juvenile feats. Of course, a few moments in this otherwise merely ridiculous campaign of male machismo came when a taunting Militello supporter, dressed in a chicken suit, lured Cunningham out of City Hall for a face-to-beak debate. Smith had a similar confrontation during this week’s council meeting. Smith, however, posed for a picture with the chicken.
The idea is that Mitiello says Smith and Cunningham are too chicken to debate him.
In his own right, Smith – apparently not as a campaign stunt to help undermine Cunningham’s public safety record as a U.S. Marshall – had a confrontation with a would-be car thief. While Smith made his way to an interview at the Hudson Reporter offices, he took a moment to chase down and help nab a suspect. It’s amusing to envision Smith charging through the streets of downtown Jersey City in his perfectly pressed suit, waving his brief case at the alleged thief, then wrestling the character to the ground to hold him for the police to arrive. But apparently, something similar happened.
Peace here, war in Harrison?
Rep. Bob Menendez (D-13th Dist.) seems to be mending political fences with Cunningham, before an expected Cunningham primary victory. Several statements issued out of Menendez’s office hinted at peacemaking. This is a wise political move. If Cunningham wins, he will carry significant clout. Better to make overtures now than later when such moves might be seen as groveling.
Yet just as Menendez deals with dissidents in one part of the county, he faces rebellion in another. Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough, who took onto his slate incumbent Councilman Anselmo Millan with great reluctance and great pressure from the county Democratic organization, publicly endorsed Millan’s opponent, Victor Villalta in the Harrison 2nd Ward council race. This small gesture could well jeopardize funding for the massive waterfront development planned for Harrison if Menendez – the power behind the Democratic Organization – were a vindictive person.
Raising the wrath of the dead?
Meanwhile, in a race that pits former Freeholder Lou Manzo and Anthony Chiappone against Incumbents Joe Doria and Elba Perez-Cinciarelli for the Assembly, Manzo is up in arms about remarks aimed at his deceased family members as part of an effort to help discredit him.
“I don’t care what people say about me, but leave my family out of it,” he said.
This, of course, excludes his brother, Ron Manzo, who was recently ambushed in Secaucus by political opponents there who grilled Ron, an insurance broker, over the fees he would get from a deal for municipal health coverage. Ron is a big boy and more than capable of fighting his own fights, but Lou said his deceased relations can not answer charges made against them.
But in Hudson County, with its history of dead people voting, even this is possible – and our fax machine is open for any statements Manzo’s family might wish to issue from beyond the grave.
No room for Whitman?
During a telephone interview this week, Gov. Jim McGreevey said he will stand behind and work with County Executive Tom DeGise’s new “pocket park” plan – if, of course, DeGise survives the challenge by candidate Melba Walsh in the June 3 county executive primary.
DeGise said he would be unveiling his plans sometime in June. McGreevey said this fits in with the state’s desire to create 200 new parks for crowded urban areas. Indeed, Hudson County seems to be taking the lead in environmental issues this month and this includes the glorious return of former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, who has been given charge a massive cleanup of contamination along Route 440 in Jersey City.
During a telephone interview, Torricelli said he was “surprised and honored” at the court’s recommending him. With McGreevey and Torricelli leading the environmental movement in New Jersey, there may not be room at the environmental table for former Gov. Christine Whitman, who fled the environmentally insensitive administration of President George W. Bush. Whitman recently resigned at the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Janiszewski’s impact
The ongoing trial of Freeholder Nidia Davila-Colon for allegedly passing bribes onto former County Executive Robert Janiszewski has most of Hudson County pondering how far the Janiszewski probe will go, and whatever happened to Bobby J.’s wife, Maribeth Janiszewski, who served as his campaign finance treasurer.
While Bobby J. has pled guilty to extortion and other charges, Beth seems to have dropped quietly out of the picture. Some vendors who contributed to Janiszewski’s various campaigns in the past by passing cash payments to Beth are wondering if they’ll be accused of having done something wrong.
Cash contributions to a candidate are not considered illegal, in or out of an unmarked envelope, unless they exceed the legal reporting limits.