For those unfamiliar with the age-old battle for control of Hudson County’s political theater, the recent victory of Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham in the Democratic primary for state Senate in the 31st District may seem like something new.
But it is merely the latest chapter in a saga that has gone back to the early 1980s.
While Cunningham’s victory brings back significant political power to Jersey City, the conflict has its roots in an older battle between two former political allies: former Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann and former Jersey City Mayor Anthony Cucci (along with Cucci’s henchmen, including former County Executive Robert Janiszewski).
The Cucci-Janiszewski faction struggled to wrestle control of the county out of McCann’s hands numerous times, and eventually succeeded largely because of McCann’s fall from grace in 1992, when a federal jury convicted McCann of crimes related to his business but not to his position as mayor. The conviction forced him out of office in 1992, casting power into the hands of Janiszewski and eventually Republican Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler.
"It’s been a long road," McCann admitted in a telephone interview this week, acknowledging his behind-the-scenes moves that helped destabilize the Janiszewski machine in the late 1990s, and finally helped Cunningham get the Democratic nod for state Senate this year.
Acknowledged as one of the best and most crafty political minds in Hudson County, McCann said many of the people he opposes today were one-time allies, part of that perpetual shifting of alliances for which Hudson County is notorious. Many of the people rising to power today started on McCann’s 1981 run for Jersey City Mayor, including Freeholder Bill O’Dea and Brian Stack – both then campaign workers.
"Cunningham was on my ticket. Bobby Jackson was a councilman and Joe Cardwell was a ward leader," McCann said last week.
McCann, who is always willing to express his opinions, started in politics in 1973, and has seen numerous political upheavals.
"Sometimes you have to start over at the bottom," he said. "I did. Now I’m not at the bottom or at the top. I have years and years of experience. I have served as county Democratic chairman and I have had a lot of victories. But I know how to run an election, and no one ever outworks me."
The McCann-supported victory against the mainstream Hudson County Democratic Organization in June was no fluke.
"I first beat the HCDO 23 years ago," he said. "I know how to beat them."
McCann said Janiszewski had created "a lazy politics" in which people were not encouraged to work.
"There was no system or rewards," McCann said. "I make people work. But I reward them."
County gets a boost
As if picking up from where the county left off before McCann’s fading from the political picture in Jersey City in 1992, Bud Demellier is reportedly being courted by the DeGise Administration for a post in the county. Demellier, a former chief of staff for McCann in Jersey City, played a key role in the battle between McCann and Janiszewski when named executive director the Hudson County Improvement Authority in 1991.
Demellier is seen as a competent administrator who can spot talent and organize the staff.
Hoboken Councilman-Elect Anthony Russo responded to other people’s comments that he might become a cause for Mayor Dave Roberts to seek regular doses of aspirin by saying, "I did not run and win in the 3rd Ward to become anybody’s headache. I ran because the people of my ward felt I could represent them."
While Roberts had a party in one part of town, Russo had a barbeque with former Union City Mayor and Assemblyman Rudy Garcia making a triumphant return. Garcia, Russo, Frank Raia and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell used to meet regularly in what was then called the "Thursday Night Club."
Councilwoman Carol Marsh was removed from the Hoboken Planning Board last week replaced with Roberts’ ally, Councilman Chris Campos.
Roberts apparently called up Marsh’s ally, Councilman Tony Soares to work out some arrangement for peace, but Soares said Marsh’s removal seemed a poor way of making peace.
Mack survives, Scarinci may not
Thick with literary quotes and a rich political family history, Joe Gallo, nephew of the former Jersey City Westside Freeholder and Democratic county chairman, has announced his intention to run for the Jersey City council in 2005. His campaign slogan, he said, will be: "It takes a four-letter word to be heard: Joey."
Jersey City Councilman Steve Lipski has reportedly turned down an offer to become the chairman of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. He would have replaced Junior Maldonado as part of a deal that would have seen Suzanne Mack’s exit as well. Mack was retained. Lipski apparently wanted no part of the deal, nor did Cunningham, whose reported objective is to rid the agency of Mary Donnelly. Mark Munley apparently met Lipski at Frankie and Johnny’s in Hoboken, but could not persuade Lipski to come on board.
A last-minute (or "pocket" resolution) was brought up by Lipski to replace legal counsel Donald Scarinci. Joseph Kealy is the former county counsel under former County Executive Ed Clark. The matter was not voted on but will likely come to vote next month.
Strapped for cash in North Bergen?
Pinning their hopes on becoming an Abbott district for funds to build a new high school, the North Bergen school board claims to have no money to alleviate the overcrowded conditions in the existing school. Yet the board managed to scrape enough taxpayers dollars to give its entire administrative staff 7 percent raises.
As a result, top salaried people get even more money than before, with Schools Superintendent Peter Fischbach reaping $194,000 a year, former freeholder and currently Assistant Superintendent Vincent Ascolese getting $184,000, State Senator/North Bergen Mayor/Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Sacco getting $176,000 (aside from salaries for mayor and senator), and Bob Dandorph, principal of Kennedy School, $156,000, to name a few.
Reviewing presidential hopefuls
Rep. Bob Menendez reappeared in Hudson County last week after a trip to Phoenix. Menendez was a member of a Democratic panel reviewing six of the proposed Democratic presidential hopefuls. When asked if he believed the Democrats had a shot at retaking the presidency next year, he said, "I think it can happen if the economy remains down next January. Unfortunately, I believe that will be the case. The President’s policies are doing nothing to stimulate the economy. The tax cuts he initiated for the rich do nothing for the middle class."
Issues the Democrats can run on including the rationale for invading Iraq, and where the weapons of mass destruction are that the president said we would find there.
"We are losing a soldier every couple of days," Menendez said. "We do not have the forces we need to secure that country, and we do not have an exit strategy."
Menendez compared the contemporary national political scene to late 1991 after the first Gulf War, in which a popular Republican president fell victim to economic decline.
"Hudson County will play a huge role in electoral votes in the state and raising money for the national ticket," he said. "Candidates will come here to raise money."