Jersey City Mayor and State Senator-elect Glenn D. Cunningham joined his two Assembly candidates Tuesday night at the Jersey City Moose Lodge to celebrate their victory in last week’s general elections, in which they took approximately 78 percent of the vote despite a turnout so low that some political watchers likened it to a school board election.
Along with 31st District Assembly candidates Anthony Chiappone and Louis Manzo, Cunningham hailed the victory, saying it signaled voters’ clear desire to remove traditional machine politics from their governance.
“What I’m most proud of is not only going down into the elite of the state’s political leaders, but that we’re doing it as free Democrats,” Cunningham said Thursday. “We’re free to vote according to the will of the people. We can go down there looking out for the people’s business, not the business of [political insiders and politicians.]
That’s the difference between us and the delegations that have been down there for a really, really long time.” Added Cunningham, “It’s a very good feeling and we worked very, very hard. This is a major victory for the people. It goes to show you the odds that are overcome with the people’s trust and support.”
As expected, the trio – who will take office when the Legislature convenes on Jan. 13 – beat out Republican State Senate candidate Carmen Mendiola and Republican Assembly candidates Donna Marie James and Stephen Schultz by more than 10,000 votes. The Hudson County Green Party’s candidates, Eric Olsen for Senate and Jonathan Oriole and Pamela Olsen for Assembly, came in last with approximately 3,100 votes.
Sen. Joseph Charles and Assembly members Joseph Doria and Elba Perez-Cinciarelli previously represented the 31st District, which covers all of Bayonne and about 60 percent of Jersey City. Charles gave up the seat this year to take a judgeship, and the other two candidates were defeated in June’s Democratic primary.
Primary had all the action
Some say that the true election for the 31st District was that highly contentious June Democratic primary, which brought a heated two-year rift between Mayor Cunningham and the Hudson County Democratic Organization [HCDO] to the fore.
When incumbent State Sen. Charles decided to vacate his seat to take a post as a Superior Court judge, both the HCDO and Cunningham’s newly formed Democratic organization, dubbed Democrats for Hudson County [DCH], vied for the seat. And although facing off against the powerful county-backed slate of City Council President L. Harvey Smith and Assembly incumbents Doria and Perez-Cinciarelli, the DHC team came out ahead by a relatively narrow margin.
The victory compelled the HCDO to file suit against the DHC candidates on two counts, alleging that two political action committees formed by Cunningham supporters had egregiously overspent the legal limits and that approximately 1,700 votes were illegally cast.
The case ended when Judge Arthur D’Italia, after throwing out the complaints of voter fraud because the number of contested votes was less than the margin of victory, ruled that campaign spending limits do not apply to primary elections. The case is currently on appeal.
As a side note, the Jersey City chapter of the NAACP also decided to enter into the June 3 primary fray, filing suit in Newark last week alleging racist campaign behavior on the part of the HCDO.
But now that Cunningham has been elected to Trenton, there have been signs – albeit subtle ones – that the rival Democratic Party factions will consider working together. Since Cunningham has asked to join HCDO member State Sen. Nicholas Sacco on the state Transportation committee and HCDO Chairman State Sen. Bernard Kenny on the state Budget Appropriations Committee, both sides have somewhat acknowledged that each other’s support would be beneficial in their attempts at getting things done.
“I’ve already said I’d work with whomever I have to in order to benefit the people of the 31st District,” Cunningham said Thursday. “The only time they’ll have trouble with me is when they’re not following the Democratic Party philosophy. The days of boss-ism have got to end.”
Cunningham added that he did speak to Kenny Wednesday and that their conversation was “jovial.”
“It’s a very strained relationship, but no matter what our personal relationship is, I will work with them if it’s in the best interests of the people in the 31st District,” he said. “But they’ve got to show me that they’re not for boss-ism.”
Easy win for Cunningham
Last week’s landslide victory was practically a shoe-in for the Democrats because the candidates had virtually no opposition. Although the Green Party candidates put in considerable effort, they have not yet established enough of a support base in Hudson County to adequately challenge the traditional and strong countywide commitment to Democratic ideals and candidates.
The Greens, however, trailed the Republicans by less than a 3:1 margin, most likely the result of the Republicans’ abrupt announcement one week before Election Day that they had chosen to endorse their Democratic opposition. In a news release published on the Internet, Republican Senate candidate Mendiola said her endorsement for Cunningham was made in the interest of good government.
“Mayor Cunningham unites all members of the community, even members from various political parties,” Mendiola said in the release. “It is important for Jersey City and Bayonne to have a proven leader fighting for their concerns in Trenton, a person who has proven he can accomplish great things despite the odds.”
Although Mendiola was unable to be reached at her Jersey Avenue law practice last week, county Republican Chairman José Arango echoed Mendiola’s written comments.
“Why are we going to fight the mayor when the real opponent is the Hudson County Democratic Organization [HCDO]?” Arango said Wednesday. “The Republican Party doesn’t believe in the philosophy of the HCDO. We aligned ourselves with a Democrat that works with us. We’re out-registered in Hudson County by 10 to 1. We had an uphill battle, so we thought ‘Let’s align [ourselves] with someone who can win and [with whom we] can at least have a dialogue.’ The Republican Party in Hudson County is basically people who are disenchanted with corruption, mismanagement and taxes.”
Several calls to publicly listed Green Party contacts were not returned as of press time.