Any illusions state Senator Joseph V. Doria Jr. may have had about running unopposed in November to continue filling the unexpired state Senate term of the late Glenn Cunningham ended this week, as volunteers spread through Bayonne and lower Jersey City seeking petition signatures to put former Jersey City Corporation Counsel Karen DeSoto on the ballot against him.
Fired by Acting Jersey City Mayor L. Harvey Smith, DeSoto has become the darling of those opposing the Hudson County Democratic Party. They have finally found a candidate whose motivation and skills may just make a race out of the 31st District race.
Since HCDO members Doria and Rep. Bob Menendez (the man often called the new political boss of Hudson County) are supporting Smith for the Jersey City mayor slot in November, DeSoto forces the money-strapped HCDO to expend resources on the Senate race it might have used to counter the significant money advantage Assemblyman Louis Manzo has in his own mayoral bid against Smith.
But the HCDO has other problems. Doria and Menendez both need Smith (who is African-American) as the HCDO-backed candidate, although his strength is questionable in some of the key African-American communities. Insiders say the ghost of Cunningham hangs over both Doria and Menendez. Doria, who voted by district committee people (predominated by HCDO members) has to face a significant black caucus in Trenton, and he would find life easier if he could explain to other African-American senators that he backed an African-American candidate in the mayoral election – even if deep down he believed Smith didn’t stand a chance of winning. Menendez, likewise, faces the same problem in the House of Representatives.
Sources say Doria will be running with Assembly candidate Charles Epps and Betty Spinelli, who are on board of the Hudson County Schools of Technology.
Beating Manzo or Menendez?
Although neither Menendez nor County Executive Tom DeGise has come out to support in the race for Jersey City mayor (Healy announced his candidacy last week) Healy figures significantly in beating Manzo in the winner-take-all mayoral election in November.
In the minds of DeGise and Menendez, Healy really isn’t running for mayor; he is running for chief municipal judge, and his role in the November election is to theoretically siphon off white votes from Manzo.
Under this scenario, Healy would be rewarded after the Smith victory with an appointment as judge. As if a repeat of the 1992 special mayoral election in Jersey City, the HCDO would also toss in a few other candidates targeting particular voting groups in order to deny Manzo votes from that sector. If this is so, you might soon seen Mariano Vega or Junior Maldonado declaring their candidacies with the hope of denying Manzo Latino votes. Under this plan, Smith as the prominent African-American candidate should draw the African American vote and ascend to the mayoral throne.
Two problems with this: Smith keeps doing things to shoot himself in the foot, such as removing Cunningham’s name from a new park plaque and firing people loyal to Cunningham in a purge of City Hall, that may not sit well in a community previously dedicated to Cunningham.
Smith’s re-election also faces stiff opposition within the county administration. While head honchos like DeGise and Manzo may support Smith, many of the key people in charge the campaign seem to think Healy can win the election, and will work towards that end. A Healy victory would rid Jersey City of Menendez’s influence and yet keep Manzo out of City Hall. People like Buddy Demellier, Bill Gaughan and others may see this moment in history as a time to take back Jersey City. Even Healy hasn’t healed from the political betrayal he suffered in the late 1990s when the HDCO, Bob Janiszewski, and Menendez ruined his bid for mayor against then-incumbent Mayor Bret Schundler.
Menendez reportedly wants to stop all political bickering in his back yard while he is parading on the national stage in the upcoming Democratic Presidential primary in Boston. Menendez apparently is the person who petitioned Democratic Presidential hopeful John Kerry to take on Jim Edwards as a vice-presidential running mate.
Tom Troyer’s revenge
Secaucus Board of Education member Tom Troyer has asked the Secaucus Board of Education to look into recent allegations that Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto has violated state election law. The investigation is ongoing.
Impreveduto is a business teacher and department supervisor at the Secaucus High School, and Troyer said if a violation of ethics has taken place, he believes the board should remove Impreveduto.
Troyer, of course, is no objective party in this matter, and has been a sharp political critic of the Impreveduto family for decades – voting in 1997 against the renaming of one of the town’s senior citizens buildings after Impreveduto’s father, Rocco.
The ill feelings between Troyer and the Impreveduto family as become part of Secaucus’ political folklore, and some see Troyer’s move as akin to a shark moving in on a crippled swimmer.
The political grapevine has recently hinted of Impreveduto’s vacating his Assembly seat as early as October or November. Already the ever on-target rumor mill in Union City claims the seat will be up for grabs.
Back in Hoboken?
Councilman Ruben Ramos said he will be stepping down at Hoboken council president. This may show his own skill at accounting, because he may have accurately counted the votes he would need to retain the post and discovered he was a few votes short. Nevertheless, the council presidency routinely shifts around July 1.
Hoboken Councilman Tony Soares began his campaign for freeholder last week with a letter to the editor taking on DeGise.
His opponent, incumbent Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, meanwhile, has consulted the spiritual world. Fitz’s Eagles, a baseball team he sponsors in Jersey City, won the city championship for the second time in two years. “I’m taking this as a good sign,” he said jokingly.
Sources say that Hoboken resident and real estate developer Frank “Pupie” Raia will run for City Council on David Roberts’ re-election ticket next spring.