Rep Bob. Menendez lambasted President George W. Bush for failures in the Hurricane Katrina response and a general ineptitude in dealing with anti-terror.
For Hudson County, it is an old lesson about the dangers of patronage. While the adage of “It’s not what you know, but who you know” still holds true, it does help to know how to do the job you are assigned to do.According to The New York Times and other prominent publications, Michael Brown was not qualified to run a horse association, let alone the most important disaster relief organization in the United States. His resignation as the head of FEMA in the aftermath of Katrina has proved something about patronage long known in Hudson County. After showing poor management skills as the head of the Arabian Horse Breeder’s Association, Brown managed to get one of the most important jobs in the county, partly due to his close ties to President Bush.
Brown showed with his resignation that he can be shamed into doing the right thing. Perhaps it is time for federal legislators, Republican and Democrat, to more closely examine those other officials Bush has or will put into office to make sure they actually are qualified for the jobs they do before disasters cost lives.
American founding fathers designed a three-part government structure so that each part could act as a conscience over the other, and the recent blurring of these lines through ideological appointments to judgeships and stern White House control over the legislative branch of government threatens to eliminate the most certain safeguards Americans have – a point Democrats will have to raise when reviewing John Roberts as a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Divorce: Hudson County style
Plenty of people have complained over the last few months about the lack of political warfare in Hudson County, saying peace is boring.
What many of these political opportunists mean is that with everybody on the same page, opportunities for wheeling and dealing shrink. In the past, operatives played one side against the other to get what they want, saying that if one political person wouldn’t provide a job or contract, the other side would.
Well, folks, the boring times are over, although operatives may still find it difficult to wheel and deal, largely because insiders claim Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s appointments seems to be creating a riff in the political machine that helped get him elected.
In the aftermath of the untimely death of Mayor Glenn Cunningham, some people believed Rep. Menendez and State Senator Bernard Kenny would rule the roost. But politics in Hudson County has always been based on betrayal and fracturing of interests. No sooner had the political smoke cleared after Cunningham’s death, then new factions began to emerge – with Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and his supporters breaking away from Menendez in their own effort to bring the seat of Democratic power back to Jersey City.
DeGise, his chief of staff, Councilman Bill Gaughan, and political hit man Buddy Demellier orchestrated their own revolt and backed Healy for mayor – thinking perhaps that they could control Jersey City, and thus eventually inherit control of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, wresting the chairmanship away from Kenny.
One small factor they didn’t figure on: Healy being his own man.
Insiders claim Healy won’t take orders, and if Kenny leaves as chairman, Healy could possibly take the role because he is one of the few figures in Jersey City who seems to unite the city’s various ethnic factions. Healy, according to his supporters, also enjoys a good relationship with the county’s political elite such as Bayonne’s Mayor and State Sen. Joseph Doria, North Bergen Mayor and State Senator Nicholas Sacco, and Kenny. While Healy and Menendez apparently don’t always see eye to eye politically, insiders claim they can work out their differences.
Is Healy his own man?
While some people have questioned some of Healy’s appointments such as having Carl Czaplicki run the city’s Municipal Utility Authority, Czaplicki is a loyal bulldog and won’t be swayed by some the DeGise people making the rounds of the city with a gift bag full of county promises they most likely won’t deliver on. This also explains why Healy supporter Marianno Vega for Council President. While Vega is a county employee, he also has immunity to political retribution through his position with civil service.
Insiders claim rumors of Healy’s seeking a judgment eliminate from the county – when Healy has no ambition to be anything other than mayor.
But more than Healy seem to have filed for a divorce from county influence, if recent attacks on Freeholder Bill O’Dea can be believed. The county spokesperson questioned O’Dea’s credentials as a Democrat, to which O’Dea responded that he is has a letter from U.S. Senator Jon Corzine to prove it. O’Dea claimed he will be supporting Corzine’s gubernatorial campaign – despite his long-standing ties to Cunningham’s widow, Sandra, who will not support Corzine. O’Dea, once courted by the DeGise camp, appears to have fallen out of favor.
O’Dea recently accepted Mayor Cunningham’s Circle of Honor distinction recently on behalf of Sandra Cunningham.
Others honored included long-time political columnist Peter Weiss, who passed away two years ago. Former Councilman Tom Hart – although named to the Circle of Honor – failed to get his name engraved on the plaque, a small oversight officials said they would quickly correct. One sad note was the failure of any family member to accept the Circle of Honor distinction for late Freeholder Alan Manzo.
Some observers noted that Healy growing a beard since he has shown up to at least two events with a five o’clock shadow. One of these events was an unexpected appearance at the Jimmy King Civic Association meeting. While King did support Healy’s mayoral bid earlier this year, Councilman Steve Lipski – King’s opponent – was on Healy’s ticket. Does this appearance hint of a falling out between Healy and Lipski?
Katrina support efforts
In other matters, numerous Katrina support efforts are underway. The Jimmy King Civic Association raised $150 for the support effort at its first meeting of the year. County welfare workers are going to set up tables at two locations before work and during lunch on Sept. 28 and 29.
Members of ASSCME Local 2306 will have tables set up at 100 Newkirk St. in Jersey City from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and noon to 12:45 on Sept. 28. The following day they will have tables outside Two Enos Place at the same times.
Contact Al Sullivan at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com