Although the Bergen Record has called for Governor-elect Jon Corzine to relinquish the right to name his own replacement in the U.S. Senate, and CBS news has been claiming that state Sen. Nia Gill will be named to the post, insiders claim that Corzine will name Rep. Bob Menendez to the post in a special announcement on Dec. 5.
Recently, CBS and other news stations claimed that Menendez might not be seeking the post after all because of the expected June primary dispute that will result from his appointment.
Menendez has been seeking to move up for almost a decade, a matter that helped create some serious political feuds over the years between himself and Robert Torricelli – who had made the transition from House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate – and between him and former County Executive Robert Janiszewski, who frequently seemed to work against Menendez’s ambitions.
While the move once made sense for an ambitious politician like Menendez who went from Union City school board to city commissioner, then from city commissioner to state Assembly, then from state Assembly to state Senate, and finally to the House of Representatives – Menendez’s long tenure has given him legislative clout that he would lose if he finally gets his wish to become U.S. senator.
As the third most powerful Democrat in the House of Representatives, Menendez has brought home to Hudson County a significant amount of bacon, especially in helping waterfront development from the southern tip of Bayonne to the northern tip of Guttenberg.
Why would he seek to become a junior U.S. senator at a time when the Democratic Party is in the minority in the U.S. Senate? Perhaps he is seeking to protect the seat and keep it from falling into Republican hands.
Then again, as U.S. senator, Menendez would only have to run for re-election once every six years rather than once every two years, but more importantly, the new elevated post would lift him above the fray of the local political battles in which he has been entrenched over the last few years.
If he is appointed, he might have to face a statewide battle against powerful South Jersey Democrats already aligned against him. Then, after the bloodbath of a Democratic Primary, a successful Menendez would then have to face off against a powerful Republican – most likely state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (Some Republicans suggest that the recent defeat of Republican Douglas Forrester for governor might cause moderate Republicans to seek a more staunch conservative, such as former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler – if Schundler decides not to run for Jersey City mayor again.)
But the Dec. 5 appointment may give Menendez the boost he needs to fend off a Democratic Primary challenge and allow him to focus on his Republican opponent.
If Menendez runs and loses the Democratic Primary next spring or the general election next November, he loses everything and must once more start from scratch.
If he chooses not to run for the U.S. Senate, then he appears to have halted the expected fall of other political dominoes such as having State Assembly Speaker Albio Sires move up to take Menendez’s seat in the House of Representatives and Freeholder Chairman Sal Vega move up to take Sires’ place on the state Assembly.
Most likely, if Menendez chooses to remain where he is, Corzine will appoint Sires to some cabinet or high post in the state, leaving the rest of changes to occur.
Epps helped generate money for campaigns
Recently, numerous Democrats have been fawning over Greg Guy – deputy chief of staff for the county executive – for his role in helping get the Hudson County vote for Corzine.
If Menendez is to seek the U.S. Senate, Guy is one of the key people he will need to make the transition.
But while Guy has received accolades galore, numerous other key people have gone unnoticed in the public eye such as Bayonne’s Mark Meyers, who is said to have been brought in during a critical juncture to put all the pieces of the campaign together.
“Mark brought everything together when nothing seem to be going on,” one source said.
Meyers is the person who helped orchestrate last June’s successful Democratic Primary bid for Charles Epps and Louis Manzo over a challenge by a team headed by Assemblyman and Bayonne Councilman Anthony Chiaponne.
While some people might have grumbled about Epps’ apparently uninspired campaigning over the last year, few can complain about the finances he generated. His position as Superintendent of Schools in Jersey City put him in position to generate campaign contributions most other candidates for state Assembly would have envied.
While Democratic County Chairman Bernard Kenny praised local Democrats for getting out the vote as well as contributions, Epps led the fundraising, giving Guy and Meyers plenty to work with.
Secaucus family ties no more?
A recent event in Secaucus honoring former Mayor Paul Amico shows how much that town’s political structure has changed over the last decade.
Secaucus has always been an example of small-town politics in a county where that kind of structure has gone out of date.
To get elected to office, a candidate in Secaucus needed the blessing of certain families such as the Marra family – who owns the central pharmacy; the Impreveduto family – whose patriarch Rocco practically reinvented the Secaucus Democrats Party; and the Amico family – Paul Amico having served as one of the longest running mayors in the town’s hundred-and-something year history.
Mayor Dennis Elwell, however, seems to have built a more modern coalition that better resembles county political structures, depending more on political consultants, vendor campaign donations and heavy advertising, than on family connections.
Perhaps this explains why Elwell, as well as all five council members aligned with him, did not attend an event remembering Mayor Amico.
Elwell won re-election handily despite the fact that under his watch the CVS pharmacy moved into the former Acme Supermarket site directly across the street from Marra’s Drug Store, and a bank – partly controlled by Southern Jersey Democratic political boss George Norcross – replaced the Plaza Diner, once considered the icon of central Secaucus.
With Norcross in one pocket and another powerful Democratic boss, State Senator Ray Lesniak, on the town payroll, is it any wonder Elwell no longer needs the older families?
Elwell in Secaucus is not the only one cuddling up to Norcross. Apparently Bayonne mayoral hopeful Vincent Militello feels so close to Norcross that Militello seems to be severing ties to Sandra Cunningham, the widow of former State Sen. and Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham.
Norcross – whose interest seems to be the future of the former Military Ocean Terminal and an ongoing feud with State Senator and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria – apparently has promised Militello money and workers for the upcoming campaign.
This would have a double bang since Norcross apparently would like to see State Sen. Rob Andrews elected to replace Corzine in the U.S. Senate and the mayoral election could run parallel to the primary election, cutting into Hudson County votes for Menendez, if Menendez chooses to run.