In his classic book, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain was witness to the heyday and the eventual demise of the paddle wheel riverboat.
Although he didn’t speculate as to why the riverboat industry died at the conclusion of the American Civil War, the truth was the riverboat along with the canal system in the north (such as the Erie and the Morris Canals) had been part of a monumental struggle for control of westward expansion.
Politicians in the American South sought to steer trade through New Orleans, while politicians in the North sought to steer it through places like Paulus Hook in Jersey City.
Prior to the first shot being fired in the Civil War, war was waged in Congress to keep federal money from benefiting one side over the other – Northerners fighting for funds to build railroads and dig canals, Southerners fighting for funds to dredge waterways leading to New Orleans.
While the Civil War supposedly resolved the conflict in favor of the north, the battles have waged on ever since, with the north slowly losing its influence to interests from the South and the West.
State Sen. Bernard Kenny once pointed out that a significant portion of American history revolves around cycles of transportation technologies. Just as the steamboat gave away to the railroad, the railroad gave way to air travel and the automobile, and now air and automotive give way to the information highway called the Internet.
Each change plays an important role in politics. Legendary Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague owed his power to the railroads, and faded from power as the railroad industry faded. Although the oil industry had significant roots in Bayonne, it became the engine that allowed the West to emerge as a significant political force when the car became the predominant mode of transport.
The party with the most political clout gets to steer federal money, assuring a region economic future.
Do the Republicans steer money away from East?
Under President George W. Bush and a Republican-dominated U.S. Congress, federal money is being steered away from Democratic strongholds for investment in Republican dominated enclaves in the Southern and Western parts of the United States.
Nowhere has this manipulation of federal money been made more obvious than over the issuing of federal Homeland Security funds.
Although victims of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington D.C. saw funding cut, while Republican strongholds at little risk elsewhere in the country got their piece of the economic pie. This was not an oversight, but part of a consistent political policy.
Unsaid in the security debate over control of U.S. ports last year, when the Bush administration sought to give control over to Middle Eastern nationals, was the fact that Democrats – in particular, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez – had laid out plans for port development here, part of the massive effort to revitalize the local economy and help shift the balance of economic power back to a largely Democratic region.
By giving over control of the local ports to Republican-favored contractors, Bush also tried to control of local economic interests, taking away perhaps the ability of the Northeast to determine its own destiny.
Although Menendez and other Democrats in Hudson County have staunchly opposed the national Republican redistribution of wealth, some Democrats in the Northeast have not – explaining why so many Democrats came out to help defeat Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who has supported many of the Republican initiatives.
While New Jersey Republicans are about to launch a significant attack on Menendez in an effort to get state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. elected, the real issues will likely remain clouded by political rhetoric. Federal money is being steered away from Democratic strongholds and into Republican districts, partly in an unpublicized battle over who controls the economic future of America.
Menendez’s fate may determine political pecking order in Hudson
Power shifts in Hudson County have been underway for some time, but the real questions won’t be answered until after the November election.
If Menendez beats Kean, many of the political upstarts vying to take control of the party may fade away.
Although many political observers have spelled the end of Kenny’s political career, his fate may not be so set in stone. Most agree state Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack can raise a significant vote in Union City, but he lacks organization outside the borders of his own city. This means that if leaders in West New York, Weehawken, Jersey City and Hoboken come out against Stack, Stack’s victory may be closer than anyone can imagine.
With the primary set for February, many political fence-sitters will be waiting out the November outcome before picking a side.
This may leave a lot on the shoulders of Freeholder Chairman Sal Vega, who is expected to be named West New York mayor if and when Albio Sires is elected to the House of Representatives.
Vega may also inherit Sires’ Assembly seat, and by benefit of the powerful influence of Sires and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner over North Hudson, Vega may even have more influence over Guttenberg, stealing away some thunder from North Bergen, who held sway over Guttenberg in the past.
Whose side is Heflich on?
The Secaucus election prospects took an odd twist this week as former Councilman George Heflich – running in a three-way race for 1st Ward – unleashed a negative campaign against Michael Gonnelli, a candidate running in the 2nd Ward.
Heflich claims he launched his first political attack to benefit Tom Troyer, who is opposing Gonnelli and incumbent 2nd Ward Councilman Robert Kickey.
Yet Heflich’s attacks on Gonnelli raise a variety of issues, most of which Heflich blamed on Town Administrator Anthony Iacono in the past.
In 1997, Iacono orchestrated an extremely negative campaign against Heflich in a 1st Ward election that led to bitter disputes in the years afterward. Iacono and Heflich patched up their differences recently.
Iacono, the political brains behind Mayor Dennis Elwell, is helping Kickey against Gonnelli, and suddenly Heflich appears to be blaming Gonnelli for everything Heflich blamed on Iacono before.
This has led some people to believe that Heflich, although running as an independent, is secretly in league with Iacono and Elwell.
Al Sullivan can be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com