One of the great concepts of classic chess is to disguise your attack.
This may be the logic behind a feud in West New York where newly elected Rep. Albio Sires suddenly finds himself at odds with his successor as West New York mayor, Sal Vega.
After more than a year of preparation for the handing over of power, Sires and Vega have hands around each other’s political throats, threatening to plunge Hudson County into a political war.
Personal agendas seem to be at work behind the scenes fueling the feud, when Vega and Sires were until recently relatively close.
All great political stories, of course, are seeped in myth. The Sires-Vega story is no exception.
Many claim the feud started because Vega decided to hang the portrait of former Mayor Anthony DeFino in City Hall.
Sires, the archenemy of DeFino from the mid-1980s until DeFino’s death in the late 1990s, had refused to hang the portrait.
Sires had run campaign after campaign to unseat DeFino. He even ran a recall election. While the recall election succeeded, DeFino managed to be elected back into office.
Sires was able to unseat DeFino only when Vega and another commissioner changed sides, bringing about a change of government and Sires’ election as mayor.
Sires routinely claimed DeFino was corrupt and refused to put up his portrait among the mayors who served in West New York.
While symbolic, Vega’s mounting the portrait was not the reason for the potential war.
Here, the story gets dicey, since the tale varies depending upon whom you talk to.
Some claim Sires had a fit when Vega started naming former DeFino people to various posts, the privilege of the new mayor.
Sires may have objected to the appointments because they harkened back to the bad old days of DeFino; yet some appointments may have edged in on turf Sires may still reserve as his own.
Harking back to the past, Sires people apparently sought out Commissioner Gerry Lange’s support – Lange and Sires were the heart of the anti-DeFino campaigns. Lange, who replaced Vega on the Hudson County Freeholder Board, however, alerted Vega about the insurrection.
Is Sires the new political boss?
Vega locally has the support of Lange and fellow DeFino defector Lawrence Riccardi, a West New York town commissioner, posing an uphill battle for a Sires challenge.
People closest to Vega painted the picture in even more graphic terms, claiming Sires had made demands on the Vega administration.
“We got work that Sires wants control of three commissioners and the state Assembly seat,” one source said. “Sires isn’t mayor any more, now he wants to be a political boss.”
People close to Sires, however, said he made no such demand, but did have some concerns about what was going on in West New York Town Hall.
“We’re not at war yet, but we’re at the brink,” one Sires supporter said. “We’re trying to calm everybody down to make sure we don’t go to war. These are two old friends. They don’t need to be fighting.”
Vega made the war public at an event held in support of Union City Mayor Brian Stack, who just announced a run for state Senate. Vega said publicly that Sires was going to run Sires’ wife against Vega for West New York mayor.
But even the event, which Stack did not attend, was shrouded in controversy. Sires people claim Stack stayed away because of the impending war. Vega people claim Vega asked Stack not to walk into the middle of a bad situation.
Vega and Sires met on Feb. 4 to try to hash out the differences, but this was cautious meeting at which nothing was resolved. Sires, who is holding a fundraiser, wanted his tickets to get circulated in West New York. Vega said he would not allow it until Sires assured him that his wife Adrienne Sires, a school administrator, is not running against him. Another meeting has been scheduled with the hopes of averting a conflict.
Who supports whom?
The battle has spilled over city borders. Although Vega people are under the impression Stack will back them, the Sires people say they have received solid assurance that Stack will remain loyal to Sires in the event of war. This may not be true for Nicholas Sacco, state senator and mayor of North Bergen. The Vega people believe they can count on him to support Vega, since Stack’s growing popularity in North Hudson has a lot of politicians nervous. Sacco may see Vega as a check valve against Stack.
Some observers claim that Vega would hire political consultant Tony Amabile to run his campaign. While reports suggested Amabile’s rival Paul Swibinski would run the Sires campaign, several insiders claim Swibinski will not – further suggesting Sacco’s support for Vega, since Swibinski is closely associated with Sacco.
Sires people said Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell will not take a side. But the same cannot be said for Anthony Iacono, the Secaucus town administrator, who is supposedly shopping around for a new job and sees West New York as his best bet.
Last November’s municipal election in Secaucus was largely a mandate on Iacono, and he has been informed that if push comes to shove, he will be voted out of his current job.
While West New York currently has Harold Demellier as its administrator, Demellier has told some he would bow out if a political war starts.
Demellier is on loan to the Vega administration from Hudson County, and Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise is very close to Sires.
DeGise has apparently been one of the key people in brokering the peace.
Doria could suffer most
A war in North Hudson would ripple through the whole county and could result in State Sen. and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria losing his senate re-election bid to Sandra Cunningham.
In 2004, the Hudson County Democratic Organization beat back a challenge in the 31st District by steering campaign finances there.
But this was done under the leadership of state Sen. Bernard Kenny, who serves as HCDO Chairman. With Stack seeking to unseat Kenny, a war in West New York could result in some strange alliances. Would Vega run for state Assembly on a ticket headed by Stack? If so, then the county could see a county wide conflict with Kenny, Vega, Doria, even Hudson County Sheriff Joe Cassidy on one ticket, and Stack, Sandra Cunningham, and other on another.
The Cunningham ticket is still seeking one more candidate for state Assembly. The short list appears to be Jersey City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, former Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith, and incumbent Assemblyman Louis Manzo.
Manzo and Manzo are currently considered candidates on the Doria ticket. But some suggest that if Smith is dumped from the Doria ticket in favor of Freeholder Jeff Dublin, Manzo may jump to the Cunningham ticket, giving Cunningham a very good chance of winning.
Meanwhile, David Longenhagen, who ran unsuccessfully for Bayonne City Council last year, has thrown his hat into the Assembly race as an independent Democrat. If elected, he promised to give up half his yearly salary to a worth civic organization such as PAL or the Boys & Girls Club.