If you aren’t sick of hearing the names Dawn Zimmer and Chris Campos yet, you soon will be.
Thanks to an agreement worked out between these two Hoboken City Council candidates, they will face each other for a whopping third time in a Nov. 6 special election to see who gets to remain as 4th Ward councilperson in that city. Zimmer beat Campos by eight votes in a runoff election this past June.
Although Campos had won on the machines in the original May municipal election, a surge in absentee ballots by his opponents denied him the necessary 50 percent of the vote he needed for re-election in June. Zimmer edged ahead, flush with even more absentee ballots.
The Campos camp cried foul and went to court, and with the aid of former Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann, managed to create a stalemate that only a special election can solve.
While Campos has produced significant evidence of irregularities in the handling of some absentee ballots, he seemed to be unable to come up with the smoking gun that would prove voter fraud. While some people in the Zimmer camp claim there were tainted votes for Campos as well, their case is even weaker.
Whatever the real reasons that both sides agreed, the move will set up what some political observers are calling “the most expensive ward election in the history of Hudson County.”
The election comes at a lull in the election cycle, yet at a time when there is increasing tension between the longtime Hudson County Democratic Organization – which will likely throw its support behind Zimmer again – and state Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack, whose new county organization, Democrats for Hudson County, will likely continue to support Campos.
Freeholders are next
The special election in Hoboken will also foreshadow a more obvious struggle for control of the county when Stack and the HCDO clash in next June’s Democratic primary to elect county freeholders.
If Stack can get five of his own candidates elected, he will go along way to stripping the HCDO’s patronage mill of county jobs.
Already, moves are being made to position candidates, such as the recent appointment of Oren Dabney to the Hudson County Improvement Authority. Dabney is reportedly planning to run for freeholder as an HCDO candidate, supported by Sandra Cunningham.
Rev. Edward Allen was just appointed as a trustee for the Hudson County Schools of Technology. He is expected to run against Freeholder Bill O’Dea next June – if O’Dea runs. O’Dea said he will run unless someone comes up with a better elected office for him.
Some observers claim that O’Dea may be offered a seat on the Jersey City Council as an at-large candidate, while his loyal ally Phil Kenny is expected to run in Ward C (his fund raiser is on Sept. 17). The offer for O’Dea, these reports claim, would be spiced up with the promise of a county job.
Meanwhile Stack is about to elevate the stakes in his war against the HCDO by giving the Union City legal contract to someone other than Donald Scarinci. Requests for proposals went out last week. This is the latest move in a series of changes based on whom a contractor is allied with. Stack is particularly angry with state Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco – the moneyman behind the HCDO’s campaign against Stack in last June’s primary – and the bad feelings are only going to get worse as more moves are made.
Oddly enough, Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts reportedly attended a Stack fundraiser recently, a rooftop barbeque on Park Avenue in Hoboken. Others who attended the event include Stack himself, and Hoboken councilmen Peter Cammarano, Michael Russo, Ruben Ramos, and Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons.
Will Dennis Elwell step down as mayor?
Secaucus comes into play in the county war in an odd way.
With Town Administrator Anthony Iacono leaving for a new post in Paramus, Mayor Dennis Elwell may soon step down, handing the reins of power to Councilman John Shinnick.
The loss of Iacono is a huge blow to Elwell since Iacono served as his campaign manager and political advisor for many years.
In 1999, Elwell abandoned his role as the head of the Independent party in Secaucus to become the Democratic candidate for mayor. Much of his political strength came from Iacono’s behind-the-scenes work.
The shift in power leaves the conflict for power in Secaucus in new hands, as Shinnick becomes the standard-bearer for the Democratic Party and Councilman Mike Gonnelli serves as leader of the loyal opposition.
Just to show how important Shinnick is: Rep. Albio Sires was seen with him recently during a feast in Jersey City.
But Gonnelli is a personal friend of Sacco, and currently serves as a commissioner on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
Doria is leaving a political battle behind
Perhaps equally important this week is the expected announcement that Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria will step down at mayor and state senator to take up a post as the chairman of the State Department of Community Affairs.
Several sources claim the announcement will come on Sept. 20, sending the matter to the City Council, where a replacement will be hashed out.
While City Council President Vincent Lo Re will act as interim mayor until the council votes for an acting mayor to serve until a November, 2008 special election, Lo Re is no longer seen as a frontrunner. Doria people are apparently pushing the city’s Chief Finance Officer Terrence Malloy to serve. But opponents Councilmen Anthony Chiappone and Gary LaPelusa are said to favor retired Municipal Judge Patrick Conaghan. The deciding vote will likely be in the hands of Councilman Ted Connolly, who is being courted heavily by both sides.
Chiappone, of course, could seek the mayoral seat himself, and still be able to keep his state Assembly seat since the ban on dual office holding does not take effect until February. But Chiappone said he is supporting Conaghan.
Oddly enough, reports suggests Jersey City Mayor and HCDO Chairman Jerramiah Healy may also be leaning Conaghan’s way in exchange for Conaghan’s help in trying to unseat Sires in next year’s primary for House of Representatives. Conaghan was a strong supporter of Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas who challenged Sires in June 2006. Since Sires is with the Stack team now, Healy will likely seek all Sires’ old enemies.
Although no one yet knows what she is running for, former Bayonne Councilwoman Mary Jane Desmond is expected to hold a grand opening for her civic association headquarters on Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. She had originally planned to open it on Sept. 17.