Few things scare political powerbrokers more than an independent political force.
Union City Mayor Brian Stack is one of the people who has been scaring the powers that be, and the recent Democratic war in Hudson County seems to have been an attempt to either rein in Stack or destroy him.
Last June’s primary, however, showed the limitations of Stack’s reach outside Union City, but also showed how little other powerbrokers could do to control Stack.
Just before that election, Stack had started his own countywide Democratic group, Democrats for Hudson County, to take on the longstanding Hudson County Democratic Organization. Both groups had their share of old-time politicians as well as newcomers. Both groups put up candidates in the June primaries.
Seeing Stack as unstoppable, some Hudson County political people such as Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner and Rep. Albio Sires decided to join the Stack parade.
Many observers knew this relationship could not last. Turner and Sires are products of the old pyramid-style politics, and their careers have been shaped on deal-making, not inspired masses.
It was inevitable that Turner and Sires would seek to return to the safety of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) pyramid, where political power is controlled and for the most part predictable.
This appears to the foundation of the recent negotiations for a truce between those forces loyal to Stack and the traditional HCDO.
Peace may be breaking out
Theories as to why peace may be breaking out among Hudson County Democrats seem to be as complicated at why the war started in the first place.
The Democrats allegedly went to war because State Sen. Bernard Kenny refused to step aside last spring to allow Stack to take his Senate seat. State Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco allegedly feared Stack’s rising influence and supposedly played power politics behind the scenes.
Whatever the causes, full warfare broke out, leading to a divided Democratic Party and a major primary battle last June.
While Stack and his runningmates won in the 33rd District that includes Union City, Guttenberg, West New York, Weehawken, Hoboken, and part of Jersey City, he lost his bid to secure several county-level seats.
Essentially, the county was split down the middle, with Turner and Sires siding with Stack, while West New York Mayor Sal Vega, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Sacco, and Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise remained loyal to the HCDO.
A meeting of minds?
Although Stack promised to continue the war into the June primary of 2008 by seeking to take control of the freeholder board, thus stripping the HCDO of key patronage mills such as the Hudson County Schools of Technology, pleas for a truce may end the conflict.
While “peace” may be too strong a word for the new political landscape, conflicting sides are discussing a truce.
The initial reports came from an online political column by the fictional character Wally Edge, rumored to be authored by attorney Donald Scarinci, a close associate of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Stack had planned to fire Scarinci as Union City attorney, but appeared to change his mind after an unexpected visit by Menendez early in October and a closed-door meeting between Stack and Menendez.
But the offers of truce came later.
In mid-October, Stack met with Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, one of several meetings designed to bring the two young rising stars of Hudson County into alignment.
Supporters of Fulop have been working behind the scenes for months in an attempt to give teeth to Stack’s new party, Democrats for Hudson County (DFHC), by building a union between Fulop and Stack.
Word of the meeting between Stack and Fulop reached Healy – apparently by way of Turner, who is seeking to get Sires the HCDO line for next June’s primary. Healy insisted on a meeting with Stack – supposedly sanctioned by Sacco, although some claim Sacco was outraged and only later gave his blessing to save face for not having known about it earlier.
Conditions of the truce
Out of this meeting came the first inkling of a possible cessation of hostilities, although it appears to be sending shock waves through the Fulop camp since one condition of peace would be to have Stack stay out of the 2009 Jersey City mayoral race. Many believe Fulop wants to run for mayor.
The Fulop crowd, which apparently hoped to control Stack when the HCDO failed to, claims Stack doesn’t gain anything from the truce and may indeed find his influence reduced.
The truce is based on certain conditions.
Sires gets the Democratic line for re-election to the House of Representatives next year, unopposed by the HCDO.
The HDCO will get to name three Hudson County freeholders in next June’s primary. Stack will get to name two. State Sen. Sandra Cunningham will get to name two of the remaining Jersey City freeholder candidates as well as the candidate from Bayonne.
This means that the vacuum left by Joe Doria’s recent resignation as Bayonne mayor and state senator is already being filled by powerbrokers in Jersey City.
Healy apparently has asked Stack to disband the Democrats for Hudson County, which would mean the HCDO would control the committee votes and this would deny Stack control of Guttenberg – an area in which Stack had made significant political advances.
With control of Guttenberg, Stack could have created serious patronage problems for Sacco, since Guttenberg and North Bergen have several shared services agreements.
Stack is also being asked to stay of out West New York and Weehawken, although Hoboken is apparently being handed over to him.
The HCDO would absorb some of Stack’s remaining campaign debt from last June’s primary race.
Winners and losers
The truce helps Healy because it cuts off possible support for Fulop in the 2009 mayoral election.
DeGise, who calls this a truce, not yet peace, will benefit because he will largely retain control of the freeholder board.
Sacco benefits because the truce sets limits to Stack’s power, keeping Stack out of critical areas of Sacco’s power base. But Sacco may lose something, too, since the truce gives more power to Healy and Jersey City.
Sires runs for re-election unopposed, and re-election will qualify him for a Congressional pension. With Sires in office, Turner retains his seat at chief of staff.
But there will be walking wounded, such as Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, who was supposed to get HCDO support against Sires in next June’s primary for the House of Representatives seat.
Stack will leave a field of formerly loyal people scrambling to find a place in the new political landscape, such as outgoing Assemblyman Louis Manzo, Jersey City Council-hopeful Jimmy King, and Mary Jane Desmond, who was seeking Sires and Stack’s support for next year’s run for Bayonne mayor.
Sean Connors will survive by running for Jersey City council, and Fulop, who had not yet taken the vows for his political marriage with Stack, will still pose a serious challenge to Healy in the Jersey City mayoral in 2009.