After all the hoopla, the crazy back-and-forth accusations, after two elections, disputed absentee ballots, after claims of racism, driving while intoxicated, alliances with Satan or worse, Jerry McCann, the fourth ward race in Hoboken’s special election hinges on only one thing: which side can get out its vote on Nov. 6.
While it appears that the reformer community is behind Dawn Zimmer, the question is, how many votes will that account for, and will Zimmer be able to use the referendum on open space to get other voters out. If she can cobble together a combination of reformer, newcomer votes, Zimmer could win.
Chris Campos faces a similar challenge of making certain that his base of ethnic, old Hoboken and supporters for state Senate candidate Brian Stack come to the polls.
Campos, who was unseated in a run off election against Zimmer last June, has a new life thanks to the special election, but he needs to work the polls and absentee ballots to capitalize new election.
Zimmer supporters have desperately tried to generate an anti-McCann campaign similar to the successful effort employed by Sandra Cunningham in the June primary which helped derail Assemblyman Louis Manzo’s bid to become state Senator in the 31st District.
But striking differences mark the Zimmer campaign from the Cunningham campaign. Cunningham, who is African American, was able to convince a long-established African American community that McCann did not have their best interest at heart and that a vote for Manzo was a vote for McCann has a behind the scenes puppet master.
Zimmer is playing to a much more diverse population, most of which lacks to deep roots in the local community. Although he rescued Campos’ political career, McCann does not have the long association with Campos as he has with Manzo. So that a campaign focused on McCann may not have the negative results Zimmer supporters hope to achieve.
In the end, it will be matter of which side gets its votes out.
Dinner with Healy
Reports of a peace deal between Union City Mayor Brian Stack and the Hudson County Democratic Organization have been greatly exaggerated, said sources close to both.
While Stack and Healy did break bread together, none of the dishes on the table involved peace, and apparently no offer was made to encourage Stack to mend fences with the HCDO which Healy heads.
This bodes ill for those who hoped to preserve the status quo in next June’s local primaries.
Stack still has something to prove, and if the rumor mill against him is any indication, the HDCO hasn’t yet changed its basic premise in trying to sully Stack’s name.
The latest rumor being spread among the inner political circles is that Stack received a “target letter” from federal investigators. While some sources do agree target letters have gone out to some prominent public officials in Hudson County, Stack was not one of them. What he got was a request for more information in an apparent to clarify a previous request for information from Stack.
Political life, of course, must go on regardless of the inconvenience of a Democratic civil war. This was made clear recently by the fact that former Jersey City Parking Authority Director Jimmy King was seen on the same stage with Councilman Steve Lipski during the Indian Festival on Newark Avenue. King would love to take Lipski’s place on the city council, with Stack’s support, of course.
Secaucus looks like Janiszewski country
Perhaps the most under reported story of the week was the naming of David Drummeller as town administrator of Secaucus.
The former chief of staff for County Executive Bob Janiszewski is only one of a number of transplants to Secaucus over the year. The government there is beginning to more strongly resemble the government Janiszewski assembled during the late 1990 including recently elected Councilman John Shinnick (chairman of the Hudson County Improvement Authority), Tom Calvanico (former executive director for the HCIA), Jay Booth (former financier with the HCIA) and Geoff Perselay (former county administrator and current lobbyist in Hudson County).
Drummeller’s appointment did not come easily. The town council discussed the matter in and out of closed sessions, and even then, Drummeller won appointment by a narrow 3-2 vote with Mayor Dennis Elwell forced to cast the deciding vote in his favor.
Drummeller replaces outgoing Administrator Anthony Iacono, who had become a political issue in the last council campaign, allowing Elwell opponents to garner three of the seven seats on the council. Yet Iacono’s exit was orchestrated by members of the Elwell team, and you have to wonder if perhaps powers beyond the borders of Secaucus were truly responsible for Iacono’s fate.
Seven years ago, Iacono and Elwell were part of an attempted political uprising supporting then Union City Mayor Rudy Garcia against then Rep. Bob Menendez. In an attempt to cut Menendez’s source of funding, Garcia arranged to have legal contracts with various governmental agencies stripped from Menendez ally, Donald Scarinci.
One of the last contracts lost was for the legal work in Secaucus. Menendez demanded that Elwell restore Scarinci and fire Iacono.
Elwell, protected by the long shadow of state Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco refused. Yet now, years later, Iacono is jettisoned from Secaucus, and Frank Leanza, the Guttenberg municipal judge, who replaced Scarinci, may also be on his way out.
Was this orchestrated by Menendez, whose own long shadow seems to once again hovering over Hudson County as the once and future political boss?
Reports suggest that one time Menendez aide, Kay LiCausi, has become bitter at being left out on her own as federal authorities investigate whether or not Menendez allegedly steered business her way. The investigation may even be expanding to other former Menendez workers, who have since gone on to set up lobbying shop on their own.
Menendez also appears to be making a comeback in Hudson County’s political circles, after a brief absence to try his hand at service as a U.S. Senator.
This would not be good news for a number of Hudson political people, who saw the new landscape as full of opportunity without Menendez.
Emmy awards for Bayonne
Members of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority should get an Emmy Award for their recent efforts to seem less arrogant on local public access TV.
On Sept. 20, the BLRA came off as utterly arrogant when they touted the fact that they could vote for a contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and no one could stop them.
The event sparked such outrage that in mid-October, the BLRA came back “kinder and more gentle,” an act for which City Attorney Jay Coffey should get the director of the year award for his orchestrating it.
At stake are huge contracts and high paying patronage jobs the BLRA can award without bid or proposal. Of course, the BLRA was motivated by the City Council, which threatened to dissolve the BLRA if it didn’t behave.