Psychologist Sigmund Freud alone might be able to tell you what inadequacies in the Hoboken police SWAT team compelled them to hand over their guns to Hooters waitresses while partying during a trip to Louisiana.
But nothing short of a mind-reader can tell you why 3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo – who has ambitions become the next mayor of Hoboken – allowed his picture to be taken during one of the trips to the bars.
While Lt. Angelo Andriani, head of this elite SWAT team, has dispelled the Norman Rockwell myth of the smiley, rosy-cheeked beat cop, this most recent foray into a morally questionable landscape may have done more than just erode the foundations under the concept that police officers are pillars of the community – but may also have given Hoboken yet one more black eye in national perception.
Due to a lawsuit by five officers against Andriani, a series of photos has been released to the press of officers partying and drinking during various trips to Louisiana to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. At least one, but not all, of the photos came out of an unscheduled stop at a Hooters restaurant in Alabama.
One public official privately called the incident “part of the culture of Hoboken.” In truth, it is part of the bar-room culture that has infected all of Hudson County politics, and contributes to the public growing disrespect for elected and other officials.
Thanks to sleazy campaigning that has produced naked photos then-Jersey City mayoral hopeful Jerramiah Healy several years ago, barroom brawls in and out of Jersey City, and paparazzi conflicts with a cameramen in the most recent 4th Ward election in Hoboken, the more savvy voting public has gotten a glimpse into the alcoholic haze out of which local government is run.
For Russo, who was seen as a frontrunner in the 2009 Hoboken mayoral race, this latest embarrassment could spell the end of his political upper mobility.
One local politician called this “Hootergate,” alluding to the Watergate break-in scandal that eventually led to the 1974 resignation of then President Richard Nixon.
The political fallout over the SWAT team’s using their equipment for things other than public safety emergencies has yet to be completely felt. Russo and other politicians may be ducking for cover or hiring press people to minimize the damage, while other political hopefuls try to find a way to capitalize on the situation.
Councilman Peter Cammarano, who apparently also has aspirations to become the next mayor of Hoboken, asked that the SWAT team be disbanded shortly after the first set of photos were published. A few days later, the team was, indeed, disbanded.
Other observers have magnifying glasses out, squinting hard at the accumulation of photographic evidence to see if they can find political rivals in the shadows.
This is something akin to finding images of saints on your breakfast pancakes. If you want to see them badly enough, you’ll see them.
Public reaction to the bare-chested Hooters girls bearing the SWAT squads’ machine guns has been mixed. Some party-goers at Hoboken hot spots find little wrong with the antics of the action heroes except that they performed these stunts on camera and may have helped derail the career of a man they hoped would become mayor.
Peace in the valley?
While rumors of a peace deal between the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) and the rebellious Democrats for Hudson County have circulated for months, a small-scale truce – which appears to have been worked out this week – has caught everybody off-guard.
The assumption to date was that Rep. Albio Sires and his sidekick, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner (sometimes called Batman and Robin), would come to back the HCDO from which they had severed ties.
Not so.
Sires and Turner had sided with state Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack against the rest of the county Democrats in a split last spring. It started early this year when Stack had heard reports out of the camp of then State Sen. and Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria that Doria and state Sens. Bernard Kenny and Nicholas Sacco were supporting legislation that would ban dual office holding. Since Stack had made it clear last year that he intended to replace Kenny as the state senator in the June Democratic primary, this seemed like a betrayal, so he withdrew from the HCDO and formed his own party, the DFHC.
Stack’s efforts in last June’s Democratic Primary to dethrone the HCDO largely failed, although they allowed him to take the state Senate seat he wanted and to carry his two runningmates into the state Assembly. Stack trounced West New York Mayor Sal Vega in the 33rd District for state Senate. But thanks to the HCDO’s deal with Sandra Cunningham, Stack’s team failed to win any county-level seats, nor was Stack able to get his state candidates in the 31st and 32nd districts elected.
Stack, of course, vowed to carry the fight over into 2008 by threatening to run a full slate of freeholders against HCDO candidates, with the hopes of making up for his 2007 failure to take the seats of county executive, county clerk or county sheriff.
The 2007 primary, however, left most war chests broke – including Stack’s. So naturally people believed the war was over and that sooner or later, Sires and Turner would return to the HCDO – since Sires must run for re-election in the House of Representatives in 2008, and could face a tough battle if the HCDO ran someone against him.
But to many people’s shock and amazement, Turner and Sires didn’t come back.
Instead, they appear to have lured Vega from West New York into their camp, building an even more formidable powerbase in North Hudson.
This may explain why – during the swearing in ceremony for Freeholder Jose C. Munoz earlier this month, Freeholder Chairman Thomas Liggio forgot to mention Vega as one of the dignitaries in attendance.
Liggio represents North Bergen, and Sacco, who serves also as North Bergen mayor, largely funded Vega’s state Senate battle against Stack.
While Liggio said too much shouldn’t be made of his slip – a slip he later corrected – the fact is that Sacco must be steaming at Vega’s switch.
Even some people on Stack’s side question the move, since many have spent the greater part of a year saying bad things about Vega. Suddenly, Stack supporters have to backtrack and say good things about the man they once called “master of the evil empire.”
Among the people who have a right to be upset is West New York Commissioner Gerry Lange – who held a fundraiser this week for his move to unseat Vega as mayor in an expected 2008 recall election.
Sires, Turner and Stack attended the fundraiser even while behind the scenes, they were negotiating with Vega for peace.