Critics of Gov. Jon Corzine have stopped comparing him to former Gov. Jim Florio, even though Corzine’s policies could result in Republicans retaking control of the state legislature.
In the early 1990s, Florio’s attempts to bring state revenues in line with state spending resulted in a political revolution that tore the legislature out of the grasp of the Democratic Party and eventually handed over the governor’s office to Republican Christie Todd Whitman.
Many current Democrats fear that supporting Corzine’s policies today may lead them to the same conclusion – something apparently borne out by recent poll numbers.
But key Democrats claim Corzine is not Florio.
They say Florio was a team player, someone who tried to work with other Democrats, even though his attempts to balance the state budget failed (including a massive tax increase that proved his undoing).
Corzine, many local Democrats claim, has brought the ruthlessness of a Wall Street boardroom to Trenton, where policies are made by arm-twisting, not negotiation.
No policy has more aggravated the public than the proposed massive increases to tolls along the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway over the next 75 years.
While some legislators, such as Bayonne-based Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, said they will be willing to work with the governor on the proposal, they are demanding something in return.
Chiappone wants a discount for local residents as well as a commitment for improvements to Exit 14, which services Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, and the Holland Tunnel. Chiappone, who is seeking a study for a new bridge to accommodate the massive traffic using Exit 14, said he needs the commitment before he’ll support the governor.
Former Jersey City-based Assemblyman Louis Manzo, however, questioned some of Corzine’s tactics such as exempting from an open bidding process the bonding agencies involved in the Turnpike transactions. Manzo said the public has a right to know which firms are going to make their fortune off Corzine’s proposal.
Public access suit
Public access to information is one of the central issues for Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason. One of her cases against the City of Hoboken was scheduled to be heard before the state Supreme Court this week.
For decades, government entities have attempted to restrict the public’s ability to access information, often in defiance of existing law.
While the state’s journalist groups in the late 1990s fought to develop a new set of state rules designed to open up government archives, many local governments have found new ways to deny and stonewall on the information, not to mention citing Homeland Security issues inspired by the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mason has become a local champion for open public access to information, pushing to make certain that government does not operate in secret.
Mason has also taken another route to opening municipal government’s records, by running for and winning a seat on the City Council. Will she take the next step next year in run for mayor as well? Many think she will.
‘Hootergate’ could hurt Russo
While some believed Councilman Michael Russo might be poised to become the mayor of Hoboken, more photos have been released of him partying during a humanitarian police trip taken to Louisiana several years ago. Russo has said that he was not at the Hooters party that everyone was making a fuss about, but he did not deny being at other functions. He also said he didn’t see the police doing anything inappropriate.
Called “Hootergate,” the scandal involved the questionable activities of some Hoboken police during the trip, where women, alcohol, and firearms seemed to intermingle into an uncomfortable affair.
More recently, memos showed that in 2006, one police officer was concerned that the large number of officers on the humanitarian trips meant that the city’s overnight shift was left four men short, putting the city in danger.
While Russo can’t be blamed for hanging out with the boys in blue, he may still be politically tainted, and could even risk being unseated as councilman.
If nothing else, “Hootergate” will give former Councilwoman Carol Marsh – one of the rumored reformer candidates for Mayor – ammunition against him.
Russo was supposed to be supported by state Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack, but the scandal appears to have given Stack second thoughts.
Stack, of course, is apparently angry at a lot of political people these days, including his former mentor, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner. But more critical are the apparent bad feelings between Stack and Hoboken/Jersey City Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, who may find himself without support in his re-election bid in the June Democratic Freeholder Primary. Longtime reformer Ines Garcia Kein is rumored to be considering challenging him.
And Stack apparently met with Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts at the Four Star Diner in Union City this week to ask Roberts to run against Fitzgibbons as freeholder. But Roberts may have other plans.
Will Roberts run for re-election after all?
Roberts is rumored to be behind a new phone poll that is contacting residents in Hoboken. Reports suggest that Roberts has changed his mind and may run for re-election next year after all – provided his favorable ratings are high.
With Michael Russo possibly damaged by Hootergate, the 2009 mayoral election could be a repeat of the 2005 election, pitting Roberts against Marsh in a run-off, but with significantly different results.
Reports suggest that Marsh has already received a promise of support from several key players in the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).
Without the sage advice and able fundraising ability of former state Sen. Bernard Kenny, Roberts may be the underdog.
Although mentioned frequently as a possible candidate for mayor, Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer is apparently not seeking the post, according to two sources – although anything can happen between now and May 2009.