As they held their end-of-the summer political picnic, the Secaucus Democrats found themselves in a real pickle.
A poll apparently conducted by long-time Republican pollster Rick Shaftan on behalf of state Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco appears to show Secaucus Councilman Michael Gonnelli with such an overwhelming lead in the November mayoral election that none of those polled in head-to-head races against him even would come close to beating him.
Polls can be notoriously wrong, as the Hoboken mayoral election showed when Councilwoman Beth Mason polled well ahead of all candidates, only to come in third in the election.
But with Mayor Dennis Elwell facing charges as the result of a federal sting operation, and no one else chosen to replace him in the election, Gonnelli has received a boost.
“I thought I would beat Elwell even if this hadn’t happened,” Gonnelli said.
Sacco has numerous interests in Secaucus, including the new Hudson County Schools of Technology campus proposed to be built there, and seems to have been playing both sides prior to the Elwell resignation.
Ominously silent before the Democratic primary in June, Sacco appeared to side with Elwell by allowing an Elwell pick to fill Gonnelli’s seat on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
This was once Sacco’s seat, and one that he has guarded vigorously over the years, blocking several appointments through senatorial courtesy after vacating it in 1994.
He eventually lifted his block when Gonnelli was nominated.
Elwell’s Democratic Primary victory over attorney Peter Weiner seemed to show the Democratic ticket still had the stuff to oppose the mass movement fueling Gonnelli’s challenge in November.
Then Elwell was arrested, and the political landscape changed overwhelmingly in favor of Gonnelli.
Democrats, geared up to battle the Independent Gonnelli, found themselves cast adrift, leaderless.
Sacco, never one to risk too much, apparently decided to test the waters with a poll, and then sent Assemblyman Vincent Prieto to smooth the political waters and to offer the hand of friendship to Gonnelli, the man most likely to become the next mayor of Secaucus.
This, however, has some of the connotations of Darth Vader of “Star Wars” asking his son Luke Skywaker to come over to the dark side of the force.
The history of Secaucus is heavily endowed with Independents becoming Democrats once they got the opportunity. Anthony Just did it, betraying his fellow Independent, Sal Manente in 1990. Elwell did it again in 1999. So it is not outside the realm of belief to see Gonnelli – who was in both Just’s and Elwell’s camp before being reborn as an Independent – doing it again now.
Rumors of a deal circulated, claiming that Sacco would guarantee Gonnelli no opponent in the November mayoral election as well as other side benefits, if Gonnelli was to name Ralph Lamparello, Sacco’s legal foot soldier, as town attorney.
Gonnelli firmly denied any deal. He said he will not become a Democrat.
He also said there was no connection between these developments and a recent change in his lawsuit against Elwell and former Town Administrator Anthony Iacono – even when reports suggested that Ralph Lamparello was to be hired as town attorney if and when Gonnelli became mayor. Lamparello recently withdrew as the attorney defending Elwell and Iacono against Gonnelli.
But inside sources claim Lamparello’s name has been removed from the short list to replace Frank Leanza as town attorney in Secaucus. Gonnelli said Leanza will be replaced, but the town will issue requests for proposals. One name that has surfaced recently is Anthony D’Elia, son of the former principal of Clarendon School in Secaucus. D’Elia, a member of the Lamparello firm, recently served as acting town attorney in Bayonne, and has contracts with several other municipalities around the state.
One mistaken notion is that former Councilman Richard Kane got snubbed when the committee acted to name an acting mayor. Kane withdrew his own name from consideration.
“Kane wanted all or nothing; he refused to have his name put up unless he was going for the whole ball of wax,” one of the committee people said. “It’s too bad the committee didn’t know what was going on in advance. I’m sure they would have been glad to put up Kane. All of this didn’t happen ’til 3 p.m. the day of the meeting.”
Meanwhile, in Hoboken…
Leanza, of course, has become a political football in Hoboken because of his close association with sometime political candidate Frank Raia.
Opponents of Raia’s possible bid to run for mayor of Hoboken in the upcoming November special election are desperate to sully his name and keep him out of the race that has all but crowned Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
Raia was very close to Elwell, as well as discredited former Hoboken Mayor Anthony Russo and former Union City Mayor Rudy Garcia at one time. This is a message Zimmer supporters would like to promote with the hopes that he won’t jump into the race.
The theory is that if Councilwoman Beth Mason challenges Zimmer, she would split the reform vote and allow Raia to put together enough votes out of traditional Hoboken to win.
Meanwhile, some question the ethics of the FBI and the sting operation that eventually led to the arrest of Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano. Since the investigation began last November and the FBI had the evidence to charge Cammarano prior to the May election, why did the FBI wait until Cammarano was sworn in?
Some believe that federal prosecutors realized that they had netted only a batch of small fish and needed Cammarano to become mayor in order to justify eight years of hard work.
Meanwhile, Michael Novak’s fundraiser last week must have scared all the candidates for mayor, since he drew about 145 people. Some of these were his own supporters, and some were supporters set adrift by the Cammarano arrest. Some actually believed Novak would throw his hat into the race. But it is really too soon, and the real fear is that he will cast his growing support behind Mason, which could tilt the election to her.