Anyone who believed the political marriage between Bret Schundler and Gov. Christopher Christie would have lasted needs to have his or her head examined.
This was a train wreck waiting to happen. The fact that Schundler, as Commissioner of the Department of Education, made an error that cost the state $400 million in federal education aid is beside the point.
Christie didn’t want the federal money in the first place, and at one point may have contributed to the error by yanking the application for the federal aid. The more money available for education, the tougher it will be for school districts to pressure teachers’ unions into givebacks.
But if this rift with Schundler hadn’t happened, something else would have – much in the way it did on a national level when then-President George W. Bush hired former New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Gov. Christie, like President Bush, is an ideologue whose sole purpose in life is to narrow the scope of government in what the Bush Administration called “starving the beast.” By this, Bush meant that he needed to end the era of entitlements so that government played a significantly smaller role in people’s lives.
Schundler – although a Republican – comes from a different school, less interested in dismantling government than in making government function more efficiently. In this, Schundler is a much more an old school conservative, while Christie is what many people call a neo-conservative – someone whose social agenda seems more acceptable to urban dwellers, but in truth, has a specific agenda to undo many of the social gains government made possible since the Great Depression.
While to many Democrats one Republican looks much like another, in truth, the gap between Schundler and Christie is as wide as the Grand Canyon. The biggest surprise to many was that Christie even bothered reaching out to Schundler in the first place – by far a greater shock than when Christie finally fired him.
Schundler against Cunningham?
In an election year where Democrats are expected to get beat badly on a national level, this division in the Republican ranks apparently has led some to speculate as to whether they can make use of Schundler to settle their own local political scores.
Whereas Sheriff Juan Perez switched from Democrat to Republican when the Hudson County Democratic Organization dumped him, some Democrats hope to convince Schundler – who was once a Democrat – to become a Democrat again and run for the state Senate against incumbent Senator Sandra Cunningham in next June’s primary election.
This is a bit farfetched, but it shows the depth of bad feelings some Democrats feel against Cunningham, and shows that there will likely be a primary election next June even if it is extremely unlikely Schundler will be the candidate against her. It is possible, however, Schundler could run against Cunningham for mayor of Jersey City in 2013.
Meanwhile, a lot of people are holding their breath to see who will pick up the gauntlet and run against Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell in the upcoming November special election. O’Donnell was named in July to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Anthony Chiappone. While the committee voted to name O’Donnell, the Jersey City contingent – which holds the majority of the votes in the 31st district – just couldn’t get its act together to stop O’Donnell. But the fact that Cunningham did not even bother to attend the committee vote suggests that she was holding her nose and letting O’Donnell get the seat without opposition. Whether she decides to back a candidate in November or wait until June is the big question.
Jersey City chief of staff moves to business administrator’s office
Dominick Pandolfo, who may have set the record as chief of staff to the Jersey City mayor, is moving on to serve in the business administrator’s office. The more-than-deserving Rosemary McFadden will take his old position as chief of staff.
Pandolfo, whose actual title is administrative analyst, said he wanted to change a year ago after Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s reelection, but with so many critical issues facing the city such as the municipal budget, he decided to stay on an extra year, waiting for a new business administrator to be named.
He said the move gets him out of the heavily political activities that a chief of staff has to deal with and back into more basic governmental services, which he prefers.
Hoboken politics gets ugly – again
With a $12 million surplus in Hoboken, Mayor Dawn Zimmer is apparently opting to lower taxes in next year’s critical mid-term elections for the council ward seats rather than suspend the layoffs of police officers.
This, of course, becomes the fodder for the special election this November which pits front runner Zimmer-supporting incumbent 4th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz against surging challenger Tim Occhipinti.
How strong Occhipinti is remains uncertain, except as measured by the misinformation campaign being waged to sully his name. This week a prominent political website claimed Occhipinti had accumulated more than 640 absentee ballots – a ridiculous concept, since absentee ballots are not issued until there is a drawing for ballot position which has not yet occurred.
This clearly was designed to play into previous campaigns – particularly the mayoral campaign in which Peter Cammarano won over Zimmer by the use of absentee ballots – 79 of which were conveniently found under a table in the county election office on election night.
By suggesting Occhipinti is banking absentee ballots, questionable behind-the-scenes people are seeking to connect him to questionable dealings of the past.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.