By far, the biggest upset in Hudson County on Election Day, Nov. 2 was the victory of political newcomer Tim Occhipinti over seasoned political veteran incumbent Councilman Michael Lenz.
A telephone poll done five weeks ago showed Lenz receiving about 35 percent of the likely voters, and Occhipinti 15.
When the polls closed on Nov. 2, Occhipinti won with about 60 percent of the vote, showing a dramatic increase in five weeks of 45 percent.
Even losing, Lenz admits that Occhipinti waged a good campaign, but went on to claim that behind Occhipinti was another nefarious campaign full of dirty tricks typical of past elections.
Some of the people who supported Occhipinti disputed this claim, saying that Occhipinti’s campaign went out of its way to make sure that every aspect of the campaign was done “correctly,” and said the victory was due to hard work and some political blunders made by Lenz and Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
“I had a lot of good people on my side, and we got out a very good vote under some challenging circumstances,” Lenz said. “Tim ran a very hard campaign, but behind his campaign was a shadow campaign that was involved in blatant illegal activity.”
In the days prior to the election, Lenz’s campaign went to court challenging absentee ballots that were cast, charges that the Occhipinti camp described as “a political stunt,” designed partly to get out Lenz’s base for this election and to cast a cloud over the election if Occhipinti won.
“This is the reason we worked so hard to win on the machines,” said one campaign staff member for the Occhipinti camp. “We didn’t want them to cloud this election. This was a good victory.”
“Tim ran a great campaign,” Lenz admitted. “I’m not saying we got cheated, or that we would have won, but we didn’t have the fair election I would have liked to have had.”
Occhipinti campaign insiders said the election hinged on several key elements. One involved Lenz’s choosing to accept health coverage from the city while taking a stipend from the county as an employee there. Occhipinti campaign workers claim the Lenz camp sought to suppress the vote in the housing projects, something the Lenz campaign denies.
While Lenz said he may have regretted some things done in the campaign, overall he’s proud of the effort.
The Occhipinti campaign also had strong support from some of the most influential leaders in Hoboken, such as Frank Raia, Councilwoman Beth Mason and others, all of whom worked hard to get out the vote on his behalf.
“A year ago, Maurice Fitzgibbons told us Tim would be the 4th Ward Councilman, we told him he was crazy, but this year, Tim is,” one worker said. “Maurice sure knows how to pick a horse.”
Secaucus seals the fate of the Democratic Party
The victory of the Take Back Secaucus candidates in this year’s council races only proved that Mayor Michael Gonnelli’s victory last year was not a fluke. It wasn’t just the fact that Gonnelli-backed candidates swept the three ward seats, but the margin of victory, suggesting that Gonnelli has a real mandate.
The Democratic Party has been a powerful force in Secaucus since the mid-1970s, when Rocco Impreveduto and others helped build it into something that challenged the once-all-powerful independent movement headed by then-Mayor Paul Amico. For more than three decades, independents struggled to regain their rightful place at the top of the heap, only to get thwarted by Democrats who eventually took solid control for the most part with the election of Mayor Anthony Just in 1991. They extended this control when Independent Dennis Elwell ran as a Democrat in the 1999 primary to unseat Just. Under Gonnelli, independents made inroads in the 2006 elections, taking three of the council seats. Last year, poised to challenge Elwell in what would have been a classic election, Gonnelli was swept into the mayor’s office when Elwell resigned as mayor and candidate after being charged in a federal bribery sting operation. The scandal left the Democratic Party in shambles – which played out Nov. 2 when the Democrats were cast out of the council completely. Perhaps the only real surprise, however, was independent Susan Pirro’s victory over Democrat Mark Bruscino in the third ward.
House of Representatives results were no surprise
Despite the national trend towards electing Republicans to the House of Representatives, all three Democratic incumbents in Hudson County Reps. Albio Sires, Steven Rothman and Donald Payne beat back their Republican challengers – although Republican Henrietta Dwyer in the 13th District did significantly better than the other challengers, suggesting that she may reappear as a Republican candidate in the upcoming county and state elections next year.
“I’m very proud of how well she did,” said , chairman of the Hudson County Republican Party. “She worked very hard in an uphill battle, and she received the most votes of anybody on our ticket.”
Perez loses sheriff’s seat to Schillari
Although incumbent Hudson County Sheriff Juan Perez struggled hard to retain his seat, he could not overcome powerful opposition even by switching to the Republican Party in a year when Republicans were expected to win big. Not only did Perez have the mayors of North Bergen, Union City and Bayonne against him, he also had the political machine behind Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, who delivered every district in Ward E for Frank Schillari as well as Democratic candidate Jason O’Donnell in the 31st District assembly race. This pretty much assures Fulop HCDO support for his run for mayor of Jersey City in 2013.
O’Donnell’s victory in the special election against three challengers was also a victory for Mayor Smith, who proved as the HCDO chairman he could deliver districts outside the city of Bayonne.
“This was a huge victory for us,” Smith said.
Joseph Turula, O’Donnell’s Republican challenger, did very well, coming in second in the field of four.
“We had the Democratic machine against us,” said Arango, but said that Turula, Perez and Dwyer would likely have a place next year in Republican plans to field candidates for state Assembly, as well as county executive and freeholders.