Despite his loss in the election to a ticket led by Dr. Felix Roque, former West New York Mayor Sal Vega won’t be going away any time soon. In a political war that strangely resembles the conflict going on in Libya, Vega appears to be hunkering down for a long-term battle.
This includes defending his patronage mill in the West New York Board of Education, where two appointments last week so riled Roque supporters that the police had to shut down the meeting.
Schools historically have always been a source of patronage jobs. Usually, when there are appointed boards of education, people must go to the mayor or the commissioners to get these jobs.
For the next year or more, Vega and his followers will continue to wield patronage power in the school district, despite the change of city administration. It will take Mayor Roque two years to replace the entire Board of Education since it is an appointed board.
Rumors of a dramatic return of Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner as West New York business administrator appear to be unfounded. Turner could not return to the same title because he apparently had retired from the position and is already getting his pension. But some believed that he might try to do what former Bayonne Schools Business Administrator Clifford Doll did recently and return to that town as a paid consultant.
“He’s not coming back,” one source said.
While Roque’s election reports show that it cost $300,000 for his team to win the election, Vega spent over $1.1 million to lose.
Long rumored to be the power behind Roque’s election, state Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack said he was not involved.
“I make a point of staying out of municipal elections,” he said. “Right now, I’m the [state] senator for West New York. Even when I’m not, I’ll continue to be involved and I will keep an office open there.”
Redistricting for the upcoming election has shifted state legislative districts. West New York, currently in the 33rd district where Stack is senator, will shift into the 32nd District next January, where Nicholas Sacco is senator.
Hoboken Democrats in a committee fight
Last year, political supporters of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer successfully pulled off a political coup, taking control of the Hoboken Democratic Party.
While the old guard – calling themselves “Real Democrats” – claim they were distracted by the aftermath of former Mayor Peter Cammarano’s arrest in the Solomon Dwek sting, the battle for control of the party resumes this year with a new committee primary election in June that could have the old guard retake control and put out Ravinder Bhalla as chairman.
The battle, of course, has been going on for weeks as each team gears up to put their own committee people up for election. Hoboken has 72 committee seats. Zimmer’s reformers are putting up 60 candidates, leaving 12 seats uncontested. The old guard has put up 61 candidates leaving 11 seats uncontested.
Whichever side gets the most votes will be able to decide who the next local party chairman will be.
Bhalla attempted to disqualify 22 of the Real Democrats committee candidates. After an investigation conducted by Hoboken City Clerk James Farina and Hudson County Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace, all but nine candidates were restored to the ballot.
Superior Court Judge Maurice Galapoli ruled last week in favor of the Real Democrats for Hoboken, placing six out of nine committee candidates back on the ballot for the June 7 Democratic Primary.
Who won in Hoboken municipal elections?
While the victory of Peter Cunningham in the 5th Ward and Jennifer Giattino in the 6th Ward gave back control of the City Council to the Zimmer camp, the overall margin citywide was not encouraging to her, especially considering that in 2013, Zimmer will have to run along with all three at-large seats.
In some ways, this election was a vindication of former Councilman Michael Lenz, who despite losing in a special election last fall, still drew more votes than any of the winning candidates in the regular election on May 11.
Insiders in the reform movement maintain that the battle for the 5th Ward was not a concerted effort by the Zimmer camp, but the two candidates themselves working hard on their own.
Some believe that Zimmer’s inner circle has problems, because they are eying each other as potential contenders, often providing conflicting opinions that led to some disorganization in the ranks.
Greg Lincoln, who ran against Councilman Michael Russo, did much better than anybody expected, despite goading from people on his own side.
This column mistakenly said Beth Mason won the 2nd Ward race by 25 votes. The margin determining a runoff was 25 votes, and the margin of victory was 129.
While this column erroneously made the 2nd Ward race closer than it really was, Tom Greaney was capable of winning, but appears to not have had all the support he needed.
Behind the scenes, political consultant Jack Butchko has seen his status rise since he worked on the campaigns for Cunningham, Giattino, and Greaney, winning two of the seats outright and a near miss with the third.
Jersey City mayoral gearing up for 2013
Knowledgeable sources claim that Jersey City Major Jerramiah Healy may not be interested in running for reelection despite considering the idea earlier this year.
This puts Councilman Steve Fulop in the unfortunate position of being frontrunner, which means everybody will be taking pot shots at him between now and the election.
But he is hardly the only candidate who may be seeking to fill the mayor’s seat once Healy abandons it.
Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who was redistricted out of Sacco’s district, said some people have talked to her about a possible run.
“But two years is a long time from now,” she said.
Other possible contenders are Dan Levin, who ran against Healy in 2009, Hudson County Prosecutor Ed DeFazio, who is rumored to facing ouster from his position shortly, and even Councilman Peter Brennan.