In the absence of any marquee political races, the upcoming general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8 has all the excitement of an hour of C-SPAN. So, as is befitting of such an election, the men running for Hudson County executive – Democratic incumbent Thomas DeGise and his GOP challenger, attorney Stephen De Luca – have an understandably low-key outlook on their race.
“What are you saying, the county executive election isn’t exciting?” joked DeGise, adding, “Sometimes a quiet election is a good election.” Good, because it allows county issues to take center stage rather than the personalities of the candidates.
DeGise and De Luca, who are both Jersey City residents, agree that finances, property taxes, and the need for more jobs are the top issues facing residents throughout Hudson County.
County taxes
“We’d love for the county budget to be lower,” noted DeGise, who is running for his fourth term. “We’re doing everything that we can to try to keep our budget under control. But 90 percent of what we do here is mandated. Our revenue streams at the county level are all decreasing while our costs of running government continue to increase.”
DeGise said he supports Republican Gov. Christopher Christie’s efforts to curb pension and health care costs for public employees, which have put pressure on the county’s budget in recent years. Still, he said the county’s bond rating remains strong, stronger than that of many other counties.
“The county has a good bond rating but we’re on a negative outlook,” noted De Luca, who is running his first campaign for an elected office. “We’ve been borrowing quite a bit. The [Red Bull Arena in Harrison] was approved without a feasibility study and without assurances that the owner would pay taxes. The Town of Harrison had to borrow money to make payments on the bond and the county backed the issuance of the bonds by the [Hudson County Improvement Authority]. So, the county could be on the hook for $40 million.”
This is on top of another $900 million in short-term and outstanding obligations that are not accounted for in the county budget, said De Luca, a veteran of the U.S. Navy and former U.S. Commerce Dept. attorney.
De Luca and DeGise agree that one of the best ways to rein in spending is to consolidate and share services with the municipalities or other counties. Hudson County has, for example, placed solar panels of the roofs of some government office buildings and has joined a collective of other counties to cut energy costs. And the county has a shared services manager who coordinates interlocal agreements among the municipalities and the county.
Employing Hudson County
Both candidates identified jobs as the other primary issue currently facing Hudson County residents.
De Luca assailed long-term PILOT agreements in Jersey City because the agreements “mean the rest of the county is subsidizing the development of the Jersey City waterfront.” Such agreements allow developers to skip regular taxes and instead pay a different amount straight to the city each year, with little contribution to the county.
Those agreements should only be made, De Luca said, if they are tied to community workforce agreements that require developers to hire local labor.
DeGise said the county must become “more business friendly” by educating and training local workers in the skills businesses need and want.
“We do this already through our Schools of Technology and other training programs,” he said. “But we need to find ways to do more so that our labor pool is attractive to business and they’ll want to come to Hudson County.
In it to win it, and stay
While he has campaigned hard, De Luca remains realistic about his chances of winning in heavily Democratic Hudson County.
“I’m in this race to win and should I win I’m prepared to be the county executive. But obviously I understand the demographics of Hudson County.”
Still, the Republican Party is trying to gain a foothold here and believes 2011 and 2012 are its best opportunities to gain some political ground and momentum. Locally, Democrats are still in disarray following the notorious 2009 federal sting that saw 46 religious leaders and public officials – mostly Democrats – busted for corruption. And nationally, President Obama’s inability to lower the unemployment rate has hurt the party’s approval rating among key voters.
De Luca said he has met William O’Dea, chairman of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, and said, “I believe I can work well with him and some of the other freeholders I’ve met. Some of them are very well-intentioned with what they’re trying to accomplish.”
As for recent rumors that DeGise plans to run for county exec, win, then resign from his seat next year so that Hudson County Democratic Organization Chairman Mark Smith can appoint himself to the post, DeGise said, “I wouldn’t do that. Each time I’ve run I’ve done it with the intention of serving a full term. It’s no different this time around.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.