While politics in Hudson County is always unpredictable, 2014 left many political tea leaf readers scratching their heads at the end of the year and wondering what just happened.
Although the U.S. Senate race saw the election of Democrat Cory Booker over Republican Jeff Bell and some minor party candidates, this was not the big political story of the year.
Booker’s presence on the ballot brought out more voters to several Board of Education elections that had been moved from April to November. West New York and Jersey City saw larger than normal turnouts, partly fueled by the move. The November election in Hoboken saw a significant drop off in voter turnout.
But the biggest political story for Hudson County was also one for the state. Commonly called “Bridgegate,” Gov. Chris Christie’s aides had, a year ago in September, inexplicably closed lanes in Fort Lee near the George Washington Bridge, tying up traffic for days. In 2014, it came to light that the act may have been retribution for the failure of Fort Lee’s mayor to endorse Christie’s reelection.
Ripples from the controversy reached Jersey City and Hoboken, thrusting both towns into national news. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop claimed Christie had withheld cleanup aid from Superstorm Sandy because of Fulop’s lack of endorsement. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer went as far as to claim that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable III had tied Sandy aid to Zimmer’s shepherding of a private development project for a Christie-favored developer in Hoboken. Zimmer produced her diary to prove her case, with notes on her accusations scribbled between affectionate thoughts for her husband.
Bridgegate caused a split among Hudson County mayors. Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli, Union City Mayor Brian Stack, and Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough (who died this year) stood behind the governor, while other mayors joined the Democratic lynch mob looking to bring down the unpopular leader.
Jersey City mayor had a rough year
“The party in power is always the worst,” satirist Will Rogers once wrote, “and every man looks good until he is elected.”
This was particularly true for Fulop in 2014. He completed his first full year as mayor on a wave of social and political upheaval.
Not only did he get caught up in Bridgegate, Fulop also had to deal with a Board of Education that refused to go along with some of his school development initiatives, a police chief who did not want to go along with reorganization of the police department, the tragic death of a rookie cop, and a spike in the murder rate over a very long hot summer.
Fulop also had to backtrack on a number of proposals. His effort to award the city’s ambulance contract to CarePoint-backed McCabe Ambulance over traditional provider Jersey City Medical Center quickly ran into trouble. Eventually the City Council voted to give the contract to JCMC. Fulop had to change his plan to fund a $10 million park development around the reservoir in Jersey City Heights when community groups came out against a trash transfer program for Greenville Yards that would have paid for it.
While not yet a defeated effort, Fulop was also forced to withdraw – at least for the moment – a controversial lease-purchase agreement for the new City Hall annex.
Power politics played havoc inside City Hall when someone leaked damaging information about Fulop’s chief of staff Muhammed Akil, who later resigned. This may have been partly to save Fulop from future embarrassment if he decides to run for governor, as most people expect him to do if Christie runs for the Republican nomination for president.
Fulop’s minions have been stitching together political alliances inside and outside Hudson County, which partly explains why Fulop appeared to change sides in the Bayonne election. His workers campaigned for Mayor Mark Smith who was in a tight race and eventually lost to challenger James Davis. But the Smith campaign donated heavily to a key campaign in Newark, helping Fulop forge a political alliance there.
Fulop’s opposition to Christie, and Jersey City’s hosting of two Super Bowl teams this year, has given him remarkable media exposure. The city’s phenomenal growth in development has made him a regional presence, something he needs if he intends to seek the governor’s office in 2017.
Bayonne was the big surprise this year
Many people were stunned by Smith’s loss to Davis, seeing it as one of the more significant political upsets in recent history. Davis beat Smith in a runoff, and his running mates managed to sweep all five council seats as well.
But this appearance of unity is somewhat misleading. The election was much more complicated the any in recent history, since Davis managed to cobble together groups with specific issues: supporters of rent control, proponents of an elected school board, and dissatisfied teachers, who were not able to get a contract settled with the Smith administration.
Davis also took advantage of Smith’s political blunders outside of Bayonne. Political allies such as state Sen. Nicholas Sacco and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, who had helped Smith in the past, largely stayed out of the election.
Strangely enough, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise helped Smith, and so did some Fulop workers.
But anti-Smith candidates in the county Board of Freeholders primary were not able to take advantage of Smith’s loss. Kenneth Kopacz, supported by Smith, handily beat Rafael Augusto in the primary, and later beat Michael Alonso in the general election.
In Hoboken, Zimmer also saw reversals
Zimmer came into 2014 as a real success story, after having pulled off one of the biggest political coups in the recent memory. She won her 2013 re-election without a runoff, when division and bickering between warring slates of her opponents allowed her to slide back into office without a majority of the votes.
But by the year’s end, a lot of the glow of her victory was gone, and she found herself with a split in her base, with some rivals coveting the mayor’s seat and wishing she wasn’t in it. Part of the split had to do with a divided reform community over the issue of charter schools, and part had to do with a very unpopular property revaluation, which may explain Zimmer’s decision to back off a proposed rolling reval late in the year.
This was the year that Zimmer finally took on Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia, who was removed as Hoboken’s Housing Authority executive director, setting the stage for a possible run as a City Council candidate in 2015.
Although Garcia hoped to keep his Assembly seat, insiders said he will not be asked to remain on a ticket headed by state Sen. and Union City Mayor Brian Stack.
Meanwhile, Anthony Romano’s good showing in the freeholder election set him up as a future mayoral candidate in Hoboken.
Split or not, Zimmer supporters managed to gain more seats on the Hoboken Board of Education, partly because anti-Zimmer forces could not agree on their own slate and divided their votes between two slates.
Union City, temporarily at peace
For the first time in almost a decade, Union City Mayor Stack is at peace with the rest of the county.
Whether this peace will last no one knows, but it appears to be a real breakthrough. Stack has met with his arch rival, state Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Sacco, to consult on joint municipal projects.
Stack even endorsed County Executive Tom DeGise’s reelection bid next year, even though a close Stack ally like Jersey City Freeholder Bill O’Dea had hoped to challenge DeGise.
There is also a move afoot to draft state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, another close associate of Stack’s, to run against DeGise next year.
Stack’s power base is remarkably solid, and may well be attributed to what his admirers and enemies sometimes call “the turkey effect.” Stack is intensely focused on community service, symbolized by the 20,000 turkeys his organization gave away at Thanksgiving.
But political peace in Hudson County is unnatural. The bitterness between Stack and Sacco may reemerge if rumors are true that Larry Wainstein – a Stack ally – plans to run against Sacco for mayor of North Bergen.
Also in Union City this year, Freeholder Tilo Rivas beat long time Stack critic Jose Falto in the June primary. Falto passed away later in the year, ending a personal crusade to unseat Stack.
Roque maneuvers in West New York
West New York witnessed some of the most dramatic changes of political fortune in 2014, all centered around Mayor Felix Roque.
Even though he successfully survived federal charges in late 2013 of conspiracy to hack into his political opponents’ website, Roque’s opponents managed to pass a referendum that established an elected school board. The first of two elections for school board members saw two anti-Roque candidates seated.
But in a series of political maneuvers, Roque’s team managed to change the second election to November and their candidates won all four seats.
With the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, the mayor also managed to help Caridad Rodriguez beat Freeholder Jose Munoz in the Democratic primary in June.
But Roque opponents have started to come out early, so by year’s end at least two candidates were eyeing his seat, Munoz, and Commissioner Count Wiley.
North Bergen, where Sacco reigns
Sacco’s political machine flexed its muscles this year, helping Anthony Vainieri beat Enrique Henry Marrero in the freeholder primary.
Marrero, however, gained name recognition, as well as experience in organizing. It is likely he will reappear as a candidate for North Bergen commissioner against Sacco.
The change on the freeholder seat was somewhat sad, since it meant that Thomas Liggio, freeholder for North Bergen and part of Secaucus, stepped down.
Sacco’s influence around Hudson County remained strong in 2014. His support for DeGise as county executive and Prieto as chairman of the HCDO give Sacco very powerful allies.
Sleepy Secaucus keeps on keeping on
To say nothing happened politically in Secaucus would be an exaggeration, but not by much. Secaucus candidates supported by Mayor Michael Gonnelli were swept back into office, mostly because nobody ran against them.
Gonnelli is an extremely popular mayor and to date opposition against him has been weak. While Gonnelli doesn’t win every battle he fights – he is currently at war with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission over a tax sharing program – he won some interesting battles. For example, he got the notoriously stingy National Football League to pay their share of Secaucus’s expenses for Super Bowl events earlier in the year.
Vincent Prieto, a Secaucus resident, was named chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization in 2013 and speaker of the Assembly in late 2013, which made him one of the most powerful political figures in the state. It gives both Gonnelli and Sacco political clout beyond their towns and even Hudson County.
Prieto has had a significant influence on several elections in the county, especially in the freeholder primaries, where Jersey City’s Jeff Dublin was beaten by Gerard Balmir, in West New York, where Rodriguez beat Munoz, and in North Bergen, where Vainieri warded off a challenge by Marrero.
Romano in Hoboken pulled a major upset by defeating HCDO supported candidate Phil Cohen, a Zimmer ally. Beating the political machine is rare in Hudson County.
But, as in most years, the politics of 2014 merely set the stage for 2015, where key elections will take place in West New York, Hoboken, and North Bergen.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.