The war for control of the Hudson County Freeholders has already started.
Soon to be state Senator Brian Stack apparently will mount of full court press against the Hudson County Democratic Organization with the hopes of securing five votes out of the nine.
But if he expects to get control of the Bayonne Freeholder seat, he may have a problem if the Oct. 16 fundraiser for Freeholder Doreen DiDomenico is any indication.
HCDO Chair and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy is one of the co-chairs of the fundraiser to be held at the Chandelier Restaurant in Bayonne. The other chairs are County Executive Tom DeGise and soon to be named chairman of the state Department of Community Affairs, Mayor Joseph Doria.
DiDomenico, supporters say, is not only running for reelection but has a powerful force behind her.
With Healy and DeGise on the same page, it will be difficult for DiDomenico to lose.
But there is an apparent HCDO defection in this regard. Bayonne Councilman Anthony Chiappone, who is running for unopposed for state assembly on the HCDO ticket with Sandra Cunningham (who is running for state Senate) are apparently seeking support for Denis Wilbeck as the next freeholder from Bayonne.
The freeholder race may also get more complicated in the future as Cunningham exerts pressure on the HCDO to candidates of her choosing more power on the freeholder board. While Freeholder Bill O’Dea said he won’t leave his post as freeholder unless he is offered as better job, he is rumored to become a deputy mayor in Jersey City in exchange for giving his seat up to Rev. Edward Allen. Cunningham has apparently asked that Jeff Dublin step aside as Freeholder to make room for Oren Dabney. In exchange, Dublin will get the nod to run as the Ward F candidate in Jersey City replacing Viola Richardson.
For her cooperation, Richardson will be granted the HCDO nod to run for state Assembly in the 31st District in 2009, replacing L. Harvey Smith.
This series of moves may foil a plan by the Stack ticket to run Assemblyman Lou Manzo against O’Dea next June, since insiders claim with Allen running, the HCDO will pull another “Cunningham campaign” against Manzo. This means that the African American community will see a repeat of the literature connecting Manzo to former Jersey City Mayor Jerry McCann.
Phil Kenny, who is reportedly also considering a run for freeholder, held a fundraiser in Jersey City this week that had some surprising guests including former Freeholder Nidia Colon, sheriff candidate Juan Perez, Freeholder Dublin, and Ben Lopez. O’Dea served as master of ceremonies.
The Democratic war goes to a higher level
The great surprise this week wasn’t the fact that the Jersey School Board renewed Charles Epps’ contract as superintendent of schools. This was clearly part of the deal with the HCDO to keep him from seeking reelection to the state Assembly. What surprised most people is the fact that McCann as a school board member voted for the arrangement.
The HCDO apparently intends to make next June’s Democratic primary a battle on numerous fronts including all three seats for the House of Representatives.
Healy to his credit appears to be reshaping the HCDO by reaching out to new and younger people to help counter the attraction of the Stack backed ticket.
While Stack appears to be planning to back all three incumbent Hudson County members of the House of Representatives, Donald Payne, Steve Rothman and Albio Sires, Healy is apparently using connections with Newark to back Cory Booker’s choice of Eduardo Webster. While it is unclear who Healy and state Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco plan to run against Rothman, Healy may soon approach Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop as a possible candidate against Sires.
Fulop, according to one source, is everything HCDO needs. He is young, talented and popular. Better yet, he brings with him powerful promises of support from people like Sacco and Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas – both of whom would like to see Sires lose.
Fulop has already impressed the national Democratic organization with his support for Hilary Clinton’s presidential bid.
If Fulop comes on board, then the ethics referendum Fulop is planning as part of his bid to become mayor of Jersey City in 2009 will become moot.
Everybody wants to be Bayonne mayor
Just when Bayonne Mayor Doria leaves to become the state chairman of the DCA may hinge on negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Doria needs to wrap up financial problems in Bayonne so that he can’t be accused of jumping off a sinking ship. His intervention appears to have temporarily solved the financial problems at the Bayonne Medical Center. His next move will be to sell a portion of the former Military Ocean Terminal to the Port Authority. The $50 million deal would get the city out of hock for the moment and allow Doria to move onto his state post with a clear conscience.
He will, however, leave a political mess as the city council scrambles to find a replacement. Three names are being floated as possible candidates to serve as acting mayor. City Chief Finance Office Terrance Malloy apparently will reluctantly serve until the November, 2008 special election if asked. But Councilman Anthony Chiappone and Gary LaPelusa are pushing to get retired Municipal Judge Patrick Conaghan appointed to the post. While Council President Vincent Lo Re once said he did not want to serve as acting mayor, his name has also been mentioned. The key vote in any election is Councilman Ted Connolly, who has made noise that he might be interested in serving until the special election. Some believe that he could actually win if he chose to run.
As for the mayoral election in 2008, the names are too numerous to mention although former Councilmember Mary Jane Desmond is scheduled to open her civic association in early October, and John Guarini, nephew of the former congressman, is also apparently considering a run for mayor.
A sign of things to come?
Some of the reformers backing Dawn Zimmer against Chris Campos in a special election to become 4th Ward council person in Hoboken have been selling idea that Hudson County politics will not play a part. The reformers built bridges with the HCDO in last May’s municipal elections and again in the run off elections in June. They dismissed later council votes that restored a contract to the HCDO-connected law firm of Florio-Kenny as insignificant. They claimed the vote was merely to handle old cases that were still pending. But some observers are concerned about a similar vote for the same firm by the Hoboken Board of Education may be a sign that the HCDO may well indeed be funding Zimmer’s campaign. Four reformers on the school board approved the contract.