Four years! DeGise leads Democratic victory in county races

The races included the hotly-contested Jersey City freeholder race, in which HDCO-backed candidate Radames “Ray” Velazques of Jersey City beat four challengers. In another race, for county clerk, Javier Inclan won with the HCDO’s backing.

A DeGise initiative that would impose a small tax to help generate funding for open space park development passed with particularly strong support in places like Secaucus and Weehawken, but even won by a 2.5 to 1 majority in Jersey City.

“The open space referendum had a lot of help from the Baykeeper and Riverkeeper organizations,” said Jim Kennelly, director of communications for DeGise.

DeGise handily defeated Republican Charles Catrillo of Jersey City and Independent Herb Shaw of North Bergen to get a four-year term in office. DeGise had 49,053 votes, with 440 of 452 precincts reporting, to beat Catrillo, who got 11,544 votes. Shaw had 2,100 votes.

DeGise had won a special election in Nov. 2002 to fill the unexpired term of former County Executive Robert Janiszewski – who had resigned as the result of a corruption investigation and later pled guilty to extortion.

“This victory sets a whole new tone for county government,” Kennelly said. “None of these people were connected to Janiszewski.”

“Winning all the towns was very gratifying,” DeGise said during a telephone interview.

DeGise said one of the great pleasures of the post-election was knowing that he was no longer a candidate. DeGise has been involved in one election process or another since late 2000 when he first decided to run for mayor of Jersey City. In late 2001, he became a Democratic candidate for the county executive post. He ran in and won a primary victory in June, 2002, a general election in November 2002, another primary in June, 2003, and last week, a general election again.

“I didn’t wear a tie today, and I didn’t shave,” he joked. “I had a meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. It seemed like a good idea when I scheduled the meeting, but the morning after an election, it didn’t seem like a good idea anymore.”

DeGise said the passing of his open space referendum is one of the keys to his administration.

“A lot of people don’t know what county government does,” he said. “We’re going to show them, and one way we can show them is by building new parks.”

Giving credit

DeGise said he was very thankful to the voters for re-electing him, and that he takes the job very seriously. He was also very pleased with Velazquez’s victory.

“Helping Ray get elected was the focus of this campaign,” he said.

Velazquez was a relative unknown coming into the election for the 4th Freeholder District in Jersey City, but the Hudson County Democratic Organization was able to get out the vote.

State Sen. Bernard Kenny called this year’s election “a stunning success for the Democratic party around the state as well as Hudson County.”

“This was a happy victory for Ray Velazques,” Kenny said. “He ran against people with some pretty good name recognition.”

Velazquez beat an impressive array of challengers that included former Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Anthony Cruz, Jersey City Mayoral Aide Carl Czaplicki and community activist Juanita Lopez.

McCann is realistic

McCann, when reached for comment, was very philosophical about his loss.

“I’ve lost before,” he said. “I know the reality of politics and how hard it is to beat the party organization. Having Velazquez on Column A had an impact because a number of people vote the party line. Those voters just start on the Democratic line and follow it down. That’s what a lot of people did this time, and I accept it.”

McCann came in second in a field of five, with almost 1,300 votes to Velazquez’s nearly 3,000.

“I won five districts against the organization and off the party line,” he said.

McCann, who was convicted of fraud some years ago, related to a financial deal that didn’t have to do with his government office, said that while he won’t rule out another campaign in the future, this election taught him that his skill is in organizing. He hopes that others will recognize this ability.

“I might be able to help other candidates,” he said. “My job now is to help my mayor [Glenn Cunningham] and Lou Manzo [assemblyman-elect in the 31st Dist.] I owe a lot to both of them.”

McCann said he ran because he thought he could play a significant role in shaping county government.

“I never wanted to be a thorn in DeGise’s side,” he said. “I didn’t run to be an obstructionist.”

Only the beginning for Cruz

During a brief telephone interview, Cruz said he was very tired.

“I put it all on the line,” he said. “But I was outspent five to one by the Democratic organization.”

But he said a big part of his campaign centered on getting his message out to the community. The campaign succeeded in that, but failed to raise the money to overcome the Democratic machine.

“We ran our campaign on a high note,” Cruz said. “We talked about issues like creating affordable housing.”

While he was dollar poor, Cruz was rich in volunteers, saying he had more than 150 community workers helping him with his campaign.

“I have a lot of respect for Tom DeGise, and I’m sure I would have worked well with him, but as deputy mayor of this city, I will continue to support my mayor,” he said. “But this election was part of a sustained initiative to build a coalition, a grass-roots campaign that will not end here. During the campaign, I talked about new leadership, and I believe I am that leader. I wasn’t out there alone. People came to support me. They brought sandwiches to my campaign headquarters, rice and beans and soda. I was very touched when a 67-year-old man came in to help go out and distribute literature.”

Velazques, Czaplicki and Lopez could not be reached for comment by press time, but Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango said Czaplicki could have won the election if the party had found more resources.

“We had a good message and a good candidate, but we didn’t have everything we needed to overcome the Democratic machine,” Arango said.