If Frank “Pupie” Raia ever actually believed he would retain the Hoboken seat on the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, then I have a few bridges to sell him.
Possibly punishing Raia for backing out of the 3rd Ward council race against Councilman Michael Russo, Mayor Dawn Zimmer may turn to one of her own loyalists to nominate: Kurt Gardiner.
This nomination is also not much of a surprise since Gardiner had been rumored for almost a year to be coming back in some capacity.
In 2011, Gardiner ran for freeholder against incumbent Anthony Romano. Although Gardiner did not get the Zimmer endorsement, he had a reputation for supporting Zimmer’s policies, and had often criticized Zimmer’s opponents.
He was later rumored as a possible candidate for City Council, but this never materialized. Rumors again circulated early last year that Gardiner might return to run for one of the ward council seats.
His return to Hoboken politics suggests that Zimmer is reaching back into her bag of tricks, seeking again to fill critical seats with people she considers extremely loyal to her.
Although Raia denied he made a deal with Zimmer ahead of last November’s ward council races, he filed to run against Russo, then suddenly withdrew. The ticket supported by Zimmer did not have another candidate to run against Russo. Some sources close to Raia said he agreed to run against Russo as part of a deal that would have Zimmer reappoint him to the sewerage authority. Even people close to Raia called it a bad deal and questioned whether Zimmer could be trusted to keep her word. Zimmer has a reputation for appointing only those out of her political camp to seats like this.
While Raia cited health reasons for his withdrawal from the council race, anti-Zimmer people inside and outside of Hoboken managed to arrange for Raia to get the West New York seat on the authority board instead. Hoboken, Union City, Weehawken and West New York each get an appointment. The problem is that former West New York Commissioner Count Wiley may want to retain his seat, now that he has made peace with Mayor Felix Roque. It is possible that Raia could inherit the Weehawken slot instead.
Meanwhile, Gardiner’s reappearance could be Zimmer’s way of trying to keep Romano from running for mayor in 2017. Gardiner, who did surprisingly well against Romano, could run in the Democratic primary for the freeholder seat.
Romano may seek to abandon the freeholder seat to run for mayor, since he won’t be able to run for both freeholder and mayor in the same general election.
Welcome home, governor
Christopher Christie stopped by New Jersey last week to sell everybody a different kind of bridge. No, not the George Washington Bridge, but this imaginary bridge he has built for himself to the White House.
While Christie is required to do a State of the State address each year, much of his speech this year appeared to answer critics in his own party who claim he’s left New Jersey in a mess.
Christie used the speech to highlight his administration’s successes.
This came after Donald Trump blasted Christie in an effort to dampen Christie’s rising poll numbers in New Hampshire, where the first primary in the nation will be held on Feb. 9.
Christie was out of New Jersey 261 days in 2015 according to his official and campaign schedules. You might wonder if he should be allowed to declare the state as his official residence. He drags his state trooper security team with him, racking up more costs to local taxpayers. Christie argues that security would have to be with him wherever he goes anyway. Still, his on-the-job rate in the state is so dismal he might qualify as having a no-show job.
Christie came into office in 2009 with the state in deplorable shape. This was partly due to the downturn in the economy, but also because the previous governor, Jon Corzine, had tried to put band-aids on serious long-standing problems, such as paying public employee pensions.
Yet the real root of New Jersey’s economic problems goes back to another Republican governor, Christine Whitman, who refused to pay into the state pension system, took money from the unemployment coffers, and pulled other fiscal tricks that allowed her to cut taxes for the wealthiest residents of the state.
The current governor, to his credit, has managed to restore some of the pension benefits, and has also made serious moves to reform drug treatment and criminal justice systems. But his opposition to the state’s teachers unions has alienated many in New Jersey and threatens to engender strong opposition from unions nationwide.
And as has been pointed out by better minds, the so-called Bridgegate scandal has helped steer media away from other negatives of the Christie administration, including abuses by a number of his appointees to agencies such as the Port Authority, higher property taxes resulting from his state aid cuts to schools and municipalities, and nine straight downgrades of the state’s bond rating that forces taxpayers to pay higher interest on those forms of financing.
While Christie in his State of the State coated his term in office with layers of polish, those who live in the state know the truth. The question will be whether this will drag down his national campaign in the unlikely event Christie becomes the GOP nominee for president.
Lawson not gone yet
Reports that Will Lawson has resigned from the Bayonne Board of Education after being dumped as its president were premature.
Lawson, who served as a school trustee for 17 years as a member appointed by Bayonne mayors, lost his position as board president in the first reorganization meeting conducted by a newly elected board.
Lawson came under fire primarily for his tough position in negotiating teachers’ contracts, incurring the wrath of teachers and others who voted en masse to change the board from appointed to elected.
While many believe Lawson will step down from the board as a result of a shift in membership, strong rumors suggest that he may stay on even in a reduced capacity.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.