It may not feel like it in the summer heat, but Hoboken’s November municipal elections are just 72 days away. Though three school board positions and two state Assembly seats are up for grabs, the main event is undoubtedly the six ward seats on the Hoboken City Council, which constitute a majority of the nine-member body.
According to a records request filed with the city of Hoboken, 17 residents have picked up petitions to run for City Council ward seats this November. The deadline to hand in signatures to run is Aug. 31. Candidates must have been a resident of their ward for at least a year before Election Day.
Hoboken campaigns are non-partisan and candidates often end up divided by whether they are for or against whoever happens to be mayor at the time. (Most candidates in Hudson County are Democrats.)
Currently, allies of Mayor Dawn Zimmer hold a thin five-member majority on the council, so the defeat of any incumbent candidate this year could mean greater or lesser control for Zimmer’s coalition.
What’s required to run
Anyone who turns in a nominating petition with valid signatures from at least 1 percent of the registered voters in their ward by Aug. 31 gets a place on the ballot. For example, 5th Ward candidates must secure 63 signatures. People signing the petitions must be registered voters.
The candidates themselves also must be registered voters. No candidate can run for multiple municipal offices in a single election cycle.
Until recently, the elections were held in May, but a referendum four years ago pushed municipal elections to November to increase turnout.
Setting the stage
Although the list of who’s running won’t be final until candidates turn in petitions by Aug. 31, several candidates have confirmed they are running.
In the midtown 3rd Ward, Councilman Michael Russo will run for his fourth term. He is part of a longtime political family in that ward, and has criticized the mayor in the past but is sometimes a swing vote for her. As of Thursday, no one else had picked up petitions to run against Russo.
In the downtown 1st Ward, Zoning Board Commissioner Michael DeFusco is challenging Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, who has represented the 1st Ward since 1995. Both have been involved in zoning issues in town. DeFusco has the endorsement of Zimmer, while Castellano bills herself as an independent and has been critical of some initiatives pushed by Zimmer and her council allies in the past. Castellano happens to be a cousin of Russo.
“We should all be able to get into a room and figure things out.” – Eduardo Gonzalez
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In the midtown 6th Ward, outgoing District 33 State Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia is angling for a return to municipal politics with a challenge to first-term Councilwoman Jennifer Giattino.
Garcia has a long history in local government in the Mile Square City, most notably as the executive director of the Hoboken Housing Authority, where he served from 2009 until being terminated by the agency’s board last August. Giattino is another Zimmer ally, while Garcia has historically been one of her most prominent antagonists. In a 2013 lawsuit alleging illegal interference in the HHA, Garcia accused Zimmer of pursuing a campaign of “ethnic cleansing.”
The primary mover behind Garcia’s firing, Hoboken Housing Authority Board Chairwoman Dana Wefer, is one of three candidates expected to run for City Council in the southwestern 4th Ward, where most of the city’s public housing projects are located. She will likely be up against Tim Occhipinti, the current 4th Ward councilman, and former State Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, who cut his teeth in the 4th Ward seat from 1999 until 2001. Occhipinti and Ramos split the anti-Zimmer vote for mayor last time around, allowing Zimmer to win reelection without a majority of the votes. Now they may end up doing the same for her ally.
That leaves the uptown 2nd Ward, where two-time Councilman Beth Mason is expected to run again but has yet to make a formal announcement. In her silence, five other residents have picked up nominating petitions to run for the ward, promising a potentially crowded field.
When reached this past Thursday, a representative of Mason said that the councilwoman has collected more than enough signatures for a potential reelection campaign and will make an official announcement regarding her intentions soon. Mason is a vocal opponent of Zimmer.
One of her potential challengers is Zoning Board Commissioner Tiffanie Fisher, who has been collecting signatures and has not made an official announcement.
Fisher is also the president of the condo association for the Hudson Tea Building, which could form a strong base of support if she decides to run. In her role with the condo association, Fisher has been a vocal opponent of plans to build 11-story residential towers on the Monarch pier and said she would continue that advocacy if elected.
Another potential candidate is Hoboken Board of Education Trustee Peter Biancamano, who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large council seat in 2013. This past week, Biancamano said he was considering a run for the 2nd Ward but had not decided definitively. His family runs the popular deli on upper Washington Street named for them.
If he does not run, Biancamano said, it will be because he is excited about the work that the school board is doing, especially with the arrival of a new permanent superintendent, and does not want to leave it.
“The City Council could learn from the things we are able to do together,” he said.
Also considering a run for the 2nd Ward are Patricia Waiters, Bonnie Murray, Michael Flett, and Michele Dubreuil.
How real is the political divide?
Many of the candidates rejected the notion that the upcoming City Council race would be a referendum on Zimmer’s policies, and some even rejected the notion that a political divide exists in Hoboken at all.
“There’s no rubber stamp that goes on with the so-called coalition of councilmen that are aligned with the mayor,” said Councilman Cunningham. “We discuss issues, and a lot doesn’t make it to the dais because we don’t agree.”
“If you look at it collectively, this council has been working fairly well together in the last couple of years,” said Councilman Occhipinti. “If your whole campaign is going to be about being against Mayor Zimmer…I don’t know if that will resonate well with voters.”
Occhipinti’s ultimate goal for the council, he said, is “uniting the city and actually advocating for the city as a whole against outrageous issues…such as the amount of money we pay in county taxes.”
Eduardo Gonzalez echoed Occhipinti’s hopes. “In a town of 50,000 people with nine council people, we should all be able to get into a room and figure things out,” he said. “We’re not trying to figure out the Iran nuclear deal.”
Even those first-time candidates who have been endorsed by Zimmer’s allies insisted they would maintain their independence if elected.
“I’m honored to have the support of Mayor Zimmer and Council President [Ravi] Bhalla,” said Michael DeFusco, “[but] I’m running an independent race…My neighbors know me as somebody that will always vote with the 1st Ward and only the 1st Ward in mind.”
“Advocating for your ward might put you in competition with other wards, might put you in competition with the administration,” said Dana Wefer. “It’s important for the ward councilperson to both have a good working relationship with the council majority and the administration and also be very in tune with what the needs of your ward are.”
She noted several areas where she differed with Zimmer, such as the mayor’s plans to add a protected bike lane to Washington Street.
Watch the Reporter for more detailed stories on the candidates and issues in the upcoming months, and for a debate to be held at the end of September. For past stories, see hudsonreporter.com.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.