HOBOKEN — The municipal race is on and with less than 10 weeks until the November elections, candidates officially turned in their petitions on Monday, Aug. 31 at 4 p.m.
In the 3rd Ward, former school board member and Hoboken politico Frank Raia, a wealthy developer, will challenge incumbent Michael Russo – who before today was running unopposed. Russo will run for his fourth term and comes from a political family with roots in his ward.
When asked about the initial lack of opposition for Russo last week, Zimmer told The Hudson Reporter in an email, “Hoboken has a history of last-minute surprises”. But neither Russo nor Raia has been a close ally of Zimmer in the past and it stands to be seen if she supports either one.
The uptown 2nd Ward has drawn three names to the ballot. Incumbent Councilwoman Beth Mason announced Monday morning that she was not running for the seat. Instead, voters in the northeastern ward can choose from amlong Zoning Board Commissioner Tiffanie Fisher, Hoboken Board of Education Trustee Peter Biancamano, and Bonnie Murray.
Biancamano, who took the third seat on the board alongside Sharyn Angley and Monica Stromwall last year, ran unsuccessfully for an at-large-seat in 2013. His family runs the popular deli on upper Washington Street under the same name.
Fisher, the president of the condo association for the Hudson Tea Building, has been a vocal opponent of plans to build 11-story residential towers on the Monarch pier. She is said to be running with Zimmer’s support.
Mason was not immediately available for comment on whom she might be supporting.
In the 1st Ward, no additional names were cast besides the earlier reported Zoning Board Commissioner Michael DeFusco and Councilwoman Theresa Castellano – a representative of the 1st Ward since 1995. DeFusco, a Zimmer ally, will face the incumbent, who has been critical of some of the mayor’s initiatives and her council allies in the past.
The northwest 5th Ward will be a three-pronged race between former Hoboken Housing Authority Board Commissioner Eduardo Gonzalez, Melissa Blanco, and incumbent Councilman Peter Cunningham. Cunningham, a member of “Team Zimmer,” is seeking his third term in office while Gonzalez recently ran for an at-large council seat on the slate of Zimmer’s 2013 mayoral opponent Ruben Ramos.
Former District 33 Assemblyman Ramos, who ran against Zimmer in 2013 and lost, is seeking the 4th Ward seat of the southwestern district. He will compete Councilman Timothy Occhipinti – another unsuccessful opponent of Zimmer in the November 2013 race – and Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) Chairwoman Dana Wefer.
Ramos, who hosted a campaign kickoff at his home last Wednesday, served as councilman-at-large under Mayor David Roberts between July 2001 and July 2009. Occhipinti, the current councilman in the 4th Ward, split the anti-Zimmer vote in the last mayoral election and may accomplish the same when running against Wefer – who has Zimmer’s support.
Wefer, who has served as the Housing Authority chair since 2014, was recently in the spotlight when she began to question the Hoboken Housing Authority’s procurement policies, which lead to the termination of then-HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia last August.
Garcia, who was on the agency’s board since 2009, has a long history in local government and will attempt to unseat incumbent first-term Councilwoman Jennifer Giattino in the central 6th Ward. Giattino is another Zimmer ally. Garcia has historically butted heads with Zimmer. In a 2013 lawsuit, he alleged illegal interference in the HHA in addition to accusing Zimmer of pursuing a campaign of “ethnic cleansing.”
According to Hoboken Municipal Clerk James Farina, the clerk’s office will review the petitions and notify the candidates if any have defects, which they can then amend. The candidates have until Labor Day, Sept. 7 to withdraw their candidacy.