Former state Senator Bernard Kenny once pointed out that any election is really two elections: the one that happens before election day, the other on election day itself.
In the first part, candidates get out their message in an attempt to win voters over to their side. In the second part, candidates’ workers try to get voters to the polls.
While both parts of the election are organized to some degree, the get-out-the-vote portion is most critical.
In North Bergen and West New York, anti-incumbent candidates learned this lesson all too well as the campaigns of Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Mayor Felix Roque got their voters out, while challengers appeared less organized on election day.
Another lesson particularly apt to the West New York election is the concept that less is more. There were so many anti-incumbent candidates that they divided the vote against Roque and allowed Roque to sweep his ticket into office.
This is a situation similar to the last Hoboken municipal election in 2013 when forces aligned against Mayor Dawn Zimmer split their vote allowing Zimmer to sweep.
Had the anti-Roque forces come together, they might have taken several seats on the five-member commission. This was particularly true for Commissioner Count Wiley, Roque’s arch enemy, who came in sixth in a race awarded seats to the top five contenders.
The result raises the question as to whether the real brilliance in the Roque campaign was in getting additional candidates to run. Old timers call this “the Hudson County Swerve,” in which a ticket deliberately supports opposition candidates in order to split the opposition votes.
No one will know for sure, but should any of the alternative candidates get jobs later in the Roque Administration, this will hint strongly about a deal.
But former Freeholder Jose Munoz, a long time opponent of Roque, said Roque’s ticket was strong.
“Roque’s ticket had great candidates,” said Munoz. “The problem is Roque. The powers behind this election won’t be able to keep Roque on a leash.”
Munoz, who chose not to run for commissioner this year, predicts a melt down in the Roque administration within a short time.
“You can’t control a man like Roque,” Munoz said. “But some of the powerful people who helped get him elected think they can.”
Winning by losing?
In North Bergen, Larry Wainstein, who led an anti-Sacco ticket, actually won by losing. Although his candidates lost to Sacco candidates by nearly a two to one margin, this was a significant amount more than previous attempts.
“Larry is not going away,” one political observer said. “This election will lead to the next election.”
Wainstein’s picture could be seen on the back end of buses throughout Hudson County, and often in Sacco campaign literature mocking him. He raised his profile and likely kicked off the 2019 campaign the moment the polls closed on May 12.
Hoboken Democratic chairmanship gets complicated
At a recent fundraiser in North Hudson, a mayor of one of the towns went around asking, “Hey, how would you like to be chairman of the Hoboken Democrats?”
This was something of a running joke since a number of prominent Hoboken Democrats were in the room at the time, including current chairman Jamie Cryan, Hoboken Councilman Michael Russo, and Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano.
The fight over removing Cryan as chairman came partly as a result of the West New York election. Frank Raia, a strong ally of Cryan, was supporting Wiley, while Cryan worked as chairman of the West New York Parking Authority under Roque.
Russo, who apparently has plans to partner with Roque in a medical business shortly, questioned how Raia could be on one side while his ally was on the other.
Raia has also been pushing to get support for the reelection of Councilman Tim Occhipinti in Hoboken’s 4th Ward – something that old guard Hoboken, including Russo, is not willing to do. Most are supporting former Assemblyman Ruben Ramos to unseat Occhipinti. To complicate matters, Cryan has been looking to run in the 4th Ward as well. This puts Raia in the middle since he is close to Cryan and Occhipinti.
Occhipinti also made some old guard nervous suggesting that he might seek Zimmer support to ward off an expected challenge for his seat from Ramos.
These conflicts apparently made some old guard uncomfortable with Cryan as Democratic chairman. So apparently Russo and Romano suggested Councilwoman Beth Mason as a compromise chair person. Most believe she won’t be running for reelection in the 2nd Ward and she would do well as bolstering the Democratic Party especially in helping Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president.
But for even more powerful people outside of Hoboken, Mason poses a threat, since she is aligned with state Senator Stephen Sweeney at a time when many in Hudson County are behind Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s possible run for governor. Sweeney is seen as a potential candidate as well.
A call from one of Fulop’s people apparently said that if Mason wants the chair, she would have to endorse Fulop and donate to his campaign, sources said. Mason apparently told the Fulop people to take a flying leap and to keep their nose out of Hoboken politics.
While Romano was seen as a potential compromise candidate for Democratic chair, he apparently bowed out of the fight, not wishing to get in the middle of a brawl that would make him enemies of his own political friends.
“Romano blew it,” one source said. “He could have been chairman.”
But Romano, who has ambitions to run for mayor himself in two years, would wind up losing potential votes.
Several key players still think Mason is the best candidate for the job.
Mason could also get around the fight by running her own ticket of Democratic committee people in the June primary against those who are currently there. If successful, she would be able to take over the Democratic party anyway and would likely become chair person by controlling all the votes.
Making it with the big wigs
Bayonne Mayor Jim Davis held a fundraiser last week that drew more than 300 people.
This may not sound like a lot. But for someone not currently running for office, it is a sign that he is building a coalition. This is particularly true when many of those who attended were politically powerful people from outside of Bayonne. This included Rep. Albio Sires, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, Hudson County Democratic Chairman and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer was mentioned as attending the affair as well, along with Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, and other county level officials. Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano also attended. Perhaps the biggest star, however, was not political. Ex-boxing champion Chuck Wepner – the real life Rocky – paid the new mayor’s fundraiser a visit as well.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.