HOBOKEN AND BEYOND — Michele Russo, the mother of current 3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo and the wife of former Hoboken Mayor Anthony Russo, has just been hired for a county job replacing the outgoing head of housekeeping at the County Plaza building in Jersey City.
Russo is one of the key political people behind the 3rd Ward councilman and has served as the chair of the Hoboken Democratic committee in the past. She is currently allied with those who criticize current Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
County sources confirmed on Tuesday that she was hired to fill a manager-level post at the county.
Russo was ordered by the state Board of Education to be censured when she was on the Hoboken school board in 2002, and her name was brought up in an FBI investigation into local towing contracts in 2006. She has long been heavily involved in Hoboken political campaigns.
Zimmer herself has been criticized for close connections with Hudson County Democratic Organization and possible patronage hirings, although recently, she was at odds with the HCDO after they rejected her candidate for the state legislative race.