Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
In some ways, the special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Frank Lautenberg, pitting Democratic Mayor Cory Booker against Republican Steve Lonegan, strongly resembles the 1964 Presidential election in which supposed liberal Democrat Lyndon Johnson opposed Republican Barry Goldwater. One is perceived as an extreme liberal and other as an …
They say God helps animals and small children. But who does the national Tea Party help? Recently, it seems that it did its part by accident to help besieged West New York Mayor Felix Roque. Not only did the mayor get a brief two-hour breather to allow jurors to consider his case during the shutdown …
Enough Said is one of the last movies James Gandolfini made before he died of a heart attack at the age of 51 on June 10. It was a poignant experience yet a great one to see Gandolfini’s face again. It reminded me anew that the bearish New Jersey native whom I first fell in …
At his September fundraiser, Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith put an end to speculation as to whether he would run for a second full term. While Smith did not announce a ticket, he said he will seek to retain the seat he first achieved in a 2008 special election and later at the regular 2010 municipal …
After a year and a half of waiting breathlessly for the outcome of the charges against Felix Roque and his son, Joseph, those hoping to replace Roque as mayor may have to wait a little while longer. This is not because the outcome of the trial will drag on. If anything, by the time this …
The best way to live your life, Will Rogers once pointed out, is so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to lend the family parrot to the town gossip. In Hudson County, we can extend this to public officials, who should live their lives with the assumption that someone is wearing a wire or operating on …
Early in 2013 (although planned out in late 2012), the brain trust behind Ruben Ramos Jr.’s campaign for mayor was based on the Field of Dreams theory: If he built a ticket, anybody who dislikes Dawn Zimmer would back him. This group of clear thinkers thought that anti-Zimmer forces did not have a choice and …
Finally Frank’s movie theater brought a star-studded historical Oscar-worthy drama to Bayonne. “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” although not a masterpiece, is worth sitting through. A star-spangled film, it strives to make a serious statement about race, class, and politics. “The Butler” is inspired by true stories about the civil rights movement. Actor Forest Whitaker does …
Waiting for political people to make up their minds about anything in Hoboken is nothing new, especially when one of those people happens to be Frank Raia. Raia is expected to announce this week that he will be on a third ticket that will field candidates for mayor and council, with 4th Ward Councilman Tim …
Political races statewide and locally have taken on a significance of their own, tied to a reversal of national trends. Baby Boomers – that generation born between 1946 and 1966 – were part of one of the most dramatic geographic population shifts in history. Some called it White Flight, suggesting the white Americans living in …