Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
Anyone who believed the political marriage between Bret Schundler and Gov. Christopher Christie would have lasted needs to have his or her head examined. This was a train wreck waiting to happen. The fact that Schundler, as Commissioner of the Department of Education, made an error that cost the state $400 million in federal education …
Continue reading “Christie and Schundler— imperfect together”
Mike Novak has been taking Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer to task over the last few weeks, especially over the sale of the city garage. These comments may be the first steps towards a run for 1st Ward next May, followed by a possible run for mayor in 2013. Some local political observers claim Novak is …
An old joke has a married couple working over their monthly finances with the wife looking at the husband saying, “Okay, I like to spend money. You tell me what other extravagance I’m guilty of?” Money is at the core of the Jersey City School district’s arguments these days, and is the apparent motive behind …
Gov. Christopher Christie continued his war on teachers’ unions this month. The state Attorney General’s office has begun a series of investigations to look at union representatives in each school district to determine if they are violating any state laws in regards to being paid as teachers as well as collecting a salary from the …
Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo isn’t wrong in claiming he got a raw deal when charged in last year’s massive FBI corruption sweep. While legal experts disagree on whether federal prosecutors went as far as the official misconduct Manzo claims, several local attorneys said federal prosecutors reinvented corruption law in order to make their case. “We’re …
After taking on the teacher’s unions, Gov. Christopher Christie has decided that superintendents of schools in New Jersey make too much money – and he wants the state to cap how much superintendents can earn in future contracts, based on enrollment rather than on negotiations. Christie, of course, is trying desperately to roll back governmental …
Continue reading “School superintendents on Christie’s hit list”
On July 26, Democratic Committee members from the towns in the 31st state Assembly district (Bayonne and part of Jersey City) will meet at Nicholas Oresko School in Bayonne to select the person to fill the state Assembly seat vacated by the resignation of Anthony Chiappone. Leading candidates are said to be Joe Conte of …
Continue reading “Committee will vote for replacement for Chiappone in Assembly”
Since 1998 when he was first elected to the City Council in Bayonne, Anthony Chiappone has been a thorn in the side of the administration, and somehow managed to stay one step ahead of his opponents. But over the last year, the political machine behind Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith managed to box Chiappone into a …
This column got spun hard last week by Hoboken political insiders with an interest in the upcoming battle for Hoboken’s 4th Ward council seat. There appears to be a coalition of various groups who want to make incumbent Councilman Michael Lenz look weaker than he might actually be. Thus, their accounts of the June 14 …
Behind-the-scenes politics hasn’t changed as much over the last century as people like to pretend – and the selection of a new chairman of the Hoboken Democratic Organization this past Monday showed as much. While cigar-smoking political bosses now have to go outside to puff, same claim e the same old threats and intimidation appear …