North Hudson gubernatorial

UNION CITY - In that most solemn moment of a solemn ceremony, the buzz of a single engine plane was unmistakable high above Union City where a singer tried to get the most out of every note of the National Anthem, and where Mayor Brian P. Stack tried to focus people on the grand opening of a new high school.

Arguably Stack's greatest achievement as mayor, the first high school in Union City in almost 100 years warranted a ceasefire in the ongoing trench and air political warfare to which Stack is accustomed, or so thought Stack's allies, and yet there was the little plane trailing a banner, obstinately broadcasting one message as the plane circled and circled above the crowd: "Crimes up, taxes up, Stack must go." 

Stack's teeth clenched. 

No one immediately knew who was behind the effort to step on this event with a political statement, or at least no one said he knew.

"...and the home of the brave!"

Bzzzzzzzzz.

"Maybe a developer, with hurt feelings, cut out of the deal to develop the high school," someone guessed as the plane droned overhead.

Notwithstanding the airplane and the wonder about where the next enemy may lie - or fly - Stack now stands in a good position politically in Northern Hudson County, with only North Bergen Mayor/state Sen. Nicholas Sacco - rivaling him as the most powerful elected official up here in a county that Jersey Journal columnist Augie Torres says isn't in one of its more organized and motivated eras.

Union City politicos never even entertained the idea that Sacco was the culprit behind the airplane stunt. Simply not his style. And not his fight.

Ridiculous to even consider.

The two big players in North Hudson County, Stack and Sacco have a respectful, mutually advantageous rivalry, which intensified in insider baseball circles last month as Sacco endorsed Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) and Stack backed Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) for senate president.

Unless Codey cuts a deal with Republicans for leadership, Sweeney, now in command of 14 of 23 Democratic votes in the senate, will win that battle. That will likely put Stack, 20 years Sacco's junior, in a strengthened caucus position alongside his North Bergen neighbor and a threat to build more power in 2011 redistricting.     

But both men have committed to turning their machines loose on Election Day for Gov. Jon Corzine, giving Sacco - always bankable on Election Day - another theater in which to prove his own longstanding power and viability. There are 15,485 registered Democrats in Union City, compared to 16,724 registered North Bergen Democrats, not to mention the two politicians' reach into the other towns in their respective districts.

"I don't see it," Stack said of pressure to deliver a large plurality for Corzine as a way of one-upping Sacco. "I don't think Nick does either. I saw him the other day at a football game. At the end of the day, I'm going to work to get high turnout for the governor."

Sacco's forces confirm that they don't read the governor's race as a head-to-head opportunity between the two mayors.

"These guys are not in love with Jon Corzine, but they will get the vote out for the governor because they want state aid for their towns," said veteran campaign strategist Paul Swibinski. "That's what motivates them." 

Whatever his stylistic differences with the governor, Stack received $7.2 million in state aid toward construction of his community pool, and the high school.

That he and Sacco are motivated along parallel lines throws them into stark contrast with a Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) embroiled in the fallout from a U.S. Attorney's sting that netted numerous Hudson County political operatives his summer.

In plain English, "it's a s**t storm," said a source close to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the HCDO chairman, referring to southern Hudson County, exactly one month before a gubernatorial election in which Corzine hopes to win a dogfight with Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and wants good numbers out of Jersey City and Bayonne.

That's not to say Sacco and Stack don't face their own Nov. 3rd challenges in their side-by-side districts.

Sacco has his own particular headache in Secaucus, where Mayor Dennis Elwell resigned after absorbing a corruption complaint in the July federal sting. The fact that Democrats don't have a replacement mayoral candidate on the ballot in the 32nd District town represents potentially Sacco's biggest trouble spot in generating high voter turnout district-wide. 

For his part, Stack has at least one constantly agitating battle front.

Most observers say a special mayoral election in Stack's 33rd District town of Hoboken should drive Democratic Party turnout on Nov. 3rd: advantage Corzine. But a fast-developing undercurrent in the 33rd District concerns a potential recall election in West New York, home to 8,947 registered Democrats. 

When December petitions are due for Mayor Sal Vega, he'll be filing against a Stack-backed opponent, Dr. Felix Roque, who worked the tables at Stack's formal endorsement of Corzine last month.

Stack destroyed Vega district-wide in their 2007 senate race, and now he wants to beat him in his hometown and be rid of him at last. If Stack defeats Vega with his ally, Roque, he will have built that much more strength in his home district.

Vega's people don't believe the recall election will happen, and feel confident in the mayor's 2011 reelection chances.

But Stack and ally U.S. Albio Sires (D-West New York) can flex their combined forces on Nov. 3rd in West New York as an exercise, a test drive, for what their allies believe will be a recall election, according to sources. What Vega does is more of a question mark, as his allies continue to wonder about who Corzine supports.

For the better part of the Bergenline Hispanic Heritage Parade, Roque walked with Corzine and other elected officials, including Stack and Sires.

Vega walked alone.

None offered any evidence today regarding who was behind the plane plot in Union City this weekend, but if the air war remained a mystery, none wondered about Stack's building ground war - not for the gubernatorial contest, but in the context of a nagging and bitter feud, personal and local.