Bret Schundler

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(HOBOKEN, October 29) – Former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler – the Republican who famously ended a 75-year losing streak for Republicans when he took office in Jersey City in 1992 after winning a multi-candidate special election with no run-off, and then was reelected twice, overwhelmingly, after demonstrating that innovative solutions and the ideals of lower taxes, less regulation, and reduced government spending can work to improve the lives of the residents of a community, even in urban areas – today endorsed Nathan Brinkman for Mayor of Hoboken.

Former Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti, out of office for six years and damaged goods after then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie sent his Chief of Staff and other members of his administration to jail, seems to be seeking a comeback as a man of influence.  Prunetti has seemingly forgiven Christie for sending Harry Parkin to prison, and is now helping to raise money for the GOP gubernatorial candidate.  Several of the donors who attended a Christie fundraising event at the Princeton Hyatt last night were there at the invitation of Prunetti, who was the County Executive from 1992 to 2004.

One lobbyist who says Prunetti called him about the event says that the former County Executive seemed to enjoy walking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush around the room - before anyone realized the campaign was not thrilled that the former President's brother was there.  Bush was invited by Tom Gallagher, a Christie fundraiser and businessman.

The Christie campaign seemed genuinely surprised that Bush was in attendance.  Maybe the senior staff didn't know he would be there, but someone on the campaign did.  A pre-printed name tag that read "Governor Jeb Bush" was on the table awaiting his arrival.

Since Corruption Thursday, I continue to hear people say that it is impossible to govern effectively in Hudson County without playing the corruption game.  I quickly respond to such nonsense by citing the ultimate counter-example, Bret Schundler, who governed as mayor of Jersey City most effectively and without a hint of scandal from 1992 until 2001.  He did so also as a Republican, in a city and county where Republicans are virtually an extinct species.

When I think of Bret, I also think of the man I regard as his Democrat counterpart in integrity and excellence in urban government, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark.  It is remarkable how much these two outstanding men have in common, aside from being successful urban reform mayors.

Christopher Christie, leading Gov. Jon Corzine 50%-40% in today's Quinnipiac University poll, is the first Republican in twelve years to lead in a statewide race in June, and is likely the first Republican since Thomas Kean, Sr. in 1985 to be at 50% just after the primary election.

Past Quinnipiac University polls:

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan reaffirmed his support for GOP nominee Christopher Christie in an email to supporters today, but under the condition that Christie sticks to the conservative principles he professed in the primary.

"Our nominee for Governor has openly embraced conservatism and if he continues on that path, all of us should work hard for his election," wrote Lonegan.  "As the Republican nominee Chris Christie will also have to maintain his positions on the issues that convinced many Republicans he was a conservative, and convince many in the GOP establishment to go with him."

Christie beat Lonegan by 13 points in last week's primary - 55% to 42%.  Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) received 3% of the vote.

"You have moved your party to the right," Lonegan wrote to his supporters.

Last Friday, May 15th, would have been my father's 95th birthday.  During World War II Abraham Sabrin was a partisan commander in his native Poland where he led 231 men and women in combat against the Nazis.  He and his comrades-in-arms were finally liberated by the Russians in July 1944.   After the war my parents decided to immigrate to America, and on August 6, 1949 our family arrived in New York in order to live a free and peaceful society. 

Dad provided invaluable advice while I was growing up in Manhattan and the Bronx:"Get an education; there is a right way and wrong way...always go the right way."  And when I told him, in 1997, I was running for governor, Dad did not hesitate to offer this gem:  "Remember, politics is dirty."  Although Dad did not have a Ph.D. in political science, he understood human nature and American politics very, very well.

Jersey City is expected to consider a change to their form of government that would move from May non-partisan elections to partisan elections, with a June primary and a November general, according to sources close to the Hudson County Democratic leadership.  Democrats were slightly alarmed earlier this year when former Mayor Bret Schundler, a conservative Republican, was emerging as the strongest potential challenger to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman.  A partisan election would make only the Democratic primary relevant.

Sources say that the idea to switch from non-partisan to partisan was initially offered to Healy by George Norcross, the South Jersey Democratic leader.  Camden and Gloucester Township have also moved from non-partisan to partisan local elections.  Democrats feel their Gloucester Township mayoral candidate, former Assemblyman David Mayer, has a better chance to oust Republican incumbent Cindy Rau-Hatton in November than he would have in May.

If Jerramiah Healy tops the 50% mark today, he will become the first Mayor of Jersey City to win three elections without a runoff since the legendary Frank Hague.

Healy won a 2004 special election 28%-24% over Assemblyman Louis Manzo, with Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith running a strong third with 22%.  When he ran for re-election in 2005, he won 75% of the vote against former City Councilwoman Melissa Holloway.

Runoffs have been common in Jersey City elections in recent years.  In 2001, former U.S. Marshal Glenn Cunningham led City Council President (now Hudson County Executive) Thomas DeGise 38%-24% in the May election, and won the runoff 53%-47%.  Bret Schundler elected in a nineteen-candidate 1992 special election, won re-election with 68% in 1993.  But in 1997, he fell two votes short of winning 50% and after a court battle, beat Healy 59%-41% in the runoff.

When Dr. Paul Jordan, a reformer who toppled the Jersey City Democratic machine when he won a 1971 special election for Mayor, ran for Governor six years later, City Clerk Thomas F.X. Smith beat Jordan's handpicked successor.  Smith won 50% against William Macchi, the Jersey City Director of Human Resources.  That effectively ended Jordan's gubernatorial campaign and caused the defeat of Jordan allies in the State Senate (Walter Sheil ousted two-term State Sen. James Dugan, the Democratic State Chairman) and Assembly in the primary election a few weeks later.  Smith served one-term and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1981.

Following the criminal conviction of Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann in 1992, nineteen candidates filed to run in a November non-partisan special election to fill the remaining nine months of his term.  Among the candidates were: Bret Schundler, a Republican who had run a strong race against State Sen. Edward O'Connor (D-Jersey City) the year before; Hudson County Freeholder Louis Manzo; and former Jersey City Democratic Chairman Allen Manzo.  Louis and Allen Manzo were brothers.

Allen Manzo was a McCann ally, and Louis Manzo was a political foe of the Mayor.

At first, the Manzo brothers argued about slogans.  Louis Manzo went on the ballot as "An Honest Difference," while Allen Manzo filed with "An Honest Change."  Louis Manzo lost a court challenge seeking to invalidate his brother's petitions, and then changed his slogan to "The Real Manzo."  Allen Manzo got the top ballot slot; Louis Manzo was somewhere in the middle.

The real turning point in the campaign came when their mother, Mary Manzo, endorsed Louis Manzo and taped a TV ad urging Jersey City voters to vote for "The Real Manzo."

Former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler thinks that Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan's flat tax plan could be good for New Jersey in the long run, but that it is not politically feasible.

"What Steve is talking about is a very dramatic change in our tax system which would have more people having increased taxes and some having lower taxes. In the long term you can make an argument that it would be pro-growth, but I don't think politically you can get it implemented," said Schundler during a conference with Lonegan's rival for the nomination, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.  "It's just not realistic. When you have most people having a tax increase, you won't get the support necessary for it."

Schundler, a conservative who upset Bob Franks in 2001 to win the Republican nomination for governor and lost the 2005 gubernatorial primary to Douglas Forrester in a race that included Lonegan, was mayor of Jersey City from 1992 to 2001.  He planned to run to retake the mayoralty this year, but opted out in January, citing personal financial difficulties.

Schundler said that Christie's plan to cut taxes for everyone after first decreasing government spending was more viable.

"How do you get political support for making taxes go down?  You have to make everyone's taxes go down," he said.

Christie chimed in by panning Lonegan's tax plan, which, combined with Lonegan's support for ending the property tax rebates, would hit senior citizens with a "double whammy."

"In these difficult economic times, with people worrying about how they're going to keep their job, keep their mortgage... to raise taxes on 70% of New Jersey residents during recessionary economic times is just wrong," he said (The Lonegan camp puts the estimated number of New Jerseyans who will see their taxes rise at about 50%).