Dawn Zimmer

HOBOKEN - Trounced in her run for mayor earlier this year, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason today congratulated Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer - and all but announced that she will challenge Zimmer in a special election this coming November.

“While this is certainly another sad day for the City of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano did the right thing this morning by offering his resignation," said Mason. "This City deserves to move out from under this black cloud of alleged corruption and get on with the people’s business. 

"I wish acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer the best of luck and pledge to work with her in getting our local government back on track as we tackle the issues most important to our residents." 

Dawn Zimmer became the second woman to serve as a mayor in Hudson County.  The other arrived in office under similar circumstances: Marilyn Roman, served three months as mayor of Jersey City after Gerald McCann was ousted following his 1992 criminal conviction.  If Zimmer runs in a November special election and wins, she will be the first woman to win a mayoral election in the 168-year history of Hudson County.

HOBOKEN - Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer is answering questions now in the council chamber moments after assuming the oath of office.

The city's first woman mayor gets a big hand when a reporter asks her is it's "safe to assume" that come November she will be a candidate for mayor, to fill the unexpired term of Peter Cammarano, who resigned this morning.

"I think it's safe to assume that," Zimmer says.

Assemblyman Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken)

A onetime ally of Peter Cammarano's who called for his resignation after the feds charged Cammarano with taking cash bribes, Assemblyman Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken) said he called Council President Dawn Zimmer yesterday and pledged to work with her to unite a fractured city. 

"I think it's going to take an effort from all sides to restore people's faith in government right now," said Ramos. "I've spoken with (soon to be acting) Mayor Zimmer and offered my support. It's the right thing to do. The past is the past. The fact is, she and I have a lot more things in common than different."

Of Cammarano's resignation, the assemblyman added, "It's the right decision for the City of Hoboken. It's a town where everyone comes together we need to bring people together."

He wouldn't speculate about who he intends to support in the November special election for mayor. 

"I'm not even at that point yet," said Ramos. "Whoever's thinking about running at this point, shame on them. Right now, this needs to be about government, not politics."

Council President Dawn Zimmer, second from left, posing with her slate for council earlier this year: Dave Mello, Carol Marsh, and Ravi Bhalla, all of whom won at-large seats on the council.

HOBOKEN - Council President Dawn Zimmer is scheduled to assume the oath of office of acting mayor at noon here in City Hall.

Zimmer will serve as acting mayor until a special November 3rd election. The winner of that election will fill the unexpired term of Mayor Peter Cammarano, who resigned today, effective at noon.

Cammarano defeated Zimmer in the June Hoboken mayoral election by 161 votes.

He is charged in federal court with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes in connection with trying to finance that campaign.

"He is fighting on every front a man can possibly be fighting on right now," said a friend of Cammarano's, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Peter Cammarano on the day he announced his run for mayor.

HOBOKEN - The Cammarano Christmas Card pictures Clerk Jimmy Farina had taped to the file cabinets in his office were gone.

Instead, Farina had in his possession a letter from Mayor Peter Cammarano, charged last Thursday with taking cash bribes.

"Dear Mr. Farina," the letter read, "I hereby resign my position as Mayor of the City of Hoboken, effective 12 noon on this date.

"It had been my hope and expectation that I could remain in office and perform my official duties until I had the opportunity to resolve the legal chagres against me in court. Regrettably, it has turned out that the controversy surrounding the charges against me has become a distraction to me and an impediment to the functioning of Hoboken government. The controversy has also been a terrible burden on my family. Accordingly, it is in the best interest of the City and all concerned for me to resign.

"I apologize to the residents of Hoboken for the disruption and disappointment this case has caused. However, I would like to reiterate that I am innocent of any criminal charges and I intend to fight the allegations against me."

Hoboken Council President Dawn Zimmer would become acting mayor in the event that Mayor Peter Cammarano resigns, and it does not appear, at least for the moment, that anyone's big enough to threaten her in the special election. 

Gov. Jon Corzine today said Cammarano will be gone tomorrow, but no one's yet heard that publicly from Cammarano.

If he steps down prior to Sept. 4th, the mile-square-city will hold a special on Nov. 3rd, the same day as the gubernatorial contest between Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie.

Most people assume Zimmer will run for mayor.

She was the top vote-getter in the May election, and in the runoff beat Cammarano on the machines only to lose by 161 votes after the Board of Elections factored in absentee ballots. Her supporters will be more revved up than ever with a sense of righteousness. Cammarano was already an opponent. Now, charged with allegedly taking cash bribes, he departs as an outright villain.

After just one month in office, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano will resign on Friday, July 31.

Peter Cammarano III is expected to announce his resignation as Mayor of Hoboken tomorrow, sources say.  His resignation comes one day short of a month after taking the oath of office, and eight days after he was arrested on federal corruption charges.

Council President Dawn Zimmer, who lost a June 10 runoff to Cammarano by 161 votes, will become the Acting Mayor.  A special election will be held in November to fill the remainder of Cammarano's term.

The 32-year-old Cammarano, a protege of Democratic superlawyer Angelo Genova, was viewed as a rising star in New Jersey politics.  According to a criminal complaints, Cammarano is accused of accepting cash payments in $5,000 increments from a man he thought was a developer looking for a pay-to-play connection in Hoboken.

Gov. Jon Corzine, a Hoboken resident, has been pushing for Cammarano to quit.  So have Zimmer, Councilman Ravi Bhalla, Councilwoman and '09 mayoral candidate Beth Mason, and Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, the Hoboken Democratic Municipal Chairman.

In addition to Gov. Jon Corzine, who lives in Hoboken, Council President Dawn Zimmer, Councilman Ravi Bhalla, Councilwoman Beth Mason and Councilman Dave Mello have all asked Cammarano to leave.

Click here to read Max Pizarro's story, ‘The Rise and Fall of Peter Cammarano', in the New York Observer.

The push to dislodge Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano from office continued today, as the executive committee of the Hoboken Democratic Party unanimously called on the mayor to resign.

Chaired by Assemblyman Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken), the committee asked Cammarano to leave "for the good of the Democratic Party, and the good of the people of Hoboken whom Mayor Cammarano has sworn to serve."

The feds have charged Cammarano, in office for less than a month, with taking cash bribes totaling $25,000. 

According to a release, local Democrats will convene a special meeting of the party at 8 p.m. on Monday, August 10, at Willie McBride's, 616 Grand Street, to adopt a formal resolution calling for Cammarano's resignation.

Political operative Tony Soares, who backed Dawn Zimmer in the 2009 mayoral election, wrote a letter to city transition team organizer Michael Novak today, saying he couldn't help as long as Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano remains in office. 

"While I accepted the offer to help Hoboken (despite my continued support of Zimmer) where I could, I never expected Cammarano to bring this black mark on our city," Soares wrote of a mayor now in office 23 days, who on Thursday was charged with accepting cash bribes from a confidential witness posing as a developer.

"Peter must resign," Soares wrote. 

"Thanks again. I know you are an upstanding man and I respect your hard work," he added, in a nod to Novak, a buisnessman who ran unsuccessfully for council this year on Cammarano's slate. "However, I simply cannot trust an administration led by an official who by his own words was selling our city out and threatening to crush folks like me 'into powder'."