Hoboken

Mayor Donald Cresitello, left, and Zoning Board Chairman Tim Dougherty at their debate the week before Election Day.

Certainly, someone running for re-election this year might be comforted by special case asterisks in those contests where challengers upset sitting mayors or council people.

But consider the name politicians who lost over the course of May and June municipal cycles, or found the terrain too tough to run again, or barely won re-election, and it looks like treacherous territory for incumbents in a gubernatorial election year.

Two of last week's losers - Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello (buried by Tim Dougherty, 62.46 to 37.48%) and Edison Mayor Jun Choi (who lost, 50.70 to 47.79% contest to Councilwoman Toni Ricigliano) - arrived at their re-election bids with their own particular challenges.

In or around elected office for over 30 years, Cresitello possesses institutional knowledge and insider connections that helped as he kept Morristown's tax rate stable over the course of his most recent four-year term. But he also asked for pay raises for himself, which the council refused, targeted undocumented workers in his crackdown of apartment house stacking, and considered placing a public works' garage in Ward 2, which empowered his opponent to build on a base of residents who felt disrespected.

HOBOKEN – Having vanquished 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason in the May 12th election, At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer are now in a runoff election to be decided on June 9th.

The antagonists are scheduled to debate each other this eveing at Our Lady of Grace School, according to the Jersey Journal. The event begins at 7:30 p.m.

Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) today told PolitickerNJ.com that a published report that he intends to support 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer in the June 9th  Hoboken runoff election is inaccurate.

“There is absolutely no truth to that report,” said Lesniak. “I’m giving no money and no endorsement.”

Lesniak said he has no intention of backing Zimmer, who’s running against At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano, who today picked up the endorsement of former mayoral candidate Ryn Melberg.

Sources say Lesniak flirted with the idea of supporting Zimmer, then retreated.

Assemblyman/Councilman Ruben Ramos (D-Hoboken)

Assemblyman/Councilman Ruben Ramos, Jr. endorsed Councilman Peter Cammarano for mayor of Hoboken, the Cammarano campaign announced this weekend. 

"After serving the past two years on the City Council with both Peter Cammarano and Dawn Zimmer, it's very clear to me that Peter is far more qualified, more professional and much better prepared to be our next mayor," Ramos said in a statement.  "I am very proud to endorse Peter and I will be working very hard to help him win this election. 

“Peter is clearly the more competent candidate,” Ramos added. “He has a much better grasp of the issues and he is much more decisive. Zimmer has a real problem making decisions. Her abstention on this year's city budget was just baffling. This budget was prepared by the state, not the mayor. As a councilmember, you must vote yes or no.  You can't abstain, it's just indefensible."

Hoboken mayoral candidate Peter Cammarano

HOBOKEN - A day after former mayoral candidate Beth Mason endorsed his rival in the runoff, At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano struck back today with the announcement that Mason’s former running mates – council candidates Vincent Addeo and Raul Morales, Jr. - will run with him on his slate in his June 9th contest with Dawn Zimmer.

"I know Vinny and Raul very well and I know they share my commitment to cutting taxes and changing the way City Hall does business," Cammarano said in a statement. "We have the same practical goals.  We want to overhaul city government, protect our families and our neighborhoods and make this great City an even better place."

The Addeo-Morales endorsement means Cammarano (whose own ticket mate from the first ballot, Angel Alicea, also made the runoff) will face Zimmer and her three council candidates with a full slate.

Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer

Fourth Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer today happily accepted the endorsement of 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason as she readies for her June 9th mayoral runoff with At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano.

“I am very pleased,” Zimmer told PolitickerNJ.com. “We have differed on some issues but we share the same goals. We both believe in the overall goal of trying to bring Hoboken together. Beth brings a momentum to my campaign and helps brings the reform/progressive community together.”

Final results out of last Tuesday's first ballot mayor's race showed Zimmer receiving 3,614 votes, followed by Cammarano with 3,402 to both make the runoff; followed by Mason with 2,330 votes.

Councilwoman Beth Mason

In an unorthodox endorsement announcement, Councilwoman Beth Mason today threw her support behind Dawn Zimmer for Mayor and Vincent Addeo, Raul Morales II and Ravi Bhalla for City Council in the June 9 runoff election.

By so doing, Mason essentially backed a two-each fusion ticket of team members from both her own and the Zimmer slates, and shunned those left standing on the Cammarano Team and two of Zimmer's other running mates.   

“Last Tuesday, Hoboken voters cried out for a much-needed change in the way our government works, and whom it works for,” Mason said. “I remain firmly committed to the idea of a ‘One Hoboken’ ticket to deliver the change the public demands. I wholeheartedly endorse Zimmer, Addeo, Morales and Bhalla, and encourage all my supporters to do whatever they can to help elect this new team for One Hoboken.” 

The criss-crossing down ballot endorsement of Mason's two still-standing running mates (Addeo and Morales) as well as one of Zimmer's three running mates in Ravi Bhalla, left Zimmer allies Carol Marsh and Dave Mello without Mason's backing.

And, of course, left Cammarano and his down ballot competitor still in the contest, Angel Alicea, bereft of Mason love.

HCDO Chairman Jerramiah Healy

HOBOKEN – Although Hudson County Democratic Chairman Jerramiah Healy says he doesn’t want to intrude in the Hoboken mayoral runoff between At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer, the party’s presence in the mile-square city may be larger than even Healy’s considerable machine capabilities.

“We’re not going to do a damn thing,” said the county party chairman, who just won re-election as mayor of Jersey City. “You won’t see me in there. I don’t know that we’d help either candidate if we went in there. I’ve certainly known Pete longer than Dawn, but we’re just not doing it. I’m conflicted because Carol Marsh is on the other team, and we have a decent relationship. All things considered, it makes sense to stay out.”

But sources in the state party say the chance to land Cammarano the job as mayor may be too tantalizing to resist in a gubernatorial election year, particularly when his opponent is scrambling to replenish her campaign coffers for their June 9th face-off.

If Healy won’t actually leap up onto a stage to endorse Cammarano, the state party is positioned to engage on the councilman’s behalf. Sources say Cammarano will be able to count on bodies, money and resources from the state party’s apparatus.

Attorney Ravi Bhalla

The day after terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, a bearded man in a turban on the New York subway wore around his neck a laminated card with the following words printed in bold letters: “Proud to be an American and a Sikh.”

Connected to a monotheistic religious tradition of Punjab, India, requiring him to wear the turban and beard, this man knew his appearance alone could be misconstrued in the aftermath of the attack.

He wanted those around him to have no doubt about his origins and his loyalties.

Ravi Bhalla felt the same way. Born in Passaic and raised in West Paterson as a soccer player and son of a typically diehard soccer mom, 9/11 brought forth for him a double tragedy.

“First, there was the unspeakable loss of 2,000 Americans, and then there was the difficulty at times of walking down the street with people yelling racial epithets at me and people mistakenly believing that we had some role,” said Bhalla.

At Large Councilman Peter Cammarano made the June 9th runoff by amassing 3,755 votes to Dawn Zimmer's 3,671. Beth Mason trailed with 2,541 votes.

HOBOKEN – Beth Mason’s Washington Street campaign headquarters was a scene of anguish as supporters desperately tried to figure out what happened Tuesday night to their candidate, the frontrunner in at least two early polls and the designated big money player headed into Election Day.

“We’ll take the next couple of days to assess the situation,” said Jake Stuiver, Mason’s campaign manager, helmsman of what even in the most charitable terms can only be characterized as a colossal meltdown.

Stuiver stood on the sidewalk in darkness amid figures clutching each other in devastation, trying to find or provide some comfort.

The losing candidate wasn’t ready to make an official statement but sources close to her say she feared a deepening divide in her city on learning of the results tonight. Repeatedly castigated by both the Cammarano and Zimmer camps for abandoning her reformer roots to assemble a slate of old school Hobokonites, Mason argued that she didn’t have to agree with her running mates on every issue in order to feel comfortable running with them.

But her efforts to forge her 2nd Ward supporters with the remnants of the Anthony Russo era proved politically hazardous.