Hoboken

KENNY MOVES TO SAVE ST. MARY HOSPITAL

TRENTON - The Senate today approved a bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bernard F. Kenny Jr., to help save the financially troubled St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken by having it taken over by a new city hospital authority.

"St. Mary's is vital to the people of Hoboken, but it also serves families in Union City, West New York, Weehawken and North Bergen," said Senator Kenny, D-Hudson. "If we can transfer ownership and infuse the hospital with a new management team, St. Mary's stands a very good chance of thriving again as a full service facility."

O'TOOLE SAYS TIME HAS COME FOR REASSESSMENT
OF CRITERIA FOR ABBOTT SCHOOL DESIGNATION
BUDGET HEARING HIGHLIGHTS THE NEED
FOR A NEW APPROACH TO SCHOOL FUNDING FORMULA

One day after questioning Department of Education Acting Commissioner Lucille E. Davy about disparities in the state's education funding formula, Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole today said the Legislature should act to adopt criteria suggested by former Commissioner William Librera that could result in the elimination of Abbott status for close to a dozen districts.

In referendums held throughout the state on Tuesday, voters in just over half (52%) of the municipalities approved proposed school budgets. For the record, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and State Senator Thomas Kean, Jr., both say they voted in favor of their local school budgets. In Hoboken, where Menendez lives, the budget passed by a mere four votes -- 1,105 to 1,101. In Kean's hometown, Westfield, voters overwhemingly approved the budget -- 3,099 to 1,953. Kean's primary opponent, John Ginty, said he would keep how he voted in the Ridgewood school election to himself. Ridgewood voters passed their budget 1,969 to 1,216, and approved a referendum on spendig $629,000 to uprgade their HVAC system by a vote of 1,685 tp 1,570.

Pennacchio to Roberts: First Address Abbot School Spending

Morris Plains, NJ -- The following is a letter that New Jersey State Assemblyman Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris, Passaic) sent in response to Assembly Speaker Roberts call to address state spending:

We've been hearing Dems. are nervous about Camden County. But how about Hudson? Recall that early in the day a friendly Hudson County Democrat told us that the machine seemed to be neglecting Hoboken. Here's an update from the same Democrat:

"The sun is down, and the mainstay of the machine seems to have stayed home. I've seen uncontested school board elections with more juice than this. Bernie Kenney and the stalwarts are waving the flag for Corzine in front of Headquarters, but it seems like they are virtually the entire operation...I've been wrong before...very wrong...but my guess is Corzine could be in a boat load of trouble."

Keep in mind that this is anecdotal. I've also heard indirectly that the Corzine campaign likes what they're seeing in the rest of Hudson-- or are at least that they're saying they do.

I posted earlier that there might be some signs of trouble for Corzine in Hoboken in Hudson County. I'll check back on that in a while, but I'm also hearing that turnout is solid in other parts of Hudson, perhaps indicating that the machine is in gear. In a North Bergen election district, 113 out of 490 voters had turned out by 11:30. In that district, 239 turned out all day in 2001. A strong Hudson showing by Corzine might boost U.S. Rep. Robert Menende, Hudson's de facto boss, as he angles to replace Corzine in the Senate.

"The machines are all out there trying to prove themselves for Corzine," explained one Democrat.

Obviously, Hudson County is a huge part of Jon Corzine's formula for victory, just like it is for any Democrat who runs statewide. Consider the '01 results from Hudson:

Jim McGreevey (D) 85,074
Bret Schundler (R) 37,440

If you're keeping score at home, that's a 47,634-vote plurality for McGreevey-- almost 1/4 of his entire statewide plurality. And don't forget, Schundler was Jersey City's mayor-- Hudson was his turf.

The Corzine campaign's goal today is a 60,000-vote plurality out of Hudson (that may be like asking $1 million for a house in order to get the $750,000 you really want), which makes an e-mail I just received from a Democrat who checked out the Corzine operation in Hoboken this morning rather interesting:

"The surprising thing was the tension between the 'neutral' poll workers and the Corzine challenger. Usually these folks are all one big happy family. Another fact is that in contrast to prior elections there have been virtually no signs in Hoboken this election. I could be wrong, but my guess is that Hoboken will be A LOT closer than anyone expects."

This is purely anecdotal, but it makes you wonder....

I wanted see Jon Corzine in person at some point before the polls close, so I made my way at the crack of dawn to a fire station at the uptown end of Washington Street in Hoboken, where the senator was to cast his ballot shortly after 6 A.M.

Corzine could just as easily have voted absentee (as apparently hundreds of thousands of N.J. voters have), but then he wouldn't have been to offer the press the obligatory candidate-takes-part-in-democracy photo op.

Maybe it's because he's favored to win, or maybe it's because of Hoboken's just-across-the-river proximity to Manhattan, but I counted at least 19 men and women with still and video cameras crammed into the firehouse. I may be wrong, but I don't think there were any print reporters there; this was all about getting a picture on today's newscasts. (I also wondered how many TV cameras will record Doug Forrester voting in West Windsor, which is a pretty long drive from both New York and Philadelphia.)

When Corzine flung open the maroon curtain and emerged from the bvoting booth,someone-- one of the cameramen, I think-- shouted, "Give us a thumbs up!" And the candidate did. Then Corzine moved outside-- politiciking is prohibited in polling stations-- and the scene looked like New Hampshire, circa January 2004: a crush of cameramen elbowing and nudging each other for position as Corzine fielded a few questions.

Nothing memorable was asked or said; again,this was all about the sound bite. One reporter asked him why the race had suddenly become "a squeaker."

"Polls are volatile," Corzine said. "I've seen polls as low as 4 and as high as 10. We'll see what it is tonight."

Then he hopped into the front seat of an S.U.V., which took off for the New Jersey Turnpike and Cherry Hill, where he was due to greet commuters-- and Philadelphia television crews-- at 7:30.

Hudson County Leaders Pledge to Fight for Forrester's 30%-in-3 Guaranteed Plan

'Only Doug's plan provides the property tax relief New Jerseyans need'

Gubernatorial nominee Doug Forrester was joined today in Hoboken by officials and candidates from Hudson County who endorse Forrester and his 30%-in-3 Guaranteed plan for property tax relief. From Labor Day to Election Day, Forrester is making multiple stops in all 21 counties on a Take Back New Jersey Tour to tell residents about his plans for the state.

Few stories can be told about the New Jersey Legislature that can compete with the one about Assemblyman Silvio J. Failla of Hudson County, who was in his first term in Trenton when he was murdered by a pimp and a prostitute outside a bar in Neptune. At 62-years-old, Failla had an fine resume for a legislator: he studied to be a pharmacist at Columbia University, went to law school, and then became an undertaker. He spent twenty years as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Funeral Home Directors Association, eleven years on the Hoboken Board of Education, and in 1965, six weeks as the Mayor of Hoboken.