Irene Kim Asbury

The cover of today’s Jersey Journal has a picture of Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) next to the words “I’ll win.”

Chiappone, indicted along with his wife in August by the State Attorney General’s Office for allegedly cashing staffers’ checks for his personal and campaign bank accounts and  subsequently stripped of his legislative committee assignments, expects to be re-elected on Tuesday.  And the conventional wisdom is that he’s probably right.  He’s running in the Democratic column in a district where his party outnumbers Republicans eight-to-one.  

That’s part of the reason leaders of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) – which saw several of its own members arrested in an unrelated federal corruption sting in July – did not make much of a fuss about forcing Chiappone to resign (with the notable exception of Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, already a fierce rival of Chiappone’s).  Although Chiappone is not cozy with most of Hudson County’s top Democrats, HCDO Chairman Jerramiah Healy, the mayor of Jersey City, might have found it awkward if he called on Smith to resign but refused to do the same for corruption-charged Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega.

But the HCDO has kept its distance from Chiappone.  His running mate, police detective Charles Mainor, attends political events with the top HCDO brass, but Chiappone has not been not invited to join them.

So how does Mainor feel about having a running mate who has been indicted?

“As a police officer, I truly believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and I extend that much courtesy to Mr. Chiappone,” he said.

District 31 Republican assembly candidate Irene Kim Asbury in Bayonne

Republican Assembly candidates Irene Kim Asbury and Marie Day now find themselves running in a district where both sitting assemblymen are under indictment for different reasons. 

Asbury, an attorney from Jersey City, thinks that will make the race competitive, even in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans eight to one.  Still, she acknowledges, “this is Hudson County.  “

“It’s an extremely Democratic County,” she said. “I think I’d still have to prove that I can do the job. It’s very easy: don’t do anything illegal. Don’t take bribes or funnel money through my legislative aides.”

Chiappone plans to continue his candidacy, although Governor Corzine and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) have both called for his resignation.  The district’s other indicted assemblyman, L. Harvey Smith (D-Jersey City) – who was arrested last month for allegedly taking bribes from a federal informant posing as a developer --  opted to run an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Jersey City instead of seeking reelection.  Democrats picked police detective Charles Mainor for his place on the ballot.

Fulop on the steps of Jersey City Hall

JERSEY CITY -- In a city where public corruption is considered commonplace, an estimated 250 residents turned out to say it should not be.

Protestors gathered in front of City Hall tonight to put a new spin on the National Night Out, focusing on political crime as opposed to street crime in a city where eight public officials and several other political insiders were arrested in last month’s massive corruption bust.  All of the arrests involved taking bribes from an FBI informant posing as a developer interested in doing business in the city.  
    
It was the second protest in the nearly two weeks since the sting.  At last week’s protest, which was organized by One Jersey City – the political arm of the reform group CivicJC – about 80 protestors called for the resignations of City Council President Mariano Vega, who was among the arrested officials;  Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who was not arrested but met with the FBI informant and shows up in a criminal complaint as “JC Official 4”; and Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who is facing a separate controversy over her residency status.  Tonight, the protestors only called on Vega to resign, though they did not spare Healy from criticism. 

Brooms were distributed to chants about sweeping out corrupt officials.  Some protestors wore shirts that read "Get drunk, get naked, get elected" -- a reference to a photograph of a nude, passed out Healy that surfaced during his 2004 run for mayor.  Many residents held small signs made up of an image of a January, 2007 front page of the Jersey Journal picturing the event’s organizer, Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, behind the headline “City not for sale.”  

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Jersey City’s two delegates at the Republican National Convention are not sold on Bret Schundler for mayor.

Schundler, who was mayor between 1992 and 2001, ran for Governor twice as a Republican.  But the May, 2009 municipal elections in Jersey City are non-partisan, and ideology doesn’t necessarily mean much there. 

“At this juncture I haven’t made up my mind yet. As funny as it sounds, it is non-partisan, and I don’t think the whole field has been flushed out,” said delegate Joseph Turula after the delegation breakfast.   “Certainly he’s a fine, smart and honest man, but I haven’t made the decision, and our county chairman said recently that he has to evaluate it.”