Jerome Jewell

Menza (left) gets sworn-in last week.

Independent Joe Menza's surprise victory has created an early uproar in Hillside Township, with both sides reaching for war metaphors to describe the ongoing and rocky transition of power in this Union County town where the local Democratic Party machine still controls the council. 

"Let's just say the war's started," said John O'Shea, the mayor's former campaign manager whom Menza now wants as his mayoral aide at a salary of $70,000.

New Council President Edward Brewer argued that it was the new mayor who "fired the first salvo over the bow of the ship of state" when he sought to appoint O'Shea by executive order, in addition to attorney Joseph Greer as acting business administrator for a period of 90 days at a salary not to exceed $50,000, the Cliffside Park law firm of Diktas, Schandler & Gillen as “general counsel” at the rate of $150.00 per hour, and the Fairlawn accounting firm of Lerch, Vinci and Higgins as auditor and financial advisors.

Menza stood by taking no action on the contract expiration of Democratic Party appointee Township Attorney Christine Burgess, which took effect last night, according to O'Shea.

Menza addressses the crowd.

HILLSIDE - This little, oft-dispected town practically buried under a criss-cross of highways in the muscled-up arms of Newark on one side and Elizabeth on the other today showed little sign of breaking a four-year standoff between mayor and council as Joe Menza assumed the oath of office several hours before the council's reorganization meeting this evening.

Real estate developer Menza beat the local Democratic Party machine on May 12th when he defeated At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell, a staunch ally of local party chair Charlotte DeFilippo, who also runs the county party.

DeFillipo allies still controls five seats on the seven-member governing body, but Menza kicked off his mayoralty by letting the crowd of 150 people here know that under the Faulkner Act, it is his responsibility to prepare and submit an annual operating budget and to sign all contracts, and he doesn't intend to abdicate those powers.

On the contrary, "The buck stops right here, you can expect that from me," announced the new mayor, moments after taking the oath at the prompting of substitute Township Judge Geoffrey Gechtman.

Hillside Mayor-elect Joe Menza

When Joe Menza defeated Councilman Jerome Jewell by fewer than ten votes to become mayor of Hillside, he did so as a perennial challenger to the local Democratic Party machine, and he remains an outsider even on the day of his swearing-in ceremony tomorrow.

"By law, I have to be appointed by noon," said Menza. "It's 12 o'clock every year, but they made it very clear they want the council re-organization meeting and the mayor's swearing-in separate."

So the council re-organizes at 6 p.m., six hours after Menza takes the oath.

Menza's team blames Clerk Janet Vlaisaljevic, an ally of local party Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, for chopping the ceremonies in half and leaving Menza in the unadvertised early slot without the benefit of a re-ordered local legislature and official town infrastructure to lend support.  

Union County GOP Chairman Phil Morin

Stepping over the stunned, melted-down infrastructure of a Democratic Party machine that failed to elect Jerome Jewell in the Hillside mayor's race yesterday, Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin seized on real estate developer Joe Menza's victory as a symbolic statement in the "backyard" of Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo.

The fact that GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie poured bodies into the Union County town, and personally cut a robocall on Menza's behalf even as the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA) channeled dollars into the Union County town to buttress Jewell gave Morin a special pride in the unofficial outcome.

"While Menza's slate didn't win, his victory sent a message to Union County that Union will be a battleground in 2009," said Morin. "We're very proud of the fact that Union County Republicans and Chris Christie were able to assist the Menza campaign in getting him across the finish line in this runoff."

Morin had reached out personally to Menza campaign strategist John O'Shea to see if there was any way in which his organization could assist in Menza's independent battle with Jewell and DeFilippo, who lives in Hillside and serves as the town's municipal Democratic Party chair in addition to her county party duties.

Joe Menza of Hillside

HILLSIDE - Independent mayoral candidate Joe Menza, an unsuccessful candidate in 2005, today claimed victory over the local Democratic Party machine.

The Union County Board of Elections this afternoon counted the provisional ballots in the Hillside mayoral contest and determined that real estate developer Menza defeated At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell in the runoff by eight votes.

The final tally, scheduled to be certified tomorrow, is 1,710 to 1,702.

"We had a team of volunteers that was unstoppable," Menza said. "As we kept going in this campaign it was truly a community effort. We were very successful at identifying (Councilwoman Shelley) Bates and (former School Board Member Andre) Daniels supporters and making sure they came on board with us. This was a total community effort."

The two runoff elections for Mayor yesterday are exceedingly close and it will probably take a Judge to decide who the winners are.  In Hoboken, Peter Cammarano leads Dawn Zimmer by 67 votes, 6,043 to 5,976, with about 80 provisional ballots to be counted.  Zimmer led the machine voting by 244 votes, but Cammarano took the lead after absentee ballots have been counted.  

In Hillside, unofficial results show outsider Joseph Menza with a six vote lead, 1,705 to 1,699, over Councilman Jerome Jewell, with a reported ten provisional ballots that will be counted today.  

Cammarano has one clear advantage in a recount and a legal discussion over provisional ballots: his law partner is Angelo Genova, one of the state's top election law experts.  Jewell has the backing of Hillside Democratic Municipal Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, who is also the Union County Democratic Chair.

If Menza holds his lead in the non-partisan race, it would be a stunning defeat for the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), which contributed more than $10,000 to ensure Jewell's election.  Menza received some help from Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, so sent some volunteers his way last week in a bid to get Hillside Republicans to oppose Jewell.  

Menza's council candidates lost to Jewell's slate, so even if Menza's lead holds and he becomes mayor, the council will remain in the hands of the local Democratic Party machine.  

In Jersey City, two City Council incumbents backed by Mayor Jerramiah Healy easily won their runoff elections.  Healy allies now occupy every City Council seat but the one held by Steven Fulop.

Joe Menza of Hillside

HILLSIDE - Unofficial results in Hillside now show real estate developer Joe Menza ahead of At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell by six votes after machine and absentee vote tallies.

Provisionals remain to be counted, but right now, Menza has 1,705 votes and Jewell has 1,699.

At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell

HILLSIDE - The forces of At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell claim to have beaten real estate developer Joe Menza by six votes, but Menza says he's up by three votes with the city clerk counting absentee ballots right now.

Joe Menza of Hillside

HILLSIDE - It's good news early for the team of mayoral candidate Joe Menza's, who's generating solid numbers in his stronghold.

If At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell's campaign nurses worry, it's over the weather. If it rains, and rains hard in the after-work hours, they're concerned that the core of their voters might not flood the polls as they've planned.

This is likely a close election. Menza missed by 208 votes in his 2005 challenge. He came in second behind Jewell on May 12th to make the runoff, winning 1,167 to Jewell's 1,368. Both sides believe they're now working a universe of about 2,800 to 2,900 likely voters in this election.

Menza has good command of the senior vote in Hillside, but the African-American working class is Jewell's bet, and so he and his campaign workers keep looking up at the sky, trying to discern what the clouds are doing or will do with the passage of time.

They stifle laughter at the suggestion that Menza could win. They believe the independent real estate developer who's running against Union County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo and her candidate, Jewell, made a boneheaded miscalculation when he allowed GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie to do a robocall on Menza's behalf.

Runoffs in Hoboken, Hillside and Jersey City will dominate politics in New Jersey today. These races are technically non-partisan, although in some cases party organizations are playing an important role in these races.

Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer and Councilman Peter Cammarano meet in a runoff to become the 37th Mayor of Hoboken.  The two-term incumbent, David Roberts, did not seek re-election.

Zimmer was the top vote getter in the May municipal election four weeks ago, edging out Cammarano by 212 votes, 3,614-3,402.  Councilwoman Beth Mason, who finished third in a field of six candidates with 2,330 votes, has endorsed Zimmer.  The Hudson County Democratic establishment, and Senate President Richard Codey, has endorsed Cammarano, who is an attorney at the firm of Democratic power lawyer Angelo Genova.

Three Hoboken City Council seats will also be decided in today's runoff election.  Ravi Bhalla, Carl Marsh and Dave Mello, running with Zimmer, face Cammarano's running mates, Vinny Addeo, Angel Alicea, and Raul Morales.  Addeo and Morales originally ran with Mason.

In Hillside, Councilman Jerome Jewell and businessman Joseph Menza compete in a runoff for Mayor.  Last month, Jewell led Menza by 201 votes, 1,368-1,167 in a field of four candidates  Jewell has the strong backing of Hillside Democratic Municipal Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, who is the Union County Democratic Chair.  The Democratic Governors Association has put $10,400 into this campaign.  Three Councils seats are also up for grabs. Mayor Karen McCoy Oliver is not seeking re-election.

In Jersey City, where Mayor Jerramiah Healy won a landslide re-election last month, two incumbents who ran on the Healy slate will compete in a runoff election for City Council seats.  Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano faces Rolando Lavarro, and Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson is challenged by Ronnie-Calvin Clark.  Lavarro and Clark ran with mayoral candidate Louis Manzo.

Two Republican County Chairmen are fighting to keep their jobs tonight.  In Gloucester County, incumbent Loran Oglesby faces Bill Fey, and in Passaic County, Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) is seeking re-election against Carl Mazzie, a Totowa attorney allied with former GOP County Chairmen Peter Murphy and Michael Mecca.

Salem County Republican Chairman Paul Reed has decided not to run for another term.  Former Freeholder Michael Facemyer is running unopposed for the post