Jersey City

Lautenberg, Menendez Announce $1.2 Million to Clean Up Sites in Newark, Jersey City and Camden

Jerramiah Healy appears to be in a strong shape as he begins his bid for re-election to a third term as Mayor of Jersey City in 2009.  A  poll conducted by his own campaign give Healy a 71%-25% job approval rating and a 66%-22% favorability rating, and he continues to raise money at a furious pace: he brought in an estimated $400,000 at a fundraiser last Thursday and has over $1.2 million in his warchest.

MANZO BILLS TO REFORM TAX ABATEMENTS, EXEMPTIONS
CLEAR ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE
Measures Would Help Jersey City Taxpayers, Property Owners

(TRENTON) - Two bills Assemblyman Louis Manzo sponsored to give municipalities like Jersey City an enhanced ability to spur redevelopment of blighted, vacant lots and ensure taxpayer accountability in tax abatement agreements were released today by an Assembly panel.

DORIA PUSHES GANG LEGISLATION TO STEM TIDE OF VIOLENCE IN JERSEY CITY

JERSEY CITY - State Senator Joseph V. Doria is pushing for swift Senate action on a package of bills intended to curb escalating gang violence in New Jersey's urban areas, including Jersey City in his district.

"Gangs are running rampant on the streets of Jersey City and other urban centers in New Jersey, and kids are forced to either enter gang life, or face the consequences," said Senator Doria, D-Bayonne. "While I think we've been successful in putting a focus on this problem, we need to do more to discourage gang violence, and give kids a positive alternative."

WOLFE: LATEST AUDITS IN ABBOTT DISTRICTS HIGHLIGHT IMPEDIMENTS TO SCHOOL FUNDING EQUITY

WOLFE HAD URGED PROPERTY TAX COMMITTEE TO LOOK INTO WASTEFUL SPENDING IN ABBOTT DISTRICTS

Sandra Cunningham, the widow the Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningam, is expected to announce her candidacy for State Senator on Thursday at the Liberty House in Jersey City. She will challenge incumbent Joseph Doria in the 31st district Democratic primary, attempting to win the seat her late husband held before his death in 2004. Possible candidates for State Assembly on the Cunningham ticket include former Bayonne Municipal Court Judge Patrick Conaghan (who forced Doria into a runoff last year for Mayor of Bayonne), Jersey City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy, Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, and Bayonne Councilman Anthony Chiappone, who served in the Assembly from 2004 to 2006 after defeating Doria in the '03 Democratic primary.

Gerald Ford was one of five Presidents since World War II to carry New Jersey in a year when the President's party defeated an incumbent Congressman. In 1976, Harold Hollenbeck unseated six-term Democrat Henry Helstoski in the ninth congressional district.

Bill Clinton won New Jersey in 1996 and Bill Pascrell ousted one-term GOP Congressman Bill Martini.

Ronald Reagan carried New Jersey twice. In 1980, Christopher Smith upset 13-term Democrat Frank Thompson, and Marge Roukema unseated three-term Democrat Andrew Maguire. Dean Gallo beat eleven-term Democrat Joseph Minish in 1984.

Lyndon Johnson's New Jersey victory in 1964 helped Democrats pick up two House seats: Thomas McGrath defeated four-term Republican Milton Glenn and Helstoski ousted Frank Osmers, who had served from 1938 to 1942 (when he gave up his seat to join the U.S. Army during World War II) and again from 1951.

Dwight Eisenhower had large enough coattails in 1956 to help a Republican win a congressional seat in Hudson County: Vincent Dellay narrowly defeated Thomas James Tumulty, a freshman Democrat who had been Assembly Minority Leader and after that, the more powerful position of Secretary to the Mayor of Jersey City. In the same year, Florence Dwyer ousted Democratic Congressman Harrison Williams.

John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush all carried New Jersey, but their parties failed to oust an incumbent in any of those five elections.

Footnote: Democrat Hugh Addonizio, who would go on to serve two terms as Mayor of Newark before his criminal conviction, unseated three-term Republican Congressman Frank Sundstrom in 1948, but New Jersey backed Republican Thomas Dewey over President Harry Truman that year.

Over the past two decades a somewhat balanced system of politcal power apportionment developed in Hudson County, where the powerful Democratic machine is run by the county's mayors. The mayors of all the towns met regularly to discuss issues, select candidates for jobs and offices, and generally work things out behind the scenes. The mayors with the most clout were the ones from the largest cities -- Union City, North Bergen and Bayonne -- but not always Jersey City.

Back in the early 1980's, Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann was part of the power-sharing systen, but he was a maverick and not always reliable -- or loyal -- so after a while, the group stopped letting McCann in the room. Robert Jansizewski, the Hudson County Executive and a Jersey City resident, stepped in to fill the void. With no opposition from the others, he claimed to represent Jersey City's interests. As the so-called "Mayor of Hudson County," he became a bonafide power broker. Janiszewski's clout was enhanced in 1992 when Republican Bret Schundler was elected Mayor of Jersey City; this made Janiszewski the only Jersey City voice at the table.

That changed in 2001, when Glenn Cunningham was elected Mayor in May and Janiszewski, who had been wearing a wire while cooperating with federal investigators, suddenly resigned his post in September. Cunningham not only claimed a place at the table, but he demanded to be the first among equals. That did not sit well with the others, who had become somewhat cliquey and worked well together without having to deal with an 800-pound gorilla from Jersey City.

When Janiszewski went away (although not literally at that point -- just to a ski lodge in upstate New York), Robert Menendez, who had been Mayor of Union City before his election to Congress, stepped into Janiszewski's role as the referee among the Mayors. Menendez tried to explain to Cunningham that the old (pre-McCann) days were over and the Mayors acted as a sort of semi-democratic council. Cunningham viewed this as a personal afront, believing that as Mayor of Jersey City, he was entitled to more than the same vote as the Mayor of Guttenberg. The others, led by Menendez (who had succeeded Janiszewski as Hudson County Democratic Chairman), refused to change a system that had worked well for them.

Then it became personal between Menendez and Cunningham. The two went to war over the County Executive post. Cunningham wanted to retain Bernard Hartnett, who won a Special Election Convention to replace Janiszewski as County Executive; Menendez wanted former Jersey City Council President Thomas DeGise, a onetime Schundler ally who had lost the '01 mayoral runoff to Cunningham. DeGise won the 2002 Democratic primary with 75% of the vote. When State Senator Joseph Charles declined to seek re-election in 2003, Menendez and the HCDO backed Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith for the Senate. Cunningham ran anyway and won, knocking HCDO Assembly incumbents Joseph Doria and Elba Perez-Cinciarelli out as well.

Then in 2004, Cunningham died unexpectedly. The Democratic powerbrokers picked City Councilman Jerramiah Healy, a former Municipal Court Judge who had run a strong race against Schundler in 1997, as their new Mayor. Doria, the Mayor of Bayonne, returned to Trenton as a State Senator.

The Mayors did not feel especially threatened when Healy took over as Mayor, despite his past penchant for independence. They had all supported him in his campaign and believed Healy knew his place: at the table, but not at the head of it.

The problem was there were only thirteen chairs at the table -- with DeGise's representative, triple-hat-wearing William Gaughan (who at the time served as Chief of Staff to DeGise, Jersey City Councilman, and Jersey City Democratic Municipal Chairman) sitting in the Jersey City Chair and not excited to get up so that Healy might sit down.

Healy, it turned out, was not about to let anyone tell him what to do -- especially DeGise and Gaughan. At first, the County Executive let Healy win what he thought were small victories. But in time, DeGise and Gaughan became less willing to allow Healy to get his way. A series of trash-talking and bar arguments escalated over who really runs Jersey City.

The two engaged in a very public fight over the PJP landfill site. DeGise and Gaughan wanted it to become a golf course, while Healy pushed for a industrial warehouse that would generate tax revenues for the city. This became a classic struggle, especially since Gaughan controlled half the votes on the City Council -- coincidentally, the half that held county jobs. Healy won that fight, and succeeded in ousting Gaughan as the local party chairman.

But Gaughan continued to flex his political muscles, actively seeking to oust Jersey City Assemblywoman Joan Quigley so that he could take the seat. Healy stuck with Quigley, and the other Mayors continued their twenty-year "your town, your seat, your choice" philosophy.

With Quigley virtually assured another term in Trenton, stay tuned for the next fight -- for Hudson County Freeholder Chairman. (The incumbent, Sal Vega, is now the new Mayor of West New York and a new State Assemblyman.) Healy wants one of the Jersey City Freeholders to take the chairmanship, while DeGise seems to want anybody but a Jersey City candidate. While Healy seems to be in control of his hometown, he faces a tougher challenge if he wants to flex his muscles countywide.

A war among Hudson County Democrats was avoided today by Jersey City Councilman William Gaughan's decision to drop his challenge to Assemblywoman Joan Quigley. Gaughan is the Jersey City Democratic Chairman and Chief of Staff to Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise.

Democratic sources say that Hudson County Clerk Javier Inclan will announce his resignation next week. Inclan is expected to be replaced by Barbara Netchert, the Executive Director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency and a DeGise ally. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy reportedly signed off on Netchert in exchange for saving Quigley.

Quigley, the Majority Conference Leader and Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee Chair, is widely viewed as one of Trenton's most competent legislators. Inclan, the first Latino to win countywide office in Hudson, will be accepting a position in state government.

DORIA/KENNY RESOLUTION TO HONOR FALLEN POLICE OFFICERS MOVES FORWARD

TRENTON - A resolution sponsored by Senators Joseph V. Doria, Jr. and Bernard F. Kenny, Jr. that would rename the Lincoln Highway Bridge as the "Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen Memorial Bridge" in honor of the two Jersey City police officers who died when their patrol car fell off the bridge last December was unanimously approved by the Senate Transportation Committee today.

"As we approach the first anniversary of the tragic accident that took the lives of Officers Carson and Nguyen, it's time to celebrate the lives of these two selfless individuals who were taken from us before their time," said Senator Doria, D-Hudson. "These two men died as they lived every day - working to serve and protect those in their community. There is no greater sacrifice."