Jose Torres

PATERSON - Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale jumped intoCouncilman Aslon Goow Paterson municipal politics over the weekend, publicly endorsing Ward 2 Councilman Aslon Goow, chair of the council's public safety committee and a vocal critic of Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres.

Speziale's picture and declaration of confidence appeared on a Goow mail piece that hits the streets in Ward 2.

"Goow is the only (council) candidate the sheriff is endorsing," said Goow campaign spokesman Ryan Yacco. 

Yacco says the endorsement is significant, particulalry in the Hillcrest section of the ward.

A two-term concilman, Goow is running against John Larko and Elizabeth Rosado.

Rosado has  the public support of Mayor Torres.   

Ward 5 Councilman Juan TorresPATERSON - In a bruising re-election battle, two-term Ward 5 Councilman Juan Torres personally went to the campaign headquarters of challenger Julio Tavarez over the weekend warning his rivals to stay away from his street signs.

"They must be scared," Torres said of the Tavarez campaign.

An ally of Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres, the councilman said that Tavarez partisans removed 14 of his signs in the competitive ward.

Tavarez today was gearing up for his campaign’s "victory rally," where the council candidate intends to prepare his troops to take to the streets tomorrow on Election Day.

Paterson Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres 

PATERSON - Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres has not publicly endorsed anyone for city council, but today he said he may get into the Ward 2 tousle if he feels it becomes a matter of having to punch back.

"As the highest vote-getter in the last two elections, I hope most people are with me," said Torres, who on Saturday appeared at the Great Falls with U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8).

Ward Two Councilman Aslon Goow and ally Millie Mulero

PATERSON - Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres and Councilman Aslon Goow live close to each other in the same ward but they're hardly close friends. Their long-time rivalry has made them enemies and defines the city's political landscape.

This year as Goow, a private eye and Paterson native, is trying to win a third term on the council, and his opponents are either in Torres’s camp or champion the mayor’s issues.

Goow, the Ward Two Councilman, needs to defeat Elizabeth Gonzalez and John Larko to keep his seat, but he is nursing his own ambition to be mayor.

Clinton supporter from left, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone

Mark Alexander assumed the familiar posture this week of a man with a phone in his hand making calls for presidential candidate Barack Obama. This time, however, the scenery was different, as he occupied unfamiliar territory on the other side of the Delaware River somewhere in a mid-western American state called Ohio, a rust-belt cousin of New Jersey.

"It’s raining," the former Jersey state director for the Obama campaign told PoltickerNJ.com in a 30-second conversation between calls, where Obama and his Democratic Party rival Sen. Hillary Clinton are competing today as well as in three other primary states: Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Ward Six Council candidate Andre Sayegh addresses the governing body on Tuesday evening.

PATERSON - Among those lining up in the Sixth Ward to succeed Councilman Thomas C. Rooney, Jr., 33-year old Andre Sayegh has the coveted endorsement of the departing ward icon.

President of the Paterson School Board and a native Patersonian who has lived in the ward his whole life, Sayegh is one in a field of prospective candidates that includes Javier Fernandez, Eddie Gonzalez, Cunnur Kalaksiz, Jose Moore and Illia Villanueva (who’s run for council and lost four times), according to the Paterson City Clerk’s office. Eliacar Montoya has also filed, sources say.

Paterson City Councilman Thomas Rooney

PATERSON - The City Council will regretfully say goodbye this year to their resident Irish numbers cruncher, who also happens to be their resident historian and prophet when it comes to all things Paterson.

Councilman Thomas C. Rooney, Jr., 80, a native Patersonian and former mayor from the early 1970s, who originally figured he’d serve a term on the council or maybe two at the most, has represented the Sixth Ward for 28 years - since July 1, 1980.