Nicole Garcia

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, shown campaigning with President Barack Obama, crushed Rudy Garcia, right, in a 2000 Union City political war.

Nine years after a civil war ravaged local politics in Union City and across Hudson County, there is no question who won and who lost.  Robert Menendez is now a United States Senator and Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Rudy Garcia is still working for a Trenton lobbying firm.  Arrested on racketeering charges in 2007, a Monmouth County grand jury decided last year not to charge him in connection to a gambling ring sting by the New Jersey State Police.

Menendez and Garcia were once close political allies, but their relationship developed into a civil war between two Democratic stars from the same hometown. Menendez, a former Union City Mayor and State Senator before his election to Congress in 1992, was the key backer of Garcia in his first Assembly victory in a February, 1993 special election, and following the death of Union City Mayor Bruce Walter in January, 1997, was responsible for Garcia's election as Mayor of Union.

Former Hoboke Councilwoman Carol Marsh with her 2007 running mate, West New York Mayor Sal Vega

HOBOKEN - As elected officials here in the face of public discontent try to make their various arguments for why the state has assumed control of the municipal budget, at least one former elected official is watching from the perimeter.

Talk to locals about the mayor's race next year and most of them factor former Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Carol Marsh's name into a mix that includes Councilman Peter Cammarano, Councilwoman Beth Mason, Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer, Councilman Michael Russo and Mayor David Roberts.

In a phone conversation today with PolitickerNJ.com, Marsh said she was unlikely to run for mayor in 2009, and in one scenario would absolutely rule out the possibility.

"I'm 100 percent in support of Dawn if she runs," said Marsh, who ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly last year in the 33rd District on a ticket with West New York Mayor Sal Vega and Nicole Garcia of Union City.

A Monmouth County Grand Jury yesterday decided not to charge former Assemblyman Rudy Garcia in connection with a gambling ring sting initiated last year by the New Jersey State Police.

"They heard the evidence and decided not to charge me," a jubilant Garcia told PolitickerNJ.com. "I had never been indicted, and when they presented evidence to the grand jury yesterday they threw out the case."