Pat Conaghan

Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) and state Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson)

BAYONNE – It was a bruising fight for Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne), one he wanted badly to win, but his ally in last week’s mayoral election lost, and now Chiappone must look ahead to his own re-election bid next year and the grim prospect of running off the line.

Whether on or off, Chiappone makes it clear.

 “I’m running,” he said.

The Jersey Journal’s Political Insider points out that Mark Smith’s defeat of Pat Conaghan on Election Day gives the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) the necessary leverage to dump Chiappone, who comes from that part of the 31st Legislative District composing a third of what is otherwise dominated by Jersey City.

Mayor-elect Mark Smith

Triumphant last week in the mayor’s race, Acting Police Director Mark Smith will officially take office today in Bayonne.

Five O’clock Mass at St. Henry’s Church will be followed by a 6 p.m. swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on Avenue C.

Smith topped a five-man field that included retired municipal Judge Pat Conaghan, former Mayor Richard Rutkowski, Zoning Commissioner Ray Rokicki and city clerk Robert Sloan.

Smith won with over 45 percent of the 20,000 votes cast.

Obama volunteer Karin R. White Morgen: Politicker photo 

BAYONNE - Forget about president, there’s a war for mayor going on, and millions of contract dollars at stake as this hard knock dock town faces redevelopment of the Navy peninsula.

But the mayor’s race and its implications for next year’s politics have now produced a smaller - but no less intense - spin-off war between regular and renegade Democrats scrambling to prove their allegiance to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) with a little more than two weeks until Election Day.

Leading mayoral candidates, police director Mark Smith and retired judge Pat Conaghan, don’t want to publicly back Obama as they court 7,453 independent voters and 2,157 Republicans in what is billed as a nonpartisan election in an overwhelmingly Democratic (15,894 registered voters) yet historically white city.

The Republicans see opportunity here in this onetime Reagan Democrat stronghold, and have made targeted phone calls on behalf of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). But Obama’s 13-point lead over McCain in New Jersey and the Democrat’s frontrunner status nationally have at least one conspicuous Conaghan ally rushing to quell the perception that he’s operating outside the auspices of Obamaland.

On Saturday, Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) enlisted the help of his ally, state Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson), and opened an Obama for President headquarters at the corner of Avenue C and Andrews Street.

From that vantage point, he launched an attack on what he sees as a stalled-in-the-past local party organization he said has soft-pedaled its Obama outreach.

BAYONNE - In the special election for mayor here, the campaign of Police Director Mark Smith this week reported the biggest influx of cash.

Leading the four other men in the money race, Smith has raised $212,902.38 for his campaign, including $154,527.38 since the last period, which ended in July. He reports $33,670.23 on-hand.

His chief rival, retired municipal Judge Patrick Conaghan, reported raising $109,197.77, which includes a self-loan to his campaign totaling $50,247.77. He has $16,321.75 in the bank.

Retired municipal Judge Pat Conaghan walks the streets on Monday evening.: Politicker photoBAYONNE - The bands of men move through the streets on separate ends of Avenue C, claiming city blocks as territory for their respective campaigns.

There are other men running for mayor in Bayonne, but Police Director Mark Smith and retired Municipal Judge Pat Conaghan remain the most dogged public competitors, and their followers the most intense.

The signs stare out from everywhere as evidence: Conaghan for Mayor, or Smith for Mayor.

Across the river, Wall Street’s tanking. Worst day in its history. Police Director Mark Smith outside his Broadway campaign headquarters on Monday evening: Politicker photo

But Bayonne’s been feeling pain for years. They have a history of pain, of course. Not for nothing the local boy who once challenged Mohammed Ali for the heavyweight crown, Chuck Wepner, still walks Broadway Avenue and goes by the nickname "Bayonne Bleeder" in boxing circles.

Here they prefer to call him the "Bayonne Battler."

The former title may be more appropriate, for now the city faces a $22 million budget deficit. A mixed use project slated for the closed down Navy yard once was supposed to save this maritime blue collar capital at the bottom end of Hudson County, yet at this point, even that project’s champions say they need to reexamine the harbor.

Clerk Barbara Netchert gives renewed meaning to an old form of Hudson County political spin.: Politicker photo 

JERSEY CITY - Police Director Mark Smith took the pole position here today in a ballot drawing for the special election to be held Nov 4th for Bayonne mayor.

In the Division of Elections Office at the William Brennan Court House, Hudson County Clerk Barbara A. Netchert put the names of the five mayoral candidates in small plastic tubes and then placed the tubes in a revolving holding chamber.

"This ballot box probably goes back to the days of (Jersey City Mayor) Frank Hague," she said.

The clerk spun the chamber a number of times before withdrawing Smith's name first.

Police Director Mark Smith makes his mayoral announcement in Bayonne County Park.: Politicker file photo 

A month ago, Police Director Mark Smith looked very strong in the Bayonne's mayor race.

He was on the streets with that personal touch. People know him in Bayonne. And they like him. If success in American politics hinges on making an emotional connection with voters, Smith, runnning in his first political campaign, showed talent early and often.

He has personality and presence, not to mention a compelling story: that of a hero cop who diffused a potentially deadly situation in Bayonne 17 years ago. In an advertisement run by his campaign, an old black and white news clipping of the incident involving a rifle-toting Richard Barba is superimposed on fresh, color images of the dynamic mayoral candidate.

"A police officer faces down a gunman holding a young family hostage," says the voice-over, referring to a standout moment in the long career of the 46-year old Smith, who has received over 40 commendations.

Judge Patrick Conaghan with Bayonne voters Terrance and Laura McLaughlin: Politicker photo 

BAYONNE - In a tie decorated with the faces of American politicians, mayoral candidate Pat Conaghan, lawyer, retired municipal judge, walks up the street in Bayonne’s third ward.

With him walks Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone, campaign manager Denis F. Wilbeck and other allies lugging yellow campaign signs, intent on electing Conaghan in a Nov. 4th special election.

Conaghan’s going against Deputy Police Chief Mark Smith.

"He seems like an energetic guy," Conaghan says of his opponent, "but he’s a cop. I’ve been on the Board of Directors of two banks, and spent 40 years as a practicing attorney. The most significant thing the next mayor is going to have to do is to wrestle with serious financial issues."

The Conaghan forces contend that former Mayor Joseph Doria blew it on the redevelopment of Bayonne’s Military Ocean Terminal. It should have been a job creator, not a mixed use plan with an emphasis on residential development.

Now Doria’s gone, the town faces a $22 million deficit, and there’s little way to muster property taxes.

"We need some good industry to bring in jobs," says John Budnick, who peddles his bicycle among the Conaghan forces.

BAYONNE - Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) criticized Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone: Politicker photothe chairman of the Democratic Party here for failing to display campaign signs for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, which the chair claims is a ludicrous charge.

"They’ve got signs up on Democratic Party headquarters for (mayoral candidate) Mark Smith and (freeholder) Doreen DiDomenico, but nothing for Obama," complained Chiappone.

In this blue collar maritime stronghold at the southern end of Hudson County, Chiappone backs former municipal judge Pat Conaghan in the Nov. 4 mayor’s race against Smith.Chairman O'Donnell: Politicker photo

The party chairman supports Smith.

While he was a primary election supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY), Party Chair Jason O’Donnell strongly objected to Chiappone’s suggestion that he’s downplaying the Illinois senator because he fears voter blowback in the Bayonne mayor’s contest.

"For two consecutive days I have met with Tracy Johnson, Hudson County coordinator for Obama, and they don’t have the signs yet," said O’Donnell.

From left: Leo Smith, operative Michael Embrich, and mayoral candidate Mark Smith: Politicker photo 

BAYONNE - The rain crashes onto the street and Mark Smith, deputy chief and candidate for mayor, welcomes the downpour with open arms.

"I love it," he says, on the tail end of his door-pounding tour of the First Ward.

In this neighborhood just north of the Kill Van Kull, Smith and his team have walked several square blocks once populated by some of Bayonne’s political legends, including former Mayor Dennis Collins and former U.S. Rep. Cornelius Gallagher.

A 27-year veteran of the Bayonne Police Department and family man, Smith now wants to be the man in his Nov. 4 special mayoral election showdown with former municipal judge Pat Conaghan.