Sal Vega

Union City Saturday.

UNION CITY - In that most solemn moment of a solemn ceremony, the buzz of a single engine plane was unmistakable high above Union City where a singer tried to get the most out of every note of the National Anthem, and where Mayor Brian P. Stack tried to focus people on the grand opening of a new high school.

Arguably Stack's greatest achievement as mayor, the first high school in Union City in almost 100 years warranted a ceasefire in the ongoing trench and air political warfare to which Stack is accustomed, or so thought Stack's allies, and yet there was the little plane trailing a banner, obstinately broadcasting one message as the plane circled and circled above the crowd: "Crimes up, taxes up, Stack must go." 

Stack's teeth clenched. 

No one immediately knew who was behind the effort to step on this event with a political statement, or at least no one said he knew.

Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus) joins Gov. Jon Corzine for a rally in honor of the governor this morning at Workers United Union headquarters in Newark.

NEWARK - Gov. Jon Corzine stepped up to the podium at Workers United Union headquarters to accept the endorsements of Latino elected officials even as his GOP rivals in the governor's race loosed a counter list of private sector and former elected official Latinos backing Republican candidate Chris Christie.

"Because of Jon Corzine's failures, our communities, schools and cities are suffering," said Lydia Valencia, director of the Puerto Rican Congress of New Jersey and chairwoman of Hispanics for Christie.  "We need a governor who understands the reality facing real New Jerseyans struggling to make ends meet, especially when Corzine's taxes are taking a bigger and bigger chunk of our money. I am supporting Chris because he will bring jobs to our state, help small businesses and make sure our children receive a quality education."

Alert to Christie's efforts to woo Latino voters (he has campaigned in Union City, Perth Amboy and regularly in Jersey City, and has a "Christie-Guadagno" campaign song set to salsa), Democratic elected officials closed ranks around the governor.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken); Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Paterson, chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus; Paterson Mayor Jose Torres; Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco; Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz; West New York Mayor Sal Vega; state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), Newark North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos; and many others, 17 total, rallied with Corzine at union headquarters in downtown Newark while an audience of mostly SEIU workers rained praise on the incumbent governor.

Hudson County Freeholder Jeffrey Dublin is trying to hold on to his post as Freeholder Chairman, even though the board has rotated the chairmanship among members one year at a time since eight-year chairman Silverio "Sal" Vega left the board in 2006.

The board will hold its reorganization meeting tomorrow, where members will vote on who will lead it.  According to the rotation order, Vice-Chair Doreen DeDomenico is next in line.

"Being a chairman for only one year doesn't give the board any continuity at all, and it doesn't help as far as dealing with the executive branch of government, because they feel that they have to deal with different chairmen each year," said Dublin.  "Sal Vega was the chairman for eight years.  He gave continuity and respect for the board. I'm not looking to be a party basher, but just to talk and see what we can do with respect to keeping continuity for the board."

Dublin said that he plans to meet with his supporters today, followed by a meeting with DeDomenico.

"I'll be making my decision later on today on whether I'm going to move forward or just support the rotation," said Dublin.

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.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) and his wife, Debbie.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The crowd crams into the Spotted Dog for Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s (D-Sayreville) convention watch party, which includes three other recognizable elected officials packed cheek by jowl into this low-ceilinged underground Inverness Hotel hangout: Assemblyman Gordon Johnson of Bergen and West New York Mayor Sal Vega and Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.

Wisniewski’s been attending conventions going all the way back to 1976, when his father served as a member of the New Jersey delegation. Now he has his own daughters here and they’ve already been on the floor of the Pepsi Center.

"It’s a relaxing atmosphere down here, in a way even better than getting on and off the bus to go out there to the Pepsi Center," says Wisniewski, chair of the state Assembly Transportation Committee.

"At least I know New Jersey’s not the only place with gridlock," he says.

DENVER - The perceived indignity of standing in a crush of bodies behind the Island of Guam in that gaping blue glow of the Pepsi Center, coupled with the ongoing grind of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) loss, didn’t do much to boost the spirits of the delegation, as coming in here they hung their last hopes on a podium appearance by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Union City).

"No comment," state Party chairman Joseph Cryan said when poked about Menendez’s chances of speaking.

When it finally didn’t happen, the bulk of Garden State Democrats looked again for sustenance in Senator Clinton, who won by nearly ten points in New Jersey, whose presence on stage could keep the painful tensions of every silently suffering delegate alive for a few more hours - building to some end that was as yet unknown.

And yet when she spoke on Tuesday, Clinton put a larger political conflict in very stark terms, attempting to uplift to battle stations a mood that could easily go straight to a meltdown with the wrong tone.

Gov. Jon Corzine with Bill and Hillary Clinton at an Invesco Field party: Politicker PhotoDENVER - Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) speech was over, but the night wasn't done.

Invesco Field crowded the horizon like a set-piece out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and State party Chairman Joe Cryan and West New York Mayor Sal Vega trudged under the crisscrossing Denver highways, leading a scattered contingent of the New Jersey delegation.

Inside they were greeted by the familiar strains of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," and when the rest of the haggard-looking delegation finally arrived, either by foot or bus from the nearby Pepsi Center, they found a stage overcrowded with Gov. Jon Corzine, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and New York Gov. David Patterson.

Joining the governors on stage were none other than the Clintons.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and his niece, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg: Getty Images Photo

• Roberts: Lonegan is 'preposterous'
• Roberts mum on Andrews replacement
• June and Jun
  
• Warren County is in the house
• In the belly of the Spotted Dog
• Healy allies dream of an Obama visit
• Some Jewish delegates sit on their hands for Carter
• Biden won't change Van Drew's mind about running
• Codey and Roberts come out swinging with 'us' versus 'them' battle cry
• Menendez would be a great boost as convention speaker, Rothman says
• For Torres, the streets of Paterson lead to Denver
• Passaic ready to go big for Obama, says Currie
• Tom Byrne is not sitting on a $1 million campaign account for nothing
• Frank Lautenberg introduces his son to the delegation
• Pounding the 'One America' theme on day one
• Shulman makes the rounds in Denver
• In a crowded Passaic field, Morales says she has fire in the belly
• Report: Springsteen and Bon Jovi to perform at Obama speech
• Gusciora: 2004 couldn't have been this good
• Other states take note: New Jersey rules
• Vega doesn't want to go back to the legislature, but isn't happy with Rodriguez
• Rothman seeks to appease Clinton supporters
• Corzine speaking out to get Menendez a chance at the podium
• Florio talks up Biden, weighs in on Andrews replacement
• If it's not to be Rone, mayor prefers a woman replacement in Central Ward
• It was 20 years - and 18 points ago
• Primary hurt still lingers in Obamaland

DENVER – Just before enjoying the Democratic delegates’ first breakfast, West New York Mayor and former Assemblyman Sal Vega told PolitickerNJ that  he doesn’t expect to ever seek to return to the Assembly seat he vacated last year to run a grueling and bitter long-shot primary against for state Senate against Union City Mayor Brian Stack.

That’s because he’d have to give up his mayoralty, which he prefers. 

“I enjoy being the executive of my municipal government,” said Vega, a Hillary Clinton delegate.  “When I left the Assembly, Assemblyman [John] Burzichelli, who I had gotten to know, said ‘Don’t feel bad, because there are only two people that citizens know and remember: the president of the United States and the mayor of their town.”

Joe Ferriero vs. Loretta Weinberg; Brian Stack vs. Sal Vega; Glenn Paulsen vs. Diane Allen; Glenn Paulsen vs. Mike Warner; Vivian Stringer vs. Don Imus; James E. McGreevey vs. Dina Matos McGreevey; Anthony Coley vs. Ivette Mendez; Dick Codey vs. Ken Zimmerman; Dick Codey vs. George Zoffinger; Kevin O’Toole vs. Kevin Collins; Upendra Chivukula vs. Seema Singh; Karen Kominsky vs. Christie Davis Jackson; Bill Gormley vs. Sonny McCollough; Bill Pascoe vs. Maryannie Harper; Skip Hidlay vs.Ellen Karcher; Izod vs. Prudential; Guy Talarico vs. everybody.

READ THE POLITICKERNJ.COM 2007 YEAR-END REVIEW