Sal Vega

West New York Mayor Sal Vega continues to assail Brian Stack’s political allies.  Today he’s calling for the Hudson County Board of Elections to be fire Freddy Gomez for pressuring hair salon owner Angie Espinal to sign an affidavit taking her name off the ballot.  

Brian Stack has got to appreciate the guy with the video camera who captured his Sal Vega, his opponent in the June Democratic State Senate primary, saying this last January: "I know Brian Stack. Brian Stack is my friend. And today I say - Brian Stack, the next Senator from the State of New Jersey."

While gut-wrenching political squabbles like the 33rd District senate race can turn the average observer’s stomach, at least one former Hudson County politician sees it as a breath of fresh air.

“It’s always good to see something going on and you hope some good comes out of it, rather than just the normal thing of everyone falling into line,” said Thomas F. Cowan, a Jersey City Democrat who represented the neighboring 32nd district in the State Senate between 1984 and 1994.  “You always hope that when there is some difference in opinion, some good can come out of it.”

By MAX PIZARRO
PoliticsNJ.com

UNION CITY - Those who celebrate Union City Mayor (and Assemblyman) Brian P. Stack liken him to Emiliano Zapata or Juan Peron -- system-bucking heroes who were as good in a fight as they were at revealing a tender side for the poor.

But Stack’s detractors say the more apt metaphor involves making that dreadful trek back to the Soviet Union. Count West New York Mayor (and Assemblyman) Sal Vega among those who choose the latter description.

Hoboken Councilman Michael Russo was re-elected
Councilman Michael Russo appeared in his campaign headquarters on Adams Street, striding across the expansive room with outstretched hand. At a nearby table, his uncle proudly wore a yellow shirt featuring the first game of baseball played in Hoboken, which someone told him he should go home and change because the campaign workers of Russo’s rival, Frank "Pupie" Raia, were wearing yellow shirts all over the Third Ward.

State Senate candidate Sal Vega will hold a news conference on Wednesday to play tape recordings of what his campaign calls "alleged bribery and civil rights violations" by his opponent in the Democratic primary, Brian Stack.  According to an advisory, Vega will turn over "tape recorded evidence of alleged criminal activity by Stack and his surrogates to law enforcement authorities and is calling for a full investigation."  Vega and Stack, both Assemblymen, are seeking the open seat of retiring Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny.  Vega is the Mayor of West New York and Stack is the Mayor of Union City.

Emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel on this side of the Hudson River, the first sign you see isn’t “Welcome to New Jersey,� which might be an appropriate enough greeting in, oh, say, New Jersey.

No, here in Hudson County, the sign reads “Vote for Brian P. Stack.,� and it looms over the highway like a movie poster for one of those thrilling old cliffhangers starring Buster Crabbe.

It’s no different on the neighborhood streets. Go into most any newsstand and you’ll find among the various rags a copy of “Sunlight News,� which purports to be a “Newspaper for 21st Century Hudson County,� and features none other than actress Jennifer Lopez on the cover -- along with your favorite local all-action politician: Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack, who also happens to be on every page of the paper.

Voters in six New Jersey towns will elect a Mayor in Tuesday's non-partisan municipal elections. The premier race is in Evesham, a swing town of 42,275 people in Burlington County that has become increasingly competitive in recent general elections. While the race is technically non-partisan, both parties have horses in the contest.

A press release issued today by the Hudson County Democratic Organization, which is backing Assemblyman (and West New York Mayor) Sal Vega for State Senate against Assemblyman (and Union City Mayor) Brian Stack, is worth reading:

WEST NEW YORK - Their two immigrant towns stand back to back above the New Jersey Turnpike, where New York doesn't exist without a "West" in front of it, where one-time factory workers belonged not just to a union but to a city.

West New York and Union City.

Assemblyman (and West New York Mayor) Silverio "Sal" Vega and Assemblyman (and Union City Mayor) Brian P. Stack appear to have little in common other than pride in their respective cities, the Bergenline business district that cuts through both their territories, and the fact that they're from the same party, which actually in Hudson County more likely than not means division, which happens to be exactly what it means in this case.

For what Vega and Stack do share in earnest is an intense, mutually exclusive thirst for the Upper Legislative House in that other river town -- Trenton. Now that longtime State. Sen. (and Hudson County Democratic Chairman) Bernie Kenny is retiring, the two politicians are committed to a full bore, mano-a-mano contest in the Democratic Primary.