Thomas DeGise

State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City) could face a primary when she seeks re-election in two years.

The primary is a year and a half away, but state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Jersey City) is in danger of being tossed off the Hudson County Democratic Organization's (HCDO) line in 2011.

That development could spark an intra-party fight like the one that engulfed Hudson County politics two and a half years ago, when a challenge by then-Assemblyman and Union City Mayor Brian Stack to former Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny's (D-Hoboken) had county-wide implications.  Back then, Cunningham kept the seat of former state Sen. Joseph Doria (D-Bayonne) for the HCDO, fending off a challenge by former Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-Jersey City), who was backed by the rival Democratic organization led by Stack. 

That conflagration died down after the 2007 primary election, but Cunningham's decision in June to block Gov. Jon Corzine's appointment of Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has - at least for the time being - turned the party apparatus against her.

"I've seen smaller things spark forest fires here in Hudson County," said DeGise.

DeGise said he had the support of all 12 Hudson County mayors for the Port Authority spot.  With so much of the Port Authority's infrastructure in Hudson County - the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, the Bayonne Bridge, most of the New Jersey portion of the PATH system, the Auto Marine terminal in Bayonne - DeGise said that the county should have a representative on the board of commissioners.

"Just one person - I think it's a curious system that allows for one person to block the will of a ton of others. But that's the system," he said.

Speculation that Corzine would appoint Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage to the post instead - a political ally of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), who is Cunningham's Trenton mentor - did not come to fruition.

There is no love lost between DeGise and Cunningham.  In 2001, Cunningham defeated DeGise in a non-partisan contest for mayor of Jersey City.  Glenn Cunningham died four years later, but the hard feelings between DeGise and Sandra Cunningham remained - so much so that it was considered no small feat for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and HCDO operatives to get them to run on the same ticket in 2007.

Still, while he doesn't hide his anger at Cunningham, DeGise thinks a public fight can be avoided.

"Diplomacy should always be used before a sledgehammer," he said.  "I can remember back now to '07, and the spark between Bernie Kenny and Brian Stack over the Senate seat just blew up into a county-wide fight, and I really to this day believe that better diplomacy could have been used to avoid that."

If Jerramiah Healy tops the 50% mark today, he will become the first Mayor of Jersey City to win three elections without a runoff since the legendary Frank Hague.

Healy won a 2004 special election 28%-24% over Assemblyman Louis Manzo, with Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith running a strong third with 22%.  When he ran for re-election in 2005, he won 75% of the vote against former City Councilwoman Melissa Holloway.

Runoffs have been common in Jersey City elections in recent years.  In 2001, former U.S. Marshal Glenn Cunningham led City Council President (now Hudson County Executive) Thomas DeGise 38%-24% in the May election, and won the runoff 53%-47%.  Bret Schundler elected in a nineteen-candidate 1992 special election, won re-election with 68% in 1993.  But in 1997, he fell two votes short of winning 50% and after a court battle, beat Healy 59%-41% in the runoff.

When Dr. Paul Jordan, a reformer who toppled the Jersey City Democratic machine when he won a 1971 special election for Mayor, ran for Governor six years later, City Clerk Thomas F.X. Smith beat Jordan's handpicked successor.  Smith won 50% against William Macchi, the Jersey City Director of Human Resources.  That effectively ended Jordan's gubernatorial campaign and caused the defeat of Jordan allies in the State Senate (Walter Sheil ousted two-term State Sen. James Dugan, the Democratic State Chairman) and Assembly in the primary election a few weeks later.  Smith served one-term and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1981.

Lynn Schundler, the wife of former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, is reportedly considering a bid for the Jersey City Council.

Former Jersey City First Lady Lynn Schundler has decided against running for the City Council in Ward E after speaking to supporters of Mayor Jerramiah Healy.  Her possible candidacy came just a few weeks after her husband, former Mayor Bret Schundler, dropped his own comeback bid as a challenger to Healy.

Ward E, which is predominantly made up of the city's downtown, is currently represented by Councilman Steven Fulop - one of Healy's most outspoken critics.  Fulop also backed off a mayoral bid and attended Healy's campaign kickoff, but he has declined to run on the Healy slate and will seek re-election on his own.

If Schundler ran, Fulop would likely have forged an alignment with former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who is making his sixth bid for Mayor. Manzo, sources say, has also courted Schundler as a possible running mate.

Lynn Schundler, an attorney and former Senate Republican staffer, has already met with Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, a Healy supporter who was a Schundler ally when he served as the Jersey City Council President.  When Bret Schundler gave up his seat to run for Governor in 2001, he backed DeGise for Mayor in his unsuccessful bid against Glenn Cunningham.

Two sources close to Healy say they were optimistic that she would run, but noted that she has not fully committed.  She did not meet with Healy, as expected, but instead informed members of his political team that she would not become a canddiate.

JERSEY CITY – Although the pro-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) crowd in the student center of New Jersey City University was juked with polls showing their candidate in possession of a double digit lead in Jersey, they supplied no demonstration of shock and awe support three days before Election Day.

Waiting for keynoters New York Gov. David Paterson and Gov. Jon Corzine, local politicians warmed up the proudly attentive audience.

“If you don’t stand for this man (Obama), you don’t stand for anything,” state Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson) cried. “Get up. Get up!”

The crowd jolted to its feet.

Less then a week after his arrest on federal corruption charges, Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna attended a fundraiser for the Hudson County Democratic Organization. Sources say that Della Donna, who is accused of diverting cash campaign contributions for personal expenses, and of allegedly extorting money from a local bar owner in exchange for helping him with issues involving the local police, obtaining a variance, and dealing with tickets for improper garbage disposal.

Helene DeGise, the wife of Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, passed away yesterday after suffering a heart attack. She was 55. Visitation will be today at the Houghton Funeral Home in Jersey City. Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday.

Ton DeGise won a 2002 primary against an incumbent who replaced Bob JaniszewskiAmid the trench warfare of a Democratic Party primary, Hudson County Excutive Thomas DeGise doesn't lose sight of a larger purpose.

"I'm in a fight now -- Democrats versus Democrats," he says. "But the fact is, Republicans in Trenton or Washington are bad for urban areas, and when this is over we will close ranks."

As he runs for re-election in the riverside cauldron of hurt feelings, fiery tempers and frayed nerves called Hudson County Democratic Party politics, DeGise prides himself on being able to get along with everyone, yes even Republicans - he once endorsed a Republican (former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler) for governor over Jim McGreevey.

The appointment of Barbara Netchert as Hudson County Clerk has hit some major obstacles, according to a report in the Jersey Journal's Political Insider column.

Netchert, who runs the Jersey City Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, was expected to replace Javier Inclan, who is supposed to be taking a job on Governor Jon Corzine's staff. She is an ally of County Executive Thomas DeGise, and her nomination reportedly played a role in ending Jersey City Councilman (and DeGise Chief of Staff) William Gaughan's challenge to incumbent Assemblywoman Joan Quigley.

But Corzine is now in hot water with Hudson County Democrats for not following protocol by clearing the appointment with the HCDO. The HCDO is run by the county's twelve Democratic Mayors (some of whom did not know about the Inclan-for-Netchert switch until a November 29 on PoliticsNJ.com) and DeGise. Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny told the Jersey Journal that the Governor's Office has apologized to him for that slight. Until Kenny signs off, Inclan's offer of employment is essentially on hold.

There are other candidates now on the short list for County Clerk, including Hoboken Councilman Ruben Ramos and Deputy County Clerk Mary Jane Desmond. Desmond, a former Republican who served on the Bayonne City Council, is an ally of Mayor/State Senator Joseph Doria.

The Jersey Journal also reported that four-term Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy is in danger of losing party support for re-election in 2007. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy wants Jersey City Deputy Police Director Juan Manuel Perez to get the job.

For extreme junkies: the Democratic nomination for Hudson County Sheriff is a good thing to have -- the last time the Republicans won the post was in 1904, when John Kaiser, helped by President Theodore Roosevelt's coattails, upset incumbent John Zeller. Democrat James Kelly ousted Kaiser in 1907.

There are no signs that Hudson County will be splintered in the upcoming primary for Congress. At a Hudson County Democratic leadership meeting last Friday, attended by most of the county's mayors, U.S. Senator-designate Robert Menendez and County Executive Thomas DeGise, there was considerable enthusiasm for former Assembly Speaker Albio Sires' campaign for Congress. Hudson County makes up about two-thirds of the votes in a 13th district Democratic primary. Sires is scheduled to formally enter the race after Menendez takes his seat in the Senate this month.