Vincent Capuana

Businessman Jose Sandoval, who has run as a Republican for State Assembly and U.S. Congress and as a candidate in a 2008 non-partisan special election for Mayor of Passaic, is days away from switching parties and becoming a Democrat. 

Sandoval had arranged a news conference to announce his party switch with John Currie, the Passaic County Democratic Chairman.  But because Sandoval is expected to endorse Vincent Capuana for Mayor in the May election against incumbent Alex Blanco, some Democratic leaders - most notably Assemblyman/Passaic City Councilman Gary Schaer, are asking Currie not to participate.

Jose Sandoval

PASSAIC – Real estate developer Jose Sandoval officially withdrew as a candidate for mayor yesterday in the lead-up to May nonpartisan elections, according to his campaign spokesperson Linda Ellerbee.

City Clerk Amada Curling confirmed the news a half an hour before her scheduled ballot position draw at City Hall.

The names of two men will be on pieces of paper at that noon drawing: incumbent Mayor Alex Blanco and city supervisor Vincent Capuana, who came in first and second respectively in a November special election to succeed jailed former Mayor Sammy Rivera.

Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco

Having vanquished a field of four other men in last November’s special election, Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco appears to have strengthened his position heading into the May 12th municipal election where he hopes to secure a full, four-year term.

If Blanco wants to continue as mayor in the aftermath of the jailed Sammy Rivera era, he will have to once again beat second-place finisher Vincent Capuana, the city super committed to making up his 203-vote deficit (3,859 to 3,656 votes) this time with the backing of Councilman Joe Garcia.

Garcia was 2008’s fourth-place finisher in the special mayoral election with 2,684 votes, and this year seeks reelection to the council.

The fusion of Capuana’s and Garcia’s troops on its face looks formidable – but in a small turnout election may be more than offset by Blanco’s ongoing alliance with Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic). 

State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove)

Insiders lay out several battlefields this year, and Republican or Democrat, it’s not two or three gulps of beer into a conversation before they spill the strategic terrain of the coming legislative contests.

The Democrats will put money into 1 to defend their incumbents there, and they will try to take down the Republican incumbents in 2. They’ll play in 8 again largely as a diversionary tactic, defend in 14 and – and this is big - heavily fortify 36, where the GOP last time came within 2,400 votes of stripping the Dems of a seat.

Representatives in both parties usually mention the last of these prospective showdowns as the most meaningful, a potential north Jersey version of the 12th District Karcher-Beck war in 2007, where both parties will likely lay down their heaviest barrage.

For the moment, Democrats feel they have some GOP civil war drama on their side, and are gleefully inclined to let the Republican body count mount at this fractious tri-county, multi-ego crossroads of Passaic, Bergen and Essex, before they get in and scrap in earnest to protect Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley) and Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

Better to let the other side give itself a good going over before taking casualties. That’s the attitude.

Angel Laboy

PASSAIC - When Angel Laboy lost his city council bid last year to Ken Lucianin by 24 votes, he said he would probably come back this year, and time’s proved him right. 

Laboy, a public school vice principal, is holding a fundraiser on Jan. 15th in which he hopes to lay the groundwork for what he believes will be about a $5,000-$6,000 race for council. 

“I would like to run alone,” he said. “I have been approached to run on a ticket with several of the mayoral candidates, and I’m not ruling it out, but I’m leaning against it.”

School Board President Vincent Capuana

PASSAIC – The campaign season never ends in Passaic, or at least it feels that way as newly elected Mayor Alex Blanco will likely have to face at least two challengers he already vanquished in the November special election to succeed the disgraced Sammy Rivera. 

Both city supervisor/School Board President Vincent Capuana and real estate developer Jose Sandoval show no signs of loosening the reins on their respective campaigns. 

Next year the contest will be for a full, four year term. It was in the spirit then of ongoing rivalry that Blanco’s people wondered why Capuana never filed a final 2008 report with the New Jersey Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

Schaer campaigns for Blanco on Election Day

PASSAIC – Yesterday’s mayoral victory by physician Alex Blanco in a 62 percent turnout election depended heavily on the endorsement of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

The city is split in half, with the 3rd and 2nd wards on the south side of town and 4th and 1st wards to the north.

In the heart of Schaer’s Orthodox Jewish community, Ward 3 totals show that Blanco earned 1,965 of his 3,859 total votes, according to the Passaic City Clerk’s Office.

That’s where nearly a third of the city’s total 25,543 registered voters are concentrated.

PASSAIC - Physician Alex Blanco won the mayor's contest here tonight, defeating runner-up Vincent Capuana by 400 votes.

Blanco won with 3,872 or 28.01 percent of the vote.

Capuana received 3,465 votes, Jose Sandoval received 2,741 votes, Jose Garcia received 2,626 and Carl Ellen received 1,052 votes.

PASSAIC - Physician Alex Blanco leads the pack here in the mayors' race with five districts left to be counted.

In a five-man race, School Board President Vincent Capuana is currently in second place, trailing Blanco by 300 votes.

Rivals: School Board President Vincent Capuana, left, and Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic)

PASSAIC – Opposing forces converge on School No. 3 in the Third Ward, the local political base of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer.

Schaer and his ally, mayoral candidate Dr. Alex Blanco, greet people in front of the school as they head in to vote.

A car door slams and a slender man jumps the curb.

It’s School Board President Vincent Capuana, one of Blanco’s rivals in the mayors’ contest.

“We’ve been here in Gary’s base since this morning,” confides one of Capuana’s backers. “He moves, we move.”