Viola Richardson

Peter Cammarano has a narrow 88 vote lead over Dawn Zimmer in the race for Mayor of Hoboken after about 600 absentee ballots were counted.  Zimmer led Cammarano on the machine vote 5,786-5,542, 51%-49%.  There are about 80 provisional ballots left to be counted.

In the race for City Council, Carol Marsh, Ravi Bhalla and David Mello, running on the Zimmer slate, are ahead.

Carol Marsh 5,621
Ravi Bhalla 5,623
David Mello 5,419
Angel L. Alicea 4,832
Vincent Addeo 4,953
Raul Morales 4,826

In Jersey City, Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano defeated Roland Lavarro 57%-43%, and Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson defeated Ronnie-Calvin Clark 63%-37%.  Both incumbents are allied with Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop turned in enough signatures yesterday to put a pair of ethics reform referendums on the ballot in November, a move that may be seen as the opening salvo in his potential 2009 mayoral campaign.

If the signatures are confirmed by the City Clerk and the initiatives are passed by the voters, Jersey City - which for over a century has been infamous for political corruption, backroom deals and cronyism-- would have some of the strictest ethics measures in the state. 

Seriously. 

One of the initiatives would ban City Council members from accepting more than one public salary or pension.  The other would bar officials from giving out no-bid contracts to vendors who made campaign contributions within a year of the contract's start date.