Willie Flood

Essex County Democratic Chairman Philip Thigpen is getting ready to run for office: he says he expected to become his party's candidate for Register of Deeds and Mortgages.  The organization supported Newark Central Ward Democratic Chairman Dwight Brown for Register in the June primary after incumbent Carole Graves declined to seek re-election.  But Brown died unexpectedly over the summer, leaving Democrats without a candidate to face Republican Terriann Moore Abrams, a former South Orange Village Trustee.

The post has a $91,650 annual salary and is a five-year term.

Essex and Hudson are the last counties to have an elected Register of Deeds and Mortgages.  In the other nineteen counties, the County Clerk performs their duties.  Camden eliminated the position after Republican Susan Rose won the post in 1990.  Union got rid of the post in 1995 when the incumbent, Joanne Rajoppi, ran for County Clerk. 

Four years after Democrat Gerard DeStefano ousted longtime GOP Passaic County Register Frank Sylvester in 1996, the Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated his job.  They did it with the ultimate political cover: Passaic voters had passed a non-binding referendum urging the post be absorbed into the Office of the County Clerk (then held by Republican Ronnie Nochimson).

The Hudson County Register is Willie Flood, who is also a Jersey City Councilwoman.

Thigpen, a former Freeholder and fixture in local politics since the 1960's, would be under no obligation to give up his chairmanship.  Eight other County Chairs are elected officials.

But some Democrats say Thigpen might give up the party post.  Phil Alagia, the Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and the political director of Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign, is a potential candidate for Essex County Democratic Chairman.

Alagia says he supports Thigpen.

"There is no one in Essex County who can do a better job of moving the Essex County Democratic Party forward then Chairman Thigpen," Alagia told PolitickerNJ.com.  It is my understanding that he will stay as chairman and he has my support 100 percent. 

The race for Jersey City council president is going down to the wire.

Standing on stage at New Jersey City University just before being sworn in to another term, Councilman-at-Large Peter Brennan said that he’s still making a go for the position currently held by Mariano Vega, who hopes to hold onto it.  

The decision will be made at the first meeting of the new city council at 1pm today.  While some expect the matter to be settled before it comes up for a formal vote, as of right now the council is split, according to Brennan.  Brennan counts four votes for himself, four votes for Vega and one undecided: at-large Councilwoman Willie Flood.

“It’s been friendly.  Everybody’s working together,” said Brennan.

Vega has the support of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who is being sworn in to his second full term today.  

Jersey City, that often ignored sliver of land in New York City’s shadow, got a flood of national media attention this week. All it took was Councilman Steve Lipski allegedly urinating on a crowd of Washington, DC concertgoers.

That would be political suicide in some places, though not necessarily here. Lipski yesterday performed his mea culpa at a city council meeting, revealing that he was a recovering alcoholic who fell off the wagon that night for the first time in two years. And, at least for now, Mayor Jerramiah Healy is not disowning the councilman, his political ally.

“This is a legal issue that will be resolved in the courts. Mayor Healy is focused on moving forward and continuing to make Jersey City a greater place to live and work,” said a statement issued by Healy's office yesterday.

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.

Willie Flood, a fomer Jersey City Councilwoman who had been aligned with the late Glenn Cunningham, will run for Hudson County Register with the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization. The incumbent, Barbara Donnelly, the sister of the late Paul Byrne, is not seeking re-election. Flood ran on Cunningham's line for County Clerk in 2003, losing to incumbent Janet Haynes, and her unsuccessful campaign for Mayor in a 2004 Special Election was endorsed by Cunningham's widow. Her endorsement by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny, the HCDO Chairman, and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy represents a major peace accord in Hudson County politics.

Hudson County Democratic Organization Selects Willie Flood As Register Candidate
Jersey City Councilwoman to Seek County Wide Term In November

(Jersey City) – Hudson County Democratic Chairman and State Senator Bernard F. Kenny today announced that the Hudson County Democratic Organization has selected Jersey City Councilwoman Willie L. Flood to run as its nominee for county register. Councilwoman Flood is running for the seat currently held by Register Barbara Donnelly, who is retiring after completing her second term this year.