Stack: run every race as if you're the underdog

Stack: run every race as if you're the underdog
Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack, left, and Commissioner Chris Irizarry

UNION CITY - Election year means war, by the reckoning of Mayor Brian P. Stack.

The word's overused in New Jersey politics, but Stack chooses it carefully, based on his immersion in very rugged Hudson County campaigns.

Years ago, his biggest local adversary was U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Union City), whom people here call "the hybrid," referring to Menendez's facility with both policy and politics.

Up for re-election in two years and reportedly jangled by the national political climate and Gov. Chris Christie's victory over Jon Corzine last year, Menendez and his allies know of few better, more hard-nosed political organizers than Stack - a short-list candidate to run the embattled Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).  

Tending to his Union City base on Saturday morning, two days after he raised $600,000 at a fundraiser, Stack demonstrates why he's on - or at the top - of that countywide list.

Organizational self-sufficiency.

In a local election against an opponent he beat last time by 6-1, the two-term mayor/state senator stands at the front of a room packed with supporters who flow out onto 38th Street in front of Union City First headquarters. It's so crowded in here, if you turn suddenly, you could knock the glasses off the face of someone standing beside you.

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Wisniewski says Tea Partiers are targeting Menendez because of the 'sound of his last name.'

Wisniewski says Tea Partiers are targeting Menendez because of the 'sound of his last name.'
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), the Democratic State Chairman

Even if the Committee to Recall Robert Menendez succeeds in its court case and wins the right to start the recall process against New Jersey’s junior senator, they will face the nearly insurmountable task of collecting 1.3 million valid petition signatures. 

Nevertheless, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), the Democratic state chairman, weighed in today, suggesting that the group targeted Menendez because he is Hispanic.

“The attempt to recall Senator Menendez is an affront to the voters of New Jersey and has no standing in law,” said Wisniewski in a written statement.  “One day these folks are trying to disprove human evolution, the next day they are challenging the  constitutionality of the Constitution.  These are radical people who chose Menendez off of a list of Democrats because of the sound of his last name."

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My New Jersey Mort Zuckerman Story

My New Jersey Mort Zuckerman Story Both national and local media have been reporting about the possibility of New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman seeking the Republican nomination for United States Senator from New York.  If nominated, Zuckerman would run against the Democrat incumbent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, provided she is able to prevail against a possible primary election challenge from former Congressman from Tennessee Harold Ford, Jr. 

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Lautenberg released from hospital

Lautenberg released from hospital

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) was released from the hospital today.

"He is extremely grateful for the outpouring of support from New Jerseyans all across the state and is anxious to get back to work," said spokesman Caley Gray. "The Senator feels good and his doctors are encouraged by the progress he is making."     

Diagnosed last week with curable lymphoma, the 86-year old Lautenberg began chemotherapy treatments on Friday.

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Lautenberg still in the hospital

Lautenberg still in the hospital

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg remains in the hospital today, according to his spokesman, Caley Gray. 

Gray said he did not know whether Lautenberg would have to spend a third night in the hospital.

Lautenberg, 86, was taken to an undisclosed hospital from his Cliffside Park condo on Monday night after a fall.  Early yesterday morning, doctors attributed the cause of the fall to a bleeding ulcer that made the Senator light headed. 

There are no further updates on his medical condition. 

""The Senator is recovering comfortably in the hospital.  He spoke with his staff several times today and is anxious to get back to work," said Gray.

 

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Report: Lautenberg hospitalized after fall

Report: Lautenberg hospitalized after fall

UPDATED

The Record is reporting tonight that U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside) was transported to a hospital this evening as a precautionary measure after sustaining a fall in his Cliffside apartment.

"The senator is in great spirits and joking with the doctors," said spokesman Caley Gray. "He is going to stay overnight for routine observation."

Earlier tonight, Gray told Record reporter Herb Jackson that the 86-year-old senator was taken to the hospital "as a precaution," and "no further details were immediately available."

The senator capped a busy week when he returned to New Jersey late on Friday following six hours in Haiti, where he met with government officials and toured the earthquake-ravaged country as part of a U.S. delegation with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.).

On Saturday he did some interviews with local media at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, then later went to see the movie Avatar.

Sources say he told staffers that he felt sore today after suffering a spill, and this evening traveled to an area hospital via ambulance to get examined.

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Stack weighs making play for HCDO chairmanship

Stack weighs making play for HCDO chairmanship
Union City Mayor/state Sen. Brian P. Stack

UNION CITY - Mayor Brian P. Stack grabbed a pen, wrote the number 115,000 and circled it and circled it again on a throw-away paper placemat in the Four Star Diner.

"That's what Democratic Party turnout should be in Hudson County in a non-presidential election year," he said, reaching for another cup of coffee.

In the 2009 gubernatorial election, then-Gov. Jon Corzine mustered 82,075 Hudson votes on his way to statewide defeat, a respectable  figure relative to Hudson County's own U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's vote total of 88,696 in 2006, but unacceptable, in Stack's opinion, when considering Republican turnout in Ocean and Monmouth counties last year for Gov. Chris Christie and the potential for Christie to mobilize more GOP voters.

"Unacceptable, when you think about what organizing can get you," insisted Stack, generally regarded here as the fierce master architect of old school, constituent-based politics, who's longtime rep is that he'd rather drill down repeatedly into his own base than climb, who famously destroyed the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) with his 2007 state senate campaign.

Significantly, national brand Menendez, too, considers the numbers worrisome as he reels from Christie's win, and Scott Brown's GOP impact victory in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race two weeks ago - larger landscape losses for the Democrat and chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which now put that much more pressure on his home county to produce overwhelming results when Menendez runs for reelection in 2012.

That's why it looks as though Menendez wants his hometown successor Stack to run the HCDO, a choice, which given Stack's renegade history - including past clashes with Menendez - has the potential to create short-term political strife - but long-term results, if the mayor and 33rd district senator's bottom line campaign history is any indication.

"I'm considering it right now," Stack told PolitickerNJ.com. "I haven't made up my mind totally right now. I would want to do the job my way, but I also wouldn't go into towns and dictate how mayors run their operations. There are also personal decisions about the time commitment. And, of course, I would have to make sure it doesn't interfere with what I do right now."  

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Ready to assume party chairmanship, Wisniewski says Dems need to communicate better

Ready to assume party chairmanship, Wisniewski says Dems need to communicate better
Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), with his wife, Debbie, at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Born in Perth Amboy and raised in Sayreville in the state's blue collar, old factory fountainhead, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) stands poised to succeed Joe Cryan as state chairman of the Democratic Party, having secured the support of all 21 county chairmen heading into a Jan. 27th state party committee convention at the Forsgate in Jamesburg. 

He arrives at the party's top dog spot in a different environment than did Cryan four years ago.

Riding Bush agony through the first part of the 21st Century, New Jersey Democrats felt the surge of successive victories leading all the way up through the 2008 presidential campaign, but as Wisniewski released a statement yesterday indicating his lock-up of key party support, Democrats simultaneously were either reeling or about to be dealt a double reel in the form of concussive losses: one here in New Jersey with the defeat last November of Gov. Jon Corzine.

The other hit came just last night in Massachusetts, - an hour or so after Wisniewski's press release - as Republican state Sen. Scott Brown wrested from Democrat Martha Coakley what many observers - until the Coakley campaign bore signs of unraveling last week - believed was a safe seat occupied for five decades by the late Edward Kennedy.

"I cant speak to the specifics of what happened in Massachusetts last night, as I wasn't on the ground," the 47-year old Wisniewski told PolitickerNJ.com. "But clearly, the winner was able to capitalize on the feeling of uncertainty and apprehension in the country as people do not exactly have an optimistic view of the future. People have concerns with unemployment at ten percent and so this was a unique opportunity for the Republican. I would exercise restraint before drawing large scale patterns from one or two elections. Corzine and Coakley obviously had similarities as candidates, I think, more than this spelling large-scale problems for Democrats."

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Pascrell calls Coakley loss a wakeup call for Prez and Dems

Pascrell calls Coakley loss a wakeup call for Prez and Dems

NEWARK - Sizing up the news out of Massachusetts tonight that Democrat Martha Coakley lost to Republican state Sen. Scott Brown in the U.S. Senate special election, effectively dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's plans for healthcare reform, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) said it's time for a Democratic Party gutcheck

"There is no question the president's agenda's will be modified, this is an absolute wakeup call and lets see if we respond," Pascrell told PolitickerNJ.com in a telephone interview.

"I think primary candidate Michael Capuano would have been better, more aggressive," added the congressman, backing away from Coakley, the would-be Democratic successor to the late U.S. Sen. Ted. Kennedy. "Martha Coakley is a very bright woman who couldn't get her message across while their candidate was a likeable guy."

For context, Pascrell pointed out that Democrats have won five straight special elections, but he did concede that Democrats and Obama must get focused and rally.

"Our message has been garbled with too many priorities," he said. "Of course, the economic situation warranting the stimulus package started under the Bush administration when (then Treasury Secretary Henry) Paulson came in the room and made it sound as if the world was going to collapse."

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Brown lead stirs GOP crowd at the Arena

NEWARK - Just before launching into a rendition of "Mack the Knife," the crooner here at the Prudential Center gives this dance floor crowd political news from Massachusetts.

"Brown won," he announces.

As in Scott Brown, the Republican businessman pursuing the late Edward Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat, against Democrat and former Attorney General Martha Coakley.

"Brown won," the crooner exults again.

The crowd cheers.

With 63% of the vote counted, Brown leads Coakley by 85,000 votes, 53%-46%.

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Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: March 19, 2010

Christie vetoes 5 service contracts approved by Turnpike Authority  Governor Christie on Thursday vetoed five professional services contracts that were approved by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority a month ago. The governor’s office said Christie exercised his eighth veto because the contract fees ranged from...

Wally Edge

Democratic State Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) put out a statement today accusing GOP congressional candidate Jon Runyan of “hiding from the press while trying to privately impress party bosses, and taking advantage of thousands of dollars...
The passing of Warren Wilentz means that David Norcross becomes the earliest nominated U.S. Senate candidate currently living.  Wilentz was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 1966 against Clifford Case, and Norcross was the Republican U....
The national political environment favored the GOP in 1966.  It was the mid-term election of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the war in Vietnam had just begun to divide the nation.   In New Jersey, Republican Clifford Case was...
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo issued a press release today urging the State Assembly to pass pension and health insurance reform bills, but did not mention in his 574-word that the person blocking the legislation, Assembly Speaker Sheila...
Two Republicans will formally announce campaigns for Congress this evening against Democratic incumbents: John Runyan, a retired NFL star who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, is challenging freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), and Diane...

Contributors

This is going to be a budget that is going to be unlike any other you’ve probably seen in NJ in at least the last 20 years and maybe... more »
Everybody needs to start a new job with a list of priorities and Chris Christie is no exception. There might be a thousand things that need to get done... more »
On Tuesday, Governor Christie outlined a strategy to rescue New Jersey from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Like other states, we were not immune... more »
Governor Christie seems to have played the rotten fiscal cards he inherited fairly well. As reported by the Star-Ledger, he is proposing to cut school aid by more... more »
It's impossible to support consolidation of government services and also support COAH.S1 paints with a broad brush and thus will miss some fine points.  COAH paints with... more »
As part of his solution to New Jersey’s current budget deficit, Gov. Chris Christie announced that, effective yesterday, he will not allow any additional parents to enroll in FamilyCare,... more »
Do I love Governor Chris Christie’s budget proposal?  Of course not.  Who would?  I’m sure he doesn’t like it, but that’s not the point, is it?  How could you... more »
The budget speech given on Tuesday by Governor Christie clearly illustrates his priorities – including disproportionately shifting the tax burden away from businesses and the wealthy, and... more »
On Rebate Issue, Christie Will Win.  The leading New Jersey Sunday newspapers yesterday confirmed that Governor Chris Christie will propose in his FY2011 budget the... more »
You’ve got to hand it to Christie; he calls it as he sees it.  I don’t mean the newly crowned Governor, Chris Christie, but his nine-year-old son, Patrick.  ... more »
Anyone involved in governing and administrating a town or county in New Jersey understands the economic problems outlined in The Star-Ledger editorials of February 28 and March 1.  The... more »
It is widely anticipated that Gov. Chris Christie’s first budget message, to be delivered on March 16, will show the harsh reality of New Jersey’s bleak financial outlook. No... more »
In keeping with the commitment I made to you in the November election, I am looking at every possible way to cut wasteful government spending and relieve your tax... more »
Wanted:  Courage to Pass Healthcare Reform In 1935, they spoke out against Social Security.  In 1965, they spoke out against Medicare.  And now in 2010, they are taking a politics-first... more »
Our new Governor suffers from no lack of advice.  Much of it, contained in the transition reports, deserves prompt attention.  Obviously, economic prosperity benefits everyone, and – as... more »
I have to genuinely wonder if this legislature will go down as the most taxing legislature in the history of the state of New Jersey surpassing the legislative actions... more »
Now that  the dust has finally settled after the grueling campaign for governor, there are a number of lessons that we can draw from this election. First and... more »
3.20.10     Putz of the Week and Mensch of The Week It is not too often that I have designated a Democrat as the Putz of the Week and a Republican... more »
Limited government principles and fiscal conservatism are philosophically sound, because they preserve the people’s natural rights and they prevent government from overspending, over borrowing and overtaxing.   For more than... more »
New Jersey is in severe financial crisis because for years elected officials have been able to make irresponsible and short-sighted decisions without any restraint.  Future governors may... more »
On January 6, 2010, several newspapers published articles with titles like “no more aid for struggling cities”, “Christie will cut state aid” and the like; furthermore, in the body... more »
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, you target teachers. That’s not a positive note to start your tenure. You forget that the Teachers’ Union makes decisions on its own, such... more »
On the day of his inauguration, Governor Christopher Christie inherited a gaping $2 billion hole in the state’s budget and swiftly set about the people’s business in meeting our... more »