The candidates vying for New Jersey's 9th Congressional district -- which includes all of the Heights, plus the northern half of Journal Square -- will be debating in Jersey City tonight (Tuesday, 10/26) at the parish hall for St. Paul Lutheran Church, 440 Hoboken Avenue, near Five Corners. Sponsored by CivicJC, the moderated debate will start at 7:00 p.m., and the doors will open at 6:15 p.m. Ample parking is available.

All three candidates are confirmed: incumbent Steve Rothman (D) and challengers Michael Agosta (R) and Patricia Alessandrini (Gree). A trio of local journalists -- Melissa Hayes (Jersey Journal), Ricardo Kaulessar (Jersey City Reporter), and Shane Smith (Jersey City Independent) -- will pose the questions.

Registered as a 501(c)(4) non-profit, CivicJC is a non-partisan, policy-oriented "good government" initiative serving Jersey City since 2005.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/jerse ... 88074349318730.xml&coll=3

To be clear, I volunteered my firsthand observations -- of Mr. Donnelly's generally commendable performance as an aide to the mayor's office -- to amend any echo-chamber posts, since the tone was devolving into hearsay and associative quasi-guilt-by-relation.

Of course, Mr. Donnelly's head-and-shoulders-above-the-crowd competency might (sadly) reflect the pedestrian quality of Mayor Healy's self-selected administrative team. The one-eyed man being king in the land of the blind, or some such proverb.

All that said, Mr. Donnelly's relative, real-world merits (or potential demerits) are not the issue. [If/when he might ever run for office, then it's all germane.]

The key problem is -- yet again -- our mayor's insular, closeted determinations, and how his pronouncements tend to be rubber-stamped by a pliant Municipal Council. Seemingly, the best available candidate for whatever the City Hall opening, in Mayor Healy's worldview, is the political insider already on his staff. Amazing, how deep the mayor views his own bench. "Jersey City Official 3" anyone?

Council now has 20-some days to choose an interim replacement for the open Ward B seat, else it will remain vacant until the (announced?) November 2010 special election. Ward B residents deserve representation throughout, and deserve someone with moxie, independence, and responsiveness. So -- my personal hope -- is that Council openly invites interested community members to "apply," quickly, and that Council then selects an interim, preferably from outside the HCDO patronage mill.

Given the mayor's woeful track record in Ward B -- Mary Spinello (later jettisoned, after she acceded to Healy's voting wishes on the high-cube trucking warehouse, over her constituents' vocal protests), followed by Phil Kenny (as an orchestrated interim, then a Team Healy running mate, and now a confessed felon) -- he has no credibility.

As many as possible, the residents of Ward B should sign up for this Wednesday's Council meeting, attend, and speak their minds. The mayor has repeatedly (and demonstrably) failed them -- endorsing a succession of tone-deaf candidates -- and Ward B'ers shoud demand that Council give them a modicum of say-so in their interim representation. Council is our legislative branch, and they alone hold authority in this decision.

ANDREW HUBSCH

"PANCAKE BREAKFAST Fundraiser"

As event details go, that's very important: flapjacks for all!
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Benefit to support Norrice Raymaker's legal proceedings against Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez.

Sunday, October 18th, 10 am to 12 pm

Zap's Bar and Restaurant, 153 Oakland Ave., corner of Jefferson Ave.

Tickets in advance: $15.00 per adult, seniors $10, kids under 10 eat free.

Buy tickets online at www.onejerseycity.org or by mailing a check payable to: "Reform Jersey City 2009", 109 Palisade Ave, Jersey City, 07306

Having been a rival candidate against Team Healy in 2009, I neither reflexively support nor oppose what the mayor might advocate. But my political & philosophical differences are starkly clear, and part of the editorial record.

That said, in my direct experience, David Donnelly is competent, committed, and earnest. Perfect? No. A bit young and deferential, maybe, at least in public. But qualified and knowledgeable? Yes.

The administration that Mr. Donnelly serves may have egregious faults -- and his mother was herself a one-term Council member, 2001-2005 -- but affiliations and lineage do not outright erase a man's merits.

In recent years, I've attended numerous community meetings where Mr. Donnelly did, too, as the mayor's representative. In those settings, Mr. Donnelly comes across as a solid public servant. [How thorough his follow-through, I do not know.]

As for Mayor Healy's press release "nomination," I hold deep unease. [He likewise recommended the now-guilty Phil Kenny for the same seat twice this year.] The prospect of Ward B having no (publicly) elected representation for more than another year, that's just rude and wrong.

Maybe Mr. Donnelly has the resolute moral character I perceive, and will thank the mayor, but decline. One can only hope...

In the blood sport of Hudson County politics (and JCList), criticism is de rigueur. But given my first-hand experience with Mr. Donnelly, I felt it incumbent to pen these observations.

Of course, whenever the special election finally happens (November '10?), here's hoping that Ward B residents have top-quality candidates -- an everlasting shout-out to my '09 running-mate, the wise Douglas Salters -- and then choose prudently.

ANDREW HUBSCH