FROM NEWSDAY

Partial term adds confusion to 13th district election
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ
Associated Press Writer
May 29, 2006, 11:16 AM EDT


WASHINGTON -- It's easy to see why a voter might be befuddled by the upcoming elections for New Jersey 13th congressional district seat.

It's confusing because there are two separate elections for the U.S. House seat formerly held by Robert Menendez, who in January was appointed to fill the remainder of Gov. Jon Corzine's term in the U.S. Senate.

Here's the tough part: There is a primary election June 6 and an ensuing election in November to fill the final two months of Menendez' term. On the same days voters go to the polls in that contest, there's a primary and a general election for the full two-year term, which begins in January.

Got that?

"I knew there was a primary, but I didn't know I'd be voting twice," said Kate Chisholm, 38, of West New York.

Now for the candidates: Democrats Albio Sires and Joseph Vas _ both mayors and state assemblymen _ are seeking their party's nomination for the full two-year term. Republican John Guarini is running unopposed in the primary for the full term.

Sires also is running for the two-month unexpired term, but Vas is not. Sires will face off against Democrat James Geron for the unexpired term. There is no Republican candidate for the two-month term.

The activity is unfamiliar in the heavily Democratic 13th district, which encompasses parts of Hudson, Essex, Union, Middlesex and Union counties. Menendez was elected to Congress in 1992 and he ran virtually unopposed for 14 years.

It is possible, though political experts say unlikely, that the district will be represented by two different congressmen in the span of two months. Sires is the front-runner for both the partial term and the full term.

So how did this all get started? It began with Menendez's appointment, which created the House vacancy. While New Jersey law gives the governor the authority to fill a Senate vacancy, an unexpired House term must be filled by a special election if the governor calls one.

Corzine said a special election for the partial term would cost too much, so he opted to hold the special election balloting on the same day as the general election voting. He could have chosen to not have a special election, which would have left the office open until the new full-term congressman starts in January.

"This is pretty unique, I haven't seen anything like this before," said Seton Hall University political scientist Joseph Marbach. He said residents would most likely vote for the same person, probably a Democrat, in both elections.

Sires, the former Assembly speaker, has won the endorsement of most of the state's Democrats, including Corzine. Menendez has not endorsed a candidate.

Marbach said the main advantage of running in the special election would be to gain some seniority over the new class of congressmen and congresswomen, which will not be sworn in until January.

Longtime residents may get a sense of deja vu. Sires ran for the seat 20 years ago _ as a Republican. His Democratic opponent, and the eventual winner, was Rep. Frank Guarini, the second cousin of John Guarini, this year's Republican candidate, who used to be a Democrat.
----------------------------------------

Not a moment's peace between Sires, Vas
Saturday, May 20, 2006

Y es, the gloves are off and brass knuckles are in place. No more Mr. Nice Guys. West New York Mayor Albio Sires and Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas, both assemblymen, are saying nasty things about each other.

They are rivals in the Democratic Party primary for the 13th District Congressional seat left vacant when Robert Menendez, of Hoboken, was appointed to the U.S. Senate after Jon Corzine's successful run for governor.

A frustrated Vas has been trying to force a series of debates with Sires, but to date the Hudson County official and former Assembly Speaker has met Vas only for a sit-down discussion on NJN public television.

Some, mostly in the Sires camp, say the dirty politics began when Vas accused Corzine and Sires of hiding the fact there would be a special election to fill out the about two months of Menendez's remaining term in Congress.

The Perth Amboy mayor may have started to get more than annoyed after a series of negative mailers, the latest with a picture of Vas in front of a jail cell with a large hypodermic needle on the other side claiming the Perth Amboy mayor helped bail out a heroin dealer who was later arrested by the feds. An angry Vas called the charges an outright lie and typical of Hudson County big boss politics.

Then it got typical.

On Wednesday, Vas and an entourage of supporters ran down to West New York and stood in front of Sires' political headquarters on Palisade Avenue and demanded that Sires debate and explain away "his lies." A list was handed out of what the Vas camp called "The lies of Albio Sires" with a dozen items.

While setting up, a few people described as Department of Public Works workers challenged Vas and company, demanding they leave because they did not have a permit. No one budged.

Vas began to speak to the assembled media, listing the "lies" and suggesting that Sires, a former Republican who ran unsuccessfully in the past for the same congressional office, is a leopard who has not changed his spots and pretends to be a liberal but has stood for conservative values in the past.

Then he said the mayor of West New York lied about having no knowledge of police wrongdoing, an obvious reference to the gambling protection scandal that decimated the Police Department.

The Middlesex County politician also said Sires lied about not receiving money from political fund-raiser Rene Abreu, who began a seven-year federal sentence in prison in January for masterminding frauds at his real estate companies.

Sires has long denied these charges.

Things got dicey when Vas claimed that one of Sires' campaign gurus was once fired by another Hudson County mayor for allegedly saying a very naughty thing about a mayor in a neighboring community. The guru promises to take Vas to court over the comments. Hopefully, Vas' camp will have a better source for the claim than the Urban Times News. We choose not to get too specific because of the unreliable source cited.

The Perth Amboy mayor also touted a poll done by Global Marketing, a firm he hired and that has done work for Newark Mayor-elect Cory Booker and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. According to the poll, the primary is a "toss up," with Vas taking 26 percent of the vote and Sires 24. They said the initial survey in October had Sires ahead 30 percent to 22.

Sires representatives dismissed the results, calling it a push poll, claiming that most of the questions were designed to give responders a negative impression of Sires. The first question does ask about a voter's preference, but the others are open to debate.

Did Vas' excellent West New York adventure end there? Nope.

During his speech, a blonde middle-aged woman walked up to Vas and asked the politician whether he was running for office.

Proudly, he said he was.

"Well, can I have some money for lunch, I was forced to leave my apartment at the towers," she said.

A surprised Vas opened his wallet and handed her a few dollars, and as she walked away, several members of the media tried to get her name only to be rebuffed with some colorful language.

During this time, across the street, a group of Sires supporters stood, just quietly staring.

A nearby beauty salon owner asked Vas' people to give her a poster of their candidate because she wanted to display it in her window. What followed gets confusing. The Vas followers claim that after the press left, West New York officials went into the woman's shop, hit her with fines and forced the crying woman to close. They also supposedly removed the Vas poster.

Sires' backers said no one bothered her despite her alleged constant yelling out of her window, "Sires sucks." They claim she was doing it because her relatives in Weehawken were denied a handicapped parking zone and the township's mayor, Richard Turner, is a West New York administrator and friend of Sires.

That evening, this columnist received a phone call from a Vas representative asking that the newspaper send someone down to observe the tactics by Sires followers.

"They gather in a group staring at us trying to intimidate us," he said. "As soon as we put up a poster, they tear it down and put up one of their own."

Imagine that.

Those within Sires' inner circle said that the Vas people were no angels and that four-letter words flew in both directions. They also said that West New York supporters were told to leave the Vas people alone and just put up their own posters.

It is now the battle of endorsements in the campaign for the June 13 Bayonne mayoral runoff.

Mayor Joseph Doria got the backing of attorney Vincent Militello, who came in third in the municipal election. The only question is whether Militello can deliver some of those anti-Doria votes.

Challenger Patrick D. Conaghan, a former municipal judge, expects to get the support of At Large Councilman Anthony Chiappone, a bigtime Doria rival.

Yesterday, Conaghan was endorsed by Local 1588 of the International Longshoremen's Association. The union cites Conaghan's desire to turn the former Military Ocean Terminal into a container port facility.

It is not known whether the endorsement by a union accused of having been controlled by the mob is a good thing. The federal overseers say it is OK for Local 1588 to make endorsements.

-------------------

Vas fires back at 'sleaze' ad
Thursday, May 18, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

WEST NEW YORK - The mud is beginning to fly in the local Democratic congressional primary race.

West New York Mayor Albio Sires and Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas are vying for the 13th District Congressional seat left vacant when Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Sires and Vas, who are both assemblymen, face each other in the June 6 primary.
Sires sent out a campaign flier saying Vas helped bail out a heroin dealer later arrested by the feds, and yesterday Vas took the fight to the doorstep of Sires' West New York campaign office.

"The charge that I aided a drug dealer is an outright lie and has been proven one. This unprincipled sleaze attack is the classic reaction of a panicked political boss," said Vas yesterday outside the Palisade Avenue office.

"Albio Sires has spent his whole campaign hiding from me, from the press and from the voters whose vote he cynically takes for granted," Vas said.

Sires spokeswoman Julie Roginsky noted that the pair recently debated on a local cable channel, and added Sires would consider more debates if they were conducted by nonpartisan groups or media organizations.

Vas claims Sires has begun attacking him because he's slipping in the polls - though the poll he cited is an Internet poll paid for by the Vas team. In that poll of 400 likely voters, Vas is 2 percentage points ahead of Sires.

The Sires campaign said the Vas poll included questions like, "Would you vote for Sires if he was convicted of a crime?" The Vas team refused to provide a copy of the poll.

Meanwhile, the Sires campaign said they're comfortably ahead in their own polls, but declined to discuss specifics.

"We are very confident in the results, and we are well in the lead, but it's just my policy that we don't release the results," she said.