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Link 1

Here is one used copy from $13 something:
Link 2

And another from $16 something:
Link 3

October 27, 2007

From the 'rice-pudding tax' to the Hudson Eight

Ex-JC mayor's provocative memoir 'The Powerticians' reaches 25 years

Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer

A provocative but out-of-print book called "The Powerticians" documented the larger-than-life political happenings of Jersey City from 1901 to the end of author Thomas F.X. Smith's term as mayor in the 1980s, including his failed attempt for the state's governor seat in 1981.

Try mentioning the book to old-time Jersey City residents, and they remember that 25 years ago, Smith actually handed out thousands of copies of the work.

Told in a unique fly-on-the-wall style, the book is an invaluable peek into a century of Jersey City life, both good and bad.

The tome was published by Lyle Stuart Books of Secaucus (now Barricade Books located in Fort Lee) a quarter of a century ago. A few used copies can still be found at the Jersey City Public Library or at the online book seller Amazon.com.

Best-selling memoirist and Jersey City native Helene Stapinski recently cited "The Powerticians" as an "invaluable resource" when she was writing her acclaimed 2001 book "Five Finger Discount" about several generations of her colorful family in Jersey City.

"The Powerticians was sort of the Bible for me on Hudson County politics," Stapinski said last week. "It came out when I was still pretty young, and was the first book I held in my hands that was written by someone I actually knew."

Smith passed away in 1996, but years after the book's publication, its influence lingers on.

The powerticians of years past

Much of the book is devoted to legendary Jersey City Mayor Frank "I Am The Law" Hague and his rise and fall in his 30 years in office in the middle of the 20th century. Hague was the iron ruler (or benevolent despot, depending on your point of view) of Jersey City, whose influence reached all the way to Franklin Roosevelt's White House.

In one passage in the book, Roosevelt is implored by a political consultant to sever his ties with Hague, because the mayor's ironfisted actions in Jersey City are becoming an embarrassment to the president. The moment is described thusly: "Once when a close associate said, 'We shouldn't bother with Hague; he's a son of a bitch,' FDR had nodded in agreement. But then he shook his head: 'Yes, but he's our son of a bitch,' he replied."

The book also covers the time before Hague, when Protestant Republicans like Mark Fagan ran the show in Jersey City, and the post-Hague era, when men like John V. Kenny, Thomas Whelan, and Smith assume the mayoral mantle, only to have their own power struggles.

The book also covers the colorful characters surrounding the great men, whether it was Hague's right hand man John "Needlenose" Malone, or a longtime Hague critic, the burly Alabaman James "Jeff" Burkitt, or evergreen politico Barney Doyle.

The book chronicles the city's colorful and dark moments: Hague somehow becoming a millionaire on an $8,000 salary; the hated "rice pudding tax" (the popular name for Hague's fabled requirement of employees to kick back 3 percent of his earnings to him); the large-scale BINGO game organized by Kenny to get out the vote for his 1953 re-election, and the infamous 1971 Hudson Eight trial, which saw revelations of millions of dollars of kickbacks and the end of careers of Kenny and Whelan.

A teenager at City Hall

The book also functions as a semi-autobiography, as Smith recounts his political coming-of-age, starting as a teenager on the steps of City Hall on Election Day in 1949 when the Hague machine was swept out of power. He shares his own rise from campaign worker to city clerk to ultimately winning the Mayor's seat in 1977 in his famous campaign of walking the streets to get the votes.

If there is criticism to be made about "The Powerticians," it is that Smith does not engage in the same critical evaluation of his own term in office from 1977 to 1981 that he does of preceding mayors. The book also lacks an index or a chapter page.

Admirers and detractors

Besides Stapinski's ebullient comments, what do others have to say about the book?

Mayor Jerramiah Healy has mixed feelings.

"This book contains much historical information about our city, our government and our politics," he said last week, "and should be read by every elected official in Jersey City and probably in Hudson County. Having said that, the book is not particularly well-written."

Robert Knapp, deputy director of the Hudson County Division of Welfare, cut his teeth in politics in the early 1960s when he campaigned for the late Thomas Gangemi in his Jersey City mayoral bid. The book chronicles how Gangemi, a successful businessman who won the mayoral election in 1961, resigned in 1963 when it was found he had no proof of his U.S. citizenship.

Gangemi would campaign two more times, but lose both times. Knapp said the book archives the political history of the city that should not be forgotten.

"It is a powerful book and a wonderful book that Tommie Smith put together in telling Jersey City's own history," Knapp said.

Longtime political consultant Tony Amabile of Jersey City said, "The book is well-written, but lacks a deep political perspective and could be seen as self-serving. It also stopped me from writing a book because it sold so few copies."

However, Amabile said he has recently resumed working on a book about his nearly 50 years in the political arena.

But did he write it himself?

Smith states in the book his intentions for writing "The Powerticians": "To give the reader a picture of the times and characters. To make him or her understand how intelligent men used and abused their power over others requires more than a line or two of philosophical musings."

But is that eloquent statement really Smith's words?

During the research for this article, a number of people who wanted to remain unnamed out of respect for Smith intimated that he may not have been the author.

One theory is that the book's real author is the late J. Owen Grundy, the city's official historian during Smith's term and a friend of his. (If Grundy's name sounds familiar to newcomers, it may be because there is a pier on the Jersey City waterfront that is named for him.) Another theory is Grundy and the late longtime politico John Longo were co-authors.

Evidence of these theories can only be gleaned from the acknowledgements page of the book, as both men were thanked for "patient editorial suggestions" and both are mentioned prominently in several of the book's chapters.

However, another person listed along with Grundy and Longo is Donald H. Dunn.

Dunn, still alive and residing in New York's Hudson Valley region with his wife, claimed when contacted last week that he did the research and wrote the book during an eight-month period between 1981 and 1982.

Dunn provided to the Reporter a photocopy of an $8,000 contract signed with Lyle Stuart Books that called actually for Dunn to edit and rewrite Smith's manuscript, then titled "The Rise and Fall of Bossism."

"He might have had some notes, but I can say with confidence that I can look through the book and see much of it reflects my writing style," Dunn said.

Dunn said his comments are not meant to embarrass Smith's family, but to speak with candor about the practice of ghostwriting, or writing a book for someone else. Dunn said he also did the same for TV personality Steve Allen.

But some believe Smith did write the entire book, such as current City Clerk Robert Byrne.

Byrne worked under Smith for a few years in the 1980s in the city clerk's office, and before that, had been a volunteer on Smith's failed 1981 gubernatorial bid.

"Tommy was a well-read man," Byrne said. "He loved to read and write poetry. And when he wrote to other city officials or to the City Council, they were usually two pages or more. So I believe the man wrote the book."

For comment on the story, contact Ricardo Kaulessar at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com