Interesting that Manzo could be left off not only HCDO's ticket, but the main opposition as well. I wonder if he'd try to run as an independent.

Manzo has a degree of credibility and support outside of the ticket, but it gets awfully lonely when you're placed on the right end of the ballot, without anyone above or below you on your slate.

The Jersey Journal -- Politicial Insider
HCDO up against the wall in bid for primary candidates

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

T he Gryphon in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" had it right when he said: "The adventures first ... explanations take such a dreadful time."

State Senate candidate Sandra Bolden Cunningham, widow of Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham, has filled out the rest of her 31st District ticket by naming as an Assembly candidate the man who became acting mayor after her husband died. Former City Council President L. Harvey Smith is expected to be introduced today at a press conference by Cunningham.

The only question now is whether this ticket will run on its own as a third line on the primary ballot, or join with one of the other two, the Hudson County Democratic Organization or a ticket led by Union City Mayor and Assemblyman Brian P. Stack, who is seeking the Senate seat in the 33rd District.

And here is the dilemma for the HCDO: How does it name its own ticket and vote against Bolden Cunningham and Smith, two African-American candidates, when Jersey City Mayor Jerry Healy may need the black community's vote for his mayoral re-election?

Polling numbers show that the HCDO cannot come up with better black candidates. On top of that, how can Healy oppose black candidates when he is a New Jersey coordinator for Illinois U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential Democratic primary bid?

The worst scenario for the HCDO is the possibility that the Bolden Cunningham slate joins with Stack's 33rd ticket on one line, a prospect that could put in jeopardy all the HCDO's county posts that are up for election this year, including the county executive, sheriff and county clerk.

An anti-HCDO line could be very real considering the great amount of backroom activity this past weekend as politicians gathered to celebrate the Jersey City St. Patrick's Day Parade festivities. Starting with the Friday night parade dinner, Stack and 31st District Assemblyman Lou Manzo were doing less of the Guinness and more of the gab in an effort to solidify alliances, and it seems there were a lot of listeners.

Bolden Cunningham has also now made it known that her slate of candidates would never run under an HCDO banner, which represents the opposition that her late husband had faced.

Who is running in the 31st for the HCDO? County sources say one Assembly candidate being considered for the HCDO is Jersey City Councilman-at-Large Peter Brennan.

Ironically, the HCDO needs a state Senate candidate for the 31st.

After being denied both Smith and Manzo as running mates last week, Bayonne Mayor and 31st District Sen. Joe Doria left a meeting with HCDO leaders - County Executive Tom DeGise, state Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny, Healy and others - and announced he was getting off the county political carrousel. He would not run in the primary.

Before his announcement, Doria seriously considered running on the Stack line. Now Doria may be asked to pick one of the other two candidates.

This series of setbacks and an inability to deal with potential problems before they developed (mainly the Stack and Kenny rivalry) have started to erode the credibility of the HCDO. It would not surprise anyone if the HCDO next asks Manzo to break with Stack and become the HCDO's candidate for Senate in the 31st District. The chances are less likely now that it has been mentioned in this column and because Manzo will probably not break from Stack, although the Jersey City assemblyman may be out of the primary for an Assembly seat should a Bolden Cunningham coalition take place with Stack.

For the present, there does not seem to be any thought being given to these HCDO decisions. It is almost as if these Democratic Party leaders are taking the advice of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Come back Saturday for more of the through-the-looking glass world of Hudson politics.

POLITICAL INSIDER Agustin Torres can be reached at atorres@jjournal.com.

Smith joins Bolden Cunningham
WHAT OF MANZO, KENNY?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The winding road to Hudson's Democratic primary elections took another bizarre turn yesterday as L. Harvey Smith, a onetime Jersey City acting mayor and City Council president, announced he's running for state Assembly - on a slate headed by the widow of his former political nemesis, Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham.

"The most important thing is reconciliation," Smith said, explaining his unlikely partnership with Sandra Bolden Cunningham, a candidate for state Senate in the 31st District.

"I'm fully aware she (Bolden Cunningham) is the head of the ticket," Smith added. "God put this together and made this happen."

In 2003, the Hudson County Democratic Organization, as part of its long feud with the mayor, backed Smith against Cunningham for state Senate in the 31st District, which covers all of Bayonne and a southern portion of Jersey City. Cunningham won, but the HCDO selected Smith to fill the seat on an interim basis before Cunningham's inauguration in January 2004.

Reportedly, Bolden Cunningham harbored such negative feelings toward Smith she passed word he wasn't to attend her husband's funeral in May 2004.

But yesterday, apparently, all had been forgiven.

"I'm happy to have Harvey Smith as one of my running mates for the Assembly seats," Bolden Cunningham stated in a press release. "We are very excited about this election and we will do our best to make the 31st District the best it can be."

Bayonne at-Large Councilman and former state Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone is running with Bolden Cunningham for the second Assembly spot on the ticket.

Who their opposition will be in the primary - if anyone - wasn't clear yesterday.

Just a few weeks ago, the HCDO slate in the 31st District appeared two-thirds set, with incumbents state Sen. Joseph V. Doria Jr., D-Bayonne, and Assemblyman Lou Manzo, D-Jersey City, running for re-election. Jersey City Schools chief Charles T. Epps Jr., who also held an Assembly seat, had announced he wasn't seeking re-election.

Smith was hopeful of being named Epps's replacement on the HCDO ticket. But according to Smith, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy blocked him from consideration. As reportedly relayed to him by Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, Healy wouldn't sign off on Smith without assurances Smith wouldn't run against him for mayor.

DeGise denied yesterday making that comment; Healy spokeswoman Maria Pignataro said the mayor wouldn't comment.

In any event, Smith jumped ship for Bolden Cunningham's ticket.

Then last week, Doria dropped out of the competition for "personal reasons," as word spread that Healy might support Bolden Cunningham's bid for the state Senate.

For the moment, the odd man out is Manzo, who said yesterday he'd be running for either state Senate or state Assembly in the 31st District. Manzo said he's allied with Union City Mayor Brian Stack, who is running for state senator in the 33rd District.

Meanwhile, the incumbent in that district - state Sen. Bernard Kenny, who also is the HCDO chairman - said reports that he's dropping out the Senate race are premature.

Kenny said yesterday he's been too busy reading the late Arthur Schlessinger's book, "The Age of Jackson," to make an announcement about his political future.

When told of Kenny's comments, Manzo remarked, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned."