Election aftermath

What's the future for the primary winners and losers - higher office, or no more politics?

Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer

Hudson County's heated June 6 primary saw the clash of two countywide Democratic factions. Now that it's over, several of the winners and losers spoke about their political futures and whether they will work together.

There were several political races that affected Jersey City - state Senate and state Assembly in each of the 31st, 32nd and 33rd state legislative districts; and Hudson county executive, sheriff, and clerk.

The Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), the longstanding political organization in Hudson County, strengthened its hold on June 6 as its candidates won in all the major races except for the 33rd District state Senate and state Assembly.

The HCDO held a meeting last Wednesday at Ferris High School in Jersey City, where they elected Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy as their new chairman, replacing retiring State Sen. Bernard Kenny.

Healy is considered by a number of political observers as benefiting from his endorsement of Sandra Bolden Cunningham for state Senate in the 31st District, who beat out State Assemblyman Louis Manzo on June 6. Cunningham now may support Healy in the 2009 Jersey City mayor's race.

The rival Democratic faction to the HCDO, known as the Democrats for Hudson County, also held a meeting last week. Their founder, Union City Mayor Brian Stack, won the State Senate seat in the 33rd District and his running mates won the two state Assembly seats in that district.

They held their meeting in Union City also on Wednesday where they elected Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner as their chairman.

'I don't see it as a loss'

Tom DeGise won the Democratic nod in the primary election for Hudson County Executive over his opponent Noemi Velazquez by over 10,000 votes. He will be facing the Nov. 6 general election Republican candidate Agha M. Khan.

DeGise said he is now looking forward to the general election, which he is expected to win, and then a next four years of getting down to county business.

"Actually, that's fun to think about," DeGise said. "I would like to proceed with completing the new branch of the Hudson County Community College Also, building a new high school for the Vo-Tech system. Build some more parks including a cricket field in Laurel Hill Park and a new one in Guttenberg. And continue my homelessness initiatives."

He continued, "I am planning to have a retreat with my top administrative guys to set some goals and get a plan of action."

Velazquez, for her part, was also happy about the results despite coming out at the losing end.

"I don't see it as a loss," Velazquez said. "I feel victorious considering how I did in the election."

Velazquez said she feels positive about how she finished in the election, considering she had what she described as "one-tenth of the budget" of her opponent.

Velazquez said this election has given her the confidence to consider a political future.

"I don't want to get too specific," she said, "but I am looking to pursue politics again."

Perez pursues office

Juan Perez will next be facing Republican opponent Gregory Rivera in the Nov. 6 general election, after winning a close victory in the Hudson County Sheriff's race over incumbent Joseph Cassidy.

On the man he might replace, Perez said "he's a good man" but had hoped Cassidy would have reached out to him on election night to congratulate him. Perez said he didn't reach out to Cassidy either.

"I expected the way he was attacking me during the campaign, that maybe he was very unhappy about his loss," Perez said. "But I wish him the best of health and success in all his future endeavors."

Perez said if he is elected in November, he looks forward to carrying out such initiatives as resurrecting the Operation TELON program that specializes in going after deadbeat dads, having officers take on more responsibilities, and initiate a Junior Deputy Sheriff Day.

Connors contemplates

Jersey City police officer Sean Connors lost by a 5 to 1 margin in the 32nd District State Senate race to North Bergen Mayor and incumbent State Senator Nicholas Sacco. Connors expected to have a tough time in this election but said he had "no complaints" about his finish.

"When I look at it, the HCDO machine was totally against me," Connors said. "I didn't have one local official supporting me yet I beat them in 16 out of 29 in Ward D [Jersey City] and 22 out of 49 in the 33rd District."

When asked if running for his first political office whetted his appetite for a future political run (Hint: Jersey City City Council), Connors said "it was way too early" to consider any moves. Connors, if he ran for a City Council seat, would be running in Ward D, which is currently represented by Bill Gaughan.

"If the people feel I will be a better representative than who is representing them now, then I will listen to the people," Connors said.

He said in the meantime he will continue to work on issues such as the juvenile justice system and parking.

Fulop and Healy: Democratic primary and mayoral future

Healy obviously was happy that the candidates he endorsed in various races won, such as the 31st District state Senate race.

"We have a state senate seat back in Jersey City," Healy said. "[Cunningham] is the first woman state senator in Hudson County history as well as the first African-American woman."

When asked if being named chairman of the HCDO has given him inside track in winning a next term as mayor in 2009, Healy said those situations will not factor into any future mayoral run.

"Regardless of what has happened recently, I am running for mayor based on my record," Healy said. "That is, hiring more police, including more officers for our gang squad, and getting the one handgun per month bill passed in the state legislature."

City Councilman Steven Fulop is also seen as a potential mayoral opponent to Healy. But one had to wonder if his endorsement of Louis Manzo and his running mates for State Assembly, who all lost in the primary, were setbacks for future political aspirations.

Fulop disagreed with that assessment, citing Sandra Cunningham's overwhelming success in Jersey City's predominantly African-American Ward F as the reason Manzo lost.

"We did really well in the districts downtown but there was a strong message sent by the African-American community overall," Fulop said. "Everything would dictate that I shouldn't have done that but I believed [Manzo] would have done the best job."

However, Fulop said there were "lessons learned" from this past election and was planning a meeting this week with supporters for "better political organizing."

He denied the meeting had anything to do with any future run for mayor or another political office.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com