Political Insider: Cunningham to announce for Jersey City mayor in January, or not

by The Jersey Journal
Saturday November 15, 2008

State Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham is keeping everyone guessing as to whether she will run for mayor of Jersey City next spring.

State Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham has said she will announce her decision in January on whether to run for the Jersey City mayoralty or support someone else, today's Jersey Journal Political Insider tells us.

The possible candidate's indecisiveness, PI says, has become a hindrance to coalition hopes.

Meanwhile, everyone seems to be working off poll numbers from April which surely would have changed by now.

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Have voters changed their attitudes since April?

The Jersey Journal
Saturday, November 15, 2008

Last week's Insider column had state Sen. Sandra Cunningham's camp scrambling. Her backers read how Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy had given the state senator an ultimatum - support my re-election or else.

Some - her women's advisory group - wanted Cunningham to announce her candidacy for mayor. There is also a faction that wants her to cut her ties with longtime political consigliere Joe Cardwell because they believe he is more for Joe than the senator.

Her indecisiveness has created a problem for City Council aspirants who hoped for a coalition to challenge the Jersey City Democratic Organization. Instead, Cunningham said she now plans to announce her mayoral intentions in January.

None of the other mayoral hopefuls are waiting to see if a coalition is possible. They are tired of "Waiting for Godot." Former Mayor Bret Schundler, Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop and former Assemblyman Louis Manzo are all expected to finish putting organizations together by the holidays and begin campaigning in January.

At a Veterans Day commemoration on Washington Street, Schundler said he has held about a dozen fundraising events and would continue to raise money. He said what Cunningham has going for her is support in the black community but that her chance of winning erodes as time goes by.

In April, Cunningham was a projected favorite to enter a runoff in a mayoral election. With broad competition, 30 to 44 percent of those questioned would vote for her, according to one April survey - pilfered, I mean obtained, by yours truly. Those numbers have probably changed by now.

Healy does not have to wait.

Back in April, there were mixed feelings among the electorate about him. An overwhelming majority in the April survey had a 47 percent unfavorable rating for the mayor, topped only by Councilwoman Willie Flood at 51 percent and former Mayor Gerald McCann at 69 percent.

Besides having a poor job rating, 51 percent of those surveyed said that if elected, Healy would not solve the city's problems.

Yet, without Cunningham running, he is projected to make a runoff, more than likely with Manzo, according to the survey. But, consider that after Cunningham, Schundler had the highest favorable rating of the survey, at 44 percent. Go figure.

It makes you wonder why McCann is suddenly showing up at Healy's City Hall office, almost as a close buddy. There may be an answer in the April survey's results to a question that showed 44 percent of those asked still consider McCann connected to Manzo. Hmmmm.

Wednesday evening, Healy was at a soiree at the Liberty House in Liberty State Park. Who were all those Donald DiFrancesco Republicans with him? Were these GOP devotees, including Hudson County GOP Chairman Jose Arango, trying to send Schundler a message about the upcoming nonpartisan city election?

By the way, the April survey shows property taxes and unemployment are the top two concerns of voters. Then came a three-way tie among government spending, development and crime.

Much has happened since spring. Time for an updated poll, please.