You can guarantee all the Cops and Fire guys will be out to vote and will be focused on only 1 candidate to get their vote.
Scratch my back, I'll scratch your back !

With turn out voting very low, you don't need that many votes to get in !

Board elections a bellwether for future

by Al Sullivan
Reporter staff writer
Apr 25, 2010

If there is anything remotely like tea leaves for reading the political future, it?s this year?s Board of Education elections, leaving distinct winners and losers ? especially in Jersey City, Hoboken, and Secaucus.

Despite the call from Gov. Christopher Christie for voters to reject their school budgets (so they could be cut even further), voters in every local town except Guttenberg and North Bergen approved their school budgets. Weehawken, with a more than 80 percent approval rate, led the state.

By far the biggest winner in this school board election was Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, whose three candidates won. This proved once and for all that he could win a citywide election, a good sign for his organization, which is poised to elect him as mayor in 2013.

Not only did he get all of his three candidates elected, but he managed to keep his arch rival, incumbent Gerald McCann, and McCann?s running mates from being elected. Since it is generally believed McCann had the backing of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Fulop took a huge step towards becoming a dominant force on the Jersey City political scene.

This victory will not only bring in a lot of new funding from people who want to be on the winning ticket, it will give Fulop a say in who will be the next chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) this June.

While many claim the battle to lead the HCDO is between County Executive Tom DeGise and state Sen./Union City Mayor Brian Stack, some are pushing to have Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith named as a compromise candidate.

Next month?s Bayonne mayoral

Remarkably, a lot is riding on the Bayonne municipal election on May 11.

Mayor Smith is being challenged by Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone and retired police officer Leonard Kantor.

Smith internal polls claim he has a significant enough lead to win without a runoff election. To avoid a runoff, a candidate must get 50 percent plus one vote of the total votes cast.

Although Smith has run a positive campaign to date, many expect him to go negative in the two weeks prior to the May 11 election.

In some ways, Smith has been a punching bag for negative ads by Chiappone. But if Smith strikes back, he could lose support and drive up numbers for Kantor, possibly sending the election into a runoff.

This would hurt Smith?s chances for becoming the compromise choice for chairman of the HCDO.

Democrats are currently torn between supporting Stack ? who reportedly has the support of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez ? and supporting DeGise.

Smith is seen as an up-and-coming force in the county, but since the HCDO has to pick a new chairman in early June, a runoff later in June for Smith might put his nomination in jeopardy.

The May 11 election also puts at risk Smith?s control of the Bayonne City Council, since it is very likely that a number of the council races will wind up in runoff elections.

A big victory for Zimmer

The two biggest winners in the Hoboken school board election are Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her close ally, Councilman Michael Lenz, both of whom threw their support behind the Kids First ticket and won.

Zimmer proved that her endorsement counts. And this will benefit Lenz?s reelection effort during the special 4th Ward election in November.

The school election victory also proved that Kids First has become a brand name for the reform movement, and since Lenz is seen as one of the founders of the modern reform movement, he can expect this wave of support to follow him into the November election.

The only downside is that Zimmer and Kids First will have to deliver on their promises, a tall order in these problematic economic times.

Secaucus superintendent can breathe a sigh of relief

In Secaucus, the biggest victor was the superintendent of schools, who has come under fire from many of the candidates who lost.

True to his word, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli stayed out of the election, allowing voters to choose between a field of independents and the remnants of the old Democratic regime.

Voters clearly chose to support independent voices on the Board of Education, but not the ones you might expect.

The victory of MaryAnn Weiner might suggest that her husband, Peter Weiner, who ran last year against then-Mayor Dennis Elwell in the Democratic primary, has the cachet for a possible Town Council race as an independent next November.

Cammarano?s hard choice

Peter Cammarano, who has the distinction of serving as mayor of Hoboken for three whole weeks, pleaded guilty to three counts in federal court last week. Due for sentencing in August, he will likely face two years in federal prison and possible hefty fines. Perhaps the worst part will be the loss of his law license. Why he decided to cop a plea is up to speculation, but it is pretty certain that if he had taken the case to court and lost, he would have seen the maximum sentence of 20 years.

Why so few election hours in Jersey City?

You go to vote in the Jersey City school board election, and the polls aren?t open until after 1 p.m. You have to wonder with so little turnout in these elections, why officials wouldn?t want to spread the hours so as to give people more of an opportunity to vote ? especially for voters who would stop off at the polls on their way to work.

Perhaps there is a subliminal message being sent to the masses: ?Stay away!?

In a year when voters have been encouraged by Gov. Christopher Christie to vote down excessive budgets, you have to think fewer hours means fewer voters, and fewer opportunities for voters to vote against the $618 million budget.

What?s next ? vote by appointment?

Fulop?s Jersey City school board slate a big-time winner; school budget passes
Apr 21, 2010

JERSEY CITY -- Tuesday?s school board election in Jersey City is still being seen as a shock to some.

With 97 percent of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning, Sterling Waterman, Angel Valentin, and Carol Lester finished first, second and third. All three were endorsed by downtown City Councilman Steven Fulop.

Waterman received what is believed to be a record number of votes with 6,946 followed by Valentin?s 6,453 and Lester with 3,848.

Valentin is the only one of three incumbents to prevail, with former Mayor Gerry McCann and former basketball star Terry Dehere getting the same number of votes: 2,199. Hiral Patel, who ran on a ticket with McCann and Dehere, received 2,151 votes.

Both McCann and Dehere had voted against the recent teachers' contract, and had predicted numerous teacher layoffs and other financial problems if the contract had been passed. The contract was voted down at a March 18 board meeting. That led the teachers? union, the Jersey City Education Association, to endorse Waterman and Valentin along with Sebastian D?Amico, who finished fourth.

Taking satisfaction in the victory of the three candidates was Fulop, who celebrated along with supporters at the downtown bar LITM.

?I?m happy for the three candidates,? Fulop said. ?I think what they will do, first and foremost, is put the residents first.?

Also on the ballot was the $618 million school budget with a $102 million tax levy, which was approved by a 59-41 percent margin. That was despite Gov. Christopher Christie calling for New Jersey residents to vote down their school budgets so more cuts could be made. The school budget already anticipates many teacher layoffs. -- RK

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+1

Good point BM.we should all be calling the Mayors action hot line and city councilman along with incinerator auth. to complain about their employee who is littering.

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Fulop's volunteers were sent an email this morning asking them to remove any found flyers they found. Unlike McCann we take care of our neighborhoods while he once again sh**ts on JC by plastering poles with his posters/flyers. Since he was hired as a "consultant' for the incinerator authority he should be made to remove them all then fired from this patronage job for illegally posting them in the first place.

Not sure, but it's really common sence. If you approve of the increase, you want a tax increase.

N.J. school elections Q&A: What happens when school budgets fail

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But none of that matters to us. Our city voted for people that did not approve of the oversized and overpaid administration, yet they have no problem with them having more money to blow.

Did Fulop or One JC recommend a vote on the question? Never saw either say so either way.

wow

Almost 60% voted Yes on the question. Some change. Hah.

As for the rest of the state, good job. This is real change.

NJ voters reject majority of school budgets for first time in 34 years

The stickers pasted on light posts, etc. are actually illegal.

McCann was hired by the JCIA to remove such pollution and penalize those responsible. It seems he will be payed by the tax payers to remove the evidence of yet another of his crimes.
I hope he is fired tomorrow (he deserves at least that, as do we).

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HP right I was just logging in to edit my post to put a "oops" in it...forgot some people don't bother to vote on the question..thanks

Neverleft, a lot of people didn't vote on the question. They either missed it or didn't understand it. It's accurate to go with the higher number of 10925 (32,775/3). The number of people that actually stepped into a booth is likely to be slightly higher as some may of voted on less than 3 options.

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I noticed Fulop flyers all over the sidewalk and street on west side ave this morning. It seemed kinda trashy also that Manzo sign on the corner has to go too..

I think you are getting the number of voters screwed up....

For now I would go with the total number of votes cast for the JC question from the HC Election site.....that would give you a better number of the JC turnout....right?

Jersey City Question
97/100 97.00%

Vote Count Percent

- Yes 4,467 59.48%
- No 3,043 40.52%

Total 7,510 100.00%



"oops" see below posts...

people really should vote on the questions..

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I am so proud that we as Jersey City residents can make this happen! We are up to something good, and we need to keep making those changed in future elections. Eventually, we can feel proud of living here!

A few other points to ponder:

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES?
(Don't trust them 100% people. NOT saying there was foul play. BUT it's very easy--and possible for future elections.)

VOTING HOURS: 2pm -9pm?
(Why this shortened timeframe? Seniors, workers, those leaving area BEFORE 2pm SHOULD be able to VOTE earlier hours.)

POSTERS on City Lightpoles
(WHO cleans all the illegally posted POSTERS off?)

Congrats to the winners, I know Team Fulop worked very hard.
This shows the old JC that there is a new JErsey City being born. As a lifelong resident I can speak for those over in Bergen Lafayette that we need Steve to keep moving and bring the change we so depserately need.

For the new school board people elected we are on you side and will help to better our schools!
WE can not continue to being kept down, time to bind together and really push these no good, greedy politicians out for good!!


GO STEVE!! FULOP FOR MAYOR!!!

That would be "democratic" with a capital D? As in the party, not the philosophy.

.

JPhurst thanks for the information, very interesting.

The union backed candidates were Sterling Waterman, Angel Valentin, and Sebastian "Chips" D'Amico. Note: The Jersey Journal got this wrong in today's article, claiming that Lester was on the union's slate and Waterman was not. It was the other way around.

As I understand it, for many people who supported Fulop, priority number one was to knock McCann and his crew out of the box. Mission accomplished, in spades. Fulop worked with the teachers union and endorsed Waterman, who had broad based community support, and Valentin, who may have had slightly less, but was an acceptable enough candidate that he polled nearly as many votes as Waterman.

The excitement in this race, as it turned out, was not McCann vs. Fulop or McCann vs. the unions, but whether the unions could pull a whole slate. Instead of endorsing the whole union ticket, Fulop also endorsed Carol Lester, a true independent. Lester was also endorsed by One Jersey City (who only endorsed her, no other candidates).

And that was enough, as Lester won relatively comfortably over D'Amico. The real question here was whether someone could win as an outsider or whether they would need to use the union to make it over the top.

So, outside of the candidates themselves, who are the winners and losers?

Big Winner: Steve Fulop. He showed the ability to both forge alliances and support his own. This is not "Fulop's ticket" entirely, but he was able to both pick a winner, and help make a winner. Both crucial skills moving forward.

Winner: One Jersey City. In the tug-o-war for the last spot on the board, they provided enough pull to make the difference. Let's just hope that OJC and Steve don't bicker over who was the key difference in putting Lester over the top. There's enough credit to go around.

Mixed: The Teacher's Union. They have two candidates on the board. The third, Lester, was not on their slate but noticeably did not take the bait to go "red meat" and bash unions for the ills of the Educational system. She is not their candidate, but will likely not be hostile either. Still, that they could not pull a slate on their own is noticeable.

Loser: The City's democratic establishment. Did you even know that they endorsed McCann/Dehere/Patel? I wasn't even sure until last night. Completely ineffectual.

The teachers union backed Waterman, Valentin, and D?Amico.

Fulop backed Waterman, Valentin, and Lester.

Does anyone know why Fulop backed Lester and not D?Amico?


JERSEY CITY
(3) THREE-YEAR TERM

Sterling Waterman - 7,183 votes
*Angel Valentin - 6,678 votes
Carol Lester - 3,988 votes
Sebastian D'Amico - 3,549 votes
*Gerald McCann - 2,338 votes
*L. Terry Dehere - 2,319 votes
Hiral Patel - 2,231 votes
Anthony Sharperson - 1,032 votes
Evelyn Farmer - 950 votes
Kevin Armstrong - 711
Gerald Maurice Lyons - 704 votes
Arthur Zigman - 700 votes
June A. Mulqueen - 551 votes
John R. Muniz - 472 votes
Aura Ordonez - 445 votes
Marimer Navarrete - 267 votes
Tax Levy: $102,313,254
Approve - 4,668 votes
Oppose -3,190 votes



Lets hope the numbers stay the same, did all of the nursing home votes get counted yet?

More proof that signs don't vote, people vote. I'd like to see Gerry McCann walking down Kennedy Blvd with a scraper, un-doing his previous acts of vandalism, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Yes, pchops. If each person who voted yesterday selected 3 candidates the voter turnout was 10,925

These numbers are impressive for a school board election.

I'm replying to my own post...

Total vote count is 32,775 but you still have to divide that by 3....right?

Hi BM! I think the cut and paste didn't go through...EVERYONE LOOK AT THESE NUMBERS! 32,775 came out to vote.

Sterling - almost 7,000 votes alone!!!! Congrats to Sterling, Carol, and Valentin!

And ....you're not too shabby....Mr. Fulop! hahaha!

Steven, seriously, thanks for coming out and supporting these folks with every ounce of your blood. I know you and the volunteers worked so hard for them.

That goes for you too, One Jersey City! Congrats on the win!

Oh that's right DanL....how can I forget the teachers who crossed over and also JC Moms, Rolando Lavarro, and that John T guy who is just on top of it all! And of course, thanks to you DanL for keeping the movement going! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Board of Education - Jersey City
97/100 97.00%
Vote Count Percent
- Hiral Patel 2,151 6.56%
- Arthur Zigman 667 2.04%
- Sterling Waterman 6,946 21.19%
- L. Terry Dehere 2,199 6.71%
- Carol L. Lester 3,848 11.74%
- Aura Ordonez 422 1.29%
- June A. Mulqueen 519 1.58%
- Angel Valentin 6,453 19.69%
- Anthony Sharperson 995 3.04%
- Gerald Maurice Lyons 676 2.06%
- Gerald McCann 2,199 6.71%
- John R. Muniz 451 1.38%
- Evelyn Farmer 910 2.78%
- Marimer Navarrete 252 0.77%
- Sebastian D'Amico 3,391 10.35%
- Kevin Armstrong 663 2.02%
Personal Choice 33 0.10%
Total 32,775 100.00%

I'll confess I don't pay much attention to school board elections (yes, I voted yesterday) and the budget process for the schools is a complete mystery to me. So, can someone please explain to me the rationale for voting "yes" on the tax levy? I ask this sincerely and am not looking to get into a fight. Since we're all fed up with property taxes and wasteful spending, it just seems counter-intuitive to me to vote to raise taxes on the rare ocassion when we do have a direct say in the matter. Or is there something I'm missing about the process. I want good schools, too, but they've got to learn to live within their means like everyone else. Everytime one of these levies gets approved, we're stuck with it. For good. Taxes never go down, they only stay level or they go up.

Good luck to the winners and let's see if they actually do anything positive with the way things are run.

Fulop, remember this feeling because there will be more where that came from if you continue on this path and don't veer from it. Thousands voted because of the candidates beliefs and message but also because of your determintion and outspokeness to get them elected.

This landslide victory is proof of just how incensed we have become with the status quo in our educational system. If anyone has bothered to looked at the preformance and stats of the Jersey City public school system over the last decade+ then you know just how dismal and unacceptable the scores are.

Voting-in this accomplished, tenacious, passionate group of candidates is the first step in finally making our public schools respectable.

Well done candidates, well done Fulop and well done voters!

congratulations Carol Lester on election to the JC BoE as an independent candidate without support from the city admin or teacher's union!

thank you Steve Fulop and Rolando Lavarro for endorsements and get out the vote efforts helping Carol Lester win election to the JC BoE.

congratulations, Sterling Waterman and Angel Valentin on election to the JC BoE and the incredible mandate you received by the voters of Jersey City!

and most of all, thank you John T and the Fulop volunteers, One JC, JC Moms! and everyone that worked hard to elect Carol Lester to the JC BoE. the election was won by volunteers and a committed candidate, Carol.

Dan

This what an informed electorate can make happen. Pay attention Sean.