Political Insider: Fulop needs to go to the shotgun formation in Bergen County

By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal
July 05, 2014 at 7:30 AM, updated July 05, 2014 at 7:31 AM

Our friends at PolitickerNJ reported that U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez attended a small gathering of Bergen County Democrats, about 40 people, in Edgewater, Thursday, and during the evening, Menendez announces that he?ll cast his vote for county executive candidate James Tedesco, a Bergen freeholder.

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This news is the type that sets off neurological flashes in a political cerebral cortex.

Also in attendance at the Edgewater function, which was to honor Bergen County Democratic Chairman Lou Stellato, was Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. This columnist and others have long decided that Fulop plans to run for governor. For Fulop to win, he needs the support and votes from North Jersey, including Bergen County. So, when Menendez says he?s for Tedesco ? obviously, so is Fulop.

The problem is that the Bergen County executive campaign and election in November is expected to be a dog fight. A Paramus resident, Tedesco is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Kathleen Donovan. Democrats say she is underwhelming as a campaigner, but she is more formidable than they are ready to admit. Apparently she is not averse to hiring some tough Democratic political operatives to oversee her campaign?s street fighting.

Back to our Hudson County way of thinking: Fulop will take a more active role in our neighboring county?s fight. It is no longer time to make an educated decision on where to get involved, as in his endorsement of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. He has to force a favorable outcome. As one of Hudson County?s more astute political observers notes: ?For Steve, time is getting short and you have to abandon the running game and go with the pass.?

OK, the other brain flash is that Menendez is no longer a Hudson County resident.

He admits to living in Bergen County based his plan to vote there, and I believe he may be in Tedesco?s mall-heaven community, north of Route 4. The senator never looked like he belonged in North Bergen. Does he mow his own lawn?

Sadly, I have to report that if Menendez was in Edgewater, Thursday evening, it means the featured attraction at Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano?s meet and greet at the Liberty House in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, did not show up. Romano?s function attracted about 40 disappointed people.

None of the freeholder?s colleagues on the county board attended and the only political personalities to appear were City Council members Chico Ramchal and Richard Boggiano, as well as County Executive Tom DeGise. Don?t expect a glamorous photo gallery for this event in next month?s Vanity Fair.

If this is all the people Romano could muster, you have to scratch your head and wonder how Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer failed to unseat him in the Democratic Party primary.

INSIDER NOTES

? In a previous column I used a phrase suggesting tenants in luxury apartments were paying a couple hundred of bucks in annual taxes for their abated digs. Actually, it?s what they pay for their garage space. The true tax on tony condos is probably in the $6,000 to $8,000 range. I?m used to the fact that in North Hudson and some Jersey City neighborhoods, there is no garage space, just another unfinished apartment.

? I also received an angry response from Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis? acolytes who were angry over the piece about the former mayor not being invited to the swearing-in event and being ignored when he offered to help the transition team. So far no one said they called and talked to Mark Smith, who left on vacation. I?m hoping this sets everyone off again, just for the hits. The cool thing is that Davis is, well, cool about everything.

The big question is what is City Hall resident emeritus Joe Ryan?s future?

-- Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo of Jersey City is happy because the Kindle version of his book, "Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie," is doing well on Amazon. Manzo thinks that at this point it's word-of-mouth that is pushing the book, plus people are into politics and conspiracies see it as a summer read, along with their latest Stephen King tablet novel.

-- Secret Message: For Mayor Fulop, it's More Than A Race when it comes running City Hall.

- Happy grilling. You too, Mike Razzoli.

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