I'm one of the 20+ year people (1988).

Forget Bret. He was fortunate enough to get himself elected during the Clinton/Guiliani boom years from which JC benefited.
Additionally, and in no way am I giving ANY credit to McCann, but LeFrak started Newport under his admin. (if not Cucci). Newport was the catalyst for developers to begin looking at JC. At the same time, Colgate left town and oversaw the development of their land as well. Bret just got his own timing right.

Now for anyone who is a recent arrival, keep in mind that your water bill increasing constantly is a product of Bret's 'innovative' economic policies. He sold it all to United Water and created the MUA who sets the rates which is partly based on an agreement of how much goes back to the city.

So the MUA can raise rates, part of which goes to the city, and Bret can say he didn't raise your taxes and yet your water bill doubled and your basement still floods.

Schundler was a waste of space, a rabid conservative pasting on the stripes of moderation. His sole purpose in being mayor of JC was to establish a name for himself for higher office.
He capitalized on the prosperity of the Clinton years and his prime function was to get a creche on the City Hall grounds in spite of several slapdowns from the courts.

The people of New Jersey showed their distaste for him in the gubernatorial election, so he dusted off his defeated pants, started posing as a moderate again and comes crawling back to Jersey City where he thinks the people will be stupid enough to vote for him again.

Oh yeah, to fool the fools, he ran as a DEMOCRAT first time around.

For about an HOUR, he was the darling of the neocons.

Jersey City needs this man as much as they need the dilapidated old powerhouse, even if BOTH get a new cheesy paintjob.

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What a joke this article is. Schundler left Jersey City with a 50 million dollar deficit while trying to attain higher office. He sold off every City asset he could and played the patronage game like an old JC pol by giving jobs to incompetent hacks. Remember Nancy Harrigan, RL Williams, The Rev. Austin Harrold among others.

Bret is a legend in his own mind. The voters of NJ rejected him again and again. As much as he denies it, he is right wing nut job.

It all boils down to who can beat Healy. Schundler believes Fulop (my preferred candidate) can't, and he could due to his remaining positive recognition from his previous terms. Even accepting the defects of his previous administration and his conservative stripes, I would prefer Schundler to Healy or Cunningham.

Realpolitik is a tough game, and it doesn't come tougher than JC's nonpartisan election where vote splitting has been raised to a fine art. It's too bad we don't have instant runoff elections instead of the nonsense we do have, so you wouldn't have to hold your nose and vote for your second favorite candidate because he may have a better chance of winning.

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somewhat hyperbolic and overheated at times, but much truth: http://www.stopbretschundler.com/

NYC/Giuliani were more responsible for JC's economic and building boom - bret was along for the ride. he and his council never met an abatement they didn't like (a continuation of cucci/mccann policies for sure, but bret was no maverick). As far as being a caricature, bret embraced the religious right with open arms. that much has not changed. fulop is the putative reformer now, bret is yesterday's man, a footnote in JC political history.

I'm one of those guys mentioned in the article who arrived in JC post-Schundler. Having been here now for 2+ years, I can say that I agree with a lot of the sentiment in this article, namely, that this place has come a long way, but perhaps not as far as it could or should have. Here's my question: is this Schundler guy another Bloomberg, like the article seems to suggest? Can he be trusted? Is this JC's man for mayor? Let's hear from some people who lived through the Schundler years.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13597

A Second Act in Jersey City

The American Spectator
By Jonathon M. Seidl
Published 7/28/2008

Businessman Michael Yun remembers what Jersey City, New Jersey, was like in the 1980s. "Like the wild, wild West," he said. The "streets weren't safe" and government was "out of control." Public services failed, businesses left, and corruption was rampant. Abandoned by the outdated railroad industry, it was the anemic neighbor of Manhattan, where feral dogs ran wild in the tall grass by the collapsed railway arteries and hypodermic needles, like seeds, littered the ground just west of the Hudson River. But all that changed in 1992 when Republican Bret Schundler did the impossible.

After Mayor Gerald McCann was arrested for federal fraud and tax evasion, Schundler, a former Wall Street guru who once lived in a commune and dreamed of becoming a minister, won a special mayoral election in a city where only 6 percent of registered voters are Republicans. He repeated this feat in 1993 and 1997. "I'm the first and only Republican mayor for basically the last 100 years," he said from the driver's seat of his red Toyota convertible, a grin painted atop his six foot plus frame as we toured his beloved city.

Now almost 50, he's running for the job he left seven years ago when he tried twice to capture the New Jersey governorship, falling short both times. His opponent is incumbent Democratic Mayor Jerramiah Healy, whom Schundler beat for the same office in 1997. Healy, though, is bringing in some familiar faces -- he's hired the same people who ran Jim McGreevy's gubernatorial campaign in 2001. And if history repeats itself, "[Healy's team] will...turn me into a caricature of the far right-wing Republicans that will be unpalatable to Jersey City voters." But, Schundler assured, "it will be a caricature; it won't be me they're talking about."

During his nine years as mayor, Schundler became one of the GOP's promising young stars: he implemented charter schools and health savings accounts, taxes and crime plummeted, Jersey City became number one in job and wage growth among the nation's largest cities, and he created an $8 million surplus. National Review's Jeffrey Hart wrote, "[Schundler] seems to know how to implement Ronald Reagan's ideas better than Reagan did." The late William F. Buckley Jr. told readers, "Look for [Schundler] in 2008." While quick to deflect praise, Schundler admitted, "We were doing very innovative stuff."

As before, Schundler plans to increase jobs while lowering taxes and crime. According to him, the tax levy has gone up 50 percent in seven years, the murder rate has doubled, and job growth is stagnant (19,000 jobs were created during 1993-2003, but only 450 during 2003-2006). He's also looking to make crime mapping publicly available and to use online forums to keep government accountable.

With a history to campaign on, Schundler is optimistic. Residents like Yun can compare the Jersey City of old to what it is today: Tall buildings, like inflatable castles, have ballooned up along its Eastern shore; young people in earth tones and big sunglasses proudly carry their eco-friendly shopping bags past the Grove Street train stop; and business people in power suits wait at the crosswalks by Merrilll Lynch and Goldman Sachs.

As he continued driving, Schundler turned down the revitalized Martin Luther King Dr., the main thoroughfare of the African-American community. Store fronts, once broken and covered in graffiti, are now adorned with new facades. It was easy to tell who the residents credited with the renewal. When a middle-aged man spotted Schundler's car, he yelled and waved excitedly: "Schundler!" Schundler raised his hand and waved as he turned the corner.


YET MANY IN Jersey City haven't been there long enough to know anything but the resurrected city, let alone who's responsible. "For people who have been here 20 years or more, who know what it was like...in the 1980s up to '92 when I got elected, I'm ahead of [Healy]," he said. "For people who...don't know me at all, he's shutting me out."

From the shaded backyard of his 1800s brownstone, Schundler explained his reason for running again: "I see the city sliding back. If I think I can make a difference, is it my responsibility to make a difference?" He's decided, "yes." But while many would be eager to declare this the beginning of a large scale comeback for the revitalized GOP prodigy, he's not ready to call it that. "I've run twice for governor and that didn't work," he said chuckling. "I'm thinking I'll just finish up here."

Still, he's not treating this campaign as a night cap to a mostly successful political career. The problems in Jersey City, while not as bad as in 1992, are still extensive. By fixing them, he's hoping to return Jersey City to its beacon status: "What I'd like to do is....have Jersey City really be the model for how you run municipal governments."

While not the makings of a large-scale GOP comeback, that is still good news for beleaguered New Jersey Republicans. Tom Wilson, the state party chairman, is excited about Schundler's return: "Bret Schundler is one of the smartest most principled and thoughtful public officials I have ever met....He brought free market solutions to an urban environment. He proved that it's not all about creating a bigger government with a more voracious appetite for tax money."

If he loses, Schundler plans to return to The King's College, where he began teaching policy and rhetoric in 2006, and then run again in 2013. "If I lose this election," he said, "I would probably win in the next one." But he's hoping it doesn't come to that -- he likes his chances come spring. Especially if he convinces people of one thing: "I think I can be an even better mayor now."


Jonathon M. Seidl is a student in New York City and an intern at World magazine.