Each has one eye on reforms, other on mayoral run

Political Insider - Jersey Journal
Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hoboken is called the Mile Square City, but at times it seems more like Jersey City's Ward E, which has more registered voters than Frank Sinatra's hometown.

Both locales have political reformers, pseudo or not, and Downtown Jersey City has the most in the county seat. As a result, much of the rhetoric is the same.

Ward E is represented by Councilman Steven Fulop, who is pushing two ethics reform initiatives for a November referendum. Hoboken has Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason, who has pretty much adopted one of Fulop's goals - the one where a City Council member would have to resign if they got a pay check serving in another government capacity.

In Jersey City, it is aimed at those City Council members who are also on the Hudson County government payroll. In Hoboken, we'll just call this the Assemblyman/Councilman Ruben Ramos rule. There are even some Fulop workers helping Mason push this initiative.

Oddly, right now, Mason seems to have the most success in getting a referendum, while Fulop is foundering because he may not have enough signatures to put the measures on the ballot. He's only short about 10,000 or so - depending on what a judge will eventually rule.

The other thing these two have in common is that they both may want to become mayor.

Fulop is sending mixed signals. He has former Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy on the "team," as well as Police Officer and attorney James Carroll of the Heights. No one knows who is running for mayor. Think Cassidy is interested? You betcha. On top of that, Fulop has a few people interested in his council seat.

The Downtown councilman has the predicament of possibly running in a race that will feature a field of former City Council President L. Harvey Smith and (unfortunately it has to be termed this way) five white guys - incumbent Jerramiah Healy, former mayor Bret Schundler, former assemblyman Lou Manzo, Fulop and city activist Daniel Levin, founder of the reform group CivicJC. You may remember Levin, he was the one who chastised Fulop for trying to politicize the possible referendum questions. Go figure.

Yeah, I know, then there is state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham. It's 50-50 whether she runs, perhaps more 60-40 that she won't. All this was supposedly hashed out at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where Healy and company wanted to nail down her support of his candidacy. Healyland believes she is sewed up.

If March comes and goes without Cunningham filing, then Smith has a surprising outside shot at making any runoff should the city's African-American community back him, but a Barack Obama victory in November may make it hard for her to ignore supporters demanding that she run.

Guaranteed there are still some surprises to come that may affect the Jersey City election.

Early odds have Mason as a best bet for winning the Hoboken mayoral contest, but the laws of political physics sometimes do not apply to the Mile Square black hole of intrigue.

She will have to deal with Councilman Michael Russo and family. Michael is interested in becoming mayor, but he will probably wear the Mason blazer - unless he reveals the Russo T-shirt underneath and files his own petitions at the last moment and explains how it will help Mason. Then again, can Russo run and share the same voters with Frank Raia, should he run? Michael may have to wait his turn and concentrate on running the city without the crown.

Councilman Peter Cammarano is being touted by some as Mason's chief competition. Can he raise enough dinero? Both sides say they are interviewing candidates while the other is trying to draft running mates.

Give Cammarano credit. He has been busy working the streets and Mason, while looking innocent as some operatives are bashing Michael Lenz and Carol Marsh, has been busy with her public records lawsuits.

The animosity meter is rising, and it's early yet. Some of the questions we need to answer are whether Mayor David Roberts will run again - it means spending money, Dave - and whether 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer can be goaded into facing Mason.

The pull of Hoboken's political event horizon is strong - even more than Jersey City's Ward E.