March 18 - Make Wall Street Pay! Good Jobs Now Rally in Jersey City

by: Hudson County AFL-CIO

Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 11:12:19 AM EST

Hudson officials behaving badly

by: Thurman Hart

Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 02:20:07 PM EST

Story 1:

Former town construction code official Franco Zanardelli has been sentenced to two years in federal prison, a $25,000 fine and two years of supervised release after his term, for extorting more than $30,000 from individuals and business owners.

By way of example, Zanardelli admitted that he accepted a series of corrupt cash payments in connection with exercising his official influence in connection with a building project on Johnson Place in West New York. In total, Zanardelli admitted that he accepted more than $30,000 in corrupt cash payments and other benefits in exchange for exercising his official influence as West New York's Construction Code Official.

In addition to his position as West New York's Construction Code Official, Zanardelli became the Construction Code Official for the Town of Guttenberg in or about 2006, having first been employed as a Building Inspector by that Town from in or about 1999 to in or about 2006. Also, Zanardelli was employed as a Building Inspector by the Town of Secaucus since in or about 2004.

Hi, I'm new here

by: Johnny Action Space Punk

Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 12:48:48 AM EDT

The lesson here is this; a city can have a bad reputation, it can have one of if not the most corrupt city governments going, it can be loud and crime can be on an uptick. BUT when you take the time to get to know the people you find THEY are the true measure of the town. They are the salt of the earth, they are your neighbors who hate the crime and graft just as you do. Citizens of New Jersey you have shattered every stereotype I'd ever read or heard about you. Everyone has been helpful beyond belief. I've found one of the tastiest Thai restaurants ever in Jersey City, 'More'. I enjoy walking along the Hudson River, I love Liberty State Park. I point out to everyone I know that the Statue of Liberty is actually located in Jersey City.

So thank you good people of New Jersey and specifically Jersey City, you've made us feel welcome and shown us a pretty good time. Yes, the government needs work but then again, after coming from just outside of Detroit and watching the Kwame Kilpatrick debacle, hope remains here for us to clean it up together.

Tomorrow I feel like I really become one of you, after 46 years as a Michigander, tomorrow I'll fly my Garden State and yes BLUE Jersey flags proudly.

P.S. I still hope my Red Wings crush the Devils when they play. SOME things won't change ;)

You can find me and yell at me here:
http://jerseycitydesk.blogspot...

Best to all my New Jersey neighbors!
Johnny

Redistricting in 2010

by: Matthew Jordan

Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 02:11:28 AM EDT

I don't know what anyone else in the Blue Jersey community thinks, but I know nothing aggravates me more in New Jersey politics than the configuration of our current Congressional and Legislative Districts.  If one were to Google Incumbent Protection Plan - New Jersey should be at the top of the list. Democrats and Republicans share the blame on this matter. Legislators cut deals all over the State to make their districts safer - and we should not let that happen again in 2010.  

Competitive elections are the bedrock of effective and accountable representation.  We need more "toss up" Senate and Assembly races up and down the State so that legislators are governing and serving the best interests of their constituents, and not best interests of corporate lobbyists and political insiders.  I will address the political implications that will arise (for example 2 incumbent Senators from varying or like parties falling in the same district), but will not make political circumstances the basis for my analysis.    

So in the interest of creating a more effective, and more importantly, more democratic, State Legislature, I am going to propose hypothetical legislative districts.  My formula will be simple: New Jersey's population is approximately 8,682,661 people; therefore, each district should have roughly 217,067 people in them.  Secondly, I will make every effort to keep municipalities together within a County - it makes sense from a logical and logistical standpoint.  Finally, I will not breakup any cities or towns into separate districts.  Democrats effectively broke up Newark and Jersey City during the last go round, and even though my party benefited from it, I still think it is wrong.      

Some other notable points in how I will come about developing a hypothetical district: I will make every attempt to keep like communities together.  For example, my hometown of Wanaque shares a regional high school with neighboring Ringwood; as such, there is no reason why we shouldn't share our State Senator and Assembly members.  I will make every attempt to make as many districts as possible competitive and will only be looking at Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Passaic counties in a vacuum-I don't know enough about local politics and municipalities in the other counties, so I wouldn't be able to render a fair assessment like I can for the aforementioned counties.  Therefore, I will only be creating hypothetical districts for LD27 through LD40 (while plucking the Passaic towns from LD26 and excluding LD30, which for whatever reason is listed with North Jersey legislative districts).  

Political Machines and Glass Ceilings

by: Scott Weingart

Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 05:33:07 PM EDT

Curiously, Latinos are particularly underrepresented at the local level. Of the county's twelve mayors, just one are Hispanic. Three of the county's four majority-Hispanic municipalities have a white, non-Hispanic mayor. In total, somewhere between a quarter and a third of the other local local officeholders in the county are Hispanic.

Municipality	White non- Hispanic	Hispanic/ Latino	Mayor
Union City	13%	82%	Brian Stack
West New York	15%	79%	Silverio Vega
North Bergen	32%	57%	Nick Sacco
Guttenberg	32%	54%	Gerald Drasheff
East Newark	45%	48%	Joseph Smith
Weehawken	50%	41%	Richard Turner
Harrison	47%	37%	Raymond McDonough
Jersey City	24%	28%	Jerramiah Healy
Kearny	60%	27%	Albert Santos
Hoboken	70%	20%	Dawn Zimmer (acting)
Bayonne	70%	18%	Mark Smith
Secaucus	70%	12%	John Reilly (acting)

Latinos are similarly underrepresented in Hudson County's state legislative delegation. Only twothree of the county's nine state legislators, the two Assemblymen from the 32nd district, are Hispanic (again in bold; African-Americans are in italics).

District	White non- Hispanic	Black	Hispanic/ Latino	Senator	Assembly Members
LD-31	34%	28%	22%	Cunningham	Chiappone (busted) Smith (busted)
LD-32	42%	5%	40%	Sacco	Prieto Quigley
LD-33	31%	3%	58%	Stack	Ramos Rodriguez
Total	36%	12%	40%	2 white 1 black	3 white 2 hispanic 1 black

Latinos fare somwheat better in county government, where they hold three of nine freeholder seats and the position of sheriff. On the federal level, Albio Sires represents most of the county in the US House, and his predecessor in that district, Bob Menendez, is one of the state's two US Senators; both Sires and Menendez are Cuban. Still, less than one-third of elected officials from the County are Hispanic.

Latinos are not the only underrepresented group in Hudson County politics. Women are even scarcer among public officeholders than Latinos, even though they cast a majority of the votes in every election. Just two elected officials in Hudson County government and two of the county's state legislators are women.A woman has never been elected mayor in a Hudson County municipality, and no woman even served as one until Dawn Zimmer was sworn in as Mayor of Hoboken following the resignation of Peter Cammarano earlier this month. Just 30% of all local officeholders in Hudson County are women, and only in Kearny do they hold a majority in local government.

Nowhere is the glass ceiling so shatter-resistant as in majority-Hispanic North Bergen and Union City, the political fiefdoms of the Hudson County's two Senator-Mayors. Both are Walsh Act municipalities, and thus they are each governed by a five-member commission which elects a mayor each year. The "mayor" merely chairs the commission; he has no more executive power than the other four commissioners. In many Walsh Act (and Township form) municipalities, commissioners (alternatively, township committee members) will usually allow the title of mayor to rotate between members of the majority party from year to year. Yet in North Bergen and Union City, Nick Sacco and Brian Stack have hoarded the mayoralty for themselves for 18 and 9 years respectively. While the title of mayor isn't necessary for either Sacco and Stack to continue manipulating the levers of power, it undoubtedly helps each maintain and maximize control over his town. There are women and Latinos on both commissions who are capable of chairing a commission meeting, but they stand little hope of becoming mayor as long as Sacco and Stack are around. Machine politics in Hudson County no doubt includes women and minorities in the process, but positions of leadership largely remain the domain of white men.

Corzine and The Pain of The People

by: RynMelberg

Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 05:45:22 PM EDT

Jon Corzine on the other hand has the proven financial chops: led a multi-billion dollar, global corporation and successfully reduced the burden on New Jersey tax payers by 4 billion dollars, yep billion with a "b".  He also, as he promised four years ago, aggressively attacked corruption with an absolute zero-tolerance policy, passing a pay-to-play ban state wide, ending double and triple dipping on state benefits and pensions, and even got a ban on dual office holding.  Corzine successfully reduced the opportunities for corruption and the costs to New Jersey's tax payers.  He did all of this on the cusp of the worst financial crisis to hit our state in literally 59 years.  

On paper, Corzine's re-election looks like a no-brainer.  So why is the Governor struggling in the polls and even in his "home base" of Hoboken and Hudson County?  Most columnists will claim Corzine is tainted by the corruption scandal of  44 individuals in New Jersey and New York arrested in July on charges of wide-spread bribery, money laundering and human organ trafficking.  The picture of Gov. Corzine with former Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano at Cammarano's inauguration is the most sited.

Is it possible in a city and county that has a history of corruption that traces its infamous roots back to the Revolution War truly likely to be so swayed by one picture?  To be honest, the answer is no.  Sure a few "reformers" may be but the majority of voters know that if all elected officials were branded guilty by association, then there would be no one running for governor or running any government in New Jersey at all.  And Jerseyans have proven that they aren't going to throw the "baby out with the bath water".  

So what is holding Jon Corzine back in his bid for re-election? In short, Jon Corzine.  New Jersey's unemployment is over 9%.  In Jon Corzine's home county of Hudson it as consistently been the highest unemployment rate in the entire country and as been over 10% since the spring.  And all the ills of unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, increasing crime, etc., have plagued Corzine's base.

And here is the rub, while Jon Corzine comes from humble Midwestern roots he is and has been for many, many, many years a billionaire - yep billion with a "b".   Corzine during the best of times is not a warm speaker.  He tends toward professorial, corporate speak like he is in front of employees and shareholders.  It is a valuable skillset in the right context but not this one.  Corzine is weak speaking off-script (did you see him on The Daily Show) and weaker still when speaking from the heart.  

And he didn't help his heart-chances in the selection of is running mate.  Loretta Weinberg is 74 years old, double the median age of New Jersey voters (36.7), and from about the third sentence in her acceptance speech as Corzine's running mate, she has been the attack dog of the campaign.  From the mind of the 30-45 year old voting block of the Hudson, Bergin and Essex Counties, grannies got teeth when they want a hug.

Somewhere, somehow the Corzine/Weinberg campaign needs to recognize that people vote from the heart or gut far more then their head and they need someone who can speak to those voters.  When people are daily fighting to keep their homes, preserve their businesses, are losing sleep over financial worries, what case can a billionaire make to them?  What can Corzine or someone from his campaign to relax their tense muscles in their shoulders and stomachs?  Who with a voice of authenticity can say "I'm voting for Jon Corzine because my financial situation would be worse if he wasn't my governor" and "I can't afford, my family can't afford anyone else but Jon Corzine as our governor".

Simply: voters need to know Jon Corzine feels their pain and has a prescription to make it go away.    

The big fish, the rabbis, the players & getting "treated like a friend"

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 08:35:05 PM EDT

The ironies and contradictions of today's news whip the head around. Contradiction: This is bad news, as Jason points out. But it's also good news; when rocks are pried up and sunlight hits what squirms underneath, it's a victory. You know it is.

Contradiction: Today was a shock, but no surprise to a lot of weary voters. This is why people don't vote, why they throw their hands up in disgust. Ironically, the disgusted ones are precisely the ones we need engaged.

You've seen the big-name arrest list and the extraordinary perp walk, pols shuffling off one FBI bus, and rabbis another. Envelopes stuffed with cash. Meetings in diners. Promises made for introductions only to "players" who would "do the right thing" if greased sufficiently. A complex system of rabbis, and "cash houses" to launder dirty money. This is a bad movie.

Shoes still to drop Information may still sift in. Court-ordered search warramts were executed today for about 20 locations in NJ and New York to recover, among other things, large sums of cash. And 28 seizure warrants were executed against bank accounts of the money laundering defendants, and the entities in their control. There were 300 agents involved, in 54 locations in NJ-NY. And there is one charge of trafficking in human kidneys.

How did it work? What's still not clear to me is the extent to which all these politicians' alleged bad acts are tied together. To what degree were they in league with each other?

One clue to how federal investigators think it worked is included in a description of where their investigation started - with the money laundering - and how it wound its way to the pols.

The "CW," the Triangle, and the rabbis... Law enforcement, along with the cooperating witness (in documents, "CW") widely rumored as Solomon Dwek, infiltrated a pre-existing money laundering network between Deal, NJ, Brooklyn and Israel. The related investigation - hauling inthe politicians - has roots in 2007 Hudson County, when the CW started showing up looking to nab public contracts in the county schools.

He got himself introduced to a Jersey City building inspector. And from there a web of introductions and referrals grew that eventually included elected officials, council and mayoral candidates, zoning officials and others in official capacity, mostly in Hudson. Here's how (from the US Attorney's office statement):

In part, the bribe-taking was connected to fund raising efforts in heavily contested mayoral and city council campaigns in Jersey City and Hoboken, and the bribes were often parceled out to straw donors, who then wrote checks in their names or businesses to the campaigns in amounts that complied with legal limits on individual donations - so-called conduit or conversion donations. Other bribe recipients took cash for direct personal use and benefit; others kept some of the cash and used the rest for political campaigns, according to the criminal Complaints.

The biggest fish may be Peter Cammarano, just sworn in as Hoboken mayor days ago, and also a lawyer. He's charged with taking $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 just one week ago, from an undercover witness.  Cammarano's alledged to have taken cash bribes to grease the skids for a high rise development by the witness. At the diner meeting, Cammarano promised the CW "...you're going to be treated like a friend."

Like a friend ...

Sex Offender Unit Ordered Closed/ Who wants it?

by: firstamend07

Mon May 18, 2009 at 05:41:56 PM EDT

KEANRY -- New Jersey will have to find a new place to house sexually violent predators currently being held in Hudson County.

An appeals court has given the state corrections department a year to move the offenders from the county correctional facility in Kearny, where they've been held for several years on a temporary basis.

The dispute between the county and state dates back to an executive order issued by former Gov. Christie Whitman in 2000.

Whitman ordered more than 100 offenders classified as sexually violent predators to be housed at Kearny while the state sought a permanent home.

But efforts to relocate the offenders have been defeated by strong local opposition.

Two years ago a huge battle occured in South Jersey as the Department of Corrections tried to sneak the sex offender unit into the largest Prison in the state which is located in Bridgeton. State Senators Sweeney and Van Drew, and Assemblyman Burzichelli successfully won out, but now a court order has said the unit has to  be closed and there is little room in the prison system , especailly since Riverfront State prison in Camden has closed , to absorb this unit.

This could be a real political headache for Democrats in Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester counties if Corrections Department officials " dust off " their old plan to move this unit down South.

No one wants it in their back yard and there is no money to purchase land and build a whole new unit .

If it is not absorbed into one of the 13 remaining prisons where will it go? Will your county take it????  

He'll have plenty of time to make copies now

by: Jason Springer

Sat Dec 20, 2008 at 01:15:00 PM EST

An man employed by Hudson County for the past two decades agreed to give up his job as a condition of pleading guilty Thursday to stealing copying paper from the Hudson County Administration Building, officials said.

Shawn Haley, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of under $200 before Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan yesterday, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio yesterday.

On Oct. 22, Haley was caught by Hudson County sheriff's officers as he was stealing the paper at the building at 595 Newark Ave. in Jersey City, DeFazio said. Haley faces a term of probation when he appears before Callahan for sentencing, DeFazio said.

Un-FREAKING-believable!

by: Thurman Hart

Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 07:57:59 PM EDT

The North Bergen High School athletic director and wrestling coach suspended in March after he was charged with being part of a gambling ring run by the Genovese crime family entered a pre-trial intervention program last month and is back in his job, a spokesman for the district said Friday.

The athletic director, Jerry Maietta, will also not face any departmental charges, said the the school district's spokesman, Paul Swibinski.

In general, I'm a fan of pre-trial diversion programs.  They give first-time offenders a way to straighten out their lives before they get into serious problems.  Plus, they actually save a ton of money by not forcing pro forma trials on the system.  Depending on the exact nature of the program, sometimes a person can get a blank slate when they successfully complete their program.

But I think this case may be misguided.  Maietta is a teacher, and a teacher supervisor.  But it isn't like he's a math teacher - he's the athletic director.  What high school activity do you think is most likely to be the focus of gambling?  Math?  History?  Athletics?

I don't know what the extent of Maietta's activity in the gambling ring was, but I know this - most teachers' contracts contain ethical behavior guidelines.  This should fall outside of those guidelines.  There should be some consequence other than getting time off with pay for a few months.  Maybe he shouldn't be fired.  But he shouldn't be a supervisor.  He shouldn't have any direct student contact.

Only in Hudson County can having mob contacts be entirely swept under the rug.

The Unfair Fare

by: Thurman Hart

Mon Sep 22, 2008 at 10:31:38 AM EDT

The short story:
1) Recent emigre Gerhard Hofer loses $1 in the automated ticket machine at the Hoboken lightrail station.  

2) Not wanting to miss his train, Mr. Hofer gets on the train without a ticket.

3) Mr. Hofer is arrested in Jersey City for failure to pay his fare.

4) Mr Hofer tries to pay his fine online, but cannot because he doesn't own a vehicle.

5) The Court postpones his hearing from June 20 to July 19.

6) The Court postpones his hearing from July 19 to Aug 4.

7) Mr. Hofer asks for a postponement and heads back to Germany for vaction.

8) Mr. Hofer receives letter notifying him there is a warrant for his arrest.

9) Mr. Hofer asks a police officer what to do about the letter and is arrested.

10) Mr. Hofer is not carrying $250 in cash, is not allowed to use an ATM or his credit card, is relieved of his possessions (including his belt and shoelaces) and is sent to county lock-up in Kearny.

11) Mr. Hofer is processed into the county jail and held overnight - in sub-human conditions - and has a tele-conference with the judge in the morning.

12) Mr. Hofer is sentenced to time served, fined $10 for court costs, and released - in Kearny, without his belt, wallet, or shoelaces.

13) Mr. Hofer walks across the street to a warehouse his company uses and borrows $10 to get back to Jersey City.

14) Mr. Hofer is told he cannot reclaim his possessions until Tuesday morning because of the Labor Day holiday.

15) Sgt. John Reo, seeing that Mr. Hofer is distressed, calls a retired officer (Dennis Carroll) who still has keys to the evidence room and retrieves Mr. Hofer's items.

Mr. Hofer's experience is a frightening reminder that our justice system is sometimes too blind.  What bothers me just as much, however, is that the good Samaritan who removes Mr. Hofer's possessions from police custody has no business having that kind of access.  It doesn't take a genius to know that this access, while used for a benevolent service in this example, could just as easily be used for malevolent purposes.  I'm not accusing Mr. Carroll of anything, but if he still has keys - and it's known to Sgt. Reo - then who else has keys without current proper authorization and who else knows how to make use of that knowledge?

Your cash fits nicely in my pocket

by: Thurman Hart

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:36:13 PM EDT

The senior cashier for the Surrogate Court of Hudson County has been charged with official misconduct for allegedly pocketing a portion of the money people paid for copies of documents at the court.

On June 18, Angelina Pierre-Louis, 59, of Broadway in Bayonne, was also charged with tampering with public records following an investigation that included sending undervocer officers to the court.

What's suprising is who got the ball rolling:

The investigation started after Hudson County Surrogate Donald DeLeo noticed discrepencies and contacted the prosecutor's office.

It's nice, but this is truly small fry.  Less than $200 was missing.  That we know of.

Why a paper trail is necessary

by: Thurman Hart

Mon Jun 23, 2008 at 12:17:39 PM EDT

Instead of this "bomb", or to ease the conspiracy theorists rants, why not just look at the current Hudson County Clerk's Live Election Website where it reports all districts in?

Well, if you actually look at the results, it raises more questions than it answers.  So we have us a recount:

"We had very disturbing reports of machine malfunctions, a challenger going into the voting booth in School 8 and a board of elections worker who we heard was asleep on the job," she said yesterday. "It was a real learning experience of how things are run up there."

In seven or eight districts in the Heights, she said, Romano got more votes than U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, said Garcia-Keim.

Apparently, Frank Lautenberg is less popular in the Jersey City Heights than an  unknown Hoboken police captain.  Or, if you prefer, more people were willing to vote off the line for Senator than for Freeholder.  Given that Andrews had a really weak showing in Hudson County (duh!), that doesn't seem logical.  

It's even more interesting to come up with a scenario for people not voting for Rothman - who was unopposed - but deciding to vote for Romano for Freeholder.  That makes absolutely no sense - Freeholder races are notorious for low turnout.  Most Freeholder candidates would be happy if the number of votes cast in their election was even close to equal that cast for either the Senator or Congressman.

I don't have much faith in the recount process, though.  Make the jump and I'll explain why.

How to make yourself look stupid while attacking people

by: Thurman Hart

Sat May 24, 2008 at 06:46:38 PM EDT

As you can tell, it is designed specifically to appeal to the overtaxed New Jerseyan who has no clue what county government does.  But think about this for just a moment:  What is a "per person per household" tax?  

County property taxes are not assessed per capita, but per unit of value of constructed buildings.  My share of the county tax burden will increase by the same amount no matter if I live alone or with fifteen other people.  Simply put - it is an outright lie to say that any county tax hike will increase taxes by any amount per person per household.  It just doesn't work that way.  You could say "an average household" will face a tax increase of whatever - but that isn't what good old Poopie is saying.

The taxes my wife and I pay didn't go up when we had the twins and, if we have another (or ten!), that will be immaterial to the calculation of our taxes.  I'm going to inflict some math on you after the jump, because I'm going to show you what a liar Poopie old Frank Raia is.

Was Justice Sold to Ambition in Hudson County?

by: Thurman Hart

Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 03:24:08 PM EDT

Yes, David and Anna della Donna were convicted of three out of five counts against them - and I'll be the first to celebrate the jailing of another guilty public official.  But if Luisa Medrano gets off scot free - like Javier Inclan - then there is no way to call this anything close to justice.  The della Donnas are guilty of letting greed rule their hearts and taking money to make legal problems go away.  Luisa Medrano is guilty of procuring slaves and beating them, if necessary, into submission so she could boost her profits (and, depending on your point of view, she may be guilty of murder as well).  Javier Inclan is guilty of simply not caring that this was going on.  He is guilty of smiling into the mirror at the cretin that was more worried about moving up in the Democratic Party than he was about anything - ANYTHING - that happened in his own community.

Complete trash.  Every stinking one of them.  But one of them will get up tomorrow and go to work as a representative of our state, work in our name, get paid with our money, and look at his boss with guilty eyes and say, "If I were guilty of something; they would have prosecuted me."

So why is Chris Christie willing to let this go unpunished?  Why is he willing to deal with modern-day slavers and corrupt politicians who are totally bereft of any political compass just to get two more convictions on his belt?  Does he fear angering the Hispanic voters by going after two shitbags that deserve to be shot more than prosecuted?  

Why is Anne Milgram letting this go unpunished?  Why is she not filing charges against a bar-owner who forced a woman held in slavery to take abortion medication after the clinic had told her that her pregnancy was too far advanced?  Why is she not pounding her desk in anger that Medrano ordered the actions that caused an infant to be born early and die horribly?  Why is she not hauling Inclan out of his office by the scruff of his neck and planting a stiletto heel against his backside?  Why isn't she sticking him in a witness chair and making him look at the picture of the child his nonchalance towards corruption helped to kill?  Does she need her next job so badly that she can't be troubled to fulfill the moral obligations of this one?

Why is Governor Jon Corzine so blind?  Why can he not see that his willingness to take no action actually blesses such actions and - not merely encourages - ensures that it will happen again and again and again?  Has he become so lost in Trenton that he cannot find his own soul?  Is he so enwrapped in Hillary Clinton's bubble that the angels of his heart cannot rouse him with the river of their tears?  Is he so sure of his Secretary job in DC that he is willing to crap all over the honest and decent people still fighting for a better New Jersey?

I'm asking everyone to send the following message to our Attorney General:

I would like to understand why charges have not been filed against Javier Inclan - he has sworn in open court during the trial of David della Donna that he violated any number of laws by not upholding his duty as Treasurer of the Guttenberg Dems.  Furthermore, Nadia Davila-Colon was convicted of doing the exact same thing Inclan admitted to doing.  Are there any plans to take action against him?

Then do the same for Jon Corzine.

What's in this rice pudding?

by: Thurman Hart

Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 05:30:46 PM EDT

This was not entirely unexpected.  Brian Stack had to donate to charity contributions made by Medrano after she was indicted for human trafficking, forced alien labor, and conspiracy charges.  At the time, Stack defended his honor by pointing out that Medrano had used her Fairview address to mislead his campaign.  He stated:

"Anyone who knows my record knows how strong I have been on [the bar establishments]," said Stack. "My biggest opposition has come from the bar owners."

Exactly.  Just like Elliot Spitzer busted a couple of prostitution rings - but that didn't stop him from blowing $80,000 on whores.  The question facing Mr. Stack would be: Why were you so hard on bars and why did they oppose his election?

Is it the rice pudding, baby?  Click on through.

"We like screwing Hudson County residents!"

by: Thurman Hart

Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 05:29:38 PM EDT

We don't know about the booze question, but the discussion evolved into a desire by the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders to expand its travel and meals reimbursement policies for county workers to cover those in autonomous agencies - Schools of Technology, Improvement Authority, etc.

Then that new troublemaker, Freeholder Jose Munoz of West New York, asked whether they, the freeholders, are subject to the same policy - the one that does not allow such reimbursements as alcohol, health spa massages, or stays at five-star hotels.

No, they are not. Who can go on a trip and how much they can spend each day is apparently at the whim of the chairman of the county panel, and this time around it is Jersey City's Jeffrey Dublin.

On Thursday, Munoz motioned to introduce legislation that would make the freeholders follow the same travel and meal rules county workers must obey. O'Dea seconded Munoz's motion.

If you're brave enough, click through and see the asshattery.

While you were splitting

by: Thurman Hart

Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 06:18:13 PM EDT

If you've followed anything in Hudson County politics of late, you know that the long-feared Hudson County Democratic Organization is...well, dis-organizing.  To be more precise, it is (or has or some form of "to be") split.  Sort of.  Maybe.  

It all started when the earth cooled.  But that's too much history to cover here.  Fast forward to a time before State Senator Bernard Kenny fell while jogging and somehow sustained injuries that looked a lot like he got hit by a car.  In fact, go back just far enough for Jon Corzine to win the 2005 election as Governor of New Jersey and watch him name 13th Congressional District Congressman Bob Menendez as his replacement.

Immediately, all of the ambition that had been capped by Menendez' undeniable command of the District came uncorked.  People went crazy.  Cats were sleeping with dogs, unicorns were goring people in the streets, and Albio Sires, the sitting Speaker of the Assembly, was challenged in the primary to replace Menendez by Joe Vas (sort of - Vas actually didn't file for the unexpired term, only for the new term that started in January of 2007).

From there, it kind of gets crazy.  If, that is, by "crazy", I mean "totally predictable and chaotic". Make the jump.

Cut the Patronage Tax

by: Thurman Hart

Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 02:56:48 PM EST

I Have a private business and work in the registers office in Hudson County. It's sad to say, but generally speaking, Ms Flood's problems are just the tip of the iceberg in county government. To oversimplify it can be described as a too many chefs not enough Indians problem. The chiefs all look out for themselves, the gravy train is just too good. In just looking at the registers, and I've been there for 30 years, one notices a pattern. First they get elected, (by the way this election is actually an appointment by the Hudson County political machine in an off year election, its symptomatic of the broken democracy in this county) then they introduce them selves, and they make appointments, and then disappear for most of the time. The reason why they disappear is that there's not much to do. The people that do the work do it well and do it with out the political hacks and appointees. Also these people are making far less than the hacks and appointees. The registers job is a symptom of the great overriding political problem in New Jersey in which only makes the tax burden greater than it already is.
Instead of raising tolls, and raising taxes, then telling us that "we all must share in this burden" Our governor should look to break the political machines throughout the state. In other words fix the problems, don't through money at them.

A Tale of Two Counties (and one Presidential Candidate)

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 09:38:48 AM EST

IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way

So is the comparison between the supporters of Hillary Clinton in Hudson and Bergen Counties.  Click on through to the other page.  You'll be glad you did.