If there was any doubt about Democratic support for the reelection of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, his filing of more than 10,000 signatures on his nominating petitions dispelled this.
Candidates running for office are required to obtain signatures of registered voters showing their support for the candidate. The number varies upon the office as well as the turn out in previous elections. Menendez needed to submit 1,000 by April 2 to qualify.
“The overwhelming response from voters in all 21 counties shows the breadth and depth of support for Senator Menendez,” said campaign chairman Michael Soliman. “Let there be no doubt – New Jersey’s got his back.”
Senator Menendez filed 10,352 petition signatures with the New Jersey Division of Elections on March 29.
But this doesn’t mean that Menendez has a clear path to reelection.
Lisa McCormick has filed petitions challenging Menendez in the June 5 Democratic Primary.
McCormick is a community newspaper publisher who first proposed to run for governor in 2017, but did not. McCormick filed slightly more than 1,500 signatures.
If Menendez survives the primary, he would face a Republican challenger in the fall. Three candidates are battling out for the GOP nomination in June.
Sires is unchallenged in primary
The U.S. Senate seat will occupy the top spot on the primary ballot in all towns in Hudson County. Second on the ballot for most of the county will be Rep. Albio Sires, who is seeking his seventh two-year term. For a time, rumor suggested that Freeholder Tilo Rivas would challenge him as part of an ongoing Democratic civil war lead by Union City Mayor Brian Stack and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.
Stack, Fulop, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, and West New York Mayor Felix Roque are seeking to take control over Hudson County government and the huge patronage mill of jobs and contracts.
Pushing back are Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, and the mayors of other small towns.
Menendez, apparently seeking to avoid taking sides in the war, threatened to run off the official Democratic line with Sires if Rivas ran.
Rivas apparently decided not to run, and the Stack-Fulop coalition could not find another candidate, leaving Sires to run unopposed in the primary, and run against Republican John R. Muniz of Jersey City in November.
In Secaucus and West Hudson towns, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. is opposed by William O. Henry of Paterson in the Democratic primary. The winner of the primary will then face off against Republican Eric P. Fisher of Fort Lee in November.
In Bayonne and portions of Jersey City, Rep. Donald Payne Jr. is being challenged in the Democrat Primary by Aaron Walter Fraser of Jersey City. The winner will go onto face Republican Agha Kahn of Jersey City.
Secaucus resident Pedro Mejia, who was named as temporary replacement for former Assemblyman Vincent Prieto in the 32nd District, may be running unopposed in November special election because no Republican has filed to run. But independent candidates have until June 5 to announce if they want to run.
Prieto resigned from the state Assembly to lead the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. His new appointment appears to be aligned with an effort by Gov. Phil Murphy to expand casino gambling to northern New Jersey. Two years ago, Prieto lost this battle against southern New Jersey leadership.
Twisting committee people’s arms
Prieto’s appointment to the plush Meadowlands job is one of the points of contention in the civil war as Stack and Fulop seek to gain control over a variety of appointments in the future.
While the election to unseat DeGise doesn’t take place until June 2019, a key battle will take place this June a week after the primary, when Democratic committee people from throughout Hudson County will have to elect a chairman to replace Prieto.
Stack was in line for the job until the war broke out last month. Now the mayors of each town are trying to cobble together enough votes to either elect Stack or keep him from the seat.
If Stack fails to secure the chair this year, he will face a serious uphill battle in 2019 when his candidate for county executive will have to run off the official Democratic line.
Bhalla in Hoboken is apparently trying to get the Democatic committee people there to unseat Hoboken Democratic chair Tiffanie Fisher.
Fisher and several other council members in Hoboken are supporting DeGise and could influence the upcoming vote in June for county chair.
Bayonne’s Democratic committee seats are up for reelection on June 5. Since these seats are largely controlled by Mayor Jimmy Davis they will be a block of votes against Stack.
Davis mayoral challenger Jason O’Donnell (one-time chair of the Bayonne Democrats) did not file any committee candidates.
While Stack can control his own seats in Union City, West New York is also divided. Mayor Roque may control some, but there is opposition against him and Stack by the other commissioners.
Jersey City is also a problem for Stack, since Mayor Fulop does not control all the committee people and a lot will depend upon other power brokers such as State Senator Sandra Cunningham.
The man who challenged Janiszewski dies
William “Bill” Macchi, who passed away on March 29 at age 79, always liked to talk.
If you wanted a history lesson on Hudson County politics, Macchi was a deep well of knowledge. But he was much more than an old timer filled with tall tales of political intrigue. He was a man who stood by his principles, often when it was not to his political advantage.
Although best known in Jersey City for his unsuccessful run against Thomas Smith for mayor in 1977, Macchi became a powerful voice against corruption when he ran against then County Executive Robert Janiszewski in 1995.
After vanquishing Jersey City Mayor Gerry McCann in the early 1990s for control of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, Janiszewski was at the height of his power.
Macchi, aware of problems behind the scenes, ran against Janiszewski, and though he lost, he raised the right questions.
Janiszewski later pleaded guilty to corruption charges, and the case revealed just how right Macchi had been during the campaign.
Before and after his unsuccessful campaign against Janiszewski, Macchi served in several roles in government, including as deputy mayor under Jersey City Mayor Paul Jordan in the mid-1970s and again under Republican Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler in the early 1990s.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.
