Diaz takes over in New Jersey's 'City by the Bay'

Hundreds of Perth Amboy residents, several legislators, four mayors from neighboring towns, two congressmen and one U.S. Attorney filled the local high school’s auditorium to near capacity today to inaugurate the city’s new mayor, Wilda Diaz, for a four year term.

Diaz, the first female mayor of Perth Amboy and first Latina mayor in the state, won an upset victory against 18-year incumbent Joe Vas, who remains an Assemblyman. Also sworn in today were Diaz’s two council running mates, Kenneth Balut and Fernando Gonzales.

U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, who faced a primary challenge by Vas for his seat in 2006, introduced Diaz to a standing ovation.

Diaz, 43, began her speech by thanking Vas for his service as mayor, and acknowledged his role in the waterfront development that has revitalized parts of this old this old, industrial town of 48,000.

“I know you love this city as much as I do,” said Diaz to Vas, who was sitting in the front row. “Ad the city appreciates and will continue to appreciate his commitment to the Perth Amboy renaissance for years to come.”

Diaz called herself the “luckiest woman in Perth Amboy,” recounting how her parents moved from Puerto Rico to a town public housing complex, where she lived until she was 14, when they purchased a home. After beginning her career as a bank teller, she eventually became a successful banker and community activist, and in May went on to win the biggest upset of the month’s municipal elections, beating Vas by a margin of 61% to 39%.

But while she remained gracious to Vas -- despite the nasty campaign both just emerged from -- Diaz and her running mates outlined reformist agendas for the city and cautioned residents to expect budget deficits and cuts ahead due to decreases in state municipal aid.

“Unlike prior years when a municipality encountered financial trouble, we cannot turn to the state to bail us out of these difficulties,” she said. “There are difficult choices ahead and there is no room for political wheeling and dealing.”

Diaz even tightened the belt herself, saying she’d make good on her campaign promise to accept a salary of $20,000 under her predecessor’s and limit her terms to two years, and said she hopes to change the city’s charter to institute limits of two terms for the mayor and four terms for the council. Vas’s salary was $105,800.

Moreover, Diaz promised greater transparency in city government, encouraging residents to actively participate in it. She criticized the controversial anti-pay-to-play ordinance that the council enacted just two weeks ago – which was championed by Vas -- as not extensive enough and said she would ask the city council to revise it immediately.

To emphasize her ethical standards, Diaz invited U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to speak at today’s event.

“When the new mayor asked me to be here, I consented because I’ve traveled around the state for the last six and a half years always being asked by regular citizens what they can do to make the state of New Jersey a better place. My answer is always the same, and that is that democracy is not a spectator sport… that there is no municipality so large that an active, informed group of citizens can’t ban together to change it,” said Christie, who before speaking emphasized that he was not offering an opinion about the outcome of the election.

“I think that Mayor Diaz represents today the type of citizen involvement.”

Although Vas will be out of the mayor’s office for the first time since 1990, he’s poised to remain an active force in local politics. He remains in the Assembly, and was recently elected Perth Amboy Democratic Municipal Chairman.

Vas said that he has “absolutely no regrets” about his time in office, listing his accomplishments. Prior to the event, he cautioned that campaign promises may not be easy to enact.

“I think when people have the opportunity to judge it outside of the drunken stupor of a political contest, when people look at the history of this city in the context of the time, they’ll see we turned the city around, achieved a great amount of progress, put the city on an economic foundation it never anticipated it would recognize and saw an unprecedented amount of social, economic and physical change,” he said. “It’s fine to have people enjoy the moment of the electoral victory, but it’s about governance. Politics is just momentary. After that you have to put into practice those promises you made during the campaign. And from my point of view I want to see the mayor succeed.”