Brian Stack

At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano: Politicker photo 

HOBOKEN - Even members of his inner circle swear that they don’t yet know whether Mayor Dave Roberts plans to run for a third term in 2009.

Whatever his intentions, other Hoboken diehards are surfacing. No one’s announced yet, but fierce political battles now will undoubtedly have political consequences next year in this city stung by the embarrassment of a state takeover of its finances.

There are all of the usual speculations surrounding possible candidates. A sighting of former Councilwoman Carol Marsh at a municipal meeting provokes the conclusion in come corners that she’s definitely running. A recent inundation of photos of Mayor Roberts on the Hoboken website prompts someone else to opine that Roberts is running - bet on it.

Businessman and neighborhood kid made good Frank "Pupie" Raia?

Of course, he’s running, say Hoboken insiders. He always runs, and no doubt he will perpetuate his longstanding animus this year with Councilman Michael Russo, who clubbed him last year in their 3rd ward showdown.

Union City Mayor/Senator Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson): Politicker photo

UNION CITY - They call him "24-7," and on a brutally hot summer Friday when several other Hudson County public buildings look like the fixtures of a ghost town, Union City’s Brian P. Stack bounds down the steps of City Hall and keeps on the move.

"Yo, BPS," a kid wearing a headband cries in greeting, and he gives the mayor a fist pump as he cruises up 49th Street leading a contingent of the under 15 crowd.

"Go, Brian!" the kid shouts over his shoulder.

As he does every Friday, Stack presided over wedding ceremonies in the morning. Now he oversees mobile constituent services ten blocks away from City Hall in the concrete center of this Hudson County city of 70,000 densely packed people - mostly Latinos - where City Hall sports dual busts of George Washington and Cuban hero Jose Marti.

Police barricades stand at either end of the street, at Hudson and Palisade. A hot dog vendor gives out free dogs and sodas, courtesy of Stack - and under a tent in the middle of the block, the mayor in a tie with his suit jacket slung over the back of his chair, calls out the next name on a long list of names.

State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).: Politicker photo 

Nothing’s ever rock solid in politics, but the top of the Trenton power heap may contain more potential for movement than usual in the lead-up to Statehouse reorganization come January.

Two possible factors include Speaker Joseph Roberts’s (D-Camden) imminent departure from the Assembly, and the possibility that a newly crowned Obama administration would haul former Wall Street guru Gov. Jon Corzine out of New Jersey to crunch numbers in Washington.

In the thicket of this political drama, it’s difficult not to identify Senate President and former Governor Richard Codey (D-Essex) as a protagonist.

"I’m just a kid from Orange," Codey told a packed auditorium in his native Essex County town last month - but he’s also a former governor, who by all appearances liked the job and enjoyed great popularity.

The Guttenberg town council will meet either this week or next to decide on who will fill the office of former Mayor David Delle Donna, who stepped down late last month after his conviction on corruption charges. 

The Municipal Democratic Committee submitted three names to the council: Margarita Batista; former Vasilios G. Scullous; and James Hannon. 

The mayor will serve until November, when he or she will have to run again in a special election.       

Jersey City Mayor and Hudson County Democratic Organization Chairman Jerramiah Healy said that he’s sticking with incumbent Frank Lautenberg if he faces a primary challenge from Rep. Rob Andrews.

Healy pointed to 2002, when Lautenberg stepped in to replace ethically troubled incumbent Sen. Robert Toricelli on the ballot.

The Hudson County peace agreement was meant to be formalized in Jersey City today, with virtually every major elected official in the county coming together the put the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) together again.

This morning, citing scheduling conflicts among several officials, the HCDO postponed the event to an unscheduled time next week. But multiple sources say that the real reason the presser was cancelled was because the most important player – Union City Mayor and State Sen. Brian Stack – refused to attend.

Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Director Craig Guy said, however, that Stack did not refuse to attend the press conference.

Barack Obama may have rallied thousands of Jersey City residents on Mayor Jerramiah Healy's turf last week, but the Hillary Clinton campaign sought to make one thing clear today: the bulk of Hudson County public officials are with them, even if Healy, the mayor of the county's biggest city and chairman of its party, is not.

Governor Jon S. Corzine and Sen. Bob Menendez headlined a press conference today at The Turning Point restaurant in their hometown of Hoboken, emceed by Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan and attended by over two dozen elected officials, at least a few of whom occupy different sides of the Hudson County Democratic split.

And while Clinton wasn't there today, Menendez promised that she would be in New Jersey before the February 5th.

There are not many sure things in New Jersey politics, but here’s one: you haven’t heard that last of Bernard Kenny.  The Senate Majority Leader, who decided to retire rather than fight Brian Stack in a Democratic primary (or challenge Jerramiah Healy to keep his Hudson County Democratic Chairmanship), continues to be the topic of considerable mystery these days as Democrats from Hudson County – and beyond – wonder what really happened on the morning of July 18.  That mind of speculation won’t go away, even after Kenny leaves office in a few weeks.

It was one of those Hudson County moments. West New York Mayor Silverio “Sal” Vega, who ran in a nasty State Senate primary race against Union City Mayor Brian Stack, stood with Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, a Stack ally, to announce a peace agreement of sorts in the 33rd district.

During the primary campaign six months ago, Vega had called Stack “crooked,” compared his hold on Union City to a cult of personality and accused him of bribing county committeemen and women to take their names off the ballot. Stack responded by Vega a “puppet” of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).

West New York Mayor/outgoing Assemblyman Silverio "Sal" Vega, who lost a bloody state senate primary campaign against Union City Mayor Brian Stack, appears ready to bury the hatchet.

Tomorrow, Vega and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner will hold a press conference in 56th Street and Blvd East in West New York to call for unity in the 33rd legislative district. Vega said that Turner will appear on behalf of Stack, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires and the rest of the rival Democrats for Hudson County.