Cunningham

Rep. Albio Sires confesses to having no life anymore. He spends most weekdays in Washington, D.C. and returns to New Jersey only on the weekends.

Apparently the Democratic Party politics of Hudson County prove too tempting to resist, however, as the one-time State Assembly Speaker and Mayor of West New York on Tuesday mounted a platform in Jersey City's Lincoln Park to declare his support for a roster of insurgent candidates in local, county and state Legislative races.

Standing at ground zero in arguably New Jersey's most contentious primary arena, Sires wasn't happy about it, but he did it.

"This could have been avoided," he said grimly of the latest round of factionalism in his home county.

Sheila Newton-Moses, Louis Manzo and Nicholas Chiaravalloti will challenge the HCDO slate in the 31st district Democratic primary
Assemblyman Louis Manzo announced his candidacy for State Senate today and will face the widow of his onetime political ally in the 31st disrict Democratic primary.

Manzo, a Jersey City Democrat, will run with Assembly candidates Nicholas Chiaravalloti of Bayonne and Shelia Newton-Moses of Jersey City against the Hudson County Democratic Organization slate: Sandra Bolden Cunningham for Senate, and Bayonne Councilman (and former Assemblyman) Anthony Chiappone and L. Harvey Smith, a former Jersey City Council President who served briefly as a State Senator and Acting Mayor, for Assembly.

Manzo, who said he was a friend for twenty years of the late Jersey City Mayor (and Senator) Glenn Cunningham, said the HCDO has sacrificed principles for political expediency, and presented himself and his ticket as "unbossed and unbought."

Chiaravalloti, who left his post as U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's District Director to make the race, said the choice in the election is "between change and the status quo," while Newton-Moses urged the voting pubolic not to be fooled in assessing herself or the likewise youthful Chiaravalloti.

There is a limit to what mortals can attain, and where the mortal strivings of one group fall off, another group begins, so there is never a totality of human endeavor, only the approximation of something whole, captured in a contest of opposing sides.
Such is waterfront politics in Jersey City and Bayonne.

Gearing up for primary season, the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) presented a “dream team� ticket of district 31 Legislative candidates last Thursday that includes some diehard Sen. Robert Menendez supporters, and the widow of the late Mayor Glenn Cunningham, who warred with the Democratic Party machine.

But in reconciling onetime opposites, the ticket also fails to include some key players, who themselves are mobilizing this week to emerge as part of another “unity ticket,� headed by veteran Assemblyman Louis Manzo.

The organization ticket brings Sandra Bolden Cunningham together with her husband’s old rival, former Jersey City Council President (and interim Mayor and State Senator) L. Harvey Smith; and Bayonne Councilman (and former Assemblyman) Anthony Chiappone, a Cunningham family ally.

Hudson County Democrats Joe Doria and Bernie Kenny will not seek re-election

Two Democratic State Senators from Hudson County, Joseph Doria and Bernard Kenny, will not seek re-election in 2007.

Kenny, the Senate Majority Leader and Hudson County Democratic Chairman, will announce late next week that he will step down rather than battle Assemblyman Brian Stack, the Mayor of Union City, in the Democratic primary. While he is publicly denying reports of his retirement, Kenny has let key party leaders know of his intention.

Incumbent Sal Vega, the Mayor of West New York, and Hoboken Councilman Ruben Ramos, will run for Assembly with Stack in the 33rd district.