BOSSES OF NORTH JERSEY: Today is election day for the city council in Hoboken and surrounding communities, and several slates of candidates are seeking to challenge those loyal to Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts. Roberts, who despite his name is an Italian-American (and also owns a Mexican restaurant on my block), came to power two years ago, and is facing multiple challenges to his "Hoboken United" ticket. One day last week I saw Roberts shaking hands with constituents outside the Starbucks on Newark Street, while his blood enemies were conducting their mini-rally less than a block away.
One of the insurgent slates is led by Tony Soares, a city councilman who happens to be a dwarf, and got his start in politics as a national spokesman for the Little People of America. Two weeks ago, a clown entertaining children at a Roberts campaign event repeatedly used the word "midget" in his act, upsetting Soares who, ironically, holds the "at-large" council seat for Hoboken.
But the Hoboken machinations are nothing compared to what's going on in suburban North Bergen. Mayor Nick Sacco, also a state senator, is running for re-election as well as leading a slate of candidates in elections to fill the Board of Commissioners, and the mud has been flying mercilessly. Sacco's administration was investigated for corruption last year by the FBI, and while no wrongdoing was found on the part of the mayor, that hasn't stopped a truly bizarre campaign commercial from his opponents, in which they claim Sacco must be guilty because "the FBI doesn't make mistakes" (they don't?). The ad also complains that Sacco, who was elected in 1991, has been mayor too long, and "only communists and dictators stay for too long"; finally, they say Sacco "wants you to think he's the Saddam Hussein of North Bergen." Huh? I'm surprised they don't go the full monty and just call it "regime change."