Posted by Steven Glazer-Urban Times News on August 16, 2003 at 15:54:38:

HCDO ELECTION CHALLENGE: HISTORY WILL TEACH US NOTHING Urban Times News Steven Glazer, Email: sglazer@urbantimesnews.com More About Steven Glazer and the Urban Times News If you can’t beat ‘em fair and square, just find another way. The state’s attorney general, Peter Harvey, has decided to assist the judicial branch of the state government by adding his opinion to factors being considered by Judge Arthur D’Italia. D’Italia is the Hudson County Superior Court Assignment Judge currently considering a motion to dismiss the election challenge by losing machine candidates in the June primary. Peter Harvey is an appointee of Governor James McGreevey. McGreevey, in turn, was elected in large measure thanks to the efforts of attorney Donald Scarinci, Treasurer of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, who has filed the suit. This June’s primary gave an upset victory to the slate of Glenn D. Cunningham, Jersey City’s first African American Mayor, who won his Senate primary, along with Assembly running mates Louis Manzo and Anthony Chiappone. Losers Joe Doria, Elba Perez Cinciarelli, and Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith, all running on the Hudson County Democratic Organization ticket have filed suit to overturn the outcome. HCDO has dominated Hudson County politics for years, since the time of legendary Mayor Frank Hague, whose reign ended in 1947. Party control passed to John V. Kenny, who ran every aspect of Hudson County until finally convicted in a massive corruption scandal known as the “Hudson 8” in 1971. Along with John V. Kenny, many others were named, including Bernard Kenny who remained an “unindicted coconspirator.” Kenny was the father of Senator Bernard F. Kenny,Jr., the current Chair of the HCDO, fighting off the inroads hard won by Cunningham and his group of reformers. Kenny is also apparently implicated deeply in the corruption investigation being prosecuted with the cooperation of Janizsewski, caught in a Federal “ sting.” Cunningham’s base of political power is Jersey City’s African American Ward F. One hundred years before the term Hudson 8 was coined a more recently arrived minority group of immigrants, the Irish, managed to gain control of the local government. And when they did, the Machine in power at the time, “The Bumsted Ring,” rallied their influential connections in the state government and simply changed the form of the local government, creating a new one run by the state assembly.

“THE BUMSTED RING” FROM THE JERSEY CITY HISTORICAL PROJECT: William Bumsted, Jr., was a staunch Baptist who neither smoke nor drank. A true child of the Gilded Age he saw public life as a way of advancing his business interests. As an alderman he used his connections to make money for his street paving and sewerage company. He was finally censured in court for voting on contracts in which he had a conflicting interest. In the meantime, by 1871 Irish immigrants succeeded in taking control of the Mayor's office and the Board of Alderman. The nativist ruling class was disturbed at the prospect of rule by immigrants and the sons of immigrants. Bumsted was a chief architect of a scheme to deprive the Irish of municipal power. He and other influential men managed to get the State Assembly to cancel the old city charter, which provided for a board of elected Alderman with the so-called Commission form of Government wherein the State Assembly appointed five boards of Commissioners to run Jersey City. Thus in 1872 appointive government replaced elective government and the mass of Irish immigrants lost control. The new charter became known as "The Thieves Charter" and a syndicate of commissioners and other influential men became known as "The Bumsted Ring." In 1872 every single commissioner was indicted on one charge or another and Bumsted was charged with defrauding the city of $30,000. He alone would get a jail sentence of one year. Eventually, after about 7 years, a Democrat controlled assembly would overturn the "Thieves Charter' and restore elective goverment to Jersey City. Machine politics would take over Jersey City as Frank Hague sought to set right the grievances that Irish Catholics harbored against the old ruling class of American born Protestants. * *The Bumsted Ring” reprinted with permission of Bob Leach, Director, The Jersey City Historical Project.

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