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Posted by Pepe Bonmot
on April 02, 2002 at 16:08:10:
Jersey Politics Threaten Menendez In Caucus Race April 1, 2002 Monday Although supporters of Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) dismiss the possibility that the Congressman's problems with Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham (D) could dog his Capitol Hill career, allies of the mayor have a different view. "There will be an offensive against Bob Menendez on every front - in Hudson County, throughout the 13th district, in Trenton and in the halls of Congress," promises Bill Ayala, Cunningham's chief of staff. Whether Ayala can deliver on his threat is unclear. But there is no denying that Menendez has a fight on his hands back home, and his opponents in New Jersey's Hudson County hope they can use the lawmaker's political ambitions - which currently involve his fight for the House Democratic Caucus chairmanship - against him. At its core, the Cunningham-Menendez feud is a battle for power and patronage in a county known as a Democratic bastion. Cunningham, who last year was elected the first African American mayor of Jersey City, is backing interim Hudson County Executive Bernard Hartnett Jr.'s efforts to be elected to fill the remaining year of an unexpired term. But Hartnett says he won't seek a full term even if he wins the special election, and that doesn't sit well with Menendez, who is the Hudson County Democratic Party leader. Instead of working out a compromise, Cunningham and Menendez have dug in for a fight. And here is where things start to get very interesting. New Jersey elections are often defined by local politics, since each county decides which candidates are given places on the organization's "line" on the primary ballot. The line is important because candidates have trouble generating name identification given the state's reliance on the New York City and Philadelphia media markets, thus enhancing the importance of each county organization's endorsement and get-out-the-vote efforts. Since Menendez is the Hudson County Democratic leader, he controls the "line" in the county, and he has recruited a candidate to go up against Hartnett (and, by implication, Cunningham). His choice, former Jersey City Council President Tom DeGise, lost to Cunningham in last year's nasty mayoral race. One of Cunningham's complaints is that DeGise used "race-baiting" against him in last year's contest. To make their case, friends of the mayor cite a DeGise TV ad that superimposed the word "rape" over a photograph of Cunningham as an announcer charged that crime rates (for murder, car theft and rape) increased during Cunningham's years as city council president. Not surprisingly, the mayor's allies see Menendez's selection of DeGise as an added insult. Cunningham has vowed to put together his own line in Hudson County, with a slate of candidates to oppose the county Democratic organization's. Of course, that also means a candidate to run against Menendez. It doesn't come as a shock that allies of Menendez dismiss the notion that Cunningham will be able to recruit a serious primary opponent for the Congressman. But Cunningham isn't stopping there. Since both Reps. Steve Rothman (D) and Donald Payne (D) have a slice of Hudson County in their districts, each will have to decide whether to run on Menendez's line in the county. Supporters of the mayor say they will recruit opponents for the other two Congressmen if they agree to run on the same line as DeGise. Sen. Robert Torricelli (D) will also have to decide on which line he'll run in Hudson County. The Senator and Menendez haven't had a close relationship. Torricelli backed then Senate candidate Jon Corzine (D) when Menendez was still considering a Senate bid, and Menendez short-circuited Torricelli's abortive gubernatorial race when he threw his support behind Democrat Jim McGreevey's candidacy for governor. Still, Torricelli is likely to run on Menendez's line, and there isn't much that Cunningham can do about it. DeGise is expected to beat Hartnett in the primary, only intensifying Cunningham's animosity toward Menendez. The mayor's allies see him taking his fight with Menendez to Capitol Hill, where he would portray the Congressman as supporting a candidate (DeGise) who injected race into last year's mayoral campaign. Cunningham, who has called Menendez "a political terrorist," might well make a special appeal to African American House Democrats to abandon their support of Menendez in his bid to become Democratic Caucus chairman. "He'll say that Menendez is in Washington playing the minority card, but is trying to humiliate the African-American mayor of Jersey City," says one Garden State Democratic insider not allied with either camp. "That could give some members of the Congressional Black Caucus just the excuse they are looking for to support Representative Rosa DeLauro [D-Conn.] for Caucus chair." So far, Menendez has been winning his fight in Hudson County, with most local Democratic officeholders siding with him against Cunningham. But on Capitol Hill, in his race for Caucus chairman, Menendez's prospects are less certain. DeLauro has clearly out-worked him. And some insiders believe his problems back home could weaken him in Washington and that a defeat on Capitol Hill could make him look less invincible to the folks back home. |
