Posted by Jay Stevens, The Urban Times News on September 23, 2003 at 09:45:03:
The Urban Times News
by Jay Stevens--email: jstevens@urbantimesnews.com
ONE FALSE MOVE, THEN ANOTHER, AND ANOTHER…
The end is near. The guy with ice water in his veins, with all the warmth and charm of a reptile, cries crocodile tears at the death of a newspaper columnist. This is a guy famous for refusing to have anything to do with burying his own father. His father allegedly committed suicide but was nevertheless his father. But he “sobs” on hearing of the death of a guy not his own flesh and blood.
Sources who were present at a recent awards luncheon told us that again, the iceman, The Don, the boss of all bosses, he who would rather be feared than loved, got all weepy and teary-bleary presenting a community service award at a community service award luncheon in Union City. According to our source, the majority of those present were a little taken aback by the uncharacteristic show of emotion from Organized Crime’s fearless leader, Rep. Robert Menendez, D-13. The consensus was that such emotionalism was highly irregular and “odd” that The Don should be so emotional.
Those who know Menendez well and who have followed his rise over the past 30 years tell us they can recall only one other time that he cried in public. That, they tell us, was at the death of former Mayor Bruce Walter. Those sources add cynically that The Don only cried over Walters’ death because he was losing an important campaign worker, political operative, and fund raiser. Besides, who would make all those trips down to the Caymans now that Walters was gone. This came just a day after another in a series of stunning jolts to what was once The Power.
Maybe Boss Bob was crying for reasons having nothing to do with the occasion. Maybe he was seeing his career pass in front of his eyes. Maybe instead of a vision of a big gracious Antebellum mansion all in white with pillars in front he now sees looming a forbidding grey fortress with bars and razor wire everywhere. Maybe he sees his name being scratched off the “short list,” of possible vice-presidential choices. As the Evil Empire stumbles unthinkably, the iron hand of the boss is beginning to lose its grip, and falter in ability to reason.
SLOWLY THEY TURN, STEP BY STEP…
Bile spewed everywhere when the HCDO case was kicked out of court for, basically, lack of a case. “Someone will pay for this,” seemed to be the underlying conviction and theme as The Don lambasted everyone in sight, with the tasteful, tactful, and highly advisable exception of Superior Court Judge Arthur D’Italia. These days it is probably a good idea not to antagonize any judges if you are involved in HCDO. You just might wind up right back in front of the same guy you just said unkind things about. So The Don let fly at the Attorney General, Peter Harvey, and The Governor, James McGreevey. It made as much sense as crying at an awards luncheon.
Not that any of it made much sense. HCDO outspent their opponents easily five to one in a primary contest pitting as many of their candidates against the same number of Cunningham Team candidates for the same number of offices. The Cunningham Team spent about $350,000 on the entire campaign for all candidates combined. Organized Crime admitted spending $2 Million according to their top people. They then turn around and accuse Cunningham and his running mates of spending more than the law allows. Naturally they are upset that they flushed Two Million Bucks down the toilet only to get trounced and humiliated at the polls. Not to mention that they have brought down a ruling from the Hudson County Superior Court that calls into question campaign finance as we have known it for the last 30 years.
The judge ruled that the spending limits, yet to be tested, and never proven, do not apply anyway in primaries. In effect, Organized Crime is humbled again. The rage is compounded by the additional hundreds of thousands of dollars flushed down the toilet again in legal fees, flushing good money after bad. You would be a little upset too. It is a little like doubling your bet on a bad hand, playing the long shot, knowing that it won’t work, but going for the pot anyway on sheer bravado and bad judgement. And, damn if you don’t lose. You can’t really say you were surprised now, can you? You knew you never really had a shot. Insanely, they are already threatening further challenges and appeals, seemingly determined to go double or nothing on the already bad bet on mid-six figure legal bills. Either they are feeling very lucky, or they know something the rest of us don’t, or, as we fear, have finally taken leave of their senses entirely.
Uncle Harvey, one of the HCDO losers in the contested primary, came right out and admitted that he knew that he never really had a shot with the me-too lawsuit he filed challenging the election results. In Harvey’s deposition he was asked if he knew that the allegedly illegal votes he was challenging in his suit were too few to change the outcome even if he were to prove that every last one were illegal. Harvey agreed that there were about 1,600 disputed votes. Harvey agreed that he in fact lost by more than 2,000 votes. He was then asked why he was bringing the suit. Harvey became irate and insisted, repeating “It is my right. It is my right.”
We could not agree more. It is absolutely Harvey’s right. Our nation has gone to war to defend that right. It is not his right to enforce it at the expense of others, however. Attorneys for the Cunningham Team are now preparing suit, amongst other things, to recover what they were forced to spend to defend this spate of frivolous election challenges. That is really going to light these guys up. Imagine if they now have to reimburse the Cunningham people for the legal fees they were forced to spend by Organized Crime insisting on their “rights.”
This is not the behavior of guys at the top of their game, “in the zone.” This is not the kind of thinking we want to see from our elected officials and leaders. The Don was joined in his hissy fit on the courthouse steps by underboss Bernie Kenny Jr. who has been exhibiting signs for months now that he is missing a few dots off his dice. Bernie Jr. has been muttering irrationally for quite a while now how he and his family are being “savaged” in the press by a mysterious newspaper that nobody reads. He also has a very tall “friend” and coconspirator named Harvey to top it all off. What does that tell you?
This is scared behavior brought on by mind-bending stress and acute anxiety. When these guys lose elections they lose the ability to peddle influence and favors and it hurts their pockets. It diminishes their ability to “raise” money and solicit “contributions.” You probably thought we were going to say something else, didn’t you?
Add to that the chilling specter of those around you receiving a blizzard of “target letters” from federal law enforcement officials and you have a recipe for rapid decline in all respects. Trip, stumble, fall, lose power, influence, and revenue, and the shadow of the long arm of the law can be seen reaching in your direction. That’s enough to give the average person the jitters. But don’t take it out on The Governor and The Attorney General. What did they ever do to you? You lost the election even with a $2 Million warchest against your opponent’s piddling little $350,000. They had a battery of howitzers. Cunningham’s guys were armed with pea shooters, by comparison. And they lost badly anyway. Whose fault is that? Harvey? McGreevey? And what did they want McGreevey and Harvey to do? Declare martial law? Send troops? Occupy Hudson County? Sometimes we think that would not be a bad idea, but for different reasons.
DID ANYBODY HAPPEN TO NOTICE?
The Don was conspicuous by his absence during the entire election challenge as though he had nothing to do with it. Bernie Kenny Jr. is running the Machine now, right? Yeah, right! But when the case was thrown out it was just too much for The Don and he just lost it. By his violent overreaction, if he were truly detached, he just confirmed again who is The Boss of all Bosses. The Don is the boss, make no mistake, and the County is his and so is the organization. If you believe that Javier Inclan and Bernie Jr. are anything but second stringers running in with plays sent by the coach, you are terribly mistaken. And did the Boss not react as though the ruling were an insult to him personally? We found it insightful, but maybe we are reading too much into it.
WAITING FOR THE FALL-OUT
Since we are in killing time mode waiting for the next prosecutorial shoes to fall, we can suggest a little filler activity to help pass the time a little more quickly for the real hardcore political junkies out there. Let’s look for signs of heightened antipathy and friction between The Don and The Donald. There has been an estrangement of sorts since the famous flying ashtray incident that marks, at least in our mind, a kind of turning point, a defining moment, between The Don and his longtime confidant, advisor, and fundraiser, attorney Donald Scarinci. Scarinci, The Donald, is a McGreevey guy. The Don, is most certainly not a McGreevey guy: far from it. Earlier this year The Don referred publicly to McGreevey as an idiot, much to The Donald’s displeasure.
Now The Don has taken on not only McGreevey, but a handpicked member of the McGreevey team, Peter Harvey, who he has singled out for particular criticism in the loss of the election challenge. According to both Menendez and Bernie Kenny Jr., echoing the sentiment, if not the words of The Boss, Harvey is guilty of everything from questionable ethics to outright responsibility for the loss of the case. Apparently they feel that since they supported McGreevey in his election campaign for governor, he now owes them and, by extension, so too does his choice of Attorney General. Harvey should have objected to the case being heard in Superior Court in the first place and should have acted more vigorously to stop it, as though that would have given the HCDO’s weak case more substance.
So far The Donald and McGreevey and Harvey have not reacted to Menendez and Kenny’s rants. Sooner or later though there must be an equal an opposite reaction, as Isaac Newton taught us nearly 300 years ago. It is just a law of nature and will surely follow.
CATFISH JONES
Roger “Catfish” Jones just doesn’t get it. This is a guy who has been a loser in everything he has ever touched. He cannot get along with people-any people—not his first partner in his advertising firm, not with his first boss, Gerry McCann, who brought him into the Hudson County political scene then booted him halfway through his four-year term. Roger has always thought that he was more important than he really is. All his girlfriends have to pass the brown bag test. Incidentally, Roger could not be a member of the Jack and Jill Association.
LEAVING THE PLANTATION
Uncle Harvey has lately been threatening to leave the plantation after being passed over for County Clerk in favor of Javier Inclan. Harvey, threats only work on people who care. You are mistaking Boss Menendez, your plantation overseer with somebody who might actually give a damn. Harvey has not yet gotten it through his head that he has been used and discarded like a Kleenex and now that he has served his purpose they have no further use for him nor does the Boss care whether Harvey stays or comes or goes. Uncle Harvey and his mighty team of Negroes has turned back the clock on progress for African Americans.
PINK PAD SYNDROME STRIKES ANOTHER JC COUNCIL MEMBER
Council member Junior Maldonado has been real quiet since Ward C Council Member Steve Lipski took his place and his chair at the head of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. Besides getting pushed out himself as Chair of the JCRA, Junior has another problem that may be a little more serious: finding a new job for his wife. Since ex-Assembly woman Elba Perez Cinciarelli won’t have a job anymore, neither will Mrs. Junior. And Mrs. Junior is the one who really wears the pants and calls the shots in the Maldonado household: when she says jump, Junior just wants to know “How high?” Junior was the first to jump ship and defect to the camp of Organized Crime after first getting everything he could for himself and his family. Now Junior is getting some of the same Kleenex treatment as Uncle Harvey. It makes an interesting picture the two of them, Uncle Harvey and Junior treading deep water, watching their ship sail off far from land. This time the ship has abandoned the sinking rats and is sailing off over the horizon leaving them with no way home. Junior has said that he will be the candidate to run for Jersey City Mayor against Cunningham. If Junior does run for Mayor we want to go on record as saying we will be among the first to donate to One Dollar to his campaign, just to make sure that he gets some support. We always liked Junior and don’t want him to get beat up too bad.
GLENN CUNNINGHAM, THE COS, AND DOCTOR CHARLIE
We know that it is hard to believe, but mistakes do happen. Would you believe that the State appointed Superintendent of Jersey City’s Schools, Doctor Charles T. Epps forgot to invite the Mayor of Jersey City to the recent convention in the Continental Arena? Just the same way that Doctor Charlie “forgot” to invite the Mayor of the City that is the home of the school system he heads, a little poetic justice gave the occasion a little balance. Seems that the guest and keynote speaker was Mega Star and celebrity Bill Cosby. Seems also that The Cos did support the teachers and sort of “forgot” to mention the central office and the administrators. Oops, sorry about that. Needless to say, the administrators, including Doctor Charlie were not too happy about that.
BLIND AMBITION-SOME PEOPLE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR ATTENTION
We have been watching with great interest the goings on surrounding the reuse of the Jersey City Medical Center. In the midst of the community activism of residents wanting to make their voices heard in the selection of a plan and a developer for the reuse of the trophy property, a star is attempting to get born. Our reporter just relayed to us the latest Mellissa Hollaway sighting. A former council member, Mellissa has been hovering around looking for a way back in to the action. She lives near the Medical Center and so has thrust herself into a highly vocal and visible role in the forefront of the activists seeking to have input into the shape of things to come. In her latest theatrical exploit, the quest for stardom brought her to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency meeting dressed exactly like “I Dream of Jeanie.” Melissa looked like she just stepped out of The Arabian Nights, complete with silver headdress, and a blue harem suit with lots of bare skin in the midriff and big baggy pyjama-pantaloons, according to our reporter. Our reporter—trust us—is no fashion expert. But we questioned him very closely once he stopped rolling on the floor laughing. It appears that Mellissa would not have looked any less ridiculous had she walked in wearing a NASA space suit or a Scuba outfit. She did get everybody’s attention, however and get noticed, which is apparently what counts. Unfortunately, there were no paparazzi on hand to capture what was surely a great Kodak moment when the divine Ms. H made her grand entrance.
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