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Hudson County Politics Message Board |
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Posted by Jay Stevens, The Urban Times News on September 26, 2003 at 18:07:01:
The Urban Times News
Nostra Culpa
For our part, we feel a deep sense of shame and guilt for the part we may have played in the current sorry state of affairs of Hudson County Politics today. Bernie Kenny Jr. himself said that Glenn—That would be Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham--the guy who had no chance of winning, could kiss any chance of peace between the warring factions goodbye as long as the Urban Times was doing that thing it does even though nobody reads it, not even you. County Executive Tom “No County Tax Increase” DeGise said the same.
We are going to call Glenn Cunningham and tell him that we have resolved to turn over a new leaf and write only nice things about Organized Crime from now on, just as soon as we can find some. We are certain that once we start to do that a new era of peace and tranquility will blossom and the leaders of HCDO (We won’t even call them what they really are anymore) will give Glenn a fair shake and the respect and courtesy he deserves. It is all our fault. We will be conciliatory and a new era of détente and Glasnost will flourish all through the land of Hudson and a glorious new day will dawn.
Sure, it will. And if grandma had wheels, she’d be a trolley. We are stuck in this old time TV motif and that is a line from some bad television show back when there were three channels and they were all lousy. There were times when a “good” show-one that did not stink-was on and they were watched by millions. There was nothing else, after all. For years, people of Hudson County could vote for the HCDO candidate of their choice. Henry Ford pioneered mass-production techniques of modern manufacturing with his model T. To simplify the manufacturing process for greatest efficiency, Ford made one product, the Model T, and it came in one color only. He said that the people could have a model T in any color they wanted as long as it was black. Early TV was black and white. Here in Hudson, you could vote for any crook you wanted as long as he or she was a member in good standing of Organized Crime.
On top of bucking the machine built up over a century, on top of whipping the daylights out of HCDO in the primary, Glenn Cunningham, Jersey City’s first African American Mayor, has brought diversity to Hudson County politics. No wonder these HCDO guys are having canaries and pitching fits and behaving irrationally. When they lost the election challenge case last week they roundly cursed Peter Harvey, New Jersey’s Attorney General.
They lost not because of anything Peter Harvey did or did not do. They lost because they first of all did not get enough votes. Then they lost again in court because they came in with a half-baked case. Mostly, they lost because they did not have a case. They lost, not anybody else. And they managed to do it with all the advantages that money could and did buy. They probably ran more bad commercials in the thirty days before the primary than all three networks combined in the first decade of commercial television. Trust us, in those days, all commercials were bad. But none of them were like the HCDO commercials. There was an unwritten rule back then that you did not knock your competitor directly. You might sometimes refer to Brand X, the other guys. Everybody knew exactly whom you were talking about, but you did not come out and say their name. It just wasn’t done. In the case of scouring pads, Brillo would run commercials saying, “Pink Pad, you’re all through in this town.” Everybody knew that meant Brillo’s competitor, SOS. You just did not say SOS. You said “Pink Pad,” and it worked.
HCDO spent their entire advertising budget running ads in print, on radio, and television, talking specifically about how bad Glenn Cunningham was. Of course, they could not produce anything real. Their message had about as much substance as their election challenge case and it turned off many voters with its negativity. Peter Harvey had nothing to do with that brilliant bit of marketing. We Cunningham supporters thank you HCDO, and especially you, Mr. Tony Bawidaman campaign mastermind. Donald, you should ask for your money back. You are going to need it. We cannot wait to see what happens next. This is much better than any TV show. At this point we would normally expect to hear Javier Inclan say “Ooooh.” Maybe not this time.
AND NOW, HERE’S THE CHIEF! HIT IT, JAVIER. “Ooooh.”
Up in Weehawken, in a little love nest Union City’s ex Chief of Police Paul Hanak and his main squeeze, Arthur Hodge were hauled in during a drug bust that was the product of months of investigation, according to the story that appeared in the JJ. The burly cop’s manfriend, was apparently one of the top people in the heroin ring. When police entered the apartment they found drug paraphernalia all over the place.
Ms. Thing was a key player in the drug ring having graduated from medical school with the necessary lab skills to cut and weigh and process the pure dope for distribution at the retail level. Police told the Hudson County Democratic Journal that the ring was raking in about $10,000 to $15,000 a week in sales, mostly heroin with a touch of coke thrown in the mix. This was no weekend warrior operation run out of the ex-COP’s love nest. Yet Hanak walked away without heavy charges despite Prosecutor DeFazio’s comment to the press that Hanak’s roommate, Hodge, was a key person in the drug ring and his bail was set at $250,000.
There was no description of the premises in the article other than “one-bedroom.” Hanak was probably able to convince the arresting officers that he did not know what his manfriend was up to though police entering the apartment said that drug paraphernalia was in plain sight.
Hey, wait a minute! Hanak? Union City? We have to go check on something. Be right back…
Sure enough. What the daily urinal article neglected to mention was that Hanak is and has been a heavy and long-time campaign contributor to Organized Crime and in particular, somebody else from Union City. In fact, this other Union City person is the one who is responsible for getting Hanak the top cop job. This other Union City person used to be the mayor of Union City. This other Union City person has moved up the ladder now and is making a career of busting chops all over Hudson County from a safe distance, from down in the nation’s capital.
Professional courtesy alone might have gotten Hanak the walk. But being tight with this other Union City person does not hurt. And it is cheap at the price when you think about it. It is strictly cash and carry. County contracts, civil service jobs, get out of jail free, what have you. All it takes are some “campaign contributions.” How can you beat that? Just contribute early and often. That way, if you forget to vote nobody will care. Ya gotta love it here.
Okay, Javier. NOW! “Ooooh!”
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