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Posted by Pepe Bonmot
on May 29, 2002 at 05:33:43:
Wally Edge, PoliticsNJ, 05/29/02 ... In Hudson County, former Jersey City Councilman THOMAS DEGISE is challenging incumbent County Executive BERNARD HARTNETT in the Democratic primary. Hartnett won the job in a special election convention last October, following the resignation of ROBERT JANISZEWSKI. He is seeking election for remaining fourteen months of Janiszewski's term. Hartnett, who at the time said he was only a caretaker and would not run in the special election) was elected with the support of Jersey City Mayor GLENN CUNNINGHAM and Congressman ROBERT MENENDEZ (who succeeded Janiszewski as the Hudson County Democratic Chairman). But Hartnett and Cunningham have fallen out of favor with Menendez and the group of Democratic Mayors that control the powerful Hudson County Democratic organization. They are backing DeGise, who lost a runoff election for Jersey City Mayor to Cunningham nearly one year ago. The conventional wisdom is that DeGise defeats Hartnett. Jersey City no longer dominates Hudson County primaries; Union City and North Bergen are solidly behind DeGise, as are Bayonne, Hoboken and Kearny. Cunningham and State Senator JOSEPH CHARLES are the only major Hudson County Democratic leaders who are backing the Hartnett slate. The real race is in two Freeholder Districts, both centered in the heart of Cunningham's Jersey City political base. All nine Hudson County Freeholders, all elected in districts, are up this year. In district two, Freeholder WILLIAM O'DEA is running for re-election on the Hartnett line. His challenger is PETER BRENNAN, a Jersey City Councilman running on the organization line with DeGise. Freeholder WILLIAM BRAKER is seeking another term as the third district Freeholder. Braker, running on Hartnett's line, is opposed by former Jersey City Councilwoman MELISSA HOLLOWAY, who is Cunningham's cousin. In the fourth district, incumbent Freeholder NIDIA DAVILA-COLON is running on the organization line; Cunningham's candidate is ELIU RIVERA, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Community Action Organization. Hudson County insiders say that O'Dea and Colon are the favorites to win their primaries, and that the Braker-Holloway race is tight. ... For the complete article, see the Link.
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