NEW YORK TIMES SAYS CUNNINGHAM'S DEATH BRINGS OUT THE LONG KNIVES

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NEW YORK TIMES SAYS CUNNINGHAM'S DEATH BRINGS OUT THE LONG KNIVES

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Posted by You Are Here on June 07, 2004 at 17:09:06:

ON POLITICS
Ronald Smothers

New York Times
June 6, 2004

All the Niceties Aside, It Is Hudson County

JERSEY CITY The public silence among Hudson County politicians just days after the funeral of Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham would suggest that not much was happening.

That assumption would be wrong. This is Hudson County, after all, where no one can be expected to stand on either ceremony or sanctimony too long.

Even as Representative Robert Menendez, the putative Democratic leader of the county, was maintaining a sort of silence, and State Senator Bernard Kenny, his ally and county party chairman, was expressing public distaste at succession questions so soon after Mr. Cunningham's death, their minions now in control of Jersey City government were said to be shedding the mayor's appointees as a dog sheds fleas.

By one account, letters had gone out to the directors of some city agencies requesting that they submit letters of resignation. Others among the 800 city employees and 1,000 workers whose jobs are indirectly tied to City Hall said that they had not received such requests but considered their tenure to be a day-to-day thing.

It all led one of Mr. Menendez's former combatants to whisper an utterance worthy of "Macbeth."

"Menendez's best friends are death and indictment," he said, ticking off two calamities -the indictment of the former county executive, Robert Janiszewski, and the death of Mr. Cunningham -
that have helped Mr. Menendez, the third-ranking Democrat in Congress, to continue to consolidate his power in Hudson County.

Mr. Cunningham, the city's first black mayor, was a popular figure who had mixed results as he struggled with Mr. Menendez for control of the county Democratic Party. His personal charisma as well as his partnership with his wife, Sandra Cunningham, a former executive director of the county bar association, had done much to advance his cause.

But through it all, Mr. Menendez maintained control of the levers in the county and city governments.

With Mr. Cunningham's passing, that is not likely to change.

Harvey Smith, the City Council president and an ally of Mr. Menendez, will hold down the job of mayor for at least 30 days. Then the council, also controlled by Menendez allies, must name an acting mayor to serve until a special election in November.

As for the state Senate seat that Mr. Cunningham also held, it is the county Democratic committee, of which Mr. Kenny is chairman and which Mr. Menendez controls, that must name someone to fill the vacancy until a special election in November. For now, a party committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday to ponder the open position.

By all accounts, Joseph V. Doria, the mayor of Bayonne and a former 12-term assemblyman, is the choice of Mr Menendez to fill the Senate seat. Mr. Doria would say only tha By all accounts, Joseph V. Doria, the mayor of Bayonne and a former 12-term assemblyman, is the choice of Mr.

Menendez to fill the Senate seat. Mr. Doria would say only that he was "considering my options regarding the open Senate seat."

He must have been considering it pretty seriously , however, since Mr. Kenny said he had been approached by Mr. Doria about the job even before Mr. Cunningham's funeral. By the same token,

Mr. Kenny said, Mrs. Cunningham expressed similar interest when he visited her to convey his condolences.

It is what Thomas DeGise, the Hudson County executive and Menendez ally, called "standing up and asking for it" in the rough and tumble of Hudson County politics, where he said "no one was anointed."

Not surprisingly, the comment angered Kabili Tayari, president of the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., who delivered one of the more stridently political eulogies at Mr. Cunningham's funeral. The party leaders should be coming to Mrs. Cunningham, Mr. Tayari said, begging her to run as a way of honoring the memory of her husband.

"They only make those comments when it is about us," he said angrily, making it clear that the "us" to whom he referred were black politicians.

Such "anointing," he said, happens all the time in politics, adding, "If Sandy takes a stand, the people will be with her."

The unsubtle ugliness of racial politics was nothing new here.

Rick Thigpen, a lobbyist and former executive director of the state Democratic Party who was a consultant in redistricting efforts, had high praise for Mr. Doria and said he would make an excellent senator. But Mr. Thigpen pointed out that Mr. Cunningham's district - more than 50 percent black and Hispanic - had been deliberately drawn by the party to "address the ongoing problem of bringing black legislative seats in line with the large black role in the Democratic Party."

To name Mr. Doria to fill Mr. Cunningham's Senate seat, he said, would result in a district represented in Trenton by people named "Doria, Manzo and Chiappone."

"This is very delicate stuff, and it is not about right and wrong," Mr. Thigpen said. "Menendez is capable of handling this sort of thing with sophistication and without forcing something that will put racial solidarity at odds with Democratic political power."

But even as some of Mrs. Cunningham's supporters had visions of carrying her triumphantly to the posts vacated by her husband, they knew that the spirit of Frank Hague, the Democratic boss who ruled Hudson County with an iron hand for 30 years, still lurked in their midst, and that their dreams could be buried in the basement of City Hall here along with some of those storied ballots that never got counted.

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: ON POLITICS
: Ronald Smothers

: New York Times
: June 6, 2004

: All the Niceties Aside, It Is Hudson County

: JERSEY CITY The public silence among Hudson County politicians just days after the funeral of Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham would suggest that not much was happening.

: That assumption would be wrong. This is Hudson County, after all, where no one can be expected to stand on either ceremony or sanctimony too long.

: Even as Representative Robert Menendez, the putative Democratic leader of the county, was maintaining a sort of silence, and State Senator Bernard Kenny, his ally and county party chairman, was expressing public distaste at succession questions so soon after Mr. Cunningham's death, their minions now in control of Jersey City government were said to be shedding the mayor's appointees as a dog sheds fleas.

: By one account, letters had gone out to the directors of some city agencies requesting that they submit letters of resignation. Others among the 800 city employees and 1,000 workers whose jobs are indirectly tied to City Hall said that they had not received such requests but considered their tenure to be a day-to-day thing.

: It all led one of Mr. Menendez's former combatants to whisper an utterance worthy of "Macbeth."

: "Menendez's best friends are death and indictment," he said, ticking off two calamities -the indictment of the former county executive, Robert Janiszewski, and the death of Mr. Cunningham -
: that have helped Mr. Menendez, the third-ranking Democrat in Congress, to continue to consolidate his power in Hudson County.

: Mr. Cunningham, the city's first black mayor, was a popular figure who had mixed results as he struggled with Mr. Menendez for control of the county Democratic Party. His personal charisma as well as his partnership with his wife, Sandra Cunningham, a former executive director of the county bar association, had done much to advance his cause.

: But through it all, Mr. Menendez maintained control of the levers in the county and city governments.

: With Mr. Cunningham's passing, that is not likely to change.

: Harvey Smith, the City Council president and an ally of Mr. Menendez, will hold down the job of mayor for at least 30 days. Then the council, also controlled by Menendez allies, must name an acting mayor to serve until a special election in November.

: As for the state Senate seat that Mr. Cunningham also held, it is the county Democratic committee, of which Mr. Kenny is chairman and which Mr. Menendez controls, that must name someone to fill the vacancy until a special election in November. For now, a party committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday to ponder the open position.
:
: By all accounts, Joseph V. Doria, the mayor of Bayonne and a former 12-term assemblyman, is the choice of Mr Menendez to fill the Senate seat. Mr. Doria would say only tha By all accounts, Joseph V. Doria, the mayor of Bayonne and a former 12-term assemblyman, is the choice of Mr.

: Menendez to fill the Senate seat. Mr. Doria would say only that he was "considering my options regarding the open Senate seat."

: He must have been considering it pretty seriously , however, since Mr. Kenny said he had been approached by Mr. Doria about the job even before Mr. Cunningham's funeral. By the same token,

: Mr. Kenny said, Mrs. Cunningham expressed similar interest when he visited her to convey his condolences.

: It is what Thomas DeGise, the Hudson County executive and Menendez ally, called "standing up and asking for it" in the rough and tumble of Hudson County politics, where he said "no one was anointed."

: Not surprisingly, the comment angered Kabili Tayari, president of the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., who delivered one of the more stridently political eulogies at Mr. Cunningham's funeral. The party leaders should be coming to Mrs. Cunningham, Mr. Tayari said, begging her to run as a way of honoring the memory of her husband.

: "They only make those comments when it is about us," he said angrily, making it clear that the "us" to whom he referred were black politicians.

: Such "anointing," he said, happens all the time in politics, adding, "If Sandy takes a stand, the people will be with her."

: The unsubtle ugliness of racial politics was nothing new here.

: Rick Thigpen, a lobbyist and former executive director of the state Democratic Party who was a consultant in redistricting efforts, had high praise for Mr. Doria and said he would make an excellent senator. But Mr. Thigpen pointed out that Mr. Cunningham's district - more than 50 percent black and Hispanic - had been deliberately drawn by the party to "address the ongoing problem of bringing black legislative seats in line with the large black role in the Democratic Party."

: To name Mr. Doria to fill Mr. Cunningham's Senate seat, he said, would result in a district represented in Trenton by people named "Doria, Manzo and Chiappone."

: "This is very delicate stuff, and it is not about right and wrong," Mr. Thigpen said. "Menendez is capable of handling this sort of thing with sophistication and without forcing something that will put racial solidarity at odds with Democratic political power."

: But even as some of Mrs. Cunningham's supporters had visions of carrying her triumphantly to the posts vacated by her husband, they knew that the spirit of Frank Hague, the Democratic boss who ruled Hudson County with an iron hand for 30 years, still lurked in their midst, and that their dreams could be buried in the basement of City Hall here along with some of those storied ballots that never got counted.

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