Both men see themselves as "reformers" who would like to see Mayor Anthony Russo and his team swept out of City Hall. Both men have railed against "overdevelopment" in town and have worried that residents have not received enough back in terms of lower taxes as a result. Yet there they were both talking about running for mayor.
On Thursday, the two men told the Reporter that Roberts will run and Lenz will advise him.
Roberts and Russo won't necessarily be the only candidates in the election - anyone else can register by mid-March to run in May. However, any independents who run will have to face two well-funded tickets, as Russo's team has already amassed more than $350,000 in contributions and Roberts expects to raise at least $100,000 .
Politicos all over town said last week that Lenz will be Roberts' paid campaign manager, but Roberts and Lenz said that such an agreement has not been decided.
With Lenz taking a back seat, Roberts said that he had no more reservations about running for the highest office in the city.
"I'm running for mayor," he said with a big smile Thursday morning. In addition to problems related to development, Roberts said that he expected to make the city's lack of parking, problems with traffic flow and the need for tax relief major issues in the election.
When told of the news that Lenz and Roberts would be working together, Mayor Anthony Russo acted like it was about as exciting as news that the sun would rise in the morning. Russo, who was first elected in 1993 and is nearing the end of his second term, has already announced his intention to seek a third term.
"This has been their political scheme from the get-go," Russo said. "Lenz was never going to run in the first place. They have only had this fake call for him to run for mayor to get a little publicity. But they should have played it a little closer to the chest. It would have helped them a little more."
"We've seen the polls," he added. "Nobody has ever heard of Lenz."
Russo said that he looked forward to the campaign and that he planned to run on his record of accomplishment, which includes cutting taxes or keeping them stable seven years in a row, and permanently preserving and enhancing the city's open spaces in places like Pier A Park.
Council candidate
An official announcement of Roberts' candidacy, and that of his slate of three at-large "Hoboken United" candidates, is expected on Monday, Feb. 12. Planning for a Hoboken United fundraiser, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 14, is well under way.
When asked whom he expected to run with, Roberts would only say that "some of the faces will be familiar and some will be new." The only confirmed member of the slate is City Councilman Tony Soares, who was elected to his at-large seat for the first time in a special election in November of 1999. 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr., a close ally of both Roberts and Soares, is a much-talked about possibility for an at-large seat. Russo said that he expected to run with City Council President Nellie Moyeno and City Councilman Steve Hudock. A third slot remains open.
"There are five or six people who are interested in being with us," Russo said. "But we are not going to announce until we have had an opportunity to be very clear about our choices and why we went about our choices the way we did. We don't want any hard feelings."
In addition to announcing his candidacy, Roberts also pledged not to throw the first stone in a race that many believe could become very personal.
The councilman and the mayor have known each other since they were kids. Russo, who used to be close to Roberts' brother Charlie, often frequented the ice cream parlor that the city councilman's mother once operated on Washington Street. Today that ice cream shop has been turned into East L.A., a Tex-Mex restaurant that is still operated by the Roberts.
In recent years, Roberts has gone from a leading Russo ally to a leading Russo critic.
On Thursday, Roberts said that he doesn't expect the mayor to refrain from slinging mud in his direction.
"I don't recall the mayor ever being in a campaign where it has not disintegrated to personal attacks," he said. "It seems to be a hallmark of his campaigns." Roberts promised, "We won't be the first to attack."
Russo took offense to Roberts' characterization of him.
"This is all a part of their strategy," he said. "They want to try to portray me in the mold of being a mean spirited, aggressive person. But that's not me."
"They are the attackers," he continued. "They have always been the attackers. I'm trying to do what government needs to have done here. I am not attacking anyone. I am just concentrating on what has to be done in this city."
That's beautiful, man
Lenz said that he decided to drop his mayoral ambitions after receiving a call from Roberts in December. Roberts was apparently moved to call after reading a letter to the editor Lenz had sent to the Reporter which laid out his ideas for how the city could move forward.
"[Roberts] reached out to me," Lenz said last week. "He said, 'Michael, everything you wrote is exactly what I've been trying to do on the City Council.' I thought about it for about five seconds and said, 'O.K.' And it's taken about a month to clarify all the issues and integrate our two teams. But here we are." Ultimately, Lenz said, he realized that the mayor's ability to raise money from local interests would make him difficult to defeat. "The dollars are on one side," he said, "and if you don't have all the [like-minded] people on the other, then you don't stand a chance."
Lenz also said that Roberts' willingness to play a vocal "good government" role in the City Council over the last six months had influenced his decision to pass on the mayoral race. In particular, he pointed to Roberts' willingness to fight against a change in the rent control laws that some say would have decreased the amount of affordable housing available in the city.
"I said last year that I did not want to support someone new who was just going to go in there and replace a bunch of hacks with a new bunch of hacks," said Lenz. "I stand by that. I'm convinced that as mayor, Dave will do what is best for this city, not what is best for the politicians."
Mayor has raised $376,000; Roberts to pay own bills
Running for mayor is not a cheap proposition. When all is said and done, pundits expect Mayor Anthony Russo to spend in the neighborhood of $500,000 to defend his mayoral seat. Challenger City Councilman Dave Roberts is expected to spend somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
Both men seem to be in a strong position to meet those targets at this point. According to an election report filed with the state on Jan. 11, the mayor, who files under the name Russo Team 2001, has raised $376,083.90 for the upcoming campaign. Russo Team 2001 reports $152,727.76 in expenditures.
Meanwhile, election reports for Councilman Dave Roberts are nowhere to be found, despite the Jan. 15 deadline for sending them to the state. The councilman said that this is because he is still in the process of assembling his team and fundraising efforts in earnest have not begun yet.
Michael Lenz, who is advising Roberts, said that their team would be able to raise the resources it needs to be competitive. Roberts, himself, is expected to kick in somewhere between $60,000 and $100,000 from his own pocket, Lenz said.
Roberts, who owns a restaurant and several other properties in town, joked Thursday that he would not be "putting up the kids' college funds" but he said that he would be making a "substantial investment" in the campaign.
He also said that he thought the campaign should not be that expensive, but that he was forced to raise that much to be competitive with Russo. "This should cost maybe $150,000 for the mayor and $100,000 for us to get our messages out and give the voters the information they need to make a choice," he said. "I'd be willing to agree to that kind of a limit - and give him that advantage - if Russo would be willing to give the rest to a charity." When told of Roberts' idea, Russo immediately said that he would be willing to agree to some sort of limits. Russo said that he did not plan to put any of his own money into the campaign.
"Dave Roberts is a multi-millionaire and he can well afford to ask his mom for the money," he said. "She controls the money, but I am sure that she will give it to him. But I just can't afford to do that."
Roberts, of course, argued that he only has to spend so much to combat Russo because the mayor inappropriately asks for big contributions from anyone and everyone who does business with the city.
"Some of the overdevelopment in the city could be linked to all these campaign contributions," Roberts said. Russo said this was hogwash.
"These people who do business with the city are pretty consistent," Russo said. "They will donate to whoever is there, whether it is Dave Roberts or me. In fact, Dave Roberts has taken money from most of them already in previous campaigns, so who is he kidding?"
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