If past turnouts are an indication, approximately 7,000 of the roughly 40,000 Hoboken residents will cast a vote.
With flyers circulating around town bashing Mayor David Roberts' fiscal acumen, some people believe the campaigning has already begun.
The political vultures may be circling, but Roberts isn't a lame duck yet. On Thursday, Roberts was in his office pounding his desk, decrying the lack of leadership in town, and wondering who would step up to the forefront.
Roberts, the 36th mayor of Hoboken, said he hasn't ruled out running for a third term as head of the mile-square city.
When asked in an interview about the prospects of another campaign, he said in a moment of levity, "I think the current guy is doing a good job."
More seriously, he added that he and his wife only spent six months together before he started his 25-year career in politics by running for council. He said most of their time together has been in the public eye, especially during an election.
"We're going to make a final decision on that very, very soon," he said.
But Roberts won't be alone if he does decide to run, with as many as five other candidates rumored to be joining the expensive and arduous campaign trail.
Not a kickoff
Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason mailed out two double-sided color flyers attacking Roberts last week, but she denies it is part of a mayoral campaign. They were sent not just within her own 2nd Ward on the upper waterfront, but to targeted areas of the city.
One of the flyers depicted Roberts wearing a cartoon crown, next to state Department of Community Affairs head Joe Doria, who is wearing a joker's hat. The flyers were meant to imply that the state's involvement in Hoboken's finances is not a good thing.
Mason's second flyer attempted to connect tax increases to pension payouts, and featured a sandcastle with a stuffed pig in front of the door.
Mason said last week that the pink porker was meant to represent a piggy bank, not the mayor, although it looks more like a stuffed animal than a bank.
Outgoing County Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons said last week that Mason's flyers were undoubtedly early campaign mailers, and her money would be better spent sending a newsletter to her constituents.
"I've been doing this a long time, and I've never seen campaign literature in August," Fitzgibbons said.
Roberts agreed with the sentiment, calling Mason's public relations team a group of "scurrilous liars."
Mason: I'm not running yet
Mason said last week that the flyers were not part of a mayoral campaign, but an informative mailer for residents who are may be out of the loop politically.
"The public needs to know what's going on," she said, adding a reminder that the flyers were paid for out of her pocket, not with taxpayer dollars.
The state got involved in city finances recently after the city took nearly a year to pass a budget with a steep spending increase and many confusing numbers provided by the administration.
Mason said she has been too busy dealing with the city's financial crisis, among other things, to consider a run for mayor right now.
"If people are talking about me, it's flattering," she said. "If that's the case, then I must have something to say that they want to hear."
Mason confirmed that she has at least three people who coordinate her public relations efforts in her position as councilwoman.
Not an alliance
Some people are claiming that Mason and Councilman Michael Russo have formed an alliance of sorts, which would contradict Mason's statements earlier this year that she was against candidates connected to political machines. Russo's family has been a long-time political force in the city. When it became clear earlier this year that the town's "reform" group had split into two, with Mason's supporters on one side and supporters of councilpeople Peter Cunningham and Dawn Zimmer on the other, Mason said she did not aid Cunningham and Zimmer's campaigns because both had been helped by the HCDO, the county machine.
But after that, Mason supported Russo for a seat on the Hoboken Housing Authority, over Zimmer. At the time, Mason said that Zimmer was too new to the council to have that added responsibility.
Last week, Mason dismissed a connection to Russo as nothing more than her willingness to work with anyone who can "move an agenda forward." Mason, Russo, Cunningham, Zimmer, and Theresa Castellano have become a sort of voting bloc against the other four council people.
When asked if Mason would ally herself with Russo next spring, her spokesman said, "It's too early to look at that."
Russo, the 3rd Ward councilman who heads the council's Finance Committee, is himself another possible candidate for the 2009 mayoral election.
Last week, he did not deny he was considering a run, but declined to say how likely a run would be.
Cammarano, LaBruno, Ramos up for re-election
Meanwhile, another rumored candidate, Councilman-at-Large Peter Cammarano, was away on vacation last week. He said in the past that he has been considering his options for a run.
Cammarano initially came to the council on a ticket allied with Mayor Roberts, but then broke with Roberts, saying Roberts did not follow through on his initiatives.
"It's hard. No one's got a 100 percent solution."
- Maurice 'Mo' DeGennaro
________
In May, three council-at-large seats will be up for grabs along with mayor's position. Besides Cammarano's seat, two at-large councilpersons, Terry LaBruno and Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, will be up for re-election.
Many believe Cammarano and Ramos are joining forces for a ticket to run against Mason, but neither has publicly announced forming a team.
"People are talking about a lot of different scenarios," Ramos said last week. "And I'm prepared to run on my record."
LaBruno said last week that she will seek re-election with whoever the candidate is who is "most aligned" with her views.
She said she would even run as an independent if need be.
'Reformers' grasping for a candidate
Much has been made of the reform movement in Hoboken, but no candidate has officially emerged to represent the group in the mayoral race.
Mason had previously considered herself a reformer, but has since characterized the term as nothing more than a "marketing label."
Former mayoral candidate Carol Marsh has also considered herself a reformer, and has been allied with the Zimmer/Cunningham group, but said last week she was leaning against running next spring.
In 2005, Marsh made it into a runoff election against Dave Roberts and got 4,239 votes to Roberts' 5,761.
"I'll listen to anybody," Marsh said last week, regarding her running for a possible council seat on someone's mayoral ticket.
But she said she will only support or be allied with someone with a "long-term interest" in the city.
She said she only entered the race last time to "get the issues out there."
Marsh is now a vice-chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), which is the county's long-time political machine, although she has been critical of the political machine in the past. Last year, the county Democrats split into two camps, and various alliances shifted. Those camps have since fused back together, but it is not always easy to determine who is on board.
Some insiders have wondered if 4th Ward Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer would add her name to the list of candidates, but Zimmer said she is not running. She said last week via e-mail that she is enjoying representing her ward and busy dealing with many issues in the city.
Michael Lenz, a county employee and vocal ally of Marsh and Zimmer, criticized Mason last week.
He said Mason is adopting "a Roberts strategy of headlines over substance."
When asked if he and his allies would ever reconcile with Mason, rather than support someone whose past actions have been less in line with reform ideas, he said she wasn't a reformer.
"She's Roberts in a dress," Lenz said.
He said neither Mason nor Cammarano have supported "reform principles," even though he said they both "talk a good game." He said that at this point, neither has his support, and he is not sure whom he'd support for mayor.
Mason has not been allied with Roberts, and has successfully sued various Hoboken entities whose meetings and public documents have been kept in the dark.
When asked on Friday to respond to Lenz's comments, Mason's spokesman said the remarks are "immaterial" to the job she is trying to do for the taxpayers right now.
Not ruling it out
School board member Frank Raia, who said he is still busy investigating alleged election inconsistencies during his failed June bid for county freeholder, is "exploring all options" regarding a mayoral campaign, according to his former campaign manager, Jack Butchko.
Raia is sometimes allied with reformers, but at other times is criticized for being a wealthy real estate developer.
He said last week that people tell him he could be a "frontrunner" if he entered the race.
Raia has run for numerous offices and garnered about 2,000 votes in the 2005 mayoral election, but fell just short of making the runoff.
'Mo', Trimitiedi, and Cappiello
Resident activist Maurice "Mo" DeGennaro, who frequently makes criticisms and suggestions at council meetings, said last week that he, former Fire Chief Richard Tremitiedi, and former Mayor Steve Cappiello may form some sort of a ticket to challenge the new wave of leaders.
DeGennaro said that he's not happy with the way the council and mayor have dealt with a crucial budget situation.
"Something has to be done," he said. "It's hard. No one's got a 100 percent solution."
For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.
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