It’s true that Hoboken mayoral candidate Kimberly Glatt had supporters from Union City attending her recent debate, she admits, but it isn’t true that she used to babysit for the kids of convicted former Mayor Anthony Russo.

With a mayoral election coming up in Hoboken on Nov. 3, many rumors are floating around regarding the seven candidates. Last week, the Reporter confronted them about various discrepancies and criticisms.

Hoboken residents will vote next month on the person who will serve the city into 2013. The new mayor will have to work with the nine-member City Council to make decisions regarding a $100 million-plus city budget, taxes, development, parking, flooding, and open space.

Local pundits are calling the seven-person election a two-person race between Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer and 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason. The two have both been seen as “reform” candidates, but Mason’s decisions during her mayoral campaign back in the spring led to a slight fall from grace. Zimmer and Mason’s supporters, who were once on the same side, frequently trade barbs at council meetings and on the internet (also see the Reporter’s letters page this week).
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“The connection has nothing to do with that part of the Russo family.” – Kim Glatt
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According to internal polls from two different campaigns, the top four candidates are Zimmer, Mason, businessman Frank Raia, and former Municipal Judge Kimberly Glatt, in no particular order.

Raia and Glatt are lifelong Hoboken residents who may appeal to the “Old Hoboken” vote. Raia has developed affordable and luxury housing in town, while Glatt recently stepped down as the judge of the city’s Municipal Court.

The Reporter recently profiled all seven of the candidates – including longshots Nathan Brinkman (a Republican in a Democratic stronghold), Patricia Waiters, and Everton Wilson. The candidates also participated in a taped debate that you can watch at www.hudsonreporter.com.

In the space below, we’ve asked them the lingering questions on voters’ minds regarding discrepancies in their records, or personal information that should be cleared up.

The incumbent, sort of

Zimmer, who represents the 4th Ward on the council, was appointed City Council president after she placed second in the June mayoral runoff. Then, Zimmer became acting mayor in the beginning of August after the arrest of former Mayor Peter Cammarano.

When Zimmer first ran for mayor, she claimed that if elected, she would produce a budget by Aug. 10 with a 25 percent tax cut. She also said she would hold “comprehensive” public budget hearings in the fall.

Now that she is in office, it seems that no budget will be introduced until some time after the Nov. 3 election. Mason supporters and other critics have pointed to this as a broken promise.

Zimmer responded last week, “When I made that claim, I didn’t know that I would come in under such challenging circumstances. I want introduce a budget as soon as possible, but the budget needs to be presented as a whole.”

Zimmer is uncomfortable presenting a budget that does not take into account the ongoing police and fire union negotiations, which she said she cannot comment on.

But if the city doesn’t reach an agreement with the unions, then the mayor will still need to produce a budget at some point. Hoboken budgets are always late. So what does Zimmer consider her cutoff date?

“We have not discussed a cutoff date to present the budget,” Zimmer said of herself and state-appointed Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi. “We may get to a point where we need to present it not as a whole.”

Zimmer followed up in an e-mail: “If we introduce the budget prematurely, the outcome of those negotiations could be adversely affected. Ms. Tripodi believes that the negotiations can be completed expeditiously. If they drag on, then we will not wait to introduce a budget.”

Her opponents claim Zimmer is holding onto the budget until after the election to gain an advantage, but Zimmer is adamant that this is not the case.

“We’re both [Zimmer and Tripodi] extremely focused on making the budget as low as possible,” she said. “The election makes the whole thing more challenging.”

She said having Tripodi overseeing the budget process “ensures that these decisions are being made to ensure fiscal prudence, without regard to local politics.”

Appointing her friends?

There’s another criticism of the acting mayor right now: that a handful of her (and her council majority’s) appointees to various boards and directorships have been campaign supporters and acquaintances of hers. Zimmer, like most reformers, had promised in the past to look at all resumes for positions.

Two recent appointees to the Zoning Board, Tony Soares and James Aibel, were supporters during Zimmer’s election. Jake Stuiver, who was appointed to the Housing Authority board, had been Mason’s campaign manager last spring and, with Mason, backed Zimmer for the runoff. Before his appointment, he left the Mason camp to back Zimmer this time around.

The man Zimmer appointed to head the Parking Utility, Ian Sacs, also had worked with her in the past on transportation issues. Her new aide, Daniel Bryan, was a volunteer for her mayoral campaign.

Zimmer said any relationship she has had with these people should not preclude them from being considered – if they are qualified.

“They are extremely qualified,” she said. “They share my vision for Hoboken.”

In the case of Aibel, she said she considered three candidates, two of whom were not supporters of her campaigns. But she decided on Aibel because she was familiar with him.

“I know him very well. There’s a trust there and an understanding of who they are and what their commitment is,” she said.

Couldn’t familiarity be read as cronyism?

“No,” said Zimmer.

Could it send the message that applicants would have a better shot at a board seat if they are a supporter?

“I don’t think it sends the wrong message,” she said. She added that familiarity doesn’t outrank qualifications.

Regarding Sacs, Zimmer has played soccer with him in the past, but she points out, “Ian has never been a part of my campaign.” She said they did work on other projects together, but that he was still the most qualified person for the job.

“He’s someone who’s all about policy,” she said.

NJ Transit bill

Another point of contention by Zimmer critics is that she overstated the importance of a meeting she had with State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-WoodRidge) earlier this month. Sarlo had sponsored a bill that could allow the NJ Transit to have almost unfettered freedom to build a massive development projects on Hoboken’s southern border, without city permits.

Zimmer’s press release regarding the meeting claimed she put a “halt” to the legislation. However, it soon became clear that the legislation is moving forward, even though Sarlo is taking Zimmer’s comments into account.

“I’m going to make sure Hoboken is protected,” Zimmer said last week. “I will make sure Hoboken maintains its control over the NJ Transit development… any transit development.”

But how can Hoboken stay in control while giving up control?

Zimmer said she’ll make it happen, even if it means having an exemption inserted for Hoboken.

When the City Council initially voted on a resolution opposing the bill, Mason didn’t think it was going anywhere and downplayed the importance of opposing it. But after she heard Zimmer’s claim of “halting” the bill, she called Sarlo and was told that the bill would go forward, possibly before the end of the year.

“I had a conversation with Sarlo – ya know – ‘Is this really halted?’,” Mason recalled last week. “‘No, I’m putting it through.’ I’m like, what was that all about?”

Now Mason is “vowing to fight” the bill, even though she admits that Sarlo is a powerful state senator who most likely will not yield.

Mason: Ms. Transparency

Mason herself has elicited questions. Before she took office, she became known around town for filing citizen lawsuits to open up Hoboken’s public records, and had sat on the Planning Board. But when she ran for mayor in the spring, she drew criticism for allying herself with some very politically connected locals (like Councilman Michael Russo) and for hurrying through a continued tax abatement for the Church Towers affordable housing development without careful scrutiny.

Mason acknowledged last week that her initial voting base has changed.

“It’s more unified in the middle in terms of the views of Hoboken,” she said. “It shifted from being the extremist to being the moderates. It’s a good shift. It’s purposeful.”

Mason also has come under criticism because of a New York Times article that has surfaced from her time in advertising. The 1992 article details her involvement in a firm that was forced to pay damages in regards to a false advertising claim. Mason said she was never told that the lawsuit was underway when she joined the firm.

“That case had been going on long before I had come in,” she said. “I had nothing to do with the lawsuit whatsoever. I take on the hard issues.”

Other critics are claiming that Mason neglects to follow through on issues after she gets the headlines for winning open records lawsuits. For instance, Mason fought to have city workers’ cell phone records released, but residents never heard what came of her findings or what changes she enacted as a result.

Mason said that in the case of the cell phone records, she said she actually did initiate change. She said that as a result of her inquiries, the city restricted the “freewheeling use of cell phones,” but she also admits that a subcommittee that she started regarding the cell phones never made any legislative progress.

She said that administrative guidelines cannot be legislated, for the most part.

“You can legislate pieces of it, yes,” she said. She said that other concerns came before the council, namely the city’s budget crisis, which ultimately led to the state takeover.

Mason has criticized Zimmer for being part of the “county machine” because of affiliations with County Executive Tom DeGise and others, but Mason herself was spotted at a fundraiser for DeGise in Jersey City recently.

Mason said the fundraiser was actually for Loretta Weinberg, Gov. Jon Corzine’s running mate for lieutenant governor, whom she admires. But several sources confirmed the fundraiser was actually for DeGise.

Mason also has come under fire for using some of former Mayor Peter Cammarano’s political consultants. These include well-connected local campaign consultant Paul Swibinski and campaign advisor Ryan Yacco.

Some also complain that Mason is griping about Zimmer having two positions at once (acting mayor and City Council president), but she isn’t proposing a legislative solution that would ban such a possibility.

“I can look into it,” she said. “Why would I do that when I have a hospital in crisis, a budget we can’t see, and all these other things?”

Glatt is not an outsider

Some see Judge Kimberly Glatt, who ran for council in 1993, as a political outsider. But many of her backers this time around were also backers of Cammarano in the spring, which leaves some voters wondering if she came from the same ilk of politician.

“I wasn’t part of the problem; I wasn’t a member of the council,” Glatt said last week. “I had a problem with every one who was running last time. I was not comfortable voting for any of them.”

Some people also point out that Glatt’s husband is a partner in a law firm with another mayor arrested in the “Bid Rig” scandal, Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, who has yet to resign.

“I don’t talk to Anthony Suarez about it,” she said. “Obviously, I believe he’s innocent until proven guilty. He, I guess, made a mistake, if he’s convicted. He’s going to have to live with those consequences.”

Rumors have been circulating that Glatt was a former babysitter for the family of former mayor and felon Anthony Russo. Glatt said those claims are unwarranted.

“I didn’t grow up with them; I didn’t hang out with them,” she said, adding that she also didn’t babysit them. “I’m not that old.”

She added, “The connection has nothing to do with that part of the Russo family.” She said that Councilwoman Theresa Castellano, who is a cousin of the Russo’s, worked for Glatt’s father, a local dentist, for a short time.

Glatt was appointed by Anthony Russo to be judge in the 1990s, then reappointed by Mayor David Roberts.

Glatt has lived in the W Hotel for the past two months. She still owns other property in Hoboken, but is renting it out since she said the recent tax hike made it impossible to sell.

The W Hotel is a tax-abated property, so some voters are wondering whether she’ll be feeling the pain of potential tax increases along with the rest of the city.

She said she’s not yet sure how the taxes are determined in the W, but “Since I own other property, I am affected by the tax increase.”

There has been some quiet criticism in the Police Department that she sometimes sets bails too low as municipal judge, but Glatt says she did exactly as was her charge.

Bail, she said, is set to ensure that a defendant returns to court, not as punishment for getting arrested.

She said if she has a reason to deviate from the bail schedule, she has that right as long as she can substantiate it.

“Is it illegal? No,” she said. “Do police not like it? Some don’t.”

Supporters from Union City

Glatt recently had a large group of supporters come to the mayoral forum hosted by the Quality of Life Coalition and People for Open Government. Critics have charged that her cheering section was bussed in from Union City, where her campaign manager, Kathy Stack, resides. Kathy Stack is the estranged wife of Union City Mayor Brian Stack.

So were the supporters from Union City?

“Some were, yes,” Glatt said. “They actually support me; they like me.”

What do they get in return for their support?

“I don’t have anything to give you in return for your support,” she said. “Kathy Stack has been involved in my campaign. They like her, they like me.”

Builder, not developer

Frank Raia is a perennial contender for municipal and county elections, most recently losing his bid for county freeholder and re-election to the Board of Education. But Raia doesn’t see much fault on his end and he said it’s the voters who are losing out by electing his opponents.

“I don’t mind losing, but the people who get elected are wrong [for the residents],” he said. “So it’s the voter who made the mistake.”

He said one tactical error was not campaigning in Jersey City Heights, which is part of the freeholder district, but he still thinks the election was fixed to have Police Captain Anthony Romano come out victorious.

Raia said he gets a bad rap for being a “developer,” and prefers the term builder. But there is no avoiding the fact that he has been part of some of the more controversial developments in recent history, including the Northwest Redevelopment Zone. Residents were promised a community center and swimming pool, although Raia said he was not a part of that plan. His firm was partnering with URSA/Tarragon, which are the major developers of the area. Some say that Raia takes credit for the projects there, including the supermarket, so he should also get some of the blame for the things that didn’t come to fruition.

Raia declined to say what portion of the area he owns. Others say it is a small percentage.

Raia maintains that his primary goal is affordable housing. He said that any building he constructs is five stories at most, and almost always within the zoning restrictions.

Raia said this is what separates him from developers who need Zoning Board approvals, especially those who are willing to pay for it.

“I don’t need anything from anybody,” Raia said.

His said it is unfair to mischaracterize his friendship with Denis Elwell, the former mayor of Secaucus who was arrested in the same corruption sting as Cammarano. Raia said he never had any business dealings with Elwell.

He has recommended angled parking spots along Washington Street, but some point out that most of the southern part of Washington Street is too narrow for this.

Raia said, “We may have to widen the road, we may have to take out a portion of the sidewalk. Some areas, we don’t need any of that.”

Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.