The 31st District includes all of Bayonne and a large portion of southern Jersey City. Two-thirds of the district, in fact, is in Jersey City, giving the advantage to any candidate who can draw voters there.
Although the two Assembly tickets will go to the two highest vote recipients of the four candidates, Chiaravalloti and Chiappone are running on opposing tickets.
Chiaravalloti is running on a ticket that includes Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who is running for state Assembly, and Sheila Newton-Moses, who is seeking an Assembly seat.
Chiappone is running with Sandra Cunningham, who is seeking the state Senate seat, and former Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith, who is seeking the other Assembly seat.
While it is possible that both seats might go to Jersey City candidates, it is generally believed that either Chiappone or Chiaravalloti will successfully win a seat.
Until 2006, these Assembly seats were divided between Bayonne and Jersey City. Until losing his primary bid in 2003, one Assembly seat was held by Joseph Doria - currently state Senator and Bayonne mayor. Doria held the seat for 24 years until Chiappone defeated him in 2003.
Chiappone held the seat for one term until defeated in the 2005 primary by a Doria-supported team.
Although Doria decided not to run in this year's primary for state office, Chiaravalloti, who served on previous Doria election teams, is seen as a strong Doria alley and a stronge opponent against Chiappone.
Chiaravallotti cut his political teeth behind the scenes
This is Chiaravalloti's first run for elective office.
But Chiaravalloti has served in several key posts in Bayonne, such as director of Constituent Services, and later as executive director of the BLRA, and eventually joined Rep. Bob Menendez's staff.
In preparing for this election, Chiaravalloti resigned his position as state director for the Senator's office.
He sees his team as presenting voters with a choice.
"My opponents represent the established status quo," he said. "If you like the way things are going in Trenton, you shouldn't vote for me. But if you're frustrated with your property taxes increasing every year, with the impossibly high cost of health care, with the gang violence in our streets, with the threatened bankruptcy of local hospitals, and with so much more, then you and I have something to talk about."
As a younger man, Chiaravalloti said he had an interest in elected office and took part in Doria campaigns, and also served an internship with the mayor.
"I learned a lot about how things work," he said. "Joe opened his door and showed me what it's like inside. This was my introduction into politics."
Chiaravalloti said Doria, former Rep. Joe LeFante and former Mayor Dennis Collins became mentors to him, allowing him to learn the nuts and bolts of politics and leadership. Over time, he got to work with people from both political parties, including Gov. Tom Kean, although like many younger Democrats, he came of age in the 1992 campaign to elect Bill Clinton president.
"I got to meet a lot of different people," he said. "It was a lot of fun."
He was in college then, and went onto law school, later focusing more on public serve than on politics. In 1998, he took up work in the Assembly Democratic office, and then after Doria became mayor, he took up work as director of policy and planning for the city.
"I worked on implementing Mayor Doria's vision from the 1998 mayoral campaign," he said.
In 2000, Chiaravalloti became the executive director of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, charged with helping with the city's take over of the former Military Ocean Terminal.
In some ways, this brought together many elements of Chiaravalloti's life, allowing him to use his skills as an attorney, his training in business, and his desire to work in public service.
"It was a public body, but also independent," he said.
Then and now, he sees MOTBY as the great hope for a bright future in Bayonne, providing the residents of the city with access to New York Harbor for the first time in more than half a century. Under his watch, BLRA negotiated a rare agreement with the federal government that allowed the BLRA to do environmental cleanup, promising to accomplish the chore in a fraction of the time than the Army Corps of Engineers. The city also successfully bargained for the base to be given to the city free.
But with much of the groundwork done for future development of the MOTBY, Chiaravalloti began to look toward other opportunities, leaving the BLRA in 2002 for what he thought would be a career in the private sector.
At this point, then Rep. Bob Menendez reached out to him and asked Chiaravalloti to take a position in his district office. When Menendez moved up to become U.S. Senator, Chiaravalloti went with him.
But now, the old itch that he felt as a young man returned, and when he was offered a chance to run for the state Assembly, Chiaravalloti took it, resigning his position with Menendez with the hopes that his gamble will succeed.
Despite his lack of elective credentials, Chiaravalloti brings a significant amount of legislative experience to this election since he has been involved in state and federal levels for more than a decade, and has first hand experience on issues from urban, suburban and rural issues not only throughout the state, but also national issues, such as how projects are funded and international trade.
"My job as an assemblyman from the 31st District is to look out for the interests of people here and make sure that we get our fair share of the tax dollars," he said. "We face some serious challenges in Bayonne and Jersey City."
Local hospitals are in financial trouble and former manufacturing sites need to be cleaned up and redeveloped. Jobs are also hugely important, and his familiarity with a Menendez concept for a Liberty Corridor zone for manufacturing, transport, imports and other activities would help generate jobs here.
One of his objectives would be to help relieve residents of what is sometimes called "the middle class squeeze," in which job growth and wages do not keep up with the cost of living.
"People are under a lot of pressure to make it on a daily basis, and we as elected officials must do something to help them," he said. "Government is not the answ
er to it all, but it is part of the solution. The government must work for the people." Chiappone wants to pick up where he left off
For Chiappone, this year's election is filled with strange twists of fate.
Although he has held public office since being elected in 1998, Chiappone has always seen himself as the underdog, the perpetual outsider constantly trying to reform government.
This year, however, he is running on a ticket that is supported by the Hudson County Democratic Organization - which has always opposed his candidacies in the past.
He took office as a Bayonne councilman in 1999, often serving as a solo voice of descent, carrying on a tradition he had started as a community activist in 1994.
In 2003, he was part of a ticket headed by former Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham that successfully defeated Assemblyman Doria in the primary, and Chiappone served two years as the assemblyman in the 31st District.
"I served in 2004 and 2005," Chiappone said.
Oddly enough, some of his anti-corruption legislation was passed last year after he was no longer serving.
"Some of my measures were included in legislation last year," he said. "I'm very proud to be credited with those laws."
While a member of the Assembly, Chiappone served on the Housing and Local Government Committee, the Senior Issues Committee and the Telecommunications and Utilities Committee.
In 2004, Chiappone challenged Doria in a special election for state Senate and was defeated. A Doria/HCDO ticket then pushed Chiappone out of the state Assembly in the 2005 primary.
Chiappone's Assembly career is marked by a focus on particular issues, such as fighting and punishing corruption, and reducing wasteful spending.
But he said he is aware of the needs of the district and hopes to work toward expanding job opportunities for local residents and by helping forster industrial growth in the area.
"People don't just want houses to live in, they need places to work," he said in referring to how MOTBY ought to be developed. "We have numerous other sites where we can locate housing. But we need jobs in Bayonne and I think the base (MOTBY) is a good place to locate them."
For this reason, he said he has an open mind when it comes to possibly locating a container port operation on part of MOTBY. He said the state has already expressed an interest in expanding rail operations to the area and providing road improvements and an enhanced NJ Turnpike interchange.
"Bayonne used to be a city in which people could live and work," he said. "When I was a kid, I had a choice of working for places Wesson Oil, Exxon-Texaco or Best Foods. Ultimately, I had chose Best Foods. But now we have no choices and with the plans being made, Bayonne may soon become a town with a commuter population."
Affordable housing is an issue in both Bayonne and Jersey City, and Chiappone said he had worked with then Assemblyman Albio Sires to sponsor legislation that would help make up for reductions in federal Section 8 programs.
"When the federal government cut back, the state stepped in," Chiappoine said, noting that he is continually looking to expand programs to help first time home ownership. "People need to be able to afford to buy into their own neighborhoods. This is not possible with the housing planned for MOTBY. That housing is for people coming into Bayonne from out of town. Not for people who live here."
If elected, Chiappone promises to open a legislative office in Bayonne. Currently, Bayonne has none.
"What I learned when I had an office here is how much in constituent services we provide," he said. "This could be anything from acting as a notary public to helping people fill out applications for Homestead rebates. We also helped people with getting copies of birth certificates from Trenton."
For Chiappone, one of his priorities will be addressing property taxes, claiming that rising taxes are one of the most significant reasons senior citizens can no longer live in their own homes.
"Many of the problems we are facing today need a new way of thinking to solve," he said. "I have always been someone who thinks outside the box. While not everything I have come up with will work, I am always looking for new ideas and trying new things to see what will work. I believe that's the way we will find solutions, and that's what makes me different from other candidates running for the Assembly."
One proposal Chaippone made while still an Assemblyman was actually recently picked up by Senator Doria.
"I asked why the money from a winning lottery ticket couldn't go to help the municipal budget if someone fails to claim it," he said. "This would be a windfall for the local municipality, allow the money to circulate locally and wouldn't cost the state anything."
He also wants to find a way to change state contract laws to give local vendors an advantage in competative bidding.
"I would like to see the law changed so that if a local vendor comes within a certain percentage of the lowest bid, local governments can award the contract to the local company," he said. "This would have benefits in keeping the money in the local ecconomy and providing local jobs."
Post a Comment