Vincent Capuana

PASSAIC – Yesterday’s mayoral victory by physician Alex Blanco in a 62 percent turnout election depended heavily on the endorsement of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

The city is split in half, with the 3rd and 2nd wards on the south side of town and 4th and 1st wards to the north.

In the heart of Schaer’s Orthodox Jewish community, Ward 3 totals show that Blanco earned 1,965 of his 3,859 total votes, according to the Passaic City Clerk’s Office.

That’s where nearly a third of the city’s total 25,543 registered voters are concentrated.

PASSAIC - Physician Alex Blanco won the mayor's contest here tonight, defeating runner-up Vincent Capuana by 400 votes.

PASSAIC - Physician Alex Blanco leads the pack here in the mayors' race with five districts left to be counted.

In a five-man race, School Board President Vincent Capuana is currently in second place, trailing Blanco by 300 votes.

PASSAIC – Opposing forces converge on School No. 3 in the Third Ward, the local political base of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer.

Schaer and his ally, mayoral candidate Dr. Alex Blanco, greet people in front of the school as they head in to vote.

A car door slams and a slender man jumps the curb.

It’s School Board President Vincent Capuana, one of Blanco’s rivals in the mayors’ contest.

“We’ve been here in Gary’s base since this morning,” confides one of Capuana’s backers. “He moves, we move.”

Councilman Gerardo Fernandez: Politicker photo 

PASSAIC - The arrest last week of Passaic City Councilman Gerardo Fernandez on corruption charges dredged up the Sammy Rivera era again in the middle of a mayor’s election.

A candidate for mayor, Councilman Joe Garcia was on the governing body when the now disgraced and jailed Rivera told an FBI plant that he could deliver four votes on the City Council in favor of a dummy insurance contract.

Garcia defenders say Councilman/mayoral candidate Garcia was not one of Rivera’s four sure bet votes, but rumors persist.

An indictment already identified Councilman Marcellus Jackson as one of the council people implicated in the failed Rivera scheme. Former Councilman Jonathan Soto was also implicated.

School Board President Vincent Capuana: Politicker photo 

PASSAIC - On Main Street, the tower looms over everything like the past.

Vincent Capuana and Carl Ellen grew up here together and now they’re running against each other for mayor in this immigrant city dominated by an old Art Deco building you can see all the way from the high ground in Paterson, which teemed with business 40 years ago, and now stands abandoned.

The Sicilian, and the African-American from Macon, Georgia came of age in the same Washington Place neighborhood, on the same block, right next door, in Passaic.

"I’m not going to say anything bad about anyone in this race," said Ellen, now 65, sitting in his bailbondsman’s office at the corner of State and Passaic streets. "All of the men I’m running against are caballeros y carinosos."

Gentlemen and affectionate.

They are, all told, Ellen and School Board President Capuana, physician Alex Blanco, real estate developer Jose Sandoval and Councilman Joe Garcia.

Clerk Amada Curling withdraws Sandoval's name first.: Politicker photo 

PASSAIC - Moments ago, City Clerk Amada Curling drew names for ballot placement in the mayor’s race.

Jose Sandoval’s name will appear in the first position, followed by Carl Ellen, Vincent Capuana, Joe Garcia and Alex Blanco.

Seated in City Council chambers, the candidates or their surrogates watched Curling identify the candidates’ names on individual pieces of paper. She enclosed each name in a small plastic capsule. Then her assistant put the capsules in a small wooden box.

Curling then withdrew the names.

PASSAIC - Jose Sandoval, a candidate for mayor in Passaic, says he wants himself and the other four candidates in the race to debate at least three times between now and Nov. 4th.

"It's very important that we have debates so that the voters can compare our ideas and our record," he said.

No debates are scheduled at this time, although PassaicJews.com confirmed to PolitickerNJ.com that all five candidates will allow Passaic residents to ask them questions in a chat room on Sunday, September 28.

A real estate developer, Sandoval is competing with physician Alex Blanco, city supervisor Vincent Capuana, Councilman Joe Garcia, and bailbondsman Carl Ellen. 

Ritzy Morales of Passaic: Politicker photo 

DENVER - You can’t stray far from New Jersey’s ward politics here, not if you’re at the Hotel Inverness, where Ritzy Morales told PolitickerNJ.com that she definitely intends to run for mayor of Passaic.

A longtime director of constituent services for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Morales, 41, said she submitted 700 petitions to the municipal clerk in advance of the Sept. 12th filing deadline, and expects to have at least 400-500 of them certified to earn well over the required 200.

"The public has known me for a long time," said Morales, born in Paterson and a resident of Passaic for ten years. "I have strong values, and I wouldn’t even accept a cup of coffee from someone as mayor, because of the negativity left by Sammy Rivera. I would definitely stop corruption."

Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic): Politicker photo 

PASSAIC - To be in Trenton, or not to be in Trenton, that is the question for Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), who became the acting mayor of Passaic in May when a federal judge found Mayor Sammy Rivera guilty of corruption.

Initially, Schaer, who received the chief executive’s job by virtue of his position as council president, figured he would serve long enough to hand off to whoever wins a Nov. 4th special election.

But about three weeks into his service as acting mayor, with no stunning personality on the city’s horizon line, by his reckoning, Schaer began mulling the idea of pursuing his own mayoral run. 

"We can’t afford to have a mayor who’s not going to build on some of the positive things we’re doing," said Schaer, who implemented local ethics reforms, imposed a 37% cut to the mayoral salary (from $117,000 to $72,000), and a municipal hiring freeze.