Brian Stack

At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano: Politicker photo 

HOBOKEN - Even members of his inner circle swear that they don’t yet know whether Mayor Dave Roberts plans to run for a third term in 2009.

Whatever his intentions, other Hoboken diehards are surfacing. No one’s announced yet, but fierce political battles now will undoubtedly have political consequences next year in this city stung by the embarrassment of a state takeover of its finances.

There are all of the usual speculations surrounding possible candidates. A sighting of former Councilwoman Carol Marsh at a municipal meeting provokes the conclusion in come corners that she’s definitely running. A recent inundation of photos of Mayor Roberts on the Hoboken website prompts someone else to opine that Roberts is running - bet on it.

Businessman and neighborhood kid made good Frank "Pupie" Raia?

Of course, he’s running, say Hoboken insiders. He always runs, and no doubt he will perpetuate his longstanding animus this year with Councilman Michael Russo, who clubbed him last year in their 3rd ward showdown.

Union City Mayor/Senator Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson): Politicker photo 

UNION CITY - They call him "24-7," and on a brutally hot summer Friday when several other Hudson County public buildings look like the fixtures of a ghost town, Union City’s Brian P. Stack bounds down the steps of City Hall and keeps on the move.

"Yo, BPS," a kid wearing a headband cries in greeting, and he gives the mayor a fist pump as he cruises up 49th Street leading a contingent of the under 15 crowd.

"Go, Brian!" the kid shouts over his shoulder.

As he does every Friday, Stack presided over wedding ceremonies in the morning. Now he oversees mobile constituent services ten blocks away from City Hall in the concrete center of this Hudson County city of 60,000 densely packed people - mostly Latinos - where City Hall sports dual busts of George Washington and Cuban hero Jose Marti.

Police barricades stand at either end of the street, at Hudson and Palisade. A hot dog vendor gives out free dogs and sodas, courtesy of Stack - and under a tent in the middle of the block, the mayor in a tie with his suit jacket slung over the back of his chair, calls out the next name on a long list of names.

State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).: Politicker photo 

Nothing’s ever rock solid in politics, but the top of the Trenton power heap may contain more potential for movement than usual in the lead-up to Statehouse reorganization come January.

Two possible factors include Speaker Joseph Roberts’s (D-Camden) imminent departure from the Assembly, and the possibility that a newly crowned Obama administration would haul former Wall Street guru Gov. Jon Corzine out of New Jersey to crunch numbers in Washington.

In the thicket of this political drama, it’s difficult not to identify Senate President and former Governor Richard Codey (D-Essex) as a protagonist.

"I’m just a kid from Orange," Codey told a packed auditorium in his native Essex County town last month - but he’s also a former governor, who by all appearances liked the job and enjoyed great popularity.

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) will conduct mass demonstrations on Friday at the offices of thirty State Senators to protest legislation they say targets teacher and school employee pensions. NJEA officials say that thousands of union members will participate.

“We stand ready to work with the Legislature to root out the real causes of pension abuse and corruption that genuinely harm the state’s finances,” said NJEA President Joyce Powell. “But we will not tolerate – not now, not ever – any attempt to scapegoat teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, crossing guards, and other school employees for sins they have never committed.

NJEA members are sending legislators a message, Powell said: “We aren’t the problem. Craft legislation that eliminates the abuse you have tolerated for so long, and don’t target innocent people who educate New Jersey’s kids and keep them safe.”

The Guttenberg town council will meet either this week or next to decide on who will fill the office of former Mayor David Delle Donna, who stepped down late last month after his conviction on corruption charges. 

The Municipal Democratic Committee submitted three names to the council: Margarita Batista; former Vasilios G. Scullous; and James Hannon. 

The mayor will serve until November, when he or she will have to run again in a special election.       

When Jersey City Detective Sean Connors took on the task of running against North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco for the state Senate seat in the 32nd District last year, he really had his eye on a different position: 4th District Freeholder.

Connors, 39, expected that he'd have the backing of powerful Union City Mayor/state Sen. Brian Stack in exchange for undertaking that kamikaze mission on Stack's rivals at the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO). But now, with a tenuous semi-peace holding between Stack and the HCDO, Connors is alone in his freeholder fight against incumbent Eliu Rivera. Even without that support, Connors has surprised local political insiders by running a truly competitive campaign.