Dana Rone

NEWARK – The man Mayor Cory Booker calls his political sensei came out of the South Ward today and made a statement.

Power broker Carl Sharif laughed off the suggestion that because he’s funding Mary Rone’s Central Ward Council campaign, it means Rone is toiling as a mole for Sharif’s old ally and political acolyte, Booker.

Even though he’s simultaneously giving a few bucks to Booker’s candidate, Eddie Osborne.

The argument on the street is that Rone’s campaigning in those areas or at least among those populations where Booker antagonist Charles Bell is strong, in order to divide the vote and enable Osborne to win.

 NEWARK – Spackled over with “Fight the Power” signs, the sedan cruises up 14th Avenue, and Georgia Maye Ransome’s voice sounds on the intercom, urging residents to get out there for the Rone ticket on Election Day. 

At the wheel of the car sits candidate Mary Rone, longtime community activist and mother of former Councilwoman Dana Rone, whom an assignment judge stripped of her Central Ward Council seat in August after concluding that Rone used her office to try to obstruct justice in a Dec. 2006 traffic incident.

Fifteen people, including her mother, vie to replace Dana Rone in a special election come Tuesday. There were originally 16 candidates but city job counselor Marcell Robinson dropped out of the race and now backs Rone.  

NEWARK – Getting caught in the middle of political theater involving other, bigger antagonists goes with the territory when it comes to the fledgling career of Nakea White, Central Ward council candidate.   

No big deal.

Politics here with all of its intrigue still generally has fewer hard edges than crime.

“The number one issue in our ward is crime, especially with the recent shootings on Boyd, these are the issues affecting people,”  says White, sitting in her gritty, second story campaign headquarters on Springfield Avenue. “People are scared.  A woman told me the other day she’s scared that she might be the next person to get shot.”

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo, a potential mayoral candidate in Jersey City next year, filed a petition with Monmouth County Superior Court to ask them to weigh whether Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s conduct during his 2006 Bradley Beach arrest should trigger him to forfeit his office.

No hearing date is set yet, and Manzo can’t release details until all parties have been served.

Healy was convicted of disorderly conduct in Bradley Beach last year, and has sought unsuccessfully to reverse the decision several times. He’s currently appealing it in the state Supreme Court.

But after an Essex County judge ruled that former Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone must forfeit her office earlier this summer, Manzo started digging and hired legal counsel to see whether the same standard should apply to Healy. Healy and Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said it shouldn’t, since Healy never invoked his office during his arrest.

Newark Council President Mildred Crump with Brendan Gill, campaign manager for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park): Politicker photo 

DENVER - The Rone drama drones on even though it’s Denver and not Newark.

Mayor Cory Booker, who today is scheduled to speak at the Black Caucus Town Hall at the convention center, says he would prefer a woman representative in the Central Ward.

His first choice is ousted Councilwoman Dana Rone, whom an assignment judge released from her elected duties last month after concluding that the councilwoman’s punishment for using her office to obstruct justice merited being barred for life from public office.

Rone remains in appeals mode. Meanwhile, support for former Central Ward Councilman Charles Bell - vanquished by the Booker Team in 2006 - grows, according to Newark sources.

NEWARK - Former Councilman Charles Bell is generating considerable support in the Central Ward as Newarkers continue to jockey for position in the event that former Councilwoman Dana Rone loses her appeals and does not return to the governing body.

"I did pick up the petitions and I had more than enough as of last night's gathering," Bell told PolitickerNJ.com. "I am running, yes, but at the same time, I'm hoping Miss. Rone is successful in her appeals. That would solve my problems, but if she is not successful I am prepared."

In the community room of the New Hope Baptist Church on Tuesday night, Bell received the blessing of Central Ward Democratic Committee Chairman Dwight Brown.

Superior Court Judge Patricia K. Costello removed Dana Rone from her seat on the Newark City Council earlier this month for abusing her office when she interceded in a 2006 traffic stop involving her nephew.  PolitickerNJ.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe has an interesting take on the matter: that New Jersey operates under a culture where the powerful and politically connected use their influence to get special treatment every day. 

Whether its premium seats for concerts, special license plates and badges for judges and elected officials that send a not-too-subtle don’t-mess-with-me signal to state troopers and local police officers, or even the get out of jail free cards the PBA provides to legislators and political leaders in quantity to give away to friends (maybe even contributors), New Jersey politicos actively seek special treatment on a daily basis.  So maybe Tornoe is right when he opines that there is some hypocrisy to the system, although his characterization is entirely generic – there is no confirmation that Costello or her family drives a car with judicial license plates. 

At-large Councilman Luis Quintana: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - Coming off a press conference in which he stood with former Councilwoman Dana Rone, veteran Councilman Luis Quintana said he favors keeping Rone’s Central Ward council seat vacant until the public votes in a Nov. 4th special election.

"I’d be willing to introduce a resolution saying leave it alone," Quintana told PolitickerNJ.com.

Keeping the seat unoccupied makes sense from several vantage points, argued Quintana, an at-large representative who lives in the city’s North Ward.