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: : Losses in the Primary Leave Menendez Shaken
: : That noise is Menendez's power slipping away

: : New York Times
: : New Jersey Section
: : On Politics

: : 6/15/2003

: : By Raymond Hernandez

: : WASHINGTON
: :  Only weeks ago, 
: : Robert Menendez 
: : was at the peak of 
: : his power: the Hud-
: : son County leader 
: : whom many New 
: : Jersey politicians 
: : courted, the No. 3
: : Democrat in the entire House of Rep- 
: : resentatives.
: :  But on primary night, Mr. Menen- 
: : dez may have been dealt the most se- 
: : vere political blow he has suffered in 
: : his rise to power, stirring a buzz 
: : within the state's political establish-
: : ment.
: :  Even as he remained a solid and 
: : visible force on the national scene, 
: : Mr. Menendez watched as a slate of 
: : candidates he supported back home 
: : took a beating in the primary elec- 
: : tions.
: :  The night's results would have 
: : been bad enough on their own. But 
: : the defeat came at the hands of Mr. 
: : Menendez's biggest rival in Hudson 
: : County, Glenn D. Cunningham, the 
: : Democratic mayor of Jersey City.
: :  The unofficial election results 
: : from the June 3 primary also deliv- 
: : ered bad news for a leading Menen- 
: : dez ally, Joseph V. Doria, a former 
: : Assembly speaker who lost his seat 
: : by about 500 votes to Louis Manzo.
: :  Mr. Doria, who is challenging the 
: : results, sided with Mr. Menendez in 
: : his protracted struggle with Mr. Cun- 
: : ningham over who would control the 
: : county party, according to Demo- 
: : cratic strategists.
: :  But for Mr. Menendez, the news 
: : was even worse. Mr. Cunningham 
: : won his own primary, getting the 
: : nomination for State Senate in the 
: : 31st District over Harvey Smith, who 
: : had the support of Mr. Menendez and 
: : Governor McGreevey.
: :  The victory was a testament to the 
: : powerful base that Mr. Cunningham 
: : has put together in Jersey City - 
: : right under the nose of Mr. Menen- 
: : dez.
: :  It also helps establish Mr. Cun- 
: : ningham, a former United States 
: : marshal, as a force to be reckoned 
: : with in state Democratic politics.
: :  If Mr. Cunningham wins in No- 
: : vember, he will have an even loftier 
: : platform from which to challenge 
: : Mr. Menendez. The tradition of sena- 
: : torial courtesy, for example, gives a 
: : state senator veto power over any 
: : political appointment in his district.
: :  Mr. Cunningham seemed to go out 
: : of his way to taunt Mr. Menendez af- 
: : ter the votes were counted.
: :  "Not only did I win, but my whole 
: : slate won," Mr. Cunningham said. 
: : "What it means is that the time of 
: : machine tactics is dead, and that the 
: : negative campaign tactics that peo- 
: : ple use is a turnoff to the people. Me-
: : nendez is a good congressman, but 
: : he wants to be other things. He 
: : shouldn't be trying to run cities, and 
: : now, others are seeing that they can 
: : be free from the machine."
: :  Mr. Cunningham once called Mr. 
: : Menendez "a political terrorist" and
: : demanded that he resign as head of the 
: : Hudson County Democratic Party.
: :   The defiance shown by Mr. Cunningham,
: : who wants to establish his own power
: : base, has been nothing
: : less than astounding, especially con-
: : sidering the power wielded by Mr. 
: : Menendez, who has spent the last few 
: : years tightening his grip on Hudson 
: : County, a huge source of votes for 
: : any Democrat seeking statewide of- 
: : fice.
: :  "He has used that position to grab 
: : power for himself like a modern-day 
: : Boss Hague," Mr. Cunningham said, 
: : referring to Frank Hague, the Jersey 
: : City mayor and Democratic boss 
: : who ruled Hudson County from 1917 
: : to 1947. "He has created havoc in 
: : Hudson County."
: :  The primary results were a re- 
: : markable reversal of political for- 
: : tune for Mr. Cunningham, who had 
: : been an increasingly isolated figure 
: : in Hudson County Democratic poli- 
: : tics since being elected mayor in 
: : 2001 with the support of Mr. Menen- 
: : dez, a six-term congressman who 
: : played a pivotal role in the campaign
: : to elect Mr. McGreevey.
: :  More than a year ago found him- 
: : self on the losing end of a power 
: : struggle between himself and Mr. 
: : Menendez over who would succeed 
: : the former Hudson County execu-
: : tive, Robert C. Janiszewski, who had 
: : resigned.
: :  It would be premature to start 
: : writing the political obituary of Mr. 
: : Menendez, who stopped Robert G. 
: : Torricelli's plans to seek the party's 
: : nomination for governor in 2001 even 
: : before they got off the ground.
: :  But Mr. Menendez does seem to 
: : have his hands full these days. Not 
: : only does he have problems with Mr. 
: : Cunningham, but he has also been 
: : tangling with Mr. McGreevey.
: :  A few weeks ago, Mr. Menendez 
: : publicly rebuked the governor , ac- 
: : cusing him of neglecting the Hispan- 
: : ic community by withdrawing his 
: : support for Zulima Farber, of Cuban 
: : descent, for the state Supreme Court.
: :  The governor himself refused to 
: : fire back publicly. But people close to
: : him did not, saying that Mr. Menen- 
: : dez was engaging in ethnic politics to 
: : mobilize his Hispanic base in Hudson 
: : County, where Mr. Cunningham has
: :  encouraged Democrats to challenge 
: : the congressman for his seat.
: : 

:       God Bless All Of Us: He Know's What we Don't: Aneesah


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