Oh, those coy Montclair council members. The Montclair Times has a story about which members of the current Montclair council might run again, but when they couldn’t get answers from some council as to their plans, they interviewed “political insiders” who want to remain “anonymous.” (Who are these Deep Throats of Montclair — any guesses?)
The upshot? Fried hasn’t made up his mind yet. Weller-Demming is planning to run “as of now.” Cary Africk will run again and Murnick looks like a possibility. The insiders are betting on Baskerville as an easy win — if she runs again.
Play political insider dear reader (anonymous or otherwise) and tell us who you think will be voted off. And what about new faces? Who do you think will run outside of current council members (Walleroo throw in your hat)?
[polldaddy poll=5043857]
They should be replaced.
I nominate ROC provided, of course, that he can produce a birth certificate.
One of the anonymous insiders is none other than that Creator of the Righteous Jingle, our very own Mayor Jerry Fried himself. According to my sources, who wish to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of hizzoner.
Trying to guess who the Montclair Times thinks is a “political insider” would be like trying to guess Sarah Palin’s take on the Special Theory of Relativity.
Trying to guess who the Montclair Times thinks is a “political insider” would be like trying to guess Sarah Palin’s take on the Special Theory of Relativity.
Where are the “like” buttons when you need them?
Walleroo’s dream team:
1st ward: croiagusanum
2nd ward: bebop
3d ward: hrobrah
4th ward: ‘gurl
at large: (representing wealthy conservative hearts of stone): deadeye
at large: (representing wealthy liberal bleeding hearts): Tudlow
at large: (representing psychotropic substance abusers): PAZ
at large: (representing addition and subtraction): ROC
mayor: cathar
Sarah Palin is better known for her Special Theory of Relatives.
Insider? PUH-LEEEZE. My guess is that Lewis has had enough of having to ‘splain how hard he tries so he’ll bow out. Fried and Weller-Demming want the election pushed to November so I’m guessing they’re going run and cozy up to Blue Wave and to their credit, they genuinely believe if we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya and work together this town will be a shining beacon of community spirit, green initiatives and an example for other towns to follow. Africk – why not. If he runs with Baskerville he stands a good chance of winning. Murnick, whatever. Terry, if I had a $100k plus pension and benefits in my 50’s I’d find something better to do. I’d really love to see Remsen come back. The town is really in need of some serious help.
While I of course thank you very much, walleroo, I would also of course decline in the spirit of Genersl William Tecumseh Sherman, who famously said he would not run if nominated nor serve if elected. (As to what kind of mayor I might make, however, I’d see myself as a combination of both Zapata and Pancho Villa. And I’m also someone who, if given the task of Reconstruction, would have it still running. I have always so loved the term “radical Republicans.” And it would admittedly be fun to play at being Savonarola in the liberal mosh pit known as Montclair.)
Whether Fried will run again or not is an interesting question. His ego makes me think he won’t, since he couldn’t stand to lose. And he doesn’t have an unpopular incumbant like Joyce M. to run against next year. He’ll be the unpopular one. Poor thing.
His diatribe against “anonymous posters” on Patch the other day seems to be the first hint that he won’t run again. It was his way of setting up his reason for not running again: the great unwashed masses are too rude for a nice li’l guy like him.
Whether Fried would win if he runs is an entirely different matter. He won’t.
I hope Weller-Demming runs, because she’ll lose and I’ll laugh for days. What exactly would she run on? All the blankets she’s knitted during council meetings while people try to talk to her? Her nasty diatribe to voters during last year’s budget fiasco?
Africk – why not. If he runs with Baskerville he stands a good chance of winning
Africk could definitely win again, but he won’t run with Baskerville. She’s not known to share the spotlight well, and besides, she doesn’t even pronounce his name correctly. And while I do believe she’d win again if she ran, it has nothing to do with her political skills and everything to do with her ability to scam 4th Ward voters. (maybe those are her political skills?) Does anyone know exactly what Dr. Renee’s philosophy is? She votes against tax increases so she can run on keeping taxes low, but she pitches a fit whenever anyone suggests any way to collect revenue, like increasing pool pass fees. So she wants taxes low, but doesn’t want to do anything to keep them low? And her monthly “4th Ward Collaborative” meetings (what exactly is the collaborative, anyway? anyone ever ask her?) are a joke, a way to keep people thinking that she’s involved in the community, when it’s really a way to get her picture in the paper once a month. (And it works! The Montclair Times acts like the pope comes to town once a month the way they push coverage of her nonsensical meetings).
Lewis is pretty much dead in the water, I believe. Which is mostly a shame. He seems to be one of the more honest guys up there, but his snotty tone to residents could torpedo his chances. Dude, you weren’t assigned to be a councilman. You ran, and won, and part of the job is dealing with angry residents. You should deal with it a little better, k?
Murnick and Terry — it could go either way. Terry is pretty popular, but he’s pretty much a non-entity. Does he have an issue he pushes? As for Murnick, I still haven’t figured out if he’s an actual person or the subject of some “The Truman Show”-type reality-show we’re all unsuspectingly starring in. He’s such a total phony, it’s hard to believe he buys his act himself.
Did I leave anyone out?
Also, for those who wonder how on earth Montclair’s budget can actually be cut, the Record yesterday had a story about Carlstadt (population about 6000) cutting more than $500,000 from its budget. The cuts included eliminating the town’s DPW super at $77K, the assistant borough mechanic at $64K, the Board of Health’s secretary at $40K and two additional DPW jobs costing a total of $150K. Additionally, the Liaison to the borough attorney and the town’s Land Use Administrator were dropped, at $19K and $7K respectively for these part time jobs; their responsibilities were shifted to the office of the Borough Administrator.
Even the annual stipends to the mayor and council members were cut, for a total savings of another $13K. While the salaries for the DPW jobs in a relatively small town like Carlstadt hint that its DPW may have in fact been “somewhat” overstaffed (for likely political reasons) in the past, Carlstadt’s actions certainly also give hope that similar cost-cutting measures may be applied soon in Montclair. (And I still wonder about the cost of supporting Channel 34.) I hope you’re paying particular attention to this news, ROC.
Most amazingly and interestingly, Csrlstadt cut the salary of its police chief by some $42K, by the way. The job is a non-union position. Carlstadt has also cut its entire police force from 32 to 24 officers over the last few years. Genuine budget-cutting can be accomplished, in other words. But it takes the real will to do so.
We all know the budget can be cut, we just need to have a council that BELIEVES it can and should be done. Unfortunately, we don’t.
Great line, RoC…
It’s obvious Murnick will run. and it will be for Mayor. Nothing less would be acceptable to him. He already talks about him self as the future mayor. And yes, he is so obviosuly phony it’s scary.
Baskerville will run again, but if it’s for 4th ward, she’ll follow the tradition of running alone.
Cary will run again and it will be interesting to see if he runs with Murnick (Hopefully not, we don’t need Cary carrying him to victory) or with Schwartz.
Of course Scwartz will run. His constant posts on all things political as well as his Fried bashing and love fest with Cary (has nobody noticed that they always post in support of each other) show his interest. So assume he will run with Cary, but in what positions.
And hopefully Fried realizes his time is up and goes quietly and takes Weller and Lewis with him. But really, he doesn’t seem so aware of what the town thinks of him. He seems to think he’s doing important work and may feel he needs to run to finish what he started. Hopefully not.
Isn’t Russo looking to run again?
“Isn’t Russo looking to run again?”
It’s good for everyone to have a hobby.
cathar as Montclair’s Savonarola! Yes, I can see it now.
Other than getting the Watchung Deli to name a sandwich after him, what else has Murnick been able to accomplish ?
He’s pretty good at PR for Rich Murnick.
…and beyond that ?
Isn’t Russo looking to run again
As ROC pointed out, that’s all Russo is ever doing. He has to be the biggest press hound in all of Essex County, aside from the county executive. My guess is Russo will bow out as soon as he’s gotten The Montclair Times to write ten or 12 stories saying he may run.
Any 23 year olds out there???
Check out the story on the Montclair Times website about the just-ousted building code official’s threatened lawsuit and allegations against Fried. Which developer could he possibly be talking about….
Mayor Fried is in over his head with the Bob McLoughlin. Bob will expose every dirty little secrect the Mayor has. I almost feel sorry for him, almost.
There is a lot of troubling information in the MC Times article. There is the allegation against the Mayor. But also this:
“McLoughlin said if his dismissal wasn’t “rescinded” by this past Wednesday, May 11, he would be contacting the state Attorney General’s Office and the state Department of Community Affairs to demand an investigation of the mayor’s conduct under state law and the municipal ethics code.”
So if he had been rehired would he then have turned a blind eye to the alleged corruption? It that the suggestion?