Peter Cammarano: The most honest man in town

An abject lesson in etiquette for the ambitious Hudson County power pol.

For one brief, shining moment, mayor-for-five-minutes Peter Cammarano was the most honest man in Hoboken.

That moment came about when he told a man he thought to be a developer that, for him to do business in Hudson County, The Powers-That-Be (i.e., him) would have to get a taste.

Truthier than that, it does not get. And this fact of local life should hardly shock anyone living in a town where 2 of the last 3 mayors have gone to jail. For those who never ever read a paper or turned on The Sopranos, Tom Vezetti once marched up and down the streets with a bullhorn, airing Hoboken's dirty laundry. Listen quietly, and the buildings and streets themselves will whisper of the troubles they've seen. There's no way NOT to know.

So, when the Cammarano tapes were made known, why did the public and media trot out their best Captain Renault impressions?

The fact is, average Hudson County denizens KNOW the local elections are largely predetermined. They know about the envelopes full of money. They know the Hoboken hospital is designed for laundering cash (as was the UMDNJ before it), they know about payola, they know the books are cooked, they know the relatives and asshole-buddies are on the take. They know damn well the fix is in, because it's never NOT in. Cammarano didn't cross any uncrossable lines in this regard. It wasn't the cash in his car trunk that gave a whole town an enema. It was his frank talk about business as usual - and the fact that it made the papers - that pushed people's buttons. Sure, go ahead and steal from us - we're used to it - but at least respect us enough to pretend it's not happening.

Mind you, it's embedded in Hudson County's wiseguy culture that there's no point in being connected (politically or otherwise) unless you FLAUNT it. Same way there's no point in pulling down deep six figures and driving a Dodge Neon. A real wiseguy ain't putting a coin in that parking meter. He parks where he likes, and as he saunters out of that bistro with his friends, he makes a show of tearing up that ticket. Better still - he tells them over their unhurried lunch that no cop in town would dare give him a ticket. Sure enough, in the apres-bistro glow they see his windshield is pristine. That's Jersey bliss. Fuhgetaboutit.

That's why a lot of the midlevel wiseguys and wannabe power-brokers prefer The Malibu to the smoky back room. In the back room, you're hiding from somebody, but in The Malibu, you ARE somebody. You can say whatever you want, and you don't care who hears you. This is YOUR town. Nobody's gonna stop you - except maybe for a high-five - you big-time, important PLAYA, you.

The older hands, like Menendez and Corzine, know their profile is so high that there's someone, somewhere, watching their every move. That is to say - someone who actually has the juice, and the motivation, to take them down. They have mastered the art of more subtle exercises of power, which from their high stations need consist of nothing more than denying access to the levers they control. Those who can manipulate and crush others as easily as you or I tie our shoes are beyond mundane forms of bragging. They manipulate others through fear, despite demons of their own. They're well aware of the fragile nature of their power. At any moment, a skeleton could slip out of the closet, and suddenly - they're McGreeveyed.

Had Cammarano been subtler, making do with a wink and a nod, he'd have survived at least until his trial. But with his braggadocio splashed across front pages not just locally but country-wide, his higher-ups felt uncomfortably exposed. They had to demonstrate their opposition to this sort of thing (though, leave us face it, they're anything but opposed) and lower their profile, so they took Cammarano aside and gave him his orders: Resign. Now. And that was that. Had he gone against them, he'd have been a man without a party. For a career political soldier like Cammarano, that's suicide.

Cammarano should have known better. When David Roberts, his predecessor, told his appointees to the Parking Authority that Hoboken was about 'jobs, power, and money', he honestly thought he was just imparting some cracker-barrel political wisdom. But when word spread, and people took the phrase quite badly, he denied saying it.

Perhaps the lesson of Roberts' gaffe was too subtle for Cammarano to absorb. In which case, he should have observed the more extreme example of Jersey City councilman Stephen Lipski about a year back. If you're unaware of Lipski's transgressions, let's just say that he did openly and in public what Hudson County pols usually do only in (relative) privacy. As with Cammarano (who did with his mouth what Lipski did with his, er, other part), the anti-halo effect of Lipski's behavior obliged the County bosses to heave him under the bus.

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So Zimmer has been ushered into office, at least until a November special election. What does this mean? Well, it's obvious what many WANT it to mean: That corruption in Hoboken has been dramatically, almost magically, vanquished. Then again, many also want the recent stock market move to mean that our economic problems are over. Regardless of such wishful thinking, it's evident that the real City Hall, and the real economy, will manifest themselves in the months ahead. In both cases, it's unlikely to be pretty.

Smarty Jones writes:

"I am still [holding] out hope for Dawn. She's the closest thing to a real person in that office in a while. And you don't need to be Lincoln to do some good. All you have to do is be decent. Decency over competence, because we need the former that badly."

Point well taken. We feel the same way. Nevertheless, she'll fail, for reasons we're about to go into.

Again, from Mr. Jones:

"[Zimmer shifted] powers [to appoint Zoning Board members] from the mayor's office to the City Council. That's significant and telling and perhaps foreshadowing other good things."

Anyone following the Cammarano case should remember that zoning was more or less at the heart of the matter. By appointing the Board, Cammarano was telling developers that he controlled the fate of their projects. So if they wanted to move forward and build anything, they had to let him wet his beak.

Mr. Jones believes that, because Zimmer moved immediately to end the practice of the mayor appointing the Zoning Board, she showed that she'd be a mayor who would move decisively to confront corruption. And we agree, it's a good thing. But we have two major reservations:

1) Zimmer is actually CAMPAIGNING for mayor right now. This highly-visible move is more along the lines of a campaign stunt - anyone in her position would have done the same, with the possibility of rescinding the move (under one pretext or other) after the election.

We're not saying she WILL call backsies after November. We're just saying that a highly symbolic gesture that spoke to aspects of the Cammarano story is no surprise. But let's set that aside - we mention it mainly because it's so obvious. It's our second reservation that we find troubling.

2) Those already on the Zoning Board are expected to answer to the mayor, who in turn answers to the Hudson County political bosses. With Cammarano gone, all that's changed is that the middleman has been cut out.

One recent Zoning Board appointee is greasebag Tony Soares, named at the near-eleventh hour by outgoing mayor (and steadfast Cammarano/HCDO man) David Roberts. Which of the two following statements do you suppose Roberts might have made to Soares?

HYPOTHETICAL STATEMENT 1: "Remember, what Cammarano and I both want is for you to vote for the best possible project. We expect you to reject any and all political influence or pressure, even if it comes from Peter or me."

HYPOTHETICAL STATEMENT 2: "Remember, this is probably your last chance EVER to show us you can play ball, so if you start freelancing or getting cute in the press, it's over. When Peter or I tell you a project's going through, it goes through. Period. Your job is to attack any opposing votes, or any whining 'reformers'. Got it?"

'Reformer' Soares was obviously appointed to deliver an HCDO-friendly vote. Zimmer need not have an HCDO-friendly agenda herself - the Board already has its marching orders. 'Reform' of the Zoning Board can only take place by replacing its members. But would Zimmer replace Soares, who worked on her behalf?

The illusion people are clinging to (like a life raft) is that when Cammarano left, the HCDO's corrupting influence left with him. And that's nonsense. When Zimmer got in hot water re those lottery tickets, who was at her side? An HCDO attorney. Who did the HCDO buy votes for in the 5th Ward race? Zimmer's 'reformer' buddy, Peter Cunningham.

Think the HCDO won't hand-pick the next 4th Ward Council rep? Think again. They control that vote - not Zimmer. They'll deliver it as they like - and Soares wants it. (Hence the Zoning Board appointment, to prove he can play nice in the HCDO sandbox.) Zimmer has no grass-roots base she can draw upon. (Even Mason can at least more or less depend on her own neighborhood to come through.) That means she's dependent on the machine to deliver her votes, and it's hard to be very 'independent' with that hanging over your head.

Right now, she's in a honeymoon period. This is her best chance to set the terms for her (inevitable & unavoidable) relationship with the HCDO, because right now they need her at least as much as she needs them. She's suddenly the one to beat in the race for mayor, and even the machine can't invent a palatable mayoral persona in the allotted time. (Though if Zimmer badly overplays her hand with them - well, there's always Marsh.) In the back of her mind she knows that she's surrounded by people who owe the County machine. In the long run, she knows she'll need them herself, unless she can somehow develop her own dependable core constituency. Which seems unlikely.

And this is how the HCDO has controlled Hoboken (with a few interruptions) through the years. For local pols, it's the convenience of easy campaign money - no humiliating, time-consuming begging for dollars! (But no asking where it came from, either.) It's knowing that many of the people you deal with (even/especially the 'reformers') owe them something. And then there's fear. Maybe your colleagues are reporting your 'private' conversations to the party bosses. Maybe they're planning to trade you in, the way they did with Bernie Kenny. (Some believe Kenny was roughed up by a mysterious speeding car, to get the point across. For his part, Kenny pretty much stopped fighting having the rug pulled out from under him after that hit-and-run.) With the HCDO, the knives are always out.

The only way to fight the HCDO's influence is to stay completely clear of them. Russo did it - he strongarmed them out of his way. Vezetti did it, because he just wouldn't stand for that type. He just wouldn't have them around him. Dawn Zimmer has been quoted saying, "I want to work with the HCDO". Substitute those last four letters for B-O-R-G and you'll understand the inherent nature of the problem. Unlike the Borg, resistance to the HCDO is not futile. But it's quite challenging, and few attempt it.

Dawn hasn't steered clear of HCDO entanglements, because she sees no need to. She thinks she can handle it. So has every 'reformer' who found his/herself in office, only to one day become the target for the next 'wave' of reform.

Russo, Hague, Roberts, Ramos - the list goes on and on - all entered office on 'reform' platforms, and wound up as part of the county machine. (Except for Russo, who created his own citywide machine. Boss Hague, who entered office as a fire-breathing 'reformer', ran the machine at his peak, as Boss Menendez does today.)

Zimmer's original 4th Ward campaign centered on a vow to fix the flooding that plagues the area. Her rabid boosters champion her as the answer to corruption, as well. But walk through her ward after a heavy rain. It's the same as it ever was. We'll soon be saying that about Hoboken's corruption issues, too.