What If...

Mercifully, the audio crapped out on my live stream moments before 4th Ward City Councilman Timmy Occhipinti was voted in as the new City Council Vice President last Wednesday.

Not that GA really wanted to miss that historic moment with all its comic possibilities; imagine the day Timmy has to run a meeting in CC President Beth Mason's absence.  "Um... uh... well... as Mom used to say..."

Then it hit me.  What if...

Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Beth Mason were somehow both, um... 'incapacitated'... together. Say they were standing too close to Lane Bajardi when he spontaneously combusted.  And... well, you know.  I don't want to say it.

Let me put it this way...

What if we found ourselves with 2 vacancies at the highest levels of Hoboken city government?

Would we be looking at a Mayor Occhipinti?

It could happen.  If the Vice President were to become City Council  President, then fill the mayoral vacancy.

If.

Mayor Timmy.  

GA made a couple of inquiries and was directed to the applicable NJ State statutes.  Here's what would happen.

The City Council would fill the vacancy (President) with a majority vote:

The mayoral vacancy would then be filled by a majority vote of the City Council- presumably the 'winner' would be the (new) President... but not necessarily, unless someone knows better.

So, the answer seems to be NO, there is no order of succession in the statute to mandate an Occhipinti administration in the event of... um... you know... a two-fer.  G-d forbid.

But it doesn't mean there wouldn't be, either. 

And what if the City Council is locked in a 4-4 vote for their new President, with no mayor to cast the tie-breaker?

I was told the Governor would step in.

Would Governor Christie be inclined to support Timmy, who took a few shots at hm during his campaign? And whose campaign has a pile of election fraud criminal complaints moldering on  his Attorney General's desk?  Or Mike Russo, FBI video star?  Perhaps Nino, the Voice of Reason? Or one of Zimmer's City Council allies?

Well, this is all tasteless conjecture. 

I mean, what's the chance of Bajardi combusting?