A new 5th ward sheriff in town!

Thank you, Peter Biancamano, host of "The Pulse with Peter B." for this clip from Episode 45! (Peter seems to have found his calling on local cable television, and he's got good chemistry with co-host Josh Einstein.)

Well people, like everything else in life you don't always get what you want. In the GA household, we say:  "You get what you get and you don't get upset." 

AN ELECTION FAVORING INCUMBENTS

So, the power of incumbency prevailed, in both municipal and school board elections.  Props to Fisher and Giattino for running a hard, effective GOTV.  They did.  So did their opponents, but in a local election cycle without state or federal candidates on the ballot, it was really a base election, favoring incumbents.

The fact that unknowns DeBenedetto and Cricco-Powell got as close as they did should not be taken lightly.

GA can speak to a groundswell of discontent with the council antics and disrespectful treatment toward colleagues Doyle and Jabbour, at least in my ward. Folks who support the mayor are not comfortable with Giattino; nor am I. Example of how Giattino has let anti-administration partisanship infect her council duties: the last 6th ward newsletter in my Inbox came last May.  No matter what my politics, I am still a 6th ward constituent and Hoboken taxpayer. 

So, I hope both councilwomen-elect hear the message in the substantial support for their opponents. Many are not pleased with their partisan antics and SHADY ALLIANCES.  Hopefully this will be a reset.  Not enough folks pay attention to local politics to have overcome the power of incumbency, but 45% and 43% of their constituents (2nd and 6th wards) who rejected them last Tuesday want the NONSENSE to stop.

Now, to the interesting part... the Fifth Ward and BoE races, and what they say about the power of incumbency: that it doesn't transfer.

FIFTH WARD RACE
Peter Cunningham did everything but throw Molotov cocktails at Phil Cohen's house to elect his hand-picked successor (who's a nice guy). 

Now, Phil Cohen might be the hardest-working candidate I've ever seen, and Cunningham notoriously lazy, but the magic of incumbency did not mesmerize Peter's constituents, who liked him enough to elect him 3 times.

BOE RACE  
GA had heard about an off-the grid campaign to bump Sheillah Dallara off the School Board; I chose not to give it oxygen.  But it was real.

The off-the-grid campaign was to vote only for the Independent candidate- or bullet vote (to dump Sheillah).  So, it was no surprise that Peter Cunningham's "newsletter" threw Sheillah under the bus, favoring her for a newbie candidate backed by his political coalition.

It is really sad for me to see the same kind of divisiveness that's infected the City Council has split the School Board.

It all appears to stem from last year's unfortunate decision to run with John Madigan: now every Board member who had any involvement with that ticket or ran on it, has been marked for annihilation.  This sentiment has actually been articulated, but not directly to me.

Some of the folks nursing this vendetta have stature and are respected in the public school community.  While I agree with their horror at running our peeps with Madigan, it's past time to move on.  That is my opinion.

So, just like the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth ward races, the power of incumbency was decisive.

Just like the Fifth ward race, the stature of those driving one Independent candidate's energetic campaign did not transfer.

CONCLUSION
For me personally, a mixed bag. The Council dynamic will change with Phil on board.  I am thrilled that 3-4-5 prevailed.

And so,  I hope to see graciousness and cooperation from the re-elected candidates. Not so much seen from their surrogates... GA had to shut off commenting yesterday.  Schadenfreude got the best of one troll- may he choke on his horse shoe!