Friday, June 13, 2003

By Ronald Leir
Journal staff writer

Now it's official.

Assemblyman Joseph V. Doria Jr., the mayor of Bayonne, is out of the state job he's held for 24 years, based on the now-final vote count in the June 3 Democratic primary.

Yesterday, the Hudson County Clerk's Office certified the election tallies, which placed Doria third, out of the running by 481 votes, for the two-seat Assembly race in the 31st District.

Among the four candidates in the race, Anthony Chiappone, a Bayonne councilman at-large, finished at the top, with 11,054 votes, and Jersey City's Louis Manzo, who ran with Chiappone on a renegade slate headed by victorious state Senate candidate Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham, came in second with 10,997.

Doria was next with 10,516 votes, and his running mate, incumbent Assemblywoman Elba Perez-Cinciarelli, followed with 9,607.

It's expected that Doria will ask for a recount, but the mayor, who was in Trenton yesterday, and his legislative chief of staff, Joseph Waks, couldn't be reached. Ridgewood attorney John Carbone, who was retained by the Doria campaign for post-election counsel, declined to comment.

If nothing happens to overturn the results, Chiappone and Manzo will face Republican rivals Donna James of Bayonne and Stephen Schulz of Jersey City and Green Party candidates Jonathon Oriole of Bayonne and Pamela Olsen of Jersey City in the November general election.

The County Clerk's Office, which by law must certify the election results, petitioned state Superior Court to open voting machines in three Bayonne voting districts and in 23 Jersey City voting districts where discrepancies in the tallies had been discovered after the election.

Among the suspected irregularities mentioned by the county: That no Democratic voting books were turned in for Ward E's District 22; that candidate votes cast exceeded the number of votes cast in other districts; or that canvass sheet totals were missing or illegible.

Hudson County Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace was ill yesterday and couldn't be reached to explain why those problems occurred.

Even with the discrepancies, the votes were recounted and each of the four Democratic Assembly candidates ended up with more votes than they had credited to them on Election Day - but not enough to change the outcome.

Manzo gained the most, collecting an additional 1,030 votes; Chiappone got an extra 989; Doria, 538; and Perez-Cinciarelli, 468, according to the county's figures.

Reflecting on yesterday's final vote count, Manzo said he was "humbled by the outpouring of support and the confidence of the electorate. Now it's time for the governor to step in and inject himself into mediating a peace within the Democratic Party in Hudson County."

Manzo said he's "put feelers out" to Gov. James McGreevey, who endorsed the Hudson County Democratic Organization slate led by Senate candidate L. Harvey Smith of Jersey City.

"After all," Manzo said, "this (the HCDO ticket) was his team and I believe the HCDO has done nothing but divide our county by refusing to acknowledge Glenn D. Cunningham as the Democratic leader of the largest city of Hudson County.

"Cunningham is still excluded from Democratic leadership meetings and from adding Jersey City input. And now it's hurting Bayonne as well, in the loss of municipal aid and in cuts to the PADD (senior drug prescription program)," he said.

But McGreevey press secretary Micah Rasmussen said yesterday that the governor hasn't "received any invitations from Manzo" yet.

"But the governor's always interested in peace," Rasmussen said. "He's close to people on both sides, as he's always been. We'll do what we can. The Democratic Party has a big tent and there's room for everyone."

If Manzo does go to Trenton, he conceded that he'd "have to work extra hard" to learn the ropes and make the connections that Doria developed after 23 years in the Assembly.

"I know that during our campaign, we've called for change in Trenton, but I give Joe Doria credit," Manzo said. "He was a good fighter for South Hudson and he deserves kudos for that and, in that sense, he'll be missed. But if they're thinking that they're getting a raw rookie in me, I'll turn the place upside down. Lou Manzo will give Bayonne residents their due."

Ronald Leir can be reached at rleir@jjournal.com