Monday, August 11, 2008
So what
Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, an ex-Democrat who turned independent and won control of the city two years ago, called upon residents today to support GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
Standing in front of City Hall, Gerbounka and four members of the City Council urged residents in this Democratic stronghold to cross party lines and support McCain, who will be visiting New Jersey tomorrow.
Gerbounka's move marked the first time since former Elizabeth Mayor Tom Dunn went for Ronald Reagan that a mayor of a major Union County city turned on his party.
There's only one "major city" in Union County & isn't Linden. Not likely McCain will carry Linden. Although who knows what many old white Democrats will do this year? . Gerbounka wouldn't be Linden mayor if his aging Democratic predecessor had stepped aside when the party clearly wished he would do so.
Tom Dunn, on the other hand, called himself a Democrat & was mayor of a major city. In 1984, a friend asked if I wanted to drive over to Elizabeth City Hall to hear Dunn endorse Ronald Reagan, with Reagan present. I said sure, let's go.
We got through the security perimeter & metal detectors.. The crowd was mostly retired folks bused in from city senior housing. Reagan was late. If nasty, reactionary Irishman brings an image to mind, it's of someone like Tom Dunn in 1984. He was no asset to Reagan beyond a handful of votes in a state Mondale would carry only if every dead Democrat in every Jersey City cemetary voted twice. Dunn made the Union County Democratic machine look like high-minded, progressive reformers.
Labels: New Jersey politics, THE election
