Hugh Sinclair continues to live in interesting times. The Garwood Democratic Municipal Chairman backed Fanwood mayor Colleen Mahr for Union County Democratic Chair in a February special election that was won by Nicholas Scutari. In March, he was the deciding vote in the contest to award the Union County line to Tom Malinowski for Congress. Malinowski and Linda Webber each had six commitments before the vote; Sinclair, the lone undecided voter, went with Malinowski, giving him a 7-6 win. Webber dropped out of the race soon after that.
Now Sinclair faces his third challenge in four months: his candidate for mayor, three-term incumbent Charles Lombardo, faces challenge in the Democratic primary from Councilwoman Sara Todisco. Lombardo is running on the organization line in a town that produced less than 300 votes in the Democratic primary two years ago.
Todisco has the backing of Mahr, and a group of challengers she filed are Mahr supporters: Fanwood Democratic Municipal Chairman Jack Molenaar, Roselle Park Democratic Municipal Chairman Dan Petrosky, and Fanwood Councilman Russ Heugel.
So three months after siding with Mahr, Mahr is effectively screwing over Sinclair. If Mahr runs again for county chairman in 2019, there’s a decent chance Sinclair will shift to Scutari.
The search for the dildo continues. Since the weekend, I’ve been trying to locate “Big Blue,” the sex toy that has become the focus of the Dildogate scandal in Mountainside. Police officer Andrew Huber, accused of using the blue dildo to harass fellow police officers and civilians, is has been suspended, along with the police chief and a lieutenant. The New Jersey Globe wants to know where the dildo is: did Huber take it with him? Is it still in Huber’s desk drawer? Or does someone else have custody of “Big Blue?”
The problem is that nobody wants to talk. Three members of the Borough Council, reached by telephone, said they were told they weren’t allowed to comment, and said to call the mayor; Councilwoman Wendy Fech-Caccamo said she didn’t have a phone number for Mayor Paul Mirabelli and had no idea how to each him. The acting chief of police, Lt. Joseph Giannuzzi, said he was told that only borough administrator James Debbie or township attorney John Post could comment.
Debbie, who is also a key figure in the Dildogate scandal, has not answered his phone or returned messages for more than a week, and Post did not return several calls – the first made at 11:23 AM today. The New Jersey Globe reached Debbie’s son, Mountainside police officer James Debbie, Jr., on his cell phone to see if there was a better number to reach his father/boss. “No, I’m not going to do that,” said Debbie, Jr., before hanging up the phone.
If she wins election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the fall, and if Democrats win a majority of seats, Mikie Sherrill won’t vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker. That’s smart politics for Sherrill, who is running for a seat the Republican have held since 1984. For Tom Malinowski, who is challenging Rep. Leonard Lance in the 7th district, cutting Pelosi won’t be as easy. Malinowski has taken $4,000 from Pelosi, and another $10,000 from her leadership PAC.
There won’t be any getting away from Nancy Pelosi for Mikie Sherill. It will be Nancy Pelosi-Mikie Sherrill. And if Mikie spends money trying to put some distance between herself and Pelosi, all Mikie will be doing is discrediting her own Democratic Party with voters, which ultimately ain’t good for Mikie either.
Whichever way you cut it, Pelosi’s a problem for Mikie and other Dems.