Kenneth Gibson

If Sharpe James is indicted today, he would become the fifth Mayor of Newark out of the last seven to face criminal charges.  Kenneth Gibson, a four-term Mayor who lost to James in 1986, pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in 2002 as part of a plea agreement on fraud and bribery charges.  He had been indicted in 1980 on charges of giving out no-show jobs, but was acquitted by an Essex County jury.

Gibson's predecessor, Hugh Addonizio, had spent fourteen years in Congress before running for Mayor in 1962.  According to local legend, when asked why he would give up his seniority in Washington to be Mayor, Addonizio said: "Because you can make a million dollars in that job."   Despite his indictment on charges that he received over $1.4 million in kickbacks from city contractors, Addonizio ran for a third term and made it to a runoff with Gibson.  His trial began eight days before the runoff, and after an eight-week trial, he was found guilty on 64 counts of extortion and conspiracy.  He spent five years in a federal prison.

The Mayor-elect of Ocean City comes with a political pedigree: 59-year-old Salvatore Perillo began his career in 1970 as a lawyer working for Newark's newly-elected Mayor, Kenneth Gibson. Gibson, the City Engineer, became the city's first African American Mayor when he ousted incumbent Hugh Addonizio in that year. Perillo worked his way up from Law Clerk to Assistant Corporation Counsel, to Newark Corporation Counsel. After Republican Richard Squires was elected Atlantic County Executive in 1979, Perillo relocated to serve as County Counsel. He is now a partner at Perskie, Nehmad & Perillo, a prominent South Jersey law firm; one of his law partners is Keith Davis, the Atantic County Republican Chairman. Perillo won without the backing of either of the Cape May County political organizations: the GOP leadership largely supported Councilman Frank McCall, while Democrats supported Councilman Jody Alessandrine.

After Sharpe James became Mayor of Newark in 1986 (he defeated four-term incumbent Kenneth Gibson), he was able to influence the way Essex County Democratic leaders picked state legislators. His first opportunity came a month after taking office when State Senator John Caufield, a white Democrat who had been Newark Fire Director under Gibson, died. James picked Ronald Rice, a West Ward Councilman who had been among a small group of elected officials to publicly back him against Gibson, to fill the Senate seat. The following year, James claimed one of the 29th district Assembly seats -- dumping five-term incumbent Eugene Thompson so that his Chief of Staff (and cousin), Jackie Mattison, could go the Legislature.

One of James' first moves after defeating Gibson in May 1986 was to endorse his friend, South Ward Councilman Donald Payne , for Congress in a Democratic primary challenge against 19-term incumbent Peter Rodino, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Payne lost that primary, but in 1988, when Rodino (who was helped by Gibson's support in a district where white's were the minority) retired, James made it clear that the seat would go to Payne.

Over the last twenty years, contests for Essex County Executive were among the most exciting in the state. In 1986, Democrat-turned-Republican Nicholas Amato ousted incumbent Peter Shapiro, who had been the Democratic candidate for Governor the year before. For years later, Amato switched back to the Democratic side, but the nomination went to Sheriff Thomas D'Alessio, who narrowly beat the Deputy Mayor of Millburn just as Governor Jim Florio began to increase taxes. By 1994, D'Alessio was in prison and Republican James Treffinger defeated East Orange Mayor Cardell Cooper, who had won the Democratic primary by a single-digit margin over Thomas Giblin. Treffinger won re-election narrowly (52%) in 1998 against former Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson -- that was between the indictment Gibson beat and the one he did not. In 2002 it was Treffinger who was in trouble -- he was the front runner for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination (against Bob Torricelli) when FBI agents raided his Newark office, ending his political career. Democrats had a hotly contested primary between Giblin, the former Democratic State Chairman, and Joseph DiVincenzo, then the Freeholder President. The general election featured DiVincenzo and anti-county government, anti-Newark Arena Candace Straight, a GOP fundraiser former Sports Authority Commissioner who spent over $500,000 of her own money. But as DiVincenzo prepares to seek re-election to a second term in 2006, he looks extraordinarily solid: he has no major problems among the traditionally divisive Essex Democrats, and Republicans have few prospects to run a competitive race. And after DiVincenzo's Chief of Staff, Phil Alagia, delivered an 85,500 vote plurality as head of Jon Corzine's Essex County campaign, possible opponents are running away.