Marcellus Jackson

Dr. Alex Blanco

PASSAIC – It’s bleak on Monday.  The sky never disgorges the rain and people stand around in the streets and talk about what’s going to go down here tomorrow.

There’s one day left in this five-man race for a seat left vacant by a man in federal prison, and most have a good idea about who’s wearing wires and where the money’s coming from, but no one knows who’s going to win.

Not if they’re telling the truth.

Campaign headquarters are almost up to full strength several hours before real estate developer Jose Sandoval, physician Alex Blanco, code enforcement inspector/School Board President Vinny Capuana, bail bondsman Carl Ellen and landlord/City Councilman Joe Garcia head to the local Baptist Church for a final collective prayer on the eve of Election Day.

PASSAIC - On the day the Herald News endorses real estate developer Jose Sandoval  in the mayor’s race, four of the five candidates sit at the front of a big room hugging highway 21 at a warehouse district debate sponsored by an alliance of community groups.

A fifth chair stands empty.

“I had other commitments and I had to make those commitments,” Councilman Joe Garcia explains later.

Garcia’s absence at the last debate forum before Tuesday’s special election fans rumors that either one of the campaigns of Dr. Alex Blanco or city super Vinny Capuana broke through and secured backing from the councilman’s supporters, thereby shutting down his campaign.

Marcellus Jackson, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing, stumps for Passaic mayoral candidate Vinny Capuana last night

PASSAIC – A crowd packed the VFW Hall on Thursday night as former Councilman Marcellus Jackson, who pled guilty last year to corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing, seized a microphone and launched into a raise-the-roof speech in favor of Vinny Capuana for mayor and Barack Obama for president.

“Vinny’s done a lot for us and I’m doing all I can to help him in spite of my present troubles,” Jackson told PolitickerNJ.com.

Busted for taking $26,000 in bribes from federal agents posing as members of an insurance agency as part of Operation Broken Boards, Jackson, in the role of emcee, praised Capuana as a loyal man of the people who backed him in tough times.

Lus Santiago, right,applauds his son at City Hall

PASSAIC – Senior lab tech and family man Luis Santiago figures the fact that he’s been married for 36 years and gone to work at the same company for as long, while striving always to be an honorable citizen and taxpayer, ought to count for something in the City Council election.

“I’m fed up,” says the 58-year old father of two sons and four grandchildren. “I’m paying $10,400 a year in property taxes. That’s almost a quarter of my salary. My wife and I, we’re happy. The job I’ve got? The best job I could ever have.”

But local government… well, it leaves something to be desired, in the view of the candidate.A long-shot, he’s vying with four other men to replace downed Councilman Marcellus Jackson, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges last year.

Kenneth Lucianin and childhood friend Lisa Wozny

PASSAIC – Look hard among the lawn signs for the 8th Congressional District race, and you might see a few in there that say “Kennedy for Congress.”

That’s because Democratic Party insider Kenneth Lucianin, a candidate for the City Council, is bringing in  U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) tonight for a bash at his house against the backdrop of the Nov. 4th special elections.

Kennedy is the son of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Aligned with Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and mayoral candidate Dr. Alex Blanco, Lucianin is a former school board member, former Port Authority employee, and the son of Kenneth Lucianin, Sr., a retired police director and Passaic patriarch.

Marcellus Jackson, who resigned his seat as a Passaic City Councilman after admitting that he took $26,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent, remains involved in politics as a he awaits sentencing.  According to a report by PolitickerNJ.com's Max Pizarro, Passaic mayoral candidate Vincent Capuana has ackowledged that Jackson has been volunteering on his campaign.  Last night, he worked the door at a Capuana fundraiser collecting money from donors. “Twenty years of friendship are 20 years of friendship,” said Capuana campaign manager Jose Alex Ybarra told Pizarro.   “Loyalty is very big with many of us.” 

Passaic mayoral candidate Vincent Capuana has no problem with Marcellus Jackson working on his campaign
PASSAIC - Two mayoral candidates here say it’s hard for one of their rivals, Vincent Capuana, to be a change agent when a former councilman, who pleaded guilty to corruption, continues to volunteer for Capuana’s campaign Marcellus Jackson left the council last year after admitting that he took bribes from federal agents posing as members of an insurance firm.

On Thursday night, he worked the door collecting money as a volunteer at a Capuana fundraiser.

“Twenty years of friendship are 20 years of friendship,” said Capuana campaign manager Jose Alex Ybarra. “Loyalty is very big with many of us.”

Jose Sandoval of Passaic City 

PASSAIC - In a room just off Passaic Avenue with the ceiling fan spinning down on about 30 people in early summer, Jose Sandoval starts with the Lord’s Prayer, then goes into his attack plan for the Nov. 4th special election.

Although he’s never held elected office, Sandoval’s been through this drill before, having run unsuccessfully for the Assembly against Gary Schaer in 2005 and the U.S. Congress a year later against U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8). 

A 55-year old Republican real estate developer and family man who owns three huge properties in the scandal-ridden city’s upscale section, he looks like a sharply dressed man of the people as he stands in front of a colorful banner with one word bigger than the rest: "Sandoval."

It’s four months before the election to fill the unexpired term of convicted former Mayor Sammy Rivera, and Sandoval’s talking strategy. He’s talking about getting voters registered and getting the elderly and infirm to polling places. He speaks fast and eloquently in Spanish.

Less than a week after Passaic Mayor Sammy Rivera and Councilman Marcellus Jackson were arrested on bribery charges, City Council President Gary Schaer says the Council will hire an independent special counsel to review city contracts over the last two years. Schaer says he wants to hire a lawyer with “significant experience in matters before the U.S. Attorney.”