Jason W. Some holds onto Hackensack City Council seat

Before noon today, a voter was seen emerging from a polling place in the Fairmount School on Grand Avenue in Hackensack, where four candidates are seeking a single City Council seat.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With the backing of the Hackensack City Council and a powerful group of business leaders, Jason W. Some appeared to hold onto his council seat in today's election.

Some, 25, was appointed to the council in April after Rose Greenman resigned.

Only 2,360 residents cast ballots, according to unofficial results from the Bergen County clerk. Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters.

Some received 724 votes for the unexpired term, Deborah Keeling-Geddis had 711 votes, school board President Jason S. Nunnermacker got 682 votes and Richard L. Cerbo trailed with 237 votes, county Clerk John S. Hogan said.

Nunnermacker was backed by the city's bare-knuckle Democratic Party, which kept the Zisa family in power for decades.

The attorney lost his first bid for council in May 2013.

Councilman Jason W. Some, right, with former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. (Photo credit: Hackensack Scoop)

Today's paper

The Record today made clear to readers and voters in Bergen and Passaic counties that the Woodland Park daily has given up trying to be their local paper.

In the print edition and on NorthJersey.com, the so-called endorsement recap in today's general election doesn't include Hackensack or any other municipal races (A-8).

Residents of Hackensack, where The Record prospered for more than 110 years, don't get any guidance beyond the four City Council candidates' statements, which appear on the Web site.

Cerbo for council

Homeowner Richard L. Cerbo, who had promised to end giveaways to developers and lower taxes, was the clear choice for an unexpired term on the 5-member council.

The polls closed at 8 p.m., and Hogan posted the unofficial results on his Web site a little before 10 p.m.

The candidates' statements appeared first in last Friday's edition of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle, but an editorial urging readers to vote also doesn't endorse anyone.

Both The Record and Hackensack Chronicle are published by the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group, which is expected to make a huge killing by selling 19.7 acres along River Street to an apartment developer.

"As a community newspaper," the Chronicle's unsigned editorial states, "our main concerns are the mayoral and councilman races in Hackensack."

"Councilman races"????

One of the candidates was a woman, and the seat she and the others were seeking was held by a woman. Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino also is on the council. 

Larger turnout

Mayor John Labrosse said this morning that if the past is any guide, about 7,000 residents are expected to vote in today's general election.

That turned out to be optimistic.

In May 2013, when Labrosse and a slate of council reformers defeated the Zisa family's handpicked candidates, only about 3,800 residents voted.

Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters, and if you think the May 2013 turnout of 3,800 is pathetic, fewer than 1,000 turned out for this year's school board election and budget approval.

Other candidates

Nunnermacker was making his second bid for a council seat, but he has tried to hide his involvement in the board's irresponsible $106.88 million budget, bigger than the city's own.

Some had the support of the other council members as well as Joseph C. Zisa Jr., a former city attorney.

Zisa is said to be a big supporter of downtown redevelopment, which is being pushed by the Some and other members of the Main Street Business Alliance.

Christie lies

Governor Christie's list of failures in New Jersey is long: 

He's made a mess of fixing the public employees pension system, mass transit, roads and bridges, and the environment, and he's used the Port Authority as a patronage mill and a way to seek political retribution against Democrats.

On top of all that, he's vetoed more than 400 bills to keep the state Legislature's Democrats in line.

Yet, Editor Martin Gottlieb and Christie's chief apologist, political columnist Charles Stile, continue to parrot Christie's criticism of President Obama.

Even if you believe Christie is only trying to salvage his dying campaign for the White House, the GOP bully's attacks often seem racially motivated (A-1).

More crapisch

Readers who were hoping for a Mets-free front page today were disappointed again.

Columnist Bob Klapisch continues with the endless couldas, wouldas and shouldas (A-1).

In Monday's early edition, sports Columnist Tara Sullivan referred incorrectly to "Game 6" of the World Series, according to a reader on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack.

That was corrected in a later edition to Game 5.

In the past few weeks, Gottlieb has devoted more space to the Mets, those miserable failures, than he has to the issues at stake in local elections.

No local news

Today's Local seemingly has more police, fire and court news -- and stories about the police -- than I've ever seen in a section that is supposed to be largely devoted to municipal news (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

There would have been plenty of room for endorsements of candidates in Hackensack, Maywood and other towns, if only local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza had gotten off of their fat asses.