Back in 2009, when the Hudson City Democratic Committee endorsed Rick Scalera for what was promised to be his final run, HCDC chair Victor Mendolia explained to people unhappy about the endorsement--to this one at least--that, since there was no candidate who could beat Scalera, there was no point in squandering money and effort to run another mayoral candidate in the 2009 election. Letting Scalera run unchallenged, said Mendolia, gave the committee two years to groom a Democrat who could take the mayor's office. For the past fourteen months, to most observers, Moore seemed to be the heir presumptive. Mendolia and the HCDC didn't appear to be grooming anyone else.
Now we learn that Moore is passing on a run for mayor, and there's no obvious candidate to take his place. We can only hope that 2011 doesn't bring a repeat of 2007, when perennial mayoral hopeful Linda Mussmann primaried the candidate endorsed by the HCDC, Michael O'Hara, and, when she didn't win, ran against him on her own party line, the Bottom Line. That move threw the Democrats into confusion and guaranteed a win for Scalera, who was running as a Republican that year. If the HCDC can't come up with a strong candidate in the next few months, Mussmann might feel compelled to throw her hat into the ring once again and be the spoiler who assures that Gary Graziano, or whoever the Republicans decide to run, glides into the mayor's office.
What was it that Will Rogers used to say? "I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
Sad day for Hudson. Here is the real opportunity to make major progress on important issues like the waterfront, trucking, green development...but there is not a single qualified person willing to step up and do the job? Tragic, hopeless, what other adjectives could be used to describe it?
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