Assemblyman Will Sampson (D-31) is endorsing Bayonne Councilman at-Large Loyad Booker for mayor, along with his five-person City Council slate, as the non-partisan May 12th municipal elections draw near.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I support Loyad because he served this city for 25 years. He’s lived there all of his life. He goes back to the roots of growing up with my mother, knowing my grandmother, knowing his character, his integrity, as a cop, as a DARE officer. That’s the kind of man we need in government. Sometimes people are concerned about the type of person you’re gonna get … There’s nothing that comes with Loyad but integrity,” Sampson told HCV today.
” … There has never been a Black mayor in this city, but this is bigger than that: It’s for people to see that a good man is the mayor, that happens to be Black and from this city, is getting the ultimate reward which is being their executive chief. I just feel at this time, Loyad gives people hope.”
He added that while he has a lot of respect for fellow mayoral candidate Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski, a former Council President, and her team, he reiterated that he feels Booker is the best choice today.
Booker and Ashe-Nadrowski are facing off with the city Business Administrator/Board of Education President Mary Jane Desmond.
Interim Mayor Robert Kubert was sworn in at the end of last year as his predecessor, Jimmy Davis, prepared to be sworn in as Hudson County sheriff in January.
The City Council races are a bit more complicated.
In the 1st Ward, Councilman Neil Carroll is running with Booker, while lifelong resident Gene Perry is running with Ashe-Nadrowski.
Further, Paralegal Dawn Lavelle is running with Desmond, while Hudson Catholic High School basketball, baseball, and football coach Jim Pearl is running independently under the banner “Nobody Wins Unless Everyone Wins.”
In the 2nd Ward, former Councilman Sal Gullace is seeking to return to his seat as part of Team Booker, while Board of Education Trustee Melissa Godesky Rodriguez is running with Ashe-Nadrowski.
Planning Board Chair Karen Fiermonte is running with Desmond, while local business owner and political newcomer Omar Elgarhi is running as an independent with the slogan “Fix The Basics Respect The Residents.”
2nd Ward Councilwoman Jacqueline Weimmer is not seeking re-election.
Then in the 3rd Ward, Councilman Gary La Pelusa, the council president, is running with Booker, while retired Hudson County Sheriff’s Office Det. Thomas Gillen, Jr. is running with Ashe-Nadrowski.
There are also two independent candidates: Former Planning Board Commissioner John Milan Sebik, whose slogan is “A Voice That Works For You,” and New Jersey City University (NJCU) Head Women’s Basketball Coach Patrick Devaney Sr, who has no slogan.
For the at-large races, Ashe-Nadrowski has tapped engineer Mariam Salama and former Bayonne firefighter Mark Bottino.
Booker’s running mates are The Artists Avenue/Blessed to Bless CDC Director of Operations Melissa Enriquez-Rada and Planning Board Commissioner Ramon Veloz.
Finally, Desmond is fielding just one at-large running mate in Anthony Acosta, who secured the Republican nomination for state Assembly in the 31st District last year before losing handily in the general election.
As for Sampson, he is serving in this third term and will be up for re-election next year and the Bayonne mayor has historically had significant sway over who serves in the LD-31 Assembly seats.
