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Kingmaker On Line
Originally appeared in the Bergen Record on TUESDAY, November 2, 1993
On the last day of the first gubernatorial campaign in which he
tried to play the kingmaker, Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler was up
early, doing what he does best. He pressed the flesh and passed the
philosophy.
For Schundler, who became something of a museum piece last year
when he became the city's first Republican mayor in 76 years, that
philosophy can vary, from Marx to Moses. He can quote both as easily as
many of us quote sports scores.
As for pressing the flesh, that, too, is a variable thing, from
shaking hands with commuters to commiserating with job hunters. In
Jersey City, says Schundler, 34, who left success on Wall Street for
politics on this side of the Hudson, you get used to this.
And so, on Monday, here stood Schundler at the Journal Square PATH
station. He wore a brown bomber jacket, a white shirt, a red tie. He was
singing the praises of Christine Todd Whitman.
No stranger to boasting, Schundler once guaranteed that Whitman
will win and promised to deliver Jersey City's votes to her. He has
since modified his guarantee. "She could win, 60 percent to 40 percent.
Or she could lose 40-60. That's how volatile things are."
In response to Schundler's Joe Namathlike boast last August, an
aide to Governor Florio was quoted as predicting that Jersey City will
be treated to a "scorched-earth" policy under a second Florio term,
meaning that Florio is so miffed at Schundler's support for Whitman that
he will ignore Jersey City.
Florio himself demurs on that threat, calling it "silly." But he is
clearly not happy with Schundler's alliance with Whitman. The governor
says Schundler promised to stay neutral. For this, Florio, a man who
backed off his own promises about no tax hike, says: "In politics, you
don't sign contracts. All you have is your word."
Schundler laughs at this. "In Jersey City politics," he says, "it's
not good to be on the sidelines."
Schundler, who grew up in Westfield, went to Harvard, and
supported Gary Hart before converting to Republicanism because he felt
Democrats were too unwilling to change , says Whitman was an easy
choice. Florio, he says, promised nothing at a meeting in July. Whitman
supported his plan for school vouchers, as well as other notions about
cutting taxes. Schundler, by the way, has cut municipal taxes by 29
percent.
He is flat-out one of the most provocative politicians to step onto
the staid Jersey landscape in years. He deliberately challenged the
Supreme Court's ban on school prayer by reciting a prayer at a high
school graduation. He declared his own "War on Poverty." He can cite
economic reasons for just about everything from school vouchers to
requiring welfare recipients to work. He also knows the value of human
contact, an old tradition among Jersey City pols. Within the first
minute on the PATH platform, he was approached by two job hunters.
Schundler gave each a name and a phone number.
Like most cities in New Jersey, Schundler's is beset with trouble,
15 percent unemployment, 41 percent of the residents on fixed incomes.
"It's moral," he says, "when you are the mayor of a poor city to fight
for that city."
He is not blind to Whitman's faults. "She did not run a campaign as
strongly as she should have."
But in the world of Bret Schundler, Whitman is the best for his
turf. "I'm parochial," he says at one point. At another: "Politics is a
class struggle, and I'm a revolutionary. So was George Washington. Not
every revolutionary is a believer in socialism. I'm an American
revolutionary."
And if he could be a kingmaker today, that would be just fine, too.
Bret Schundler wants it all. Fast.
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