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Race With a Difference
Originally appeared in the
Wall Street Journal,
Review & Outlook on
Thursday, October 22, 1992
Keep in mind the context within which Mr. Schundler is running. The mayor of Moscow is now more willing to implement such ideas for urban life as privatization and school choice than are many big-city mayors in America.
Mr. Schundler wants to give parents full educational choice, gradually cut Jersey City's taxes by one-third and declare the city of 230,000 people a giant urban enterprise zone.
Until recently, he worked across the Hudson River on Wall Street as an investment adviser at Salomon Brothers and C.J. Lawrence, and economic research firm. He wants to use his expertise to strip the city's payroll of "no show" patronage jobs and implement management reforms to close a $60 million deficit.
Normally someone with Mr. Schundler's views would be an exotic footnote in any Jersey City election. It's the home of a legendary Democratic political machine founded by Frank "I and the Law" Hague. But the machine is now splintered and unpopular. Services have deteriorated, and the last mayor was convicted and removed from office. That forced a special election free-for-all with 19 candidates on next month's ballot. Whoever has the most support will win without a runoff, so even 20% of the vote could elect the next mayor. Polls show Mr. Schundler leading the fractured field. His $140,000 campaign budget's clever ads ask voters if they're one of Jersey City's "endangered species": home-owners, small business owners and young families.
Mr. Schundler started out in politics as a Democrat, working on Capitol Hill as an aide to a Democratic congressman. In 1984, he was New Jersey coordinator for Gary Hart. He became a republican after moving to Jersey City and witnessing the corruption of big-city machines firsthand. In 1991, he ran for the state Legislature and won 46% of the vote -- double the normal GOP vote in a city that is 55% Black or Hispanic.
Polls show high popularity -- especially among minorities -- for Mr. Schundler's plan to make parents eligible for a scholarship so they can send their child to a private or a parochial school. Jersey City spends an amazin $9,240 a year on each public school student. It's a waste: In 1989 the state seized control of the local schools after only 16% of 9th grade students could pass proficiency tests.
"State control isn't the answer; parental control is," the pastor of a local Baptist church told us. "The rich have a choice of good schools now. Bret thinks it's time the poor and middle class have the same opportunities."
If elected, Mr. Schundler thinks he can make a difference rather quickly. New Jersey Republicans have two-thirds control of the state Legislature, and he believes they will allow him to turn Jersey City into a model for Jack Kemp-style urban reform. "It's in their interest," he says. "How often have they had a mayor who wants to prove their empowerment philosophy really works?"
Not often, but if it resurrects Jersey City, it'll work anywhere.
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Running for the presidency of the United States may be tough on the nerves, but it could be worse. You could be running for mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. Bret Schundler is doing just that, with a campaign for change more dramatic than any of the three presidential candidates. And he may just win.
