The Hudson County Chronicles

02/06/2025

Badge of Honor or Symbol of Chaos? The Sheriff’s Race That Hudson County Will Never Forget

By The Chronicler In Chief

Every so often in Hudson County, the political community spits out a race so nasty, so ugly, so laced with accusations and ambition that it stops being about who’s running and starts being about what’s really wrong with us.

The 2025 race for Hudson County Sheriff between Frank Schillari and Jimmy Davis has become exactly that. What should have been a civil conversation about law enforcement, reform, and public safety has spiraled into a political street fight soaked in allegations of sexism, ageism, institutional dysfunction, and personal score settling.

Let’s not get it twisted this is a race that will be studied, dissected, and talked about long after the votes are counted. And maybe that’s not a compliment.

On one side, Sheriff Frank Schillari, a seasoned lawman with more than a decade at the helm. No scandals. No lawsuits with his name attached. No moral slip-ups. For many, that alone is a badge of honor in Hudson County politics. His supporters call him steady. His critics say he’s stale and vindictive. But either way, Schillari is a symbol of power that’s held the county together and, some argue, held it back.

Then there’s Jimmy Davis, Bayonne mayor, former cop, and no stranger to political combat. He comes into this race with bold talk of reform, transparency, and modernizing the sheriff’s office. But his name has also appeared in lawsuits involving claims of sexual harassment during his time as mayor not as a observer, but as a named party. While Davis denies wrongdoing and has defenders who call him a champion for working families, the cases cast a shadow, especially in an era where silence is no longer mistaken for resolution.

And therein lies the tension: Both men represent different eras, different energies, and different baggage.

Schillari, the old guard: respected by many, challenged by others, and questioned over whether it’s time to pass the torch.

Davis, the disrupter: eager to shake things up, but forced to answer for how he’s treated people particularly women on his rise through the ranks.

But here’s the truth no one in the backrooms wants to say out loud: This race isn’t really about either of them anymore.

It’s about us.

It’s about how a powerful office meant to protect the public has become ground zero for a political war driven by whisper campaigns, legal threats, and media spin.

It’s about how Hudson County’s political class tolerates toxicity if it comes with votes and donors, and looks the other way if you're on “the right team.”

“This is not governance. It’s tribalism with a press release.”

"You don’t get to demand justice for the people while disrespecting the people behind closed doors.”

It’s time we ask real questions:

What kind of culture exists within the sheriff’s department?

Are officers being protected or punished—for speaking out?

Is leadership being chosen on merit or thru patronage loyalty?

And above all: Do we even know what kind of sheriff we need in 2025?

The sad truth is, this campaign has focused more on tearing each other down than lifting the office up. The badge once a symbol of service and sacrifice is now a pawn in a county-wide game of political chess. The people? We’re just spectators.

So no, this isn’t just another Hudson County race.
This is a reckoning.

A reckoning with the way we tolerate double standards.

A reckoning with how we choose leaders based on alliances, not accountability.
And a reckoning with the uncomfortable fact that both experience and reform can come with shadows.

This race will leave marks. On the candidates. On the party. On the public.
And on the institution of the sheriff itself.

So come June, don’t vote to vote..
Don’t vote against the other guy.

Vote because Hudson County deserves a sheriff worthy of the uniform not just politically, but morally, ethically, and unapologetically**.

One thing for Sure, Frank & Jimmy made this an Unforgettable race..

01/06/2025

“Why We Fail in Hudson County: Because We Forgot Who the Leaders Really Are”

By The Chronicler In Chief

In Hudson County, the truth ain’t complicate it’s just inconvenient for those benefiting from the chaos. We fail not because we lack elected officials, but because we keep mistaking them for leaders. And in 2025, that’s become our fatal political flaw.

Somewhere along the way, we flipped the script. We started believing that elected officials should tell us where to go, what to fight for, and who to trust. But leadership, real leadership, has never flowed from the top down. It rises from the ground up born in family homes, churches, PTA meetings, and community forums not in campaign mailers or perfectly staged photo ops.

Let’s start here: stop acting like these elected officials especially the activists-turned-politicians aren’t politicians. Once you sit in the seat, cash a taxpayer-funded check, and start making backroom deals, you’re not an outsider anymore. You are the system. And too many of Hudson County’s new “progressives” forgot that the same people who once locked them out now whisper in their ears.

The betrayal isn’t just ideological it’s structural. The very system they claimed to fight against is now the one they reinforce with their silence, their alliances, and their votes.

Columnist George Will once said, “Politics is about who gets what, when, and how.” It’s not about unity. It’s about carving up the pie and deciding who’s worthy of a slice. Politicians don’t unite they divide by design. Red vs. blue. Machine vs. progressive. Ward E vs. Ward F. And right now, Hudson County is a masterclass in divide-and-conquer politics.

And let me say this clearly for the folks in my community:

I don’t give a damn about allegations of racism in one campaign video or who’s telling the truth in some opposing clip.

Because all of y’all were once drinking from the same campaign coffers, clinking glasses behind closed doors, and pushing each other forward not for the betterment of people, but for the betterment of politics. You were comrades when it was convenient. So don’t play shocked and offended now. That act is tired. I’m not voting for you because of your color, and I damn sure ain’t voting for you because of your privilege.

I’m voting based on principle. On policy. On performance.

Here’s the radical truth: we are supposed to lead them. Elected officials are supposed to be public servants, not public celebrities. Their job is to reflect our values, not define them. And when they forget that, it’s on us to remind themloudly, consistently, and unapologetically.

We should be setting the agenda. Demanding policy, not platitudes. Organizing neighborhoods, not just campaigns. And refusing to be props in someone else’s political drama.

The people of Hudson County Black, brown, working class, immigrant, and proud—have never lacked the courage to lead. What we’ve lacked is the clarity to stop confusing position with purpose.

Hudson County doesn't need another political savior. We need accountability. We need pressure. And most of all, we need to remember that leadership doesn’t come with a title. It comes with a backbone.

Until we stop worshiping politicians and start directing them, we will continue to fail election after election, administration after administration.

Because power is never given. It’s taken. And then held accountable.

BTW.
Any Candidate who wants to pay The Hudson County Chronicles for use of its Facebook Banner thru election day ?? I am open ...I would made that business decision as well..😂😂😂🤣😶 ..

01/06/2025

Early Voting or Early Manipulation? The People Deserve Better

By The Chronicler In Chief

Let me be clear what was sold to us as a tool of inclusion has quietly become a weapon of manipulation. Early voting, once packaged as a solution for working families and the disenfranchised, is beginning to look more like a strategy for controlling outcomes than empowering voters.

If we already have absentee ballots for seniors, students, military personnel, and those who can’t get to the polls on Election Day then why are we dumping millions of taxpayer dollars into extended early voting periods? Why are we stretching our elections into 10 day saga where insiders play with projections like Vegas odds makers?

Because it ain’t about access. It’s about advantage.

The powers that be those political gatekeepers with spreadsheets full of voter data and campaign war rooms that smell like strategy and privilege love early voting. Not because it gets out more votes, but because it gives them the one thing they can use to suppress Election Day turnout: a head start on spin.

Let’s stop playing. When you hear campaigns whispering by Day 5 of early voting that “the numbers look good” or “our base is already locking in,” they’re not just reading data—they're working it. They're discouraging opposition turnout. They’re putting out projections to create momentum for some and resignation for others.

The people who vote on Election Day the barbers, the nurses, the bus drivers who punch a clock and can’t always track a moving election are being shortchanged. They’re told their vote still matters, but in the backrooms, deals are being whispered by the second week of early voting, before the public debate has even peaked.

We’ve got to ask ourselves: Who really benefits from voting day being stretched out ? Is it the single mother working two jobs? Or is it the well-funded campaign with paid canvassers and sophisticated voter modeling?

This system is no longer about giving the people a voice it’s about giving the powers entrenched more time to grease its gears and get their base out if necessary.

We need to rethink early voting, not because we’re against making voting easier, but because we’re tired of the political games. Absentee ballots already do the job. If someone can’t make it on Election Day, they have options. What they don’t need is an election that feels more like a slow-motion horse race rigged by insiders than a one-day civic showdown powered by the people.

Election Day used to be sacred a day we came together, cast our votes, and felt the pulse of democracy in real time. Now it’s a drawn-out manipulation where campaigns try to psych out voters with “early wins” and “turnout leads.”

Let’s call it what it is: early manipulation, not early empowerment.

Until we restore integrity, clarity, and fairness to our elections, the system will keep serving the few and confusing the many. And if we don’t raise our voices now, we’ll be casting ballots in a process where the results were already shaped before the people even spoke.

Democracy deserves better. And the people demand

31/05/2025

I’m honored to be endorsed by the New Jersey Citizen Action PAC for my re-election to the Assembly.

This endorsement means a lot because it recognizes my strong opposition to the recent attacks on New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA). I voted no on S-2930/A-4045 because transparency isn’t negotiable — our residents deserve to know what their government is doing.

I’ll keep fighting to restore and strengthen OPRA protections. Thank you, NJCA PAC, for standing with those of us who believe the public has a right to know.

30/05/2025

29/05/2025

They Denied Baraka at PS #26 but Let Brennan Campaign at PS #28 This Ain’t Just Privilege, It’s Political Racism

By The Chronicler In Chief

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Let’s not tiptoe around it. Let’s not “both sides” this.

A Black man, a 3-term mayor of New Jersey’s largest city, a son of civil rights royalty,Ras J. Baraka, was denied the right to speak at PS #26 during Black History Month

You read that right.
The man who has stood in the trenches for Black and brown communities his entire life was blocked from a public school to speak to children about Black history.

Now fast-forward to two weeks before early voting begins and what do we see?

Katie Brennan, a white woman, a State Assembly candidate, is not only allowed into PS #28 , but given the honorary title of Principal for a Day.”

She parades around the school with smiles, posts pictures on her campaign page*
, and tags the New Jersey Education Association like this was a victory lap, not a political stunt.

Let’s be crystal clear:
Both are political candidates.
Both are running for state office.
But only one was denied.
Only one was treated like a threat.
And the one denied happened to be Black.

So what exactly are the rules, Jersey City Board of Education?
No politics in schools—unless you’re white, well-connected, and supported by connected to voices.

Because what Brennan pulled wasn’t just political—it was orchestrated privilege in real time. She walked into a school as a candidate and walked out with photo op, digital endorsements, and free press on school grounds, during school hours.

Meanwhile, Ras Baraka one of the most respected Black leaders in this state—was told no. In February. During Black History Month. For trying to speak truth to young people who look like him.

This ain’t just disrespect—it’s political racism, and it’s being flaunted in our faces

Let me say this for every Black parent, every conscious educator, every student of color who’s watching this unfold:

When Black excellence tries to walk through the front door, they lock it.
But when white privilege knocks, they roll out the welcome mat and offer them the principal’s chair.

This is a disgrace.
This is a scandal.
And this must be exposed.

You can’t hide behind district policy when you apply it with a racial lens. You can’t claim neutrality when the optics are drenched in supremacy.

We see what you’re doing.
And we’re not asking for an explanation—we’re demanding accountability.

To the Jersey City Board of Education:
You let a white woman campaign in a school but denied a Black man from educating our youth during *Black History Month*. There is no spinning that.
That is not just a bad look—it’s a betrayal.

And to Katie Brennan:
If you had any integrity, you would have refused that staged opportunity. You would have known better than to exploit public school children for last-minute campaign optics. But instead, you smiled for the camera and tagged the teachers’ union like it was another endorsement.

Shame on you.
Shame on everyone who allowed it.

This ain’t about politics anymore.
This is about the soul of our institutions
And if we allow this to slide, we become complicit in a system that will keep denying Black leaders the same access white candidates waltz into with ease.

We will not be silent. We will not forget. And we will not forgive this political trespass.

29/05/2025

Salsa on Grove
Is Not Canceled
This Weekend
WEPA

29/05/2025

Real Talk With Fernando Uribe

29/05/2025

The lesser known JC Mayoral Candidates in 2025, Can You work Together ?

By The Chronicler In Chief

Let me say this with no shade, no disrespect — but with clarity and conviction: we are entering the most consequential mayoral race Jersey City has seen in decades.

And while headlines are dominated by familiar names backed by power structures and political money, there’s a tier of Mayoral candidates emerging what some are calling the “second tier" or grassroots centric Juan "Cheese" Vasquez. Dwayne Baskerville. Christina Freeman. Flash Gordon.

These aren’t political celebrities. They’re not cut from the cloth of City Hall bureaucracy or machine handpicks. But they are stepping forward, willing to put their names, reputations, and platforms on the line. And that’s not something to mock that’s something to respect.

But here’s the truth we need to confront not with ego, but with strategy: Are these campaigns viable on their own, or is it time to unite under a new banner? A coalition that says to the powers that be “This city ain’t for sale. This movement ain’t for trade. And our people ain’t for exploitation.”

We’ve watched too long as so-called reformers or seasoned politicians get in office and then start speaking in developer dialect. We’ve seen candidates who rail against machine politics in public and cut backroom deals in private.

Meanwhile, schools struggle. Rents rise. Property taxes explode. And the same residents who built this city Black and brown, working-class, immigrant are pushed further and further to the margins.

So I say this directly to Vasquez, Baskerville, Freeman, Gordon, and any others who are tired of running solo while the insiders laugh all the way to the bank form a block. Build a movement. Be the disruption you claim to represent.

Don’t let this moment be about ballot placement and personal pride. Let it be about legacy. Let it be about policy. Let it be about the people.

Imagine the message if, instead of five underfunded campaigns splintering the energy of the forgotten and frustrated, we had one unified ticket a People’s Slate. One platform that challenges the system on housing justice, small business investment, equitable education, and public safety that doesn’t come with the price tag of racial profiling.

Let’s be real: the system is betting y’all don’t come together. They’re betting you’ll each fight alone, that your message will get lost in the echo chamber while they put up signs, host fundraisers in brownstones, and trade endorsements like baseball cards.

But you have what they can’t buy authenticity. Roots in the community. And most importantly, nothing to lose but chains and everything to gain for your neighborhoods.

This ain’t about politics as usual. This is about survival as reality. If the so-called second-tier rises up together, they can become the only tier that truly speaks for the people.

So to the “unheard,” I say get loud. To the “unelectable,” I say get organized. And to the people of Jersey City don’t just vote for names you know. Vote for the ones who know YOU.

The hour is late. The city is watching. And history is waiting.

29/05/2025

28/05/2025

🔥 “Jersey City Council Is Complicit in the Tax Assessor's Laura Tacuri tax gouging methods.That’s Bankrupting New Homeowners While Pretending to Be Progressive” 🔥

By The Chronicler In Chief

Some of y’all are running for reelection.
Some of y’all are running for higher office gunning for titles like Mayor, State Legislator, or auditioning for a Dancing with the Stars invitation.

Yes and we know already all are definitely opposing the MAGA Trump agenda..That’s been said a million times.

But every single one of you on the Jersey City Council is running away from the truth: that under your watch, the Tax Assessor’s Office is engaged in one of the most ruthless shake-downs of working-class residents in recent memory.

You knew. And you stayed silent.

Let’s stop playing nice.

The Jersey City Council is not asleep at the wheel. They’re fully awake and fully complicit in a scheme that is robbing new homeowners blind.

While they spend time chasing headlines with bans on artificial intelligence and hosting photo-ops about "equity," they’re turning their backs on working-class residents who just bought homes and are now drowning in tax hikes no one warned them about.

This ain’t a glitch.
This is an inside job.

New homeowners are being slapped with surprise tax increases within 90 days of closing, going from \$6,000/year to over \$20,000/year not because of any citywide revaluation, but because the Tax Assessor is handpicking properties to gouge, targeting only the newly purchased homes. You can’t tell me the Council didn’t know. You can’t claim progressive values and let this kind of selective scalping happen under your watch.

What we’re witnessing is a predatory practice disguised as policy and the entire Council is guilty by association.

Where are the oversight hearings?
Where is the emergency legislation?
Where is the outrage from our so-called allies in City Hall?

Don’t give us tired excuses about budget holes and fiscal responsibility. This isn’t about raising revenue it’s about railroading the very people you claim to champion.These are first-time homebuyers, working families, local investors trying to build wealth people who wouldn’t have qualified for their mortgage if these inflated taxes had been disclosed. And now their mortgages are in default, their escrow accounts are bleeding, and their dreams are dying.

City Council, you want credit for being on the “right side of history”?
Then start acting like it.
Because right now, you’re on the side of bureaucratic theft.

You didn’t ban AI to protect renters you banned it for applause.
But you say nothing while a living, breathing human Tax Assessor plays judge, jury, and executioner with people’s property taxes.

That’s not equity. That’s economic warfare.
And it’s being waged with your silence.

If one Councilmember just one had the guts to call this out in a public meeting, demand a freeze on these targeted revaluations, or ask for a full audit of the Assessor’s office, maybe then we’d believe you actually care about justice.

But until then, understand this:

You’re not regulating injustice.
You’re enabling it.
And the people are watching.

Because while you're at ribbon-cuttings and press conferences, families are watching their mortgages implode and it's happening on your watch.

This is your scandal now. Own it.
Or get out of the way for leaders who will.