"These cases are very difficult because people have their own political motivations," DeFazio said in a phone interview earlier this afternoon.

Last week, the county Board of Elections moved 190 mail-in ballots and four criminal referrals to DeFazio's desk in response to challenges made by the campaign of Mike Lenz, the incumbent who was defeated by Tim Occhipinti in the Nov. 2 election.

Another phony is 4th Ward councilman Michael Lenz. I first met this career politician in 2001, when he was managing Dave Roberts’ first mayoral campaign. At the time, Roberts’ predecessor was on his way to the slammer. At the campaign’s kickoff, I gave Lenz copies of Common Cause NJ’s draft ordinances to ban “pay-to-play” municipal contracts, suggesting that they serve as the basis of a squeaky-clean campaign. Lenz thanked me, but nothing happened after Roberts won, except that Lenz got a job at City Hall. When a public-spirited citizens’ group got an ordinance banning pay-to-play contracts adopted by referendum, Lenz did nothing to help the effort, but stood aside while suing the city for firing him.

“The plan to rescind the layoffs, which the mayor admits she had nothing to do with creating, was accomplished with the sacrifice of veteran police officers and the critical cooperation of the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA). Both should be commended for their efforts,” said Occhipinti. “Now the mayor should tell Hoboken residents what her layoff plans are for after the November election.”

Occhipinti says the mayor is playing politics with public safety. “First they berated our police force, suggesting the department was bloated and that their layoffs would not affect public safety. Now, after a major public outcry, the mayor has changed her story and is saving the very cops she said we didn’t need. That’s classic political double-speak.”

“There comes a time in every official’s life when some of the hardest decisions must be made. Often these decisions pit self-interest against providing for the greater good,” Ramos wrote. “I must commend you for your tough stance on this issue, as I know this is not a decision any executive wants to make.”

And even though he has incumbency, administration support, and financial acumen to spare, he doesn't have 622 absentee ballots before Labor Day.

His opponent, Tim Occhipinti, a newcomer who inherited the betrayed legion of disgraced mayor Peter Cammarano, does. The absentee push in Hoboken - especially since state law loosened restrictions - has notoriously been a slimy, underbelly maneuver that takes advantage of elderly, infirmed, and unwitting participants.

In other instances $35 to $50 ususally does the job, local operatives have admitted.

This won't be his first run at the seat.

In 2001, Lenz was campaign manager for David Roberts's mayoral run.

Shortly following Roberts election win – he was the reform candidate that beat soon-to-be-indicted Mayor Anthony Russo – Lenz was bartering for a job and threatening to run in the 4th, according to one eyewitness. It's a storyline that Lenz disputes and condemns as backtracking into a political ghostland as the campaign accelerates with typical Hoboken viciousness toward Election Day.

Perry Belfiore was another integral part of Team Roberts, and it's mostly his memory at work in reconstructing Lenz's moves on the 2001 political terrain. These days, Belfiore's backing Lenz's opponent in the 4th, Tim Occhipinti.

Belfiore recalls the job-or-else threats that Lenz pushed in 2001, and another job push he made in 2002, stylistics that clash with Lenz's prominent placement as the local brains behind Zimmer's reformer image. It’s that image Lenz's allies intend to burnish in the face of Occhipinti, once a dedicated ally of Mayor Peter Cammarano, who after pleading guilty to taking bribes is on his way to jail.

But this is Hoboken; there’s always an election. Just ask Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who withstood three 4th Ward knock-down drag-outs before running the gauntlet of another three elections to become mayor. She actually lost one of those elections, but took over after Mayor Peter Cammarano’s cup of coffee and arrest.

But after six elections in three years, the mayor now has five votes on the City Council, enough to control most wranglings.

The 4th Ward special election on November 2 will determine who has the vote for a few months until ward elections next May. Zimmer needs the vote to continue to push her agenda through the winter.

He fills the seat that was vacated by new Mayor Dawn Zimmer on Nov. 6.

A special election for the 4th Ward seat will be held with the general election in November 2010, according to the city. And the seat will be up for election again in May of 2011.

Lenz is one of the most controversial figures in town, but after intense debate, procedural protest, and legal consideration, he was appointed to the seat at the seven-hour council meeting this past Monday.

Former Hoboken Board of Education President Michael Lenz was chosen by the City Council Monday night to fill the 4th Ward seat vacated by new Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

The 4th Ward is in the southwest part of town -- a politically heated part of town where the public housing projects sit side by side with new luxury condos.

For years, politicians looked askance at the 4th Ward as simply a place to pay low-income residents $40 each to help get out the vote on Election Day. The rest of the year, the thousands of residents of the projects were left to live in poor conditions.

Until the mid 1990s, the ward was represented by political families -- the Francones and the Amatos. "Reform" candidates who lived in the ward like Tony Soares and Ruben Ramos began bringing the problems in the ward to light during that decade, problems like flooding and nebulous public housing wait lists.