The Tortuous Road to Teresa: How She Became Your Next Senator

[Mr.5Reasons]

The Tortuous Road to Teresa: How She Became Your Next Senator

North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos

(Part 1)

In Newark, politics is shifty, especially in today’s unstable environment: behind-the-scenes deals, backstabbing, backstabbing the backstabbers, lies, deceit… and that’s just on a good day. Well, the road to Teresa Ruiz is tortuous even by Newark standards. I’ve worked my sources hard, and this is what I’ve come up with.

Anibal Ramos owed somewhere in the range of $50,000 (to the Adubato machine) for the North Ward race. By striking a deal with the Booker machine (yes, I said machine; that’s where we’re at, gang) through Pablo, he hoped to raise $50G from that source in order to make him less dependent on Steve.

But Anibal’s problems go beyond his shifting allegiance. Anibal’s aide, Sammy Gonzalez, who is a Freeholder and Newark School Advisory Board member, is perceived as an Adubatobot—with his chief task being to keep Anibal in line.

Yet another element of this “soap opera gone wild” is Carlos Valentine (hired by Adubato to run Casa Israel after Corchado dumped him as chief of staff), who believes he was one of the masterminds behind the victory. He was hired by Anibal after the election as his chief of staff.

The behind-the-scenes arrangements are quite simple. Anibal curries favor from Adubato and positions himself to get Adubato’s blessing to run for state senate; Carlos Valentine becomes the runner-up to take the North Ward Council seat, since Anibal will keep the county job and state senate seat and give up his council seat. The payoff for Booker (through Mr. Revenge is Best Served Cold) is to help push Bolden out and jump off the Adubato bandwagon at a strategic time, forming an alliance that will weaken Big Steve.

Anibal and Carlos had no problems doing away with Bolden this time. One of their big supporters (a principal at Hernandez School) was fired by Bolden over a personnel dispute that both Anibal and Carlos attempted to stop, but were told to mind their own business.

Big Steve brokers his own deals and doesn’t feel obligated to discuss his commitments right away. By the time Anibal, Carlos, and Pablo thought they had it all figured out, Steve had made a commitment to Bolden that a resolution supporting her would be passed by the Advisory Board. When Steve gave the directive to push the resolution in January, Carlos got caught in the middle.

Sammy made the motion, it was seconded by Felix and at the discussion level, Carlos argued against the resolution and everyone was taken off guard. The resolution failed to pass, Steve was embarrassed, and the cat was out of the bag. Steve then found out Anibal and Carlos had their own game plan going, and that was when Steve nearly lost it. Fact is, he did lose it.

Almost immediately Steve started to have causal conversations (and let it be known) with Corchado. Anibal and Carlos back-pedaled on Pablo because they knew that Steve knew about their secret meetings. Steve fumed at Anibal and Carlos and Pablo were also angry at Anibal. In everyone’s crosshairs, Anibal was dropped by Booker and Adubato as the front-runner for the state senate seat.

(End of Part 1)

Mr. 5Reasons