Jersey City residents are expected to turn out in large numbers to a City Council meeting tonight to call for Councilwoman Amy DeGise to resign, almost a month after she was charged in a hit-and-run accident that caused minor injuries to a bicyclist.
She’s the daughter of Tom DeGise, who is the Hudson County executive. That is a very powerful position, the person who runs county government. And as in most counties in New Jersey, the county executive has close ties to the majority political party in the county – that’s the Democrats. He's retiring, and Amy DeGise was his heir apparent. Amy DeGise was also the chairwoman of the Hudson County Democratic Committee, better known as “the machine,” for the last few years.
She also works for a county high school. And then she was elected on Steve Fulop’s slate to the City Council. So you’ve got three ways there to exercise power — county government, which includes the county prosecutor’s office; the party machine; and the mayor, who can exert control over the local police.
It’s also worth noting that Hudson machine politics is made up of political fiefdoms, and DeGise was forced out as chairwoman recently as part of a deal to create peace between two other political bosses. I’m told nobody wants to upset that particular apple cart by calling for her resignation. It’s this tangled web, and all the political interests, that leads James Solomon, the city councilman, to suggest this case be handled at a higher level.Let me put it this way. I think it would be a good practice if the attorney general's office could handle politically charged cases across the state, including this one ... and demonstrate an ongoing track record of impartiality in those cases.
Several people told me it’s a good first step. But not everyone is buying that this solves the problem. I spoke with Hector Oseguera, who ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2020. He’s a Jersey City activist and he has little trust that someone as embedded in the political machine as Amy DeGise can be held accountable.Because [political influence] spans countywide, it in some ways spans statewide.
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