Wow, I knew the vote would be closer than last time, but not expecting a split vote. I think if there wasn't a third ticket, all of the incumbants would have lost. These next four years is the time for the council majority to redefine themselves, and to continue the progress that is being made in Hackensack.
Let's all give Labrosse the benefit of the doubt. Let's see if he emerges as a team player, or if he'll be like a Richard Rankin, but sitting on the Council. If anyone was ever to a Freeholder meeting when there were both Democrats and Republicans elected, that could be a sample of things to come in Hackensack. God forbid.
The last time a ticket split was 1985, and it was accomplished by John Smith, an employee of PSE&G in Hackensack who lived in a house on South Prospect Avenue. Those on then-current Mayor Fred Cerbo's ticket were Thomas Della Torre, Conrad Francis, Barbara Elder, and a radical tenant activist named Cynthia Ryan. Ryan was the Shirley Maclaine of Hackensack. I strongly support tenant rights, but Ryan was so far out in left field, she was beyond the wall and someplace in the upper deck. Not being a homeowner didn't help her either. Rumor has it that her connections with Cerbo earned her a seat on the ticket, that's all I'll say on this website because to say more would be inappropriate.
John Smith ran on a ticket with Frank Zisa Sr (father of Jack Zisa), and he was the token African-American on the ticket. The rest of the ticket and most of their supporters were furious that he was the only one who made it. There was a lot of negative press against Ryan, and some behind-the-scenes bullet voting, which put Smith on top.
Smith quickly dissociated himself from the Zisa political machine that he was never really close with in the first place, and he became a more-on-less independant voice on the Council. He didn't fulfill the role of challenging and attacking and grandstanding against the council majority on every possible issue, and he voted for the Cerbo budgets. Let's see if Labrosse follows this model or not.