TRENTON – Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres’s tumble from power impacts Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Paterson), chair of the Appropriations Committee – and assistant business administrator for Torres.
There will be turnover at City Hall, as Mayor-elect Jeffrey Jones takes charge, and Pou’s people anticipate that she will clean her desk out with the rest.
Pou believes that if Torres – a loser by 600 votes on Tuesday night – had a failing as mayor, it was humility.
He didn’t know how to promote himself amid a blizzard of BlackBerry and Twitter messaging.
He never hyped his accomplishments, said Pou.
“I think the mayor certainly made a very good effort, and has done a fabulous job as mayor,” said Pou. “I think the mayor-elect will do just as fine a job. He certainly has the experience. He has been on the council. I know he’s going to need a great deal of help and I believe he’s certainly going to get that, and get the support of the people. I wish him well.
“I’m sad for Mayor Torres,” Pou admitted. “I think he did a great job.”
Others in Trenton bemoaned Torres’s bad luck in simultaneously trying grit through an economic downturn and a local property revaluation.
A member of the inner circle of Torres’s political arm, Pou said the mayor’s loss shouldn’t be read as a problem for any of Torres’ friends, including U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
“I believe Senator Menendez and Mayor-elect Jones have a relationship and a working relationship,” she said. “Senator Menendez has a working relationship with all our council people. He is going to work just as diligently with the new mayor along with the council members as he does with the Torres administration. He will work hard, if not harder.”
