Hudson County Deserves Better than Jose

Jose Arrango, the putative chairman of the Hudson County Republican Party, needs to be retired. After a decade plus record of destruction it is imperative that Jose is no longer the county Republican Chairman so that the party can be re-built from one he made a paper fiction to an actual organization. Hudson County needs a Republican party that actually fields and supports candidates, engages in outreach, and presents the people with a factual based narrative on building a better Hudson. A long-time political hack; Jose has just enough influence to cover up his personal degradation and crimes which are widely known and some even documented. His only redeeming feature is that while he serves as an enabler of worse political creatures of the machine politics and patronage type, he himself is only a 2nd rate villain. Yet, if Hudson County is to get better, if government is to get more transparent and less opaque, the crack like addiction to tax and spend policies is to end, developers are not to be given sweetheart deals on terms no normal small-time home owner would ever receive, and more, the county needs an opposition party. Rebel factions from within the county Democrats machine do arise but get co-opted by the interests of ruling elite. Indeed, Jose, who has long been known to be the Republican lackey of the Democratic ruling class in Hudson County, has served this function within the GOP on behalf of his Democratic masters by repeatedly failing to support Republican candidates.

A well-documented history of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, sexist views on women (which undoubtedly contributed to his divorces), a unique willingness to claim things which have happened by no effort of his own as accomplishments, and his ability to pretend he bears no responsibility for the nonexistent list of Republican wins during his tenure are more than enough reason to let Jose go. Yet the state party has tolerated Jose in part because until recently they did not believe in outreach and growth, rather like Siamese fighting fish trapped in a small bowl many GOP leaders fought to be the biggest fish in a tiny pond. Yet, the reality has always been that there is no excuse for repeatedly failing to support one’s candidates, endorsing Democrats, failing to provide the people of the county with an alternative voice to the Democrats, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, sexism, numerous allegations of threatening language, nor the fact that he legally cannot be chair as he doesn’t actually live in Hudson County but lives in Essex County with his 3rd wife, and more.

The Republicans of Hudson County deserve better than a county chairman who on his best days is merely absent from the job and on his worst, actively supporting the Democrats. The people of Hudson County deserve better than the Democratic machine politicians Jose has helped hoist upon them. Common decency requires a county chairman who does not have a record of putting others’ lives in dangers by driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Undoubtedly, even if Jose does the right thing and resigns, it will be an uphill battle to rebuild the brand he tarnished. Years upon years of teaching others how to do things the wrong way, to use party positions as leverage to get payouts and paid positions from the Democratic machine bosses, must be undone. But there are tens of thousands of Republicans in the county who want a viable party and there are even more independent voters willing to listen to a different point of view if someone is articulating it. With hard work, Republicans in Hudson County can come together to field candidates for school board, council races, freeholder board, and state legislature, can hold actual fundraisers that result in donations supporting candidates, and build coalitions. But first, Jose has got to go.