Sunday, June 18, 2006
Comedian is serious about local politics
Standup comic plans to run in Maplewood
BY PHILIP READ
Star-Ledger Staff
Jamie Ross, a standup comic, has filed petitions to run as an independent for Maplewood's township committee.
But he insists he isn't pulling a Pat Paulsen, the late comedian who made a career of running for president with such comments as "If elected, I will win."
"Oh, no no," he insists. "This is serious, but it'll add more levity, too."
Instead, he's running as "Maplewood's On-line Independent" since he's the brains behind maplewoodonline, the town's cyber town square.
"I have good name recognition," he says. "But no platform, at least not yet.
"To me, most of the platforms that people run on are common sense anyway," he says. But he is politically astute. "I'm not going to say I'm going to lower taxes or anything like that."
By the day of the June 6 primary -- the filing deadline -- the single, 37-year-old Ross had turned in enough petition signatures to get on November's general election ballot.
Word of the candidacy made its way to incumbent Ken Pettis, the top vote-getter in Maplewood's contested Democratic primary. He would normally be assured a November win in a Democratic town where Republican opposition is consistently weak. But as the votes were coming in, he was sounding cautious.
"This was only the primary," said Pettis, saying he heard a comedian had filed as an independent for one of the two committee seats up this year. "Literally, I mean literally, a comedian."
On Monday nights, Ross can be found at Here's 2 the Arts Performance Showcase Cafe, just down the street from his second-floor apartment overlooking downtown's Maplewood Village.
"He emcees our comedy night here," says owner Art Gartenlaub, who once ran as a Republican for township committee. "And as you can imagine, got slammed."
To Gartenlaub, Ross is polite and personable, skills he says could work well to soothe some of the head-butting by the Democratic factions on the committee. Besides, Gartenlaub says, he's funny.
"He's got a drum routine, which is very, very funny, a mixture of Tibetan overtone singing and classic rock," Gartenlaub says.
At Ross' apartment, the epicenter of maplewoodonline and the perch for its "Village Cam," the independent candidate calls up his own personal Web site at jamieross.com. "You've entered the world of Jamie Ross," proclaims the cyber locale that's gotten 9,521 hits in three years.
He clicks on the video of himself doing his comic routine at the Martini Bar at Tiffany's on Route 46 in Pine Brook. In one segment, he's pounding on the drum on his lap and singing a verse from a Bruce Springsteen hit. "Baby, we were born to ..." he sings before chanting the final word "run." Laughs ring out from the audience.
"Oh my God," says the T-shirt-wearing Ross, sounding a bit embarrassed. "I had this weird following in college. It's hard to pin down, but somehow it works. Oh man."
The Web site might morph into a campaign site come Labor Day, though. "I should probably change it now," Ross says. "I'm not sure whether it will win me or lose me any votes."
The Internet locale is a eclectic mix with pictures of a normally clean-shaven Ross sporting a beard. "If you would like to book Jamie WITH a beard, please give at least two weeks notice," it reads. There, too, you'll find Ross' autograph collection, including an Aug. 23, 1982, one from a famous writer of the macabre. "To Jamie -- Best, Stephen King."
That was just before Ross entered Columbia High School, where he was a member of the Class of 1987, he says. From there, it was on to Rutgers University and a degree in environmental economics and business.
A decade ago, he started the cyber town square known as maplewoodonline, which claims more than 3 million visitors in the past 5 years, and he subsequently became a promoter of the Underground Concert Series and, more recently, a standup comic.
"I don't make any money doing standup or concert promotion. It's mostly Web work," Ross says. "It pays the bills. I'm not making a ton of money."
What he is hoping to make is an impression.
"It's always something I had in the back of my mind," he says of his candidacy. "I just felt the timing was right."
Vic DeLuca, a former mayor who now sits on the five-member township committee, says he's attune to the Ross candidacy.
"Sure, Jamie. He's the one who started maplewoodonline," DeLuca says. "He'd fall into the mix."
But any other aspirations might have to wait.
"He probably wouldn't be voted mayor," DeLuca says.
Philip Read covers West Essex. He may be reached at pread@starledger.com or (973) 392-1851.