Leadership Quote by Frank Hague

A promise like this lands less as civic reassurance than as an invoice. Frank Hague isn’t speaking to “the people” in any romantic democratic sense; he’s speaking to capital, to boardrooms, to the men who can bankroll a machine and keep it humming. The key word is “secure” - not “fair,” not “accountable,” not even “prosperous.” Secure means protected from shocks: labor unrest, reformers, prosecutors, rival factions. It’s the vocabulary of insurance, and Hague casts himself as the policy.

The phrase “as long as I am mayor” is the tell. It turns public office into a personal guarantee, implying the city’s economic order is tethered to a single man’s continued rule. That’s not a mayor talking; that’s a boss announcing the terms of stability. In the machine-politics era, especially in places like Jersey City where Hague built a national reputation, “security” was often purchased through patronage, selective enforcement, and a tight grip on unions, permits, and police power. Business gets predictability; Hague gets loyalty.

What makes the line work is its bluntness. It refuses the sentimental camouflage of “jobs” or “growth” and skips straight to the real alliance: government as muscle for industry, industry as ballast for political dominance. It’s half threat, half seduction: keep me in, and the rules stay friendly. Cross me, and the city becomes uncertain. Hague compresses an entire governing philosophy into one sentence: politics as protection racket, with a municipal seal on the letterhead.