Folks, the whole NJDC-thing had fallen off my radar until Beth Mason and Lane Bajardi put it back on last Wednesday night.
That's when Mason whipped out the prop she'd brought to the OLG debate- the same side-by-side image Bajardi had carted to the City Council last November; the official launch of the smear they thought would be heard round-the-world.
What those 2 shallow, hate-filled individuals didn't understand back then about their own plan was that it always had 2 dimensions: the spiritual and the political. GA saw that right away.
And I confronted the spiritual dimension immediately, spoke extensively to Jewish leaders, apologized to anyone hurt by the image, was changed by it on a spiritual level in a positive and lasting way. That was my closure. That was closure for the Jewish leaders with whom I spoke. They wished to move on.
So all that's left is the political. The pimping of anti-Semitism for political gain. In defiance of the wishes of her rabbi, Rabbi Scheinberg, the show must go on. It did last Wednesday night.
Well, GA can really do nothing about that. If Mason wishes to debase herself in this manner, defy the wishes of her own rabbi, harm the Jewish community by politicizing this real and hurtful issue, so be it. I'll survive.
Believe it or not, the spiritual dimension was the one I always cared about. The other doesn't really matter.
But what the resurfacing of this did was put unfinished business with the NJDC back on my radar.
They have never apologized for their participation in the back-door publication of a donor's ghost-written Hoboken411-linked hit-piece via Mason-friend and NJDC Board of Director, Larry Stempler.
They let themselves be used to settle a donor's personal score and they owe me an apology.
My attorney's gotten 'bupkis' from the NJDC President, David Harris. Well, as a Washington-based 'Leadership' PAC ,the NJDC has 2 Congressional sponsors. They are the Honorable Senators from Maryland, Ben Cardin, and Oregon, Ron Wyden. I'd thought about contacting them months ago, but as I said, the whole thing fell off my radar.
Until Wednesday night.
I've sent the following letter(s) to each.
click to read
So that bit of unfinished business has been taken care of.
Thanks for the reminder, Beth and Lane. Got that off my 'To Do' list. Larry, blame your friend Beth. I'd already moved on. It seems she can't.
No more distractions, diversions. There are plenty of things to talk about.
May 10th is right around the corner.
Glad you took this initiative. Let us know their repsonses.
ReplyDeleteOn the face of it, Mason would have us believe that this piece of satire was a collision at the intersection of politics and religion where she is the victim.
It's not. It's about bigotry in general and how far she is willing to go to twist reality into her preferred version for her own purposes.
Mason chooses to touch one of the "third rails" of irrational hate in our culture and exploit the gravity of one of humankind's darkest chapters to gain political traction in a faltering, corrupt, inchoate political career.
In short, it's a "shanda" and NJDC would be wise to distance themselves from this delusional, unhinged woman ASAP.
Happy Passover!
Beth can't take satire from GA. What does this say about her ability to vote on the serious issues that Hoboken faces? First she played the victim then turned into an attack dog against Tom. Saw Ricky and Lane manning the "Beth table" at Starbucks on Hudson & 12th this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAt the heart of this matter is the simple ability to admit when one is wrong. As you might have guessed, I have a lot of experience in this area, and lo and behold, find it very empowering. Good for the blood pressure too. These two gentlemen simply have to admit they made a mistake, instead of feeding everyone this "time to move on" dodge. Admit one snuk under the radar and that it is crystal clear that Ms Mason is egregiously exaggerating the ramifications of the graphic and playing to the wrong crowd in a misguided attempt to keep her political head above water. Admit Ms Mason is seemingly grasping at straws in an all-out effort to silence someone who embarrassed her graphically.
ReplyDeleteHold on, I must have dozed off into Fantasyland there for a sentance or two.
Of course, they'll never drive down the road of reality that far, but they need to at least stop trying to just change the subject, and admit they were had. It's not that big a deal, and the facts are mondo-obvious.