The ZEROES Go to Court

The monikers just keep piling up.  In the wake of catastrophic Hurricane Sandy, GA's decided to call the petulant quartet of Mason, Russo, Occhipinti and Casetellno 'The Zeroes."

If you recall, last year then-City Council President Beth Mason led The Zeroes on their mission to ZERO-out Hoboken's Budget Surplus.  From Patch on June 3, 2011:

The City Council majority approved an amendment to the roughly $100 million 2011 budget on Wednesday night, which zeroed out the surplus, leaving the mayor angry and disappointed.

"Zeroing out the surplus," Mayor Dawn Zimmer said, "is completely irresponsible."  What "zeroing out the surplus" means: the city has no cash savings, which it can spend on unexpected events.

Zimmer said she views the vote as a political move. "They're trying to hurt me," she said, "but they're really hurting Hoboken residents."

"They only think about themselves," Zimmer said, "they don't give a damn about Hoboken."

Mason, and the other members of the majority, promised to return the surplus to Hoboken's tax payers during their campaign for the May 10 municipal elections. 

Now do you see why GA calls them The Zeroes?

A hurricane is an "unexpected event."

Mayor Zimmer, and the Reform Council fought to keep a cash reserve for Hoboken for "unexpected events."

The Zeroes attacked her for it.  The Zeroes wanted to score political points by giving back the surplus "for the May 10 municipal elections."  Why let the city keep a surplus for a rainy day- or a hurricane? Not when it can be spent for a city-wide vote-buying stunt.  (The Zeroes campaigned on it)

Get it?   The Zeroes give $40 at the HHA, $75 at Church Towers, and they wanted us all to divvy up our emergency funds.

Zimmmer was 100% right.  They don't give a damn about Hoboken.

Now they've not only pulled the welcome mat out from City Councilman's Jim Doyle's feet, they've beaten him with it.  That's, right.

The Zeroes staged the vote for Marsh's vacancy- Mason pretended to be in Italy (she was spotted in Hoboken) and Russo abstained (why?), denying a 4-4 scenario, and setting up an idiotic court battle to WASTE taxpayer money and obstruct the wheels of government.

AND DURING AN EMERGENCY THE ZEROES ARE STOPPING  GOVERNMENT.

Look, when that side loses Al Sullivan, you know it's time to hang it up. Sully wrote on October 28, 2012:

Mason does appear to be behind a suit to force the City Council into voiding a vote that named Jim Doyle to the council seat vacated by Carol Marsh’s resignation. According to insiders, the suit says the council acted improperly when it appointed Doyle with only four votes. Mason was inconveniently absent from that meeting and Councilman Michael Russo abstained from the vote. Again, anti-Zimmer people appear to be wasting time and money in trying to avert the inevitable since even if they prove their argument that the appointment needs five votes on a council evenly divided between pro and anti-Zimmer council members, Zimmer would be the deciding vote (unless, of course, anti-Zimmer council members intend to take turns being absent each time the matter comes up for a vote.)Read more: Hudson Reporter - Is there a doctor in the house Spin doctor that is.

On top of all that, this is a real damn discourteous way to treat Mr. Doyle, who has always been a good citizen and outstanding, longtime member of Hoboken's community.  I recall Reform treated Mr. Occhipinti civilly even after he rode in on a tidal wave of VBMS with 575 campaign workers and only 2,074 total ballots cast.   

First The Zeroes lose BIG on the machines on November 6, 2012- their slate "Move Forward' got their asses handed to them by Kids First.  Whatever follows after the VBM harvest (including the voter on the 34th Floor of Marine View), we know that KF won legitimately.

GA will do a postmortem analysis when the corpses are identified.  But I will say this: The Zero Strategy- letting Mason and her surrogates run amok- is what derailed the Move Forward campaign and mobilized Reform.

And if The Zeroes think that STOPPING GOVERNMENT in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane isn't going to backfire even worse than their Nazi Truck, guess again.

Keep the faith, Mr. Doyle.  You are winning more friends than you know.