Well folks, GA has been talking about infiltration of the Occhipinti campaign by Ramos political operatives for a long time now, and much of it has been circumstantial or 'as told to'.
Until now.
Because GA has uncovered a 'smoking gun' which proves that Mason's fishy operative, James 'Finboy' Barracato, was indeed double-dealing with the Ramos campaign.
Apparently, stinky fin-prints were left all over One Hoboken's ELEC report irrefutably connecting both campaigns.
GA is told that the One Hoboken anti-Ruben TV ad was done at the behest of Finboy. And Finboy was tasked with the responsibility to get it done.
So who did he hire?
A North Bergen company called "Skyline Media". Skyline Media is owned by Stephen Israel, who according to his LinkedIn profile is also Vision Media's Creative Director. Israel's resume notes he has been with Vision Media for 23 years.
Do you get it?
Finboy hired the opposition (Ramos people) to do Raia's campaign commercial- with Raia's money!
Holy sabotaging mackeral!
Now, if you didn't already know it, Frank Raia can't stand Paul Swibinski. Hates him. Can you imagine what Raia is going to do when discovers that Finboy hired his arch enemy to run his TV ad campaign?
I am not making this up!
Take a look at One Hoboken's 10/25 2013 ELEC report, page 8. Skyline Media was paid $10,000 for a "TV comm". Frank's money, not Mason's.
Folks, this is the only connection so far that we can 'see' of Barracato's duplicity and sabotage of the Occhipinti-Raia campaign. Can you imagine all the others we can't?
To recap, we have James Barracato going to the Ramos campaign to do the ad spot; proof Barracato was working for Ramos.
The evidence keeps piling on that One Hoboken was just a big scam to milk Frank Raia and Beth Mason, and that the Ramos campaign had infiltrated and sabotaged One Hoboken.
I hate to do a victory lap, but what did GA tell you? I've been saying for weeks that the Occhipinti campaign was infested with moles.
Aqua Mole is real; he exists.
The question is, how come bloggers and many others figured it out while it was happening but the two getting milked, Raia and Mason, haven't? Stay tuned, there will be more.
GA -- This is Phil Swibinski of Vision Media. Steve Israel is an independent consultant who we have worked with as a subcontractor in the past, but he is NOT an employee of Vision Media. Israel has his own firm and does many projects that are not related to Vision Media whatsoever, such as this one. Our firm worked for the Ramos campaign exclusively and we had nothing to do with this ad or anything related to the Occhipinti campaign.
ReplyDeleteIsrael lists himself as an employee of vision media on his linked in account. Is is common that an employee of a company works for a client that is opposed to his boss' client without telling the boss that he's doing it?
DeleteThis smells to high heaven, and not just of fish.
Phil...Israel's LinkedIn profile (see above) lists him as "creative director, Vision Media Marketing, 1990-present (23 years)". Someone's not telling the truth.
DeleteWe were not aware that he listed himself as Creative Director and will ask him to remove it. He is an independent consultant who is free to do whatever work he gets, not an employee of our firm.
DeleteFinn boy has been in constant meetings with Ramos people throughout the campaign -- this only makes it much clearer that he was doing the bidding of people other than Raia or Mason when he helped destroy the campaign by bringing on inept people for PR. The campaign also shows that Raia paid for street people he never got, literature that was never distributed and press releases never issued. This resembles many of the antics that went on during the Mason Mayoral four years ago, and suggests that Finn Boy's real job was to make sure that campaign didn't get off the ground as well.
DeletePhil-- Israel is listed on his LinkedIn professional bio as the Creative Director of Vision Media Marketing not a "Consultant" to Vision Media. In fact he notes he's worked for your company for 23 years. His resume presents him as a long-term employee.
DeleteIt seems a conflict of interest for an employee of your firm to be working for a competing campaign. If your office did not participate in your Creative DIrector's work for Occhipinti, were you aware of it? And if you were aware of it, did you condone it? Certainly nothing illegal but it seems a rather pointed conflict of interest.
Israel has been with Vision Media for 23 years, and if you worked exclusively for the Ramos campaign, it would seem unusual that a top level employee, the Creative Director of Marketing would hire out for a competing campaign. Don't you agree?
But, I can tweak the post to reflect your comment and/or add your comment to the post.
Also, you are welcome to any documents which confirm your company was not participating in the production of the ad, and I would be happy to post as a clarification.
Steve has had a long relationship with our firm and we have collaborated on many projects, but he has never been a salaried employee and has always been a subcontractor or outside consultant and has always maintained other business besides the projects he does with us. His LinkedIn page is wrong and we have asked him to correct it. No one at our firm had any knowledge of this ad until we started hearing rumors about it and the first time any of us saw it was this post on MSV: http://www.hobokenhorse.com/2013/11/ruben-ramos-skewered-in-tv-attack-ad.html
DeletePart of this stealth campaign appears to be how to make Raia's money ineffective-- so that the Ramos operatives simply overcharged for services that they did not deliver or did badly. The $10 G price for this video showed only Ramos' face. Are you telling me Israel didn't tell Phil that he was making a video of Ramos for Raia? I'm sure Phill appreciated the fact that anyone who isn't paying close attention could easily mistake the video for a pro Ramos ad -- which was probably the whole point.
DeleteI love how much damage control Swibinski needs to do. I guess they must protect finn boy, Tim's Girl friend and the other operatives they placed inside the Raia campaign. Hell, they might even want to use them again when Ramos goes after Tim in two years. But how long can they expect Raia to foot the bill for these operatives. Even Raia isn't that stupid
Deleteso phil, you're telling me that a man who claims to work for your firm as a director savaged your client and didn't tell you? And you're not firing him? Maybe you should have worked for the Raia campaign, it sounds a lot like the same Marx brother routine.
DeleteI have to wonder how Swibinski's excuses are playing with Frank Raia ?
DeleteThis playing both sides against the other has to be a big negative to any future Vision Media client.
Phil is not believable.
DeleteDouble Vision is doomed.
It's Beth's Little Philly… Hey Phil, guess posing as Beth's Hudson Tea resident by the Ferry was too humiliating for you.
DeleteHow is your long lost uncle Bobby J? Don't you wonder why your pop and Bobby J look so much alike?
This appears to be a well organized plot that was years in the making. The problem is that Finn Boy is completely incompetent and left a trail of clues even a blind man could follow, infiltrating the Raia camp on a number of levels. Finn Boy was the insider who was to keep everybody collecting as much of Raia cash as possible, a total gravy train from which a number of people profited, and it appears that Finn Boy did the same thing to Mason when she ran for mayor, and later when he orchestrated the Nazi Truck during the board of ed election. So how much money had finn boy re-directed to his pals from Mason's pocket book, and rain's wallet is anybody's guess?
ReplyDeleteEnough for him to buy a bar in Weehawken.
DeleteThanks for being upfront, Phil. In fairness, thought, you have to admit it seems hard to believe you guys had no idea Steve was claiming to be your in-house/full-time creative director for 23 years. It might remind some people of another operative who was "not paid for friendship."
ReplyDeleteThe appearance of impropriety is pretty clear.
ReplyDeleteThe cloak of deniability just ain't work'n.
Did Fin Boy bring Amanda P. into the campaign?
ReplyDeleteIt's just not believable that Vision Media was unaware of the commercial for One Hoboken. Ridiculous. Looks like some serious ass-covering from Phil. Also, I think $10k was way overpriced for that ad. $2k at most and that's a stretch.
ReplyDeleteThis campaign goes deeper than just going after Tim and Raia, or the money they could suck out of Raia and Mason. This started after Cammerano's arrest, building a webwork of control through many devious methods -- bringing on people to compromise the key players so that the bad guys could get control of the city. For all these years of playing and secret spies, and other stuff, it all came to naught because GA was on them and outed them. They even tried to get GA, first though the press and when that didn't work, they tried to sue her. She kept on them, and finally undid them. We will never know just how many dirty tricks were played, but this last was a slip up. Finn boy and others got too greedy asking for too much, trying to milk everything they could out of the raia cow before the milk ran out. And now Finn Boy has dragged down Vision Media with him, Tim's girlfriend, Cryan, Tim, and maybe even Mason and Raia. I'm sure they all go paid handsomely, but no one will trust any of them ever again.
ReplyDeleteNever thought the Swibinski name could be dragged lower. I was wrong.
DeleteOne thing I really don't get is why a nasty little twerp like Fin Boy has been successful at baiting so many candidates, political consultants, etc. with his horrible track record. Don't these people conduct some due diligence before they open their checkbooks???
ReplyDeleteIf the answer's "no" they truly deserve to lose their shirts. Does anyone have any reliable info on Fin Boy's experience running political campaigns. Who's bankrolling this stupid kid?
easy, Finn boy comes with Mason's money. He also dolls out that money to selected friends such as the Russos. In this election, he couldn't tap mason, so he worked it so that his gal friday, he and others over charged Raia for services they never provided. So did Israel. Finn Boy is like a drug dealer, supplying every body with a little bit of their coke fix. He's always looking for new suckers, and generally those suckers -- in a traditional con -- think they're going to get Mason's money when Finn boy is actually stealing theirs.
DeleteLame excuse from Phil Swibinski. Whatever ad was produced for Raia by his "consultant" was designed not to hurt Ruben.
DeleteA fool and his money are soon parted.
DeleteIt's Phil (the Phony Yuppie) Swibinski! Beth Mason used this clown to pose as her yuppie supporter by the ferry and path train
ReplyDeleteStar of the Mason campaign. Because it's better to pay for love than actually earn it!
Hey Phil were you nervous that famous July 22nd when the feds came sweeping through your client roster and arrested some of them?
ReplyDeletePhil Swibinski is famous for excuses look here where he covers for the Sacco Mob:
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/oT9WXbOw6K0
This dirty trick stuff is nothing new for Phil and his crew, but thanks to GA, this time they got caught. Maybe political people county wide will wise up and realize this guy wasn't any good when he worked for Janiszewski and he's not any good now.
ReplyDeletedoes raia know about this?
ReplyDeleteYes. He's flipping out.
DeleteHeard the same thing. Dont mess withe Poopster. Remember how he got his start.
DeleteWow. What a story: how the once-mighty were felled by a blogger whose only committed is to doing the right thing. Wheeler-n-dealers like Swibinski are accustomed to operating unobstructed and in the shadows, pulling strings and calling shots. Suddenly, they and their ilk find themselves out of step with today's reality and the power of the internet, which levels the playing field and allows anyone with moral fortitude to expose hypocrisy and corruption.
ReplyDeleteIt's a new day, Phil. The balance has shifted, and not in your favor.
Not sure this falls into the category of corruption or hypocrisy. This is after all the political consulting game and Hudson County plays rough and Hoboken is looked on as a swamp by the county.
DeleteLooks like the Prince of Darkness and company got caught with their pants down showing their was some evidence of an orchestrated campaign to reap some sow in the Mason-Raia camp.
Really, this is not worth moralizing over. This requires a tip of the cap to the Ramos campaign. Of course that comes with some payback to Raia (congrats Phil) but with some blowback and frag fire hitting Finboy.
We'll deal. Sorry Beth.
Not sure what you're implying. Double-dealing and back-stabbing might be common in HudCo politics but that doesn't make it not hypocritical.
Deleteso, Anon, you approve of the corrupt Ramos undercover campaign -- which shows just what kind of corrupt government he would bring in had he been elected. The only hat off he should get is when someone hangs him.
DeletePhilly boy, time to face the music. The jig is up. Stick to North Bergen, your shit don't fly in Hoboken anymore.
ReplyDeletePhil - Paul - James -Fin - Whatever? They are in a rather 'dirty' business. Get ready - Ward races in two years - lol
ReplyDelete...and i'm feelin' good about that too. jen and peter are solid in their districts, who knows, reform might even pick up a seat.
Delete...might pick up more than one seat - 1st & 2nd...
DeleteAl Sullivan in the HR is floating the idea that Ruben Ramos Jr would run the 4th Ward seat now occupied by Timmy Mason-Occhipinti and Frank Raia might run against Tony and Michele boy Mikey Russo.
ReplyDeleteRamos could win. Raia could win or split the Russo vote and open it up to a reformer.
i can't imagine ramos not beating timmy, who basically has no base beyond who he can pay to vote for him.
ReplyDeleteI hope Reform fields a fourth ward candidate.
ReplyDelete