Missing Vine

He/she left as mysteriously as he/she came...

Folks out there who enjoyed the weekly column "Hangin' on the Vine" are (like GA) sorry to see it go.    HOTV wasn't your garden-variety creeper, but a source of insider dish homegrown in Hudson County's political hothouse.   He/she was one juicy grape (vine).   A grape I'll never ferment... um, forget. 

Okay, enough schmaltz. 

GA misses you!  And your sudden departure is a mystery.  

Speaking of mysteries...  last week, GA received an anonymous package of old North Jersey newspaper clippings. I mean old- from the late 80's and early 90's.  They were fascinating, so whoever you are, keep it coming!  I'll share one with you folks from The Hudson Reporter, dated September 9, 1990:

"Nefarious inheritance of hundreds of thousands of dollars..." Meee-ow.  And OUCH.

At least it wasn't 4 million missing quarters...  

Hoboken City Council Meeting- January 16, 2008

Mo DeGennaro: I'd like to ask you a question about the statement you made, Mr. Russo about the million dollars. Is there a million dollars missing or is it there was a mistake, did they find it or WHAT on the parking...

Castellano: Mr. Russo?

Russo:  Thank you Council President. Mo, the REASON why I thought money was missing was because I was going on past year's uh anticipated revenues from the Parking Utility from the meters. Uh, it turned out that the meters did not generate as much money as they did in years past, so it was MY mistake to think that money was THERE when in fact it was not. That was, that was the situation.

Castellano: It's been cleared up.

DeGennaro: Because that was some statement to make! I think it's made everybody...

Russo: Well it wasn't it wasn't a statement, Mo. It was a question to Mr. Englund during our budget process to clarify if I was right or wrong. AND I came back and said I was wrong.

Castellano: It's been, it's been cleared up.

DeGennaro: I just wanted to make sure...

Castellano: It's been cleared up.