What's Missing?

Ain't Democracy grand?

Any American citizen of the minimum required age is entitled to run for elected office.   And the diversity of our representatives adds to our greatness; gender, age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation that mirror our marvelous American quilt.  So, when it comes to elections, we ought to say, "the more, the merrier!"

But this is Hoboken.

So when a 3rd candidate for the 2nd Ward City Council race threw in recently (an HJ scoop) instead of applause,  Franz Paetzold was pelted with cyber-tomatoes.   Why?

Because fair or not, he's viewed as a spoiler by those who would give blood to see Beth Mason lose on May 10th.    To them, Paetzold is the 3rd wheel who'll draw votes from Tom Greaney, causing him to fight on two fronts, draining his time and resources.

And, what if... Mason or her allies put this guy up to it?

Well GA doesn't think assumptions are fair. Anyone who wants to run for office has every right to do so and ought to be welcomed.  If they are genuine.

That's where GA is perplexed by this candidate.  He is either unorthodox or... something else.  A couple of points:

• HJ caught up with Paetzold on Feb 19th, gathering signatures to get on the ballot.  Here is what the Big Gypsy Galoot wrote about his brief conversation with him:

 When I spoke to Franz I asked him if he knew about the candidates already running in the 2nd Ward. He knew Beth Mason but he did not know Tom Greaney.

 Um... anybody find that beyond peculiar?  Even if Paetzold never watched a single City Council meeting (strange for someone aspiring to serve in city government) where Greaney often speaks as a member of ths public- his announcement was all over the local media, print and online.  Again, Paetzold said he did not know 1 of the 2  candidates in his ward's race.  That's plain weird.  Like someone dressed him and sent him out with a pile of ballot forms to collect signatures, but forgot to tell him who his opponents were.  Sorry, Franz. 

• No ELEC filing yet. No campaign organization or infrastructure evident. He's a solo act?

• Paetold has a Facebook page.  Take a look,  He's got 200 friends, one is Paul Lichstein- here's what a blogger noted on HJ:

Further,Paetzold's "Info" page is virtually a blank.  Not only nothing about Paetzold himself, no outreach to potential voters, no mention whatsoever about his candidacy, a platform, his vision for the 2nd Ward... bupkis.  We just know who Paetzold's 'Friends' are.  Is the page being maintained?  Wouldn't a candidate do that?

Further, a friend of mine who is a known 'name' in Reform, tried to 'Friend' him last week.  No response. Did Paetzold abandon the page?  Or was my friend, a known Mason critic, selectively ignored?   One week later and no response. 

• City Council regular attendees tell me they've never seen Paetzold at a City Council meeting.  He's an unknown on the landscape of civic activism. And again, he didn't know who Tom Greaney was.

• GA was told by a source that the bank where Paetzhold works, UBS, restricts employees from participating in elective politics.  And that he has not informed  the bank of his plans to run.  Note GA has not verified the latter, but this prohibition is entirely consistent with that company's reputation for strictly regulating employees' activities, including dress code: 

"On the other hand, designer stubble is out of the question for men, as is excessive facial hair.UBS's advice for men even extends to underwear, which should be of good quality and easily washable, but still remain undetectable. Black knee-high socks are preferable as they prevent showing bare skin when crossing legs, it says."

• Paetzold moved from an Applied rental at 333 River Street (1st Ward) to the Shipyard (2nd Ward).    Applied are strong Beth Mason supporters.

Well,  the above don't mean that Paetzold is anything but sincere about running for City Council.

But until he puts adds few more pieces to the puzzle,  there's nothing to indicate he is.