Another Uvula-tion

Folks, I hope Deep Uvula  never shuts up because the uvula jokes keep coming.

In fact, the uvula being a very funny body part- essentially useless and prone to infection- is an inexhaustible source of  jokes and visual puns for GA.  And I can see mining that fleshy, pink little sac for all it's worth for years to come. Which is lucky for this blog because my informant, Deep Uvula (DU), seems to be an inexhaustible source of another kind: dish.  

Deep dish.

GA  was pleased to to receive another uvulation-  it arrived this morning without cramps, back pain  or the blues.

Here it is, DU's latest:

The confidence is back. They're back in the game now and think they're going to have control of the message from here on out.

Two things.  

First thing, Russo took a page out of Pupie's playbook.  He made a nice meal, made everybody feel happy and good, he gets to show himself as another yuppie dad in the 3rd Ward, like Greg Lincoln. He's a soft, new Mikey doing the whole internet thing- with tweets and facebook, he's like anybody else in the 3rd Ward and his concerns are their concerns.  He's trying to appeal to the new Hoboken.

It's the Pupie strategy. Make a great party and feed the folks. Gotta hand it to Pupie. He got all the development rights and all he had to give back were 2 concrete slabs and calls it a park. You dummies missed the point of the 4th Ward election.  Sure, the guys that backed Timmy hated each other for years and smacked each other around whenever they could.  But the bigger threat is you yuppie types.  They found a common goal, the common enemy, found a yuppie type puppet to sit in the chair, got Beth to open up the check book and  made a winning combination.

The second thing is that you gotta control the message.  You do that by going after the mayor, make the election about her, not the guys that are running. Too bad if she can't deal with her people in the cross-hairs, it's her job to protect her own. Things didn't work out the way they'd hoped for with Ian so they're going after Melli and Bryan. Fair game.

They (Russo/Mason) think this is a real good one.  The mayor's in a pickle....if she lets the emails go she'll look weak and expose everything. If she says 'no' then they make her out to be hiding something, like she's trying to hide waste and cover up illegal spending. That way Mike gets to be the budget hawk saying that the mayor's standing in the way of his efforts to uncover waste.

 A real cute trick. She can't be a pussy and roll over and hand over the emails. She'll look weak and that'll tell everyone that Russo and Mason are running the show.  And if she fights turning them over they'll make her out to be hiding something that she's afraid to be seen.  Pretty good strategy. What's she going to do?  Turn them over and look like a wimp or fall into the trap?  

 They're hoping she takes the bait and says 'no'.  Then they have the election theme song: the reform council people and reform candidates are supporting a mayor that is trying to cover up and hide illegal spending.  Vote for US and you'll get real transparency on the budget.

They're  counting on Dawn - that she can't figure her way out of a paper bag and the City Council members aren't helping her. They think they don't have the votes so why bother putting up any resolution about Mike. He's pretty much safe from the others on the council. But the only one with balls is Marsh. She may be a surprise.  

The only one running that's gotten under their skin is Greg Lincoln because he's been calling Mike out.

If Mason wins she's riding their coat tails.  If she wins it's in spite of herself and then she'll be forever indebted to the Russo side. They see her as a check book. That's all she brings. Mason  couldn't be elected dog catcher if left to herself, and everybody knows it.  Her only hope of winning is staying close to the Russos. And the Russos don't mind having her around because they can't win the 2nd ward anyways so what difference does it make, and they get the benefit of her check book to spread around town.

Nino's got a stroller problem. The mayor's got the core group of mommies in the 6th. That's her territory.  Some think the Russo strategy could backfire on Nino in the 6th ward. You're not gonna see Nino pile on the mayor.

My peeps, take note.

Message to the City Council minority: give them no quarter.   

(GA thinks all of you have balls though Carol's may be the biggest)

Fight (lying, scummy) soundbites with (factual) soundbites.

Don't let them run over us in the press, at the ready to ingest their garbage unquestioningly.  Feed the press. Remember few watch City Council meetings: many, many more read the write-up in our local papers.

Russo-Mason are counting on passivity from our side. You need to beat them up;  Russo on his corruption, Mason on her lies about the budget surplus-- still $25M in recent fliers to her constituents.

Look what came from First Ward Candidate Eric Kurta today:

1st WARD COUNCIL CANDIDATE ERIC KURTA DEMANDS COUNCIL INVESTIGATE RUSSO BRIBE, CALLS FOR SUSPENSION

The allegations that have come to light in the recently released book Jersey Sting are deeply troubling. Hoboken's 3rd Ward Councilman and current Council Vice President Michael Russo is on tape agreeing to accept a $5,000 bribe and ongoing payments from FBI informant Solomon Dwek. The facts are well documented by the Pulitzer Prize winning journalists who have written the book and are now widely distributed.

When I was president of People for Open Government (POG), I led the charge for campaign finance reform because open government and clean elections are the key to making Hoboken successful. If we do nothing in light of serious allegations that a sitting councilman and chair of the Revenue and Finance Committee agreed to accept a bribe, then we are condoning unethical behavior from those that are supposed to govern.

Corruption and incompetence have plagued our great city for too long, and I refuse to sit idly by and wait for Hoboken to plunge back into the same system that made us a doormat for developers and special interests. I demand that the Council Majority suspend Councilman Russo from the position of Council Vice President and Chair of the Revenue and Finance Committee until such time as a complete and thorough investigation of the facts can be completed.

Our elected officials are duty-bound to look out for the best interests of their constituents. When those same elected officials refuse to do or say anything about allegations that the Chair of the Revenue and Finance Committee is accepting bribes, they are failing to do their jobs. Who else might Councilman Russo be agreeing to accept bribes from? How has that money affected our city's finances? Why is Russo's cousin, 1st Ward Councilwoman Theresa Castellano been so quiet on the issue? What are the council members hiding who elected Russo to Vice President of the Council - Castellano, Mason, Occhipinti, and Giacchi?

When the behavior of our elected representatives makes us question the legitimacy of our government, when our council members refuse to do their jobs, we must take action into our own hands by firing them on election day. Let's send a message that we will no longer tolerate criminal behavior from our elected officials. Lets vote for reform on May 10th.

Signed,

Eric Kurta
Candidate for Hoboken City Council, 1st Ward

Way to go, Eric.

City Council members and candidates, take note.