Delea's Dud

An interesting bit of news passed through GA Central on Tuesday afternoon; the 'opposition' was going to drop an eleventh hour bomb on the reform slate. It was going to be huge.  Devastating.  Reform's hopes of winning back the City Council would be left a smoking heap of ash in it's wake, the blast would singe our mayor. And the weapon of mass destruction would come wrapped in a pretty package.

Scott Delea.

Yes, GA heard that Delea had been chosen to 'deliver' the weapon in order to raise his profile, perhaps add a bit of gravitas to a political newbie. And of course, give him a 'surge' going into the homestretch. The strategy to force Cunningham into a runoff.

About this 'weapon', Delea was going to charge our Reformers with breaking the law, and was planning to file a criminal complaint.

More: the local media already HAD the story and was waiting for Delea to press the 'launch' button in order to deploy their ICBM straight at the heart of Reform- they were going to print with it. (Call it teamwork; the Dark side plies their media contacts with their version of events, and the compliant media wags its tail and rolls over. Good doggy!)

It sure sounded bad.  As in 'the end'.

Well, folks.  My source had it right- halfway.  There was a political strategy. Delea was chosen to deliver it. He had filed a complaint with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).  But....

His weapon was a DUD.

dud/dəd/Noun

1. A thing that fails to work properly or is otherwise unsatisfactory or worthless.
2. An ineffectual person
In other words, his nuclear warhead was armed with a Fluffernutter.


Now, if the local media runs with THIS... they might as well declare a partnership with Paul Swibinski.

Here's why.  
  • The complaint is crap. There is NOTHING illegal about a candidate donating cash to a PAC. And the individual candidates' contribution amounts do NOT circumvent ELEC rules because they are BELOW the ELEC individual contribution limits. 
  • Delea presented NO EVIDENCE that Cunningham was responsible for the management or disbursement of any PAC money. 
Here's what Patch had to say:
Besides the donation, Delea didn't provide other proof of Cunningham's involvement with the management of the committee. Political candidates are allowed to donate money to political committees, but not permitted to manage them.
Local media: unless YOU have PROOF that Cunningham or any other reform candidate was involved with  the management of this money then you will be PARTICIPATING in a smear campaign on the final weekend before our election.

And you'll be called out on it.
Treasurer of Move Hoboken Ahead, Forde Prigot, said on Wednesday that he and the chairperson of the committee, Drew Moss, are the only ones who are able to write checks and decide how money is spent. "Peter Cunningham is not the chair and not the treasurer," Prigot said.

Got THAT?

As for you Scott, stick to eating Fluffernutter.  It goes with the hair gel.

Meeeee-ow.

Comments

  1. It confirmed Delea's bona fides as a member of the rat choir. The shades of grey are all gone now. That's worth something. So in a way I'm thankful for the whole stupid gesture.

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  2. Thanks, GA. Scott Delea has gone over to the Dark Side, enticed by Mason money and flattery. He will rue the day that he made this move and turned his back on Reform for his 15 minutes of fame.

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  3. Can he be sued for repayment of any and all legal fees Cunningham is out for filing a frivolous complaint? B/c if he can be sued, he should be sued. I am fed up w/ the lies coming out of these asshats and someone should make them pay financially for spreading them.

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  4. The enigmatic Delea, funded by Novak, should be careful of his attacks on his opponent with an unblemished record. Unlike legitimate press, there are no first amendment protections afforded in the blogosphere, despite what Perry the Pornographer would like to believe.

    Of course, with Novak's influence at the Hoboken Distorter, they always have that canary-cage liner as a backup.

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  5. The Reporter's Ray Smith was the sole person to contact election officials and show the complaint to be a fluffy pile of hair foam.

    So give him creit where due. Others merely repeated the complaint with no evidence and did no work to illuminate.

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  6. Well, we all know there are plenty of people who flunked out of Journalism 101 out there pretending to be journalists.

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  7. You're right; thanks for pointing that out. Perhaps he understands his credibility as a journalist is also at stake.

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  8. Smartypants, Delea's accusation rests on the timing of the donations. As though donating up front to a brand-new PAC bestows the donor with management privileges. So by that logic, if you're the first customer of a brand new business that makes you a shareholder.

    Nonsense. Or horse-sh*t-- no offense Horsey.

    Ray is doing his job. He does it well. I wish he put more emphasis on this point Patch made:

    Besides the donation, Delea didn't provide other proof of Cunningham's involvement with the management of the committee.

    Does the media have an obligation to treat these lame political hits as news?

    I'm waiting for them to tell us how Beth Mason appears to have full-time political consulting/ campaign staff and a financial interest in H411- none of which appear on her ELECs.

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  9. As Peter's treasurer I can tell everyone that I have had no coordination with the PAC. I am not aware of any collusion with Peter Cunningham as well with the PAC.If Scott has proof otherwise I am calling on him to present it. If not, it's BS.

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  10. Right, ss1959.

    Which brings me back to my point. Dress a guy up in a suit, slather on some hair gel, give him a mic and an easel. Let him spout a bunch of unsubstantiated nonsense in the 11th hour of a heated political campaign and the media calls it 'breaking news'. In the process, a lot of decent people get slimed. Which was the intent of the architect of the slime-strategy.

    Mission accomplished.

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  11. OMG. A harmonic convergence. In a related sticky just desserts news, some 'smore fluff went off over in the 2nd Ward election conversation just this Tuesday! This is really nuts! Check out the comments section here:
    http://thehobokenjournal.blogspot.com/2011/05/letter-to-editor-franz-paetzold-2nd.html

    ReplyDelete

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