Nearly all the blog buzz on the FBI's visit to Hoboken has been from a law enforcement perspective; the Feds came to catch crooks, clean up voter fraud, bust City Hall's wire fraud ring, prosecute tax evasion. And Governor Christie, a former US Attorney for the District of NJ, is portrayed as some crime-fighting superhero hell-bent on disinfecting Hudson County.
A nice narrative, if true. But there's more to it.
If the FBI's been chomping at the bit for years to clean house in Hoboken, Governors McGreevey and Corzine kept them at bay. It took a Governor Christie to unleash them.
Why here and now?
As GA's written before, this was a decision made at the nexus of law enforcement and politics.
The noise from Hoboken became too loud to ignore: criminal referrals for 4th Ward election fraud on Attorney General Paula Dow's desk, media coverage of suspected massive vote-by-mail fraud in Hoboken, public outcry for Dow to supervise our Nov 2 and May 10 elections, Mayor Zimmer's request for FBI intervention on the breach of City Hall's computer network... and possibly 'insider' complaints from disaffected (former) City Hall employees. Add to that a little poking around (very little) to bear a windfall of low-hanging fruit, like Beth Mason's 52K street money laundered through shell company Bluewater Operations, LLC, and her ELEC signed by husband and campaign Treasurer, Ricky Mason.
But here's the juice.
The other 'angle' to this story and why GA believes in the determination of the Governor to see the FBI investigation end in a massive sweep of indictments.
This is also a political operation at work.
Christie wants to take a wrecking ball to the infrastructure of Senator Bob Menendez Hudson County machine. Menendez raises most of his campaign cash here in Hudson County. He lives in Hoboken, was the former mayor of Union City and his base- his strength, is here. Ground zero of the FBI investigation.
And, of course, by frog-marching a boatload of Hudson County Democrats, donors and supporters, Menendez gets painted with a patina of corruption. So while Menendez may not be a target of the Feds, he is of the Big Guy in Trenton.
And why GA believes unleashing the FBI dogs was a no-brainer.
With a haul of Hudson County politicos, Christie burnishes his credentials as a law enforcer AND dramatically weakens NJ Democrats.
Who out there still thinks the Feds WON'T reach far and wide into Hoboken's political cosmos with a sweep of indictments?
A nice narrative, if true. But there's more to it.
If the FBI's been chomping at the bit for years to clean house in Hoboken, Governors McGreevey and Corzine kept them at bay. It took a Governor Christie to unleash them.
Why here and now?
As GA's written before, this was a decision made at the nexus of law enforcement and politics.
The noise from Hoboken became too loud to ignore: criminal referrals for 4th Ward election fraud on Attorney General Paula Dow's desk, media coverage of suspected massive vote-by-mail fraud in Hoboken, public outcry for Dow to supervise our Nov 2 and May 10 elections, Mayor Zimmer's request for FBI intervention on the breach of City Hall's computer network... and possibly 'insider' complaints from disaffected (former) City Hall employees. Add to that a little poking around (very little) to bear a windfall of low-hanging fruit, like Beth Mason's 52K street money laundered through shell company Bluewater Operations, LLC, and her ELEC signed by husband and campaign Treasurer, Ricky Mason.
But here's the juice.
The other 'angle' to this story and why GA believes in the determination of the Governor to see the FBI investigation end in a massive sweep of indictments.
This is also a political operation at work.
Christie wants to take a wrecking ball to the infrastructure of Senator Bob Menendez Hudson County machine. Menendez raises most of his campaign cash here in Hudson County. He lives in Hoboken, was the former mayor of Union City and his base- his strength, is here. Ground zero of the FBI investigation.
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| Menendez with donor and fundraiser Beth Mason |
And, of course, by frog-marching a boatload of Hudson County Democrats, donors and supporters, Menendez gets painted with a patina of corruption. So while Menendez may not be a target of the Feds, he is of the Big Guy in Trenton.
And why GA believes unleashing the FBI dogs was a no-brainer.
With a haul of Hudson County politicos, Christie burnishes his credentials as a law enforcer AND dramatically weakens NJ Democrats.
Who out there still thinks the Feds WON'T reach far and wide into Hoboken's political cosmos with a sweep of indictments?
 |
| 2006: Democratic luminaries campaign for Senator Bob Menedez in Hoboken |
Good story GA but you have it inverted. Gov. Christie is Governor of New Jersey and the Newark Federal Attorney's Office falls under the authority of the Feds: that's Washington DC, not Trenton.
ReplyDeleteYou've placed a political focus at the top when this is a criminal focus and it's likely been going on before Gov. Christie took office as you yourself have noted this isn't new.
NJ AG Paula Dow is a Democrat from Essex, but Hudson County and Hoboken is a target rich environment. What are they suppose to do?
Horsey, don't think you got my point. I don't believe this is purely law enforcement nor is it pure politics. It's both.
ReplyDeleteI haven't placed one or the other at the top. I wrote that the sound from Hoboken became too loud to ignore. At the same time, destroying Menendez's HC Dem infrastructure is a Repub bonanza.
As for the roles of the players, no inversion there. The Feds can't allocate their own resources, that's done by the US Attorney's Office or the NJ Attorney General. The FBI investigates both federal crime (US Attorney) and state crime (NJ Atty Gen)- works on behalf of both. Christie was a US Attorney- a Federal prosecutor- for 6 years. I imagine his relationships and influence there run deep. And he is Dow's boss.
So... if it were not Christie's will I don't believe this would be happening. And I believe he's wearing both prosecutorial and political hats.
To separate the politics from this is, IMO, naive.
Sure, I imagine FBI has been collecting the goods on the crooks here for years, way before Christie, but as I said they don't allocate their own resources.
As a democrate I can't wait for someone to get the Herculean job of sweeping out the HC Democrat stables.
ReplyDeleteRight on, GA! Menendez pulls the strings & has for a long time. To separate the political from the criminal, especially in Hudson Co., is naive, as understatement. Forgive the "psycho-babble," please, but we're talking about a long-standing dysfunctional, sociopathic "family system" here. Some hallmarks of the pathology include blurred boundaries & a wanton disregard for the rights of others. Also a massive disconnect between behavior & consequences (other than historically being rewarded for bad behavior---most of the time). All "syntonic" as far as the "family" is concerned. And since the FBI's prosecutorial "resource allocation," always has a political overlay, at least the pathology can be seen as "democratic," from municipal to federal. I'd also suggest Christie + some of his business pals may have some desire to get a piece of Hudson Co., heretofore the province of the old machine. Some of that is alluded to in today's Xanadu piece on another of my favorite blogs: http://www.wnyc.org/its-free-blog/stucknation. Sadly, NJ politics is a pandemic of corruption. Hoboken is just one little petri dish.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog.
ReplyDeleteSide question here:
Does anyone know of the Jim Goff or James Goff of Hoboken, the political consultant referenced here???
http://hoboken411.com/archives/9509
Or his daughter Sara Stojkovic?
Does anyone know what could possibly be the connection between him and politicians in Kenner Louisiana might be?
Any local scoop or info on either or both of them is appreciated. Trying to untangle a political mystery down here in New Orleans.
Thanks.
Dear Rob P.: IMHO, you have come upon the best of the Hoboken blogs. Wickedly smart & funny!
ReplyDeleteAs for your inquiry, if memory is correct, your Mr. Goff is perhaps a quite seasoned political campaign consultant, so may have national tendrils. To the best of recollection, he may have had some possible involvement with some local Hoboken campaigns, a few years ago. To best recollection, Sara S. was very active in the Southwest Parks group, again a few years back. Perhaps also the Quality of Life Coalition & perhaps People for Open Government. At that time, there was supposedly some possible affiliation she (& perhaps Mr. Goff) also had with Second Ward Councilwoman Elizabeth Mason. No knowledge of current status nor veracity of suggested involvements is claimed. Just repeating "heresay."
As for the legitimacy of anything on Hoboken 411, I'd respectfully suggest it's not worth any serious consideration, as understatement. Unless you have some perverse enjoyment of bad taste & ugly, petty, vindictive political spin. It is rumored to be a barely transparent front for a certain Hudson Co. political faction of alleged ill-repute (again, being kind), allegedly connected to/underwritten by Second Ward Councilman Elizabeth Mason & other supposed operatives & politicos. All, in a very politically troubled town (& county).
You may know that Hoboken & Hudson Co. have quite a checkered political history. One perhaps telling anecdote: In the 1980's, seasoned campaign consultants were brought in to train Hoboken poll challengers for a very heated mayoral election. When interviewed by the NYT, the consultants remarked (paraphrase): "Hudson County's Democratic Machine makes Chicago's look like a Sunday school picnic." And then of course, the July '09 FBI sweep of Hudson Co. Democratic "luminaries."
Good luck with your sleuthing.
Hi Ms BB - Many thanks for the reply.
ReplyDeleteI am in New Orleans but am interested in local politics in general and this does indeed appear to be a helluva site.
Actually that Hoboken 411 item was the only real link I could find, but the references to Goff and Stojkovic originated from a couple Jersey City Jersey Journal articles.
Here's one snip quote from the 8.31.06 JCJJ:
"Hoboken's adoption of Kenner, La., as a sister city, was apparently a short-term relationship.
Not even a year after the City Council voted to adopt the hard-hit New Orleans suburb as a sister city, Hoboken isn’t planning on sending any more aid to help Kenner’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
++++++++The reason? The city’s mayor – who was friends with the father of a Hoboken resident – wasn’t re-elected.
“As far as I know, the mayor we were dealing with wasn’t re-elected, so I don’t think there is anything going on,” said Suzanne Hetman, Hoboken Mayor David Roberts’s chief of staff.
Roberts didn’t return phone calls for this story.
Kenner, population 73,000, is about 10 miles west of New Orleans and is home to the Louis Armstrong International Airport.
++++++++++++++The campaign to adopt Kenner was spearheaded by Sara Stojkovic, a Hoboken resident, whose father, a political consultant, once worked for the then-mayor of Kenner, Phil Capitano.
Last September, Hoboken adopted Kenner, and Roberts drove down to the devastated city with an 18-wheeler loaded with supplies donated by Hoboken residents and businesses. He was accompanied by city officials and a 12 members of the city’s SWAT team. ... "
So, basically, the question is how did this Hoboken political advisor and his daughter, who appears politically active as well (I saw she was also on the Hoboken mayor's transition team from a few years back), end up as friends with:
- a south Louisiana real estate developer (Henry Shane), a Parish (County) President (Aaron Broussard of Jefferson Parish), and a medium sized city (Kenner LA) mayor (Phil Capitano)?
It turns out that (per the 11.16.05 JCJJ) the Kenner LA mayor and 2 council-women came up to Hoboken in the heat of the recovery of Katrina (believe me, there was a LOT to be done back home), including this councilmember:
http://www.jigsaw.com/scid36933119/michele_pietri_branigan.xhtml?ver=5
...who as you can see is somehow also now a real estate agent in NJ.
The Hoboken411 link was also not necessary I suppose because the salacious details of the Hoboken SWAT team's visit to Kenner and New Orleans for Mardi Gras are pretty well known, though somewhat in the past now. However in Kenner and New Orleans the events have been brought back to the forefront because of some serious political intrigue going on.
Kenner and Jefferson Parish (including the president, Aaron Broussard) by the way have themselves been embroiled in several FBI & local US Attorney investigations.
Thanks for the background info and I will keep tuned in here. Thanks.
Thanks for the synthesis, Miss BB. I never understood why Stojkovic was such an ardent Ma$on supporter before - it now makes sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd Menendez's support of Ma$on will guarantee his largest campaign contributors remain lead players in the NJ Transit and northwest redevelopment zones.
The Jersey Sting II the sequel is probably already in the works.
Dear Rob P: One additional possible tie-in w/Kenner, LA. If memory is correct, Hoboken's SWAT team visited Kenner in the context of flood relief. If memory is correct, Kenner then invited Hoboken's SWAT team to return to "honor" its service. What ensued was quite the scandale. Apparently all manner of bad (& some allegedly illegal)behavior involving women at a local "Hooters." Lurid, incriminating pictures appeared. One upshot was the "resignation" of Hoboken's Police Chief, who I recall walked away w/an obscene golden parachute, despite the apparent unsavory behavior. It's all over the blogs here, if you check the archives. But again, I'd suggest this blog as your primary resource. You might also check Mile Square View & also The Hoboken Journal (I believe GA has sidebar links). More recently, I recall the "Kenner Kops" resurfaced relative to alleged leaks regarding a legal settlement (on that alleged political front trading as a blog, 411, I recall). Leaks that allegedly potentially compromised Hoboken's capacity to settle through its liability insurer. Councilwoman Elizabeth Mason's name has allegedly been associated with the alleged leaks, I recall. What, if any specific relation to Goff & Stojkovic on this, I have no idea. Again, good luck.
ReplyDelete