A message was delivered today from NJ Attorney General Paula Dow and the US Attorney's Office to selected City Council members. The messenger was NJ Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.
It was the stunning news of the day.
Guadagno, up from Trenton to perform the swearing in for City Council members, declined to swear in Beth Mason, Mike Russo, Terry Castellano and Tim Occhipinti.
Hear that?
The Lt. Governor would perform the swearing in for Jen Giattino and Peter Cunningham only.
Do NOT believe the face-saving tale our local papers are lapping up from the Mason-Russo spin machine about City Council members refusing to be sworn in by the Lt. Governor. City Hall was told of Guadagno's intentions weeks ago. Before the FBI investigation became public.
That's a fact.
GA was at today's event and heard this news after puzzling over the visiting dignitary's participation in only 2 of the ceremonies.
The state had taken a pass.
The ominous overtones were clear: it was a decision made at the nexus of politics and law enforcement. And it couldn't have been more public, more humiliating.
Everyone was buzzing about it.
I couldn't wait to hear what my pal, the former criminal defense attorney had to say about Guadagno's stunning rebuke. I called him and here's his response:
"She doesn't want her picture taken with anyone who'll be indicted."
Wow.
Christie learned from Corzine's mistake; romancing Peter Cammarano turned out to be hugely embarrassing for him.
Here's the meaning of Guadagno's refusal: no photos with corrupt politicians. No photos with future felons.
Bad politics.
So, the US Attorney and the NJ Attorney General have partnered to prosecute federal and state crimes in Hoboken and Governor Christie, former prosecutor, is in close contact with one and is the boss of the other. His direction to his Lt. Governor: keep away from them.
My friend also called this decision 'a Tell': the state is showing us their hand: you're dirty, no photo-ops with you.
And you can see it in the above pics; notice how Guidagno averts her gaze from Russo and Castellano as they're being sworn in.
Like she doesn't want to be there.
GA: I know that I sound like a broken record, but you are truly my hero! I didn't quite get all that was going on in the swearing-in ceremony today, but there was some very weird chemistry afoot.
ReplyDeleteIf you will recall, you and I had an interesting conversation with a disgruntled resident who was upset with the behavior of members of the former Council Majority. (Like we all haven't been, particularly during Beth Mason's expensively bought but thankfully short-run Council Presidency!) I opined that although I've been a staunch Democrat all my life, I believe that the Democratic Party in Hudson County has been ripping the taxpayers off for years. In particular, the taxpayers of Hoboken have been totally screwed by the Democratic Party for at least the past 30 years. One grifter Hudson County Democrat politician after another ends up getting elected to cash in on anything and everything he/she can get their greedy mitts on. It is disgusting and it gives a bad name to those of us who consider ourselves true Democrats who simply want to do the right thing by the "People". When I hear the Phrase "Real Democrats" lately, I could cringe. It seems to me that the people running around calling themselves "Real Democrats" are part of that ancient, creaking political machine that has sucked the life out of everything it touches.
On a very positive note, I believe that the Mayor has truly gotten her groove back with a NOW RATIONAL Council Majority. Now she can accomplish amazing things for ALL of the residents Hoboken. She certainly has earned the right to do so and has been unfairly lambasted by Castellano, Russo, Occhipinti and, last but not least, by Beth Mason, the SOREST LOSER IN AMERICA!!! Go, Mayor Zimmer, go that "Jen Girl", along with Councilwoman Marsh and Councilmen Bhalla, Cunningham and Mello... make us proud, once again, of our democratic values and put them to work for the great City of Hoboken!
Another good "tell" was 411 bitching that there was so much on the agenda. Yes, getting actual work done will be a shock to the system for a while.
ReplyDeleteFirst readings on Nov elections, class 2 police officers, removing residency restrictions, corner car spots, anti-wheeling.
Shelved the email jihad and the nearly as stupid requested apology for legally representing Jimmy Farina in his ballot challenges.
I am waiting for bludiamonds to explain what on earth Lane was selling. I have been in and around IT a long time. That is the kind of bizarro fantasy that only comes from people whose IT knowledge is limited to being able to turn on the machine on their desk. (And we thank you for it; the fact that you folks find IT so mysterious has kept me in comfortable circumstances for 20 years; don't go changin'.)
To whit - guys were summoned by Zimmer from exotic Albany to delete data on the servers. (Only guys from out of state know how to perform this complex function.) The guys who normally manage the servers were sent on errands while the felonious deletions were done. The former have been fired, but everyone knows it's the out of state guys with the rare deletion knowledge who are the focus of all investigations.
Alas for their hopes, Lane's story continues, the Albany felons will be easily caught by the low-level data forensics the Feds (and even internal auditors) use and sent to prison along with Zimmer.
Yikes. You techno-phobes can talk yourselves into anything. (Thank God!) This kind of fantasia is why people still tell "which key is the 'any' key" jokes.
Unfortunately, Mr Bajardi, the world's worst poker player, has once again said too much. I suspect that data mining experts were in fact brought in from wherever. Moreover, it's plausible that the server managers were sent away while the data was analyzed. But what they were looking for was evidence of wrong-doing; not deleting data themselves. They found it.
And the fact that Mr Bajardi knows about it, like a number of other things he knows about, needs to be explained to the proper authorities.
wonder how beth feels about russo voting FOR the anti-wheeling measure? yeah, he's your buddy, beth.
ReplyDeleteInfo, Bajardi's woven a fiction debunkable by an elementary school kid.
ReplyDeleteThere's no such thing as selectively deleting data off a hard drive- traces remain, unless the entire hard drive is reformatted then EVERYTHING is wiped out. Bajardi's ignorance reveals the lie.
rudy, you're sweet. Rotten is rotten, whatever team they're on.
JAM, it is curious. Maybe he's playing to another audience now.
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ReplyDeleteThe hammer is close to falling. When it does, it will be larger than the Cammarano story in the weight and breadth of the corruption.
ReplyDeleteMSV posted the story on the swearing in only when it was confirmed other council members who would not be sworn in by the Lt. Gov. were aware. This was done so there would be no typical Hoblow411 carping combined with usual filth of lies.
While this has all been in the works long before the FBI was visibly making their presence in town, it's not logical to believe this would NOT be a consideration for the Office of the Lt. Gov. Anything less would be incompetent.
From former federal prosecutors, (both she and Gov. Christie) that's most unlikely.
Clock is ticking and it's almost zero hour.