The buzz today is all about Mayor Zimmer's letter in The Hoboken Reporter, which GA made sure to read before tucking the rag under my cat's litter box.
In a nutshell, Zimmer returned fire on the Council Minority AND The Hoboken Reporter for trying to manufacture a scandal out of a toothless, dumb accusation while IGNORING real scandals- such as the heavy- HR ad buyer Beth Mason's wheeling over $ 20K into Occhipinti's campaign (the one where he had 575 campaign workers in an election where 2076 cast ballots) or $18K that 'disappeared' from the Russo For Hoboken bank account.
Did you know GA wrote about the missing 18K back in April?
Yep.
In another nutshell, here it is. The infamous Russo-Dwek meeting took place at the Lighthorse Tavern on April 29, 2009. From the transcript of the FBI surveillance video, Maher Khalil, Solomon Dwek's 'bag-man' asks Russo where the $5,000 'contribution' should go- mind you, Russo was not running for election that year. As GA had posted, here's how Russo answered:
Kudos to the Mayor for hitting back.
Well, GA will tell you what caught my eye when revisiting this sordid tale of disappearing cash.
This:
Is this the same John Castellano?
The John Castellano who is running the Kids First opposition School Board ticket 'Move Forward'?
The Russo for Hoboken Treasurer who presided over the disappearance of 18K from that account?
The same guy who should know whether or not Khalil Maher had deposited the $5,000 into the account since all records are missing? After all, the Treasurer would be responsible for the finances of that account.
Wouldn't he?
Something else worth noting: Frank Raia is the Treasurer of the Move Forward ticket. He is certainly a pleasant and charming man. And he also presided over the 2005-2006 School Board- as President, in fact.
Here's a sampling of the shenanigans that went on during the 2005-2006 era at the School Board:
So, I guess all that's keeping our friends from Russo for Hoboken and the 2005-2006 BoE era from getting their hands on your money is... YOU.
In a nutshell, Zimmer returned fire on the Council Minority AND The Hoboken Reporter for trying to manufacture a scandal out of a toothless, dumb accusation while IGNORING real scandals- such as the heavy- HR ad buyer Beth Mason's wheeling over $ 20K into Occhipinti's campaign (the one where he had 575 campaign workers in an election where 2076 cast ballots) or $18K that 'disappeared' from the Russo For Hoboken bank account.
Did you know GA wrote about the missing 18K back in April?
Yep.
In another nutshell, here it is. The infamous Russo-Dwek meeting took place at the Lighthorse Tavern on April 29, 2009. From the transcript of the FBI surveillance video, Maher Khalil, Solomon Dwek's 'bag-man' asks Russo where the $5,000 'contribution' should go- mind you, Russo was not running for election that year. As GA had posted, here's how Russo answered:
Well, folks that money is GONE- almost. According to the Hoboken Reporter:Russo answers “Its Russo for Hoboken, is the account” making clear that the money should go to him as suggested by Khalil.
Given this – the real question is whether Russo received contributions laundered through straw donors by Khalil as agreed upon at the meeting with Dwek.
Based on the transcript, it’s clear that was the intent at the time of the meeting with Dwek.
If he did, then he took a bribe and the only plausible explanation for the failure to prosecute is that Russo has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Feds.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell because the account Russo referred to – Russo for Hoboken – has only 2 ELEC filings available on ELEC’s website – 7/15/08 and an amendment to that filing on 9/15/08.
Oddly, that filing seems to indicate the existence of prior filings that aren’t up on the ELEC website since it shows amounts from “prior periods.”
The 7/15/08 filing shows an account balance of $18,420.81.
Russo submitted a photo of a bank statement dated last month showing that the “Russo for Hoboken” account remains open with a small balance of $1,190.81.Can't wait!
When asked where the rest of the money is, Russo said it was “used through the years for different things” related to campaigning. Russo said he would talk to his campaign treasurer to find out whether subsequent reports were filed properly. He also said he would provide canceled checks to show where the money went.
Kudos to the Mayor for hitting back.
Well, GA will tell you what caught my eye when revisiting this sordid tale of disappearing cash.
This:
 |
| Russo for Hoboken ELEC filing-2008 |
 |
| Move Forward Committee ELEC filing- 2012 |
Is this the same John Castellano?
The John Castellano who is running the Kids First opposition School Board ticket 'Move Forward'?
The Russo for Hoboken Treasurer who presided over the disappearance of 18K from that account?
The same guy who should know whether or not Khalil Maher had deposited the $5,000 into the account since all records are missing? After all, the Treasurer would be responsible for the finances of that account.
Wouldn't he?
Something else worth noting: Frank Raia is the Treasurer of the Move Forward ticket. He is certainly a pleasant and charming man. And he also presided over the 2005-2006 School Board- as President, in fact.
Here's a sampling of the shenanigans that went on during the 2005-2006 era at the School Board:
So, I guess all that's keeping our friends from Russo for Hoboken and the 2005-2006 BoE era from getting their hands on your money is... YOU.
Comments
Post a Comment