Mason Fundraiser Claim: "Money raised! "

credit: HudsonCountyRecovers.org

It's right there on the Hudson County Recovers Facebook page: "Packed house... Money raised!"

GA doesn't doubt the first assertion is true.  Amidst buzz that Mason was harvesting guests from Hoboken's senior buildings, an actual senior from a senior building posted this on GA:

According to Jimmy, the invite to a "freebie" was taped on his door.  We can assume such "freebies" blanketed our senior buildings the way her midnight flyers blanketed all six wards of Hoboken during Move Forward's disastrous School Board campaign. (that massive FAIL was engineered by Mason operative, James Barracato.)

If a seasoned politician must harvest warm bodies to fill a room, these words come to mind:  "Houston, we've had a problem."

 NASA Mission Control struggle to save Apollo 13. credit: NASA

But even the great minds at NASA's Mission Control couldn't rescue this dud from crashing to Earth.

Launched on the epic delusions of
an out-of-control narcissist,  aimed at the Hudson County press (the room had a 'media table'), the gala was supposed to generate buzz for Mason in Hudson County under the pretext of raising 'recovery' cash. (Recovery for Weehawken's one damaged building vs. Hoboken's 2,248- per FEMA field survey.)

And in case a stranger wandering in from Mars or Venus didn't understand WHO the event was about (not what), a dais was arranged at one end of the room.

Now GA's been to many a bar mitzvah- in Brooklyn, Queens, on Staten Island, Long Island- and that's how they do it: the bar-mitzvah boy (or girl) sits dead-center on a dais surrounded by his/her best pimply, post-pubescent friends.  As you know, a bar-mitzvah is a WHO-event; the coming-of-age of a particular Jewish boy or girl- who, like Beth Mason, sits up on the dais.

So it was with Mason on Thursday night.  Hudson County's bar-mitzvah girl sat on her dais at the front of a room filled with round tables. Elevated, the dais signified the individuals on it as the 'important' people in the room, and the host at the center was, in bar-mitzvah girl fashion, its star.

Beth Mason. 

Now you know why seniors were needed to fill the room.

On Facebook HCR brags, "Money raised!"

How much?

In light of the fact that the room was filled with 'freebie' guests. The ticket price, $300/head was certainly prohibitive to seniors on a fixed income, so clearly they were not it's original 'target' guests.  GA supposes upscale residents and/or politicos were. Then the 'media table' attendees would fill the pages of their respective publications with  'Politician X showed up' or 'Mover-and-shaker Y was there'. Instead, the event turned out 'F-R-E-E-B-I-E'.

From the pic posted, it looks like it was a 'wine and beer' event.  So, here's what La Reggia charges per head:

So, that would have cost (Mason) $57.50 per person.

If she bought 150 seats (conservatively), the night cost her $8,625- not including "money raised".  The "money raised" would be whatever she threw in on top of that plus any tickets that were actually purchased.

Terry Castellano attended Mason gala

Terry Castellano and her son, manager of Move Forward's failed Nazi-Truck campaign, John Castellano, were there. Ruben Ramos RSVPed on Facebook but GA hasn't heard whether he came.  Nor Jamie Cryan who had also RSVPed on Facebook.

The Mason posse, Matt Calicchio and James 'I lost an election and all I got with this lousy Nazi Truck' Barracato were there. But who thinks they paid the $300 ticket price?

RebuildHoboken.org has opened their books- they've raised about $250K so far.  What about Mason's HCR?

GA has noted the custody of $250K worth of donations from New Orleans' 'Train of Hope' is unclear.  Occhipinti and Mason drove them to Bayonne on November 10, 2012. And then... silence. 

If the 'Train of Hope' donations were not distributed to Hoboken's needy, will they be 're-gifted' to Hudson County as 'gifts' of the HCR?

That's reason enough for Mason to release how much "money raised!" at last Thursday's  Hudson County  Recovers gala.