Earwitness News: Ruben Hires Ex-Reporters and Pablo Fonseca

So, you'd think politicos would come up for air on a holiday weekend, right?

Wrong!

Today's Earwitness News report has a couple of moving parts, and they came from several well-placed sources.

On the heels of that Fulop thumpin' in Jersey City, seismic shifts in the HCDO's power structure (congrats to Tom Bertoli its new Executive Director), and Hudson County political loyalties flipping like pancakes, we've got a hotly contested mayoral race right here in Hoboken. 

What does one have to do with the other? 

A lot, it seems.

Because it looks like some folks outside the Mile Square really want Ruben Ramos to win.  Really.  Enough to send troops to Hoboken to help Ruben slay the Giant, Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

And a giant she is.  According to a source, a recent independent poll found Zimmer so far ahead of Ramos we can't see him in her clouds of dust.  Oh, but he's there and with the help he's getting, it's going to get very dirty.

Part -1 Stack Supports Ruben, Makes a Move on Hoboken
It's no secret that Ruben Ramos orchestrated the selection of HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia for Assembly with Union City Mayor Brian Stack.

It's no secret that Carmelo has done everything but start digging the foundation with his bare knuckles to break ground on Phase 1 of the Vision 20/20 Plan, the redevelopment of the HHA.  GA estimates the developer's fees alone to be at least $20 million.

It's no secret that Brian Stack needs cash; the scuttlebutt is that he has $1 million of debt.

According to a source, Stack is eyeing Hoboken and it's huge development potential, because if Ruben wins there will be "lots of money to be made".  Hence, Stack has dispatched 'people' to help Ruben; most of them come from the vanquished West New York Mayor Felix Roque's administration.

And, guess who's working for Stack now?

Hint: fishy Beth Mason political operative who steered Mason's political career into a dumpster.

Yep!  GA hears that Stack hired the hapless Finboy, which explains the explosion of garbage postings on MSV of late. Stack must really be out-of-touch with Hoboken's political scene, because everything this untalented urchin touches fails gloriously.  Fellow bloggers: expect that rancid tuna to appear under a flurry of screen names spewing his signature politi-spam.

Part -2 Ruben Hires Pablo Fonseca
One former Roque person dispatched to Hoboken for a top level post in Ruben's campaign is none other than Pablo Fonseca.   Fonseca was Newark Mayor Corey Booker's former Chief of Staff  and in 2011, was named in a corruption indictment of Newark's Deputy Mayor Ronald Salahuddin;   Fonseca was not indicted. In February 2013, Salahuddin was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in federal prison for conspiracy to commit extortion while serving as Newark deputy mayor.  The Star-Ledger excerpted this from the indictment:

Salahuddin said he needed help pulling strings in City Hall to ensure the contracts went to Mazzocchi, according to the indictment. And for that, authorities say, he claimed to have recruited Fonseca.

"I got to have (Fonseca) take the lead," Salahuddin said, according to the indictment.

During a meeting with the undercover informant in December 2006, Salahuddin said Fonseca asked him to raise $10,000 in donations for "a charity supported by City of Newark officials," according to the indictment. One week later, Mazzocchi gave a $5,000 check to Salahuddin, who then mentioned the demolition contracts, authorities said.

"When the demolition comes up ... I’ve already told (Fonseca) ... I hand him this ($5,000 check) ... it’s locked in," Salahuddin said, according to the indictment.

In August 2007, Salahuddin said Fonseca had pressured a city employee with authority to award contracts, authorities said. "He just told (the employee), point blank, that we are now trying to help our friends," Salahuddin said, according to the indictment.

Each time Cooper landed a contract, authorities say Salahuddin made money, too. He had invested $900,000 in Cooper Trucking in 2004 after mortgaging his home and a rental property. Authorities say Salahuddin failed to disclose his stake in the firm. He did, however, list Cooper Trucking in 2008 on a state disclosure form requiring officials to list sources of income exceeding $2,000.

Fonseca was a top campaign strategist for Booker in his unsuccessful attempt to unseat Mayor Sharpe James in 2002. After being elected in 2006, Booker named Fonseca his chief of staff.

And now Fonseca is running the Ramos campaign.  Birds of a feather?

What do Mindak, Miani and Gonzales have to say about this?

Part 3- Ramos Using 2 Ex-Reporters to Lobby The Hoboken Reporter
GA hears that 2 former reporters are now working for the Ramos campaign and actively trying to influence their former paper, The Hoboken Reporter to publish slanted news stories that portray Mayor Zimmer as weak, and being abandoned by her supporters.

GA hears that another ex-reporter Tim Carroll from The Hoboken Reporter was hired by Ramos, but quit shortly after.  After Carroll quit, the 2 ex-reporters were hired.

Wow, a pretty dirty strategy. Hiring former newspaper 'insiders' to plant campaign propaganda as 'news' with their former peers.

Will The Hoboken Reporter gobble the garbage and regurgitate it in print?  We'll wait and see.  But GA hears the campaign's mandate is to trash Zimmer in the HR and to keep it coming until Election Day.

Interestingly, the page 3 Beth Mason ad was BACK in the Hoboken Reporter this week.

Methinks that Mason, the Energizer Bunny of  Political Scheming, is attempting a comeback by helping Stack take down Zimmer.  Where else has she got to go?  Hence, moving her fish-filet to Stack's office.

Oh Jeez, like a flurry of Finboy's moronic web-postings is going to carry Ruben across the Finish line.   More like the 'FinishED line; Mason and her Gang are better known in Hoboken as the 'Kiss of Death' to any campaign they touch.   Ask Healy what Mason's $46K did for him.

Earwitness News, over and out.