Ramos Tried to Sink Hospital Sale

Ruben MIA:  no "Hospital Saver" Ruben Ramos at the HUMC ribbon cutting on December 1, 2011

"Saving St. Mary's Hospital is something I'm really proud of."

-Ruben Ramos, Vision For Hoboken Campaign Video- May 19, 2013

And that, folks, is the kind of revisionist history that tells you Ruben Ramos has chosen to run a fundamentally dishonest campaign.

Ramos' message that he "saved St. Mary's Hospital" is aimed at voters who either slept through the hospital sale process or believe the Hoboken University Medical Center still goes by the name "St. Mary's".

If you slept through the hospital sale, here's some background.

It began in in the summer of 2010 when the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority (HMHA) sent out nearly 200 Requests for Proposals to sell the public hospital to a private entity.  Some may recall how our hospital was bleeding cash on the order of millions of dollars annually and that the $52 million dollar bond used to purchase the hospital was near due:  tick tock, tick tock.  Without a buyer to retire out $52 million debt, Hoboken taxpayers would have been forced to pony up $52,000,000 in a SINGLE TAX YEAR. 

So... when the HMHA sent out 200 RFPs to purchase the hospital (and Hoboken's debt) what do you think happened?   Did bidders line up to buy our bleeding asset? 

NO.

Out of 200 RFPs, the HMHA got 8 bids (4%).  Only ONE of the 8 was viable; the bidder had financing to buy the hospital outright.  That was HoldCo.   

Enter the politicians: Beth Mason, Mike Russo, Tim Occhipinti, Terry Castellano and Ruben Ramos.  

These politicians swung brick bats at the volunteer, unpaid members of the HUMC, at the Buyer, HoldCo and at Mayor Zimmer in an effort to STOP the sale of the hospital.  The HMHA's Toni Tomarrazo, a lawyer who donated 35 hours a week to the hospital sale on top of her full-time job was brutalized on Mason's Hoboken411.  Mason actively rooted for the demise of the HoldCo sale on Hoboken411, declaring the HUMC "DOA" and paid for a cable tv media campaign trashing the sale.

No one tried HARDER to kill the hospital sale than Beth Mason.

And WHO stood by Nurse Kevorkian's side?
Ruben Ramos.

• Ramos OPPOSED  the $5 Million cash infusion to creditors needed to settle a mountain of debt with the hospital. 
• Ramos SUPPORTED the Mason Council minority's 'NO' vote which killed the $5M bond resolution, with it the ability to sell the hospital. 
• Ramos ISSUED this statement on September 22, 2011, the day after the $5 Million bond was voted down (he called Mason & Co. "courageous"):

“I particularly commend Councilpersons Mason, Russo, Castellano, and Occhipinti for their courageous vote last night. By voting against the Administration’s efforts to extort more money from the Hoboken taxpayers to further fund the Mayor’s incompetent and flawed attempt sell HUMC, the Council minority made clear that it is unwilling to be a party to backroom dealings conducted without the benefit of meaningful public input.

Let’s not forget that Mayor Zimmer is a member of the Municipal Hospital Authority Board. She also appoints all the members to the board, as well as the Chief Operating Officer. Zimmer has also repeatedly stated that the Council has no role in the sale of hospital – that was until she needed $5 million of taxpayer money to bail her out of a deal that she and the buyers were completely inept at completing.

So, Ruben stood tall with those who voted down every City Council resolution to keep the hospital operations afloat.

Ruben stood tall with Beth Mason as she and the Council minority tried at every turn to KILL the sale of the hospital and bankrupt Hoboken.

Ruben politicized the sale of the hospital; opposing it when it was politically expedient and  now running on it's successful sale.

Now Ramos is trying to steal credit from the true heroes of the hospital sale:   Mayor Zimmer, Toni Tomarazzo,  and the HMHA.



GA Note: Ray Smith wrote an excellent recap of the HUMC sale called  "How the Deal Went Down".