What About ME?


The only predictable moment since Mayor Zimmer ignited a media brush-fire on Saturday has been the response of her rival, Councilwoman Beth Mason.

Ms. Mason has swooped in like a starving buzzard for a few crumbs of airtime, a splash of ink in the press...  as our Mayor is the white-hot center of a national media feeding frenzy.

Mason's churn of press releases, interviews and multiple Twitter-gasms clubbing Mayor Zimmer is yet another political miscalculation as she strains for the next rung of the ladder. Out of Hoboken.

Why?

Like it or not, outside of Hoboken this story takes on extreme partisan political dimensions.

Christie is the Republican 'frontrunner' for the presidential nomination, and Zimmer's allegation hit his 'sweet spot'-  his management of NJ in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Of course, Republicans and Christie supporters must rally to discredit the Hoboken mayor. (Haley  Barbour dismissed her as "that lady mayor").  That leaves Democrats and Christie-opponents to support her, to endorse her credibility.

So, if  you are Beth and Ricky Mason and aspire to a Democratic party political appointment or even elected office at the state or national level, and just sank $250K into Democratic races, elected Democrats, and the National Democratic Committee which 'side' would you pick?

Beth Mason picked the OTHER one.

And remember Mason schmoozing up prospective gubernatorial candidate Steve Sweeney with a cocktail party at the League of Municipalities in Atlantic City?   Here is what he said on Saturday:
Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat and the president of the New Jersey Senate, who is a Christie ally, called the allegations “extremely disturbing’’ and promised an investigation.
So, it's kind of curious that Mason is dogging her own party at the state and national levels.  Isn't it?   Which tells you when it comes to her 'enemies', hell hath no fury and no brains.    

Of course, a cynic might look back to Beth Mason's 'develop or die' beginnings at Hoboken City Council in 2009 over the very same property that Christie is alleged to have bartered for disaster relief with Dawn Zimmer.  From the Hoboken Reporter, February 22, 2009:
Wednesday night, the council voted to approve a redevelopment study for the now-19 block area near the Burlington Coat Factory, where a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Group has been buying land. The area now under review by the Planning Board was expanded westward to the Palisade cliffs, including the land occupied by the Academy Bus Company.

If a city declares an area a redevelopment zone, the city can change the zoning, seek developers with plans that conform to the new guidelines, take over certain property by eminent domain if necessary, and possibly offer a tax abatement agreement.

Zimmer and her ally, Councilman Peter Cunningham, took a stand against continuing the process of designating the area for redevelopment, while Mason found herself on the opposite side of the fence.

Mason said, “If [Hoboken] stops building, it will die. It will die. You have to continue to grow to some extent. You cannot stop.”
A cynic might wonder if Mason doesn't have a moral or ethical problem with Chris Christie's alleged 'deal' for flood aid; if she would have swapped the aid for the project.

In fact, 'Develop or Die' Mason  reflexively attacks Zimmer- not the alleged swapping of a development for disaster relief in her own city.   We all go under the bus, as long as she can score a few minutes on WPIX.

Mason is at odds with Hoboken residents who appreciate Zimmer exposing an (alleged) dirty political deal.  She is at odds with her local, state and national party whose support she needs to climb the next rung out of Hoboken.  And she is at odds with her constituents, most wait anxiously until 2015 when they can "move forward" without her.

The Mason media-blitz makes her a woman with no country.

Comments

  1. It's reminiscent of her swooping in on Frank Lautenberg's casket. It's not just that she has no class. Lots of politicians don't. She has no sense of context to govern when and how she asserts herself. She magically looks even smaller now simply be forcing her tiny relevance into this picture where everyone else is so much larger.

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  2. I wouldn't raise Mason to be considered Zimmer's 'rival.' Trivial, yes.

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    1. A 'rival' attempts to equal or surpass the accomplishments of another. Sounds about right to me. I could have thrown a few adjectives in, like: jealous, bitter, malevolent, mean-spirited, litigious, petty, scheming, ruthless, corrupt, and so on.

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  3. Why is everyone wasting time worrying about Beth Mason. She's a dead broad walking and on a path to self-destruction. She's become irrelevant, certain to be defeated if she runs for reelection. It's time to start ignoring her.

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  4. Mason is totally irrelevant.

    What is the connection between Richard G. Mason's law firm, Wachtel Lipton Rosen & Katz and the Rockefeller Group?

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  5. Regarding Ms. Mason's irrational behavior - as my grandmother used to say Nu?

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  6. Beth Mason is the small-town version of Donald Trump. When they haven't had their names in the news for a little while, they hop on whatever is currently happening and try to insert themselves with an inane comment.

    Now THAT would be a dream presidential ticket: the Donald, with Beth running as his VP. Non-stop hilarity guaranteed.

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  7. Just stormin', but what about a Zimmer-Fulop-Sacco alignment against Sweeney???
    Remember, politics is a business - sometimes good and puts positive power in Hudson County.

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    1. Sweeney, Ruiz, Stack and several other "democrats" are Christie guys That won't happen.

      Zimmer can team up with Fulop ,Sacco, and Weinberg, Greenstein, Rice, Wisniewski and few others. The major powerhouses (Norcross) are all pretty aligned with Christie.

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    2. Note: ruiz is a woman

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  8. I want the sandy money. That's all.

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  9. I'm waitlisted for aid with 7,000 of my closest friends.

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  10. Sweeney is only showboating.
    Christie was willing to throw a fellow repub under the bus for Sweeney.
    They are thick as thieves.

    They just don't let on to the partisan followers. They showboat for the followers.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/did-chris-christie-just-try-to-knife-an-ally/

    This whole paritsan thing is a sham its all about the power and who controls it. doesnt matter if it dem/repub or dem and repub. Power is king of jobs and king of cash and just plain KING of controlling everything. Sweeney and Christie are the Power in NJ. They need each other.

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  11. Christie is going no where. He is very well liked and is part of the new good "old" boys. He will weather this storm. And we will all have to remember that politics makes strange bedfellows. We will all be playing nice soon.

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  12. zimmer profile, front and center of the ny times homepage! of course, ramos and mason are typically classless in their comments. mason must be VIVID about all this attention, ME ME ME!!!


    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/nyregion/making-claim-towns-mayor-gains-notice.html?hp&_r=0

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