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| Monarch Man tries to solve Gandhi-gate with his rendering of the GIANT Monarch Towers he does NOT oppose to be built on Hoboken's north waterfront |
Get ready folks, for a new chapter of the unfolding Gandhi-gate mystery.... as we get closer to finding out HOW a North Jersey Democrat (Carmelo Garcia's) campaign mail got sent to Hoboken residents in South Jersey Republican (Sam Fiocchi's) envelopes.
Yesterday Politico interviewed GA. If you have a subscription, the full article is here.
If you don't, GA will post a few paragraphs. From Politico (emphasis mine):
“What I think happened is we got a shipment of state envelopes from the printer last month and I think they must have accidentally put in some Sam Fioccchi ones,” said Garcia’s deputy chief of staff, Pete Oneglia. “I don’t think it was a whole box — we would have recognized that.”
The slip up was pointed out online Tuesday by Hoboken blogger Nancy Pincus, a member of the city’s zoning board and supporter of Mayor Dawn Zimmer, with whom Garcia has fought. In a lawsuit, the assemblyman accused Zimmer of “ethnic cleansing” for firing him from his job as executive director of the city’s housing authority.
Garcia, who was pressured off this year's ballot for reelection to the Assembly by Hudson County’s Democratic power brokers, is now seeking a Hoboken council seat. But he continues to send constituent mail from his Assembly office, which he holds until January.
“Does Sam Fiocchi have ANY idea HIS NAME and OFFICE are on Carmelo Garcia campaign mail going to hundreds (or thousands) of Hoboken's 6th Ward residents?” Pincus wrote.
Fiocchi declined to comment. Garcia said the letter was perfectly legitimate because it contained no politicking for his council campaign.
“There was nothing in there on electioneering or anything relative to my council candidate seat. It was just an update that we normally do,” he said. Garcia’s letter — which was written on his office's stationery — highlighted his record on animal rights legislation and featured a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “Gandhi stated that ‘the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.’ I am sure that you agree, as do I.” The authenticity of the Gandhi quote was called into question by author Ralph Keyes in his 2006 book “The Quote Verifier.”
“A vegetarians’ website gives a 1931 Gandhi speech as the source of this comment, but those words cannot be found within that speech,” Keyes wrote.
While 1st District Assemblyman Fiocchi declined to comment to Politico, Garcia's staff went on the record to blame the printer- that some of Fiocchi's order got mixed in with theirs but "I don't think it was a whole box, we would have recognized it."
GA just called the printer, NJ Treasury Print shop, in Trenton.
I explained that Hoboken residents had received Assemblyman Garcia's mail in Assembly Sam Fiocchi's envelopes, then asked whether (according to Garcia) Fiocchi envelopes could have been mixed in with Garcia's in a box.
"It's virtually impossible," the printer replied, "Once they're set up to do an order, they do it until it is filled to its entirety, then they move on to the next order. I don't see how that could have happened under any circumstance."
Now that we know Garcia's explanation of "printer error" is "virtually impossible...."
Here is what a source tied to south Jersey Republican politics told GA:
"They're (GOP) saying some clerk inadvertently gave the wrong envelopes to the wrong person."
Well GA, it just goes to show you, it's always something -- if it ain't one thing, it's another.
ReplyDeleteRoseanne Roseannadanna
If this is true, "There was nothing in there on electioneering or anything relative to my council candidate seat", I guess my question is did anyone outside of the 6th ward even receive this letter?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing no
Carmelo's staff said he got a shipment of envelopes "last month"- that's September. Why is a lame duck Assemblyman who got booted out by Stack ordering a box of stationery? Makes no sense unless he needed Assembly letterhead for ELECTIONEERING.
ReplyDeletewhat a crock of shit. all the years i've lived in hoboken, i've never received "an update like we normally do" from garcia. then again, i don't live in the 6th ward.
ReplyDeletewhat a huge lying phony.
Neither have I. And I live in the 6th Ward.
DeleteStationary comes out of their budget for staff and overhead. Why would Carmelo pay for stationary when he can use some other guy's?
ReplyDeleteKind of like why buy coffee when you are scrounging around for voters on Washington Street when you can use the free promotional coffee being offered by Dunkin Donuts and pass it off as your own "promotion"? I guess that is what a Harvard degree gets you.
DeleteBut why didn't Fiocci throw Garcia under the bus for taking his stuff? Especially since he's a Republican in a contested race, Carmelo's a Democrat.... makes political sense. Instead Fiocci had no comment. Smells like collusion.
Delete3:45 - it's a case of you piss on my door I piss on yours.
DeleteGA- Garcia and Fiocchi serve on the Human Services committee together. 6 members There's your connection.
ReplyDeleteAs a former aide to an Assemblyman I can assure you that the printer did not make an error and ship the wrong envelopes. This is another Garcia grab, the work of a bottom feeding contaminated shark. The big question is who paid for the postage, the taxpayers of NJ?
ReplyDeleteWas Carmelo in the men's room again when this happened ?
ReplyDeleteBack in the old days, this is the type of reporting the "credentialed media" would do: see something that doesn't look right, make multiple phone calls to the parties involved, follow where the story leads (in this case, the printer), ask direct questions and piece together the chain of events. It's really sad that the ONLY media outlets doing real reporting are a couple of local blogs, the "credentialed media" content with being spoon fed what the old-school powers decide to give them.
ReplyDeleteThanks again, GA.
The printer who produced Fiocchi's stationery did so with public money under a simple purchase order, which is still a contract with a government entity. It's OPRA-able. That printer should be asked about the order. If they never shipped anything to Garcia, then there is collusion between Garcia and Fiocchi or someone on his staff, with fraudulent intentions.
ReplyDeleteThat they used the US mail to do this means it may be a federal crime, like when they dumped all the water soaked ballots in the mailboxes after Sandy.
The printer was very clear- orders do not get 'mixed' in production. I asked him directly when Garcia's envelopes were ordered; he was unsure he could release that kind of information to me. Garcia obtained Fiocchi envelopes one way or another in Trenton or they were sent to his office here. They were mailed locally, I believe because of the postal code stamped on the envelopes.They were not machine-postage stamped. This was likely done been done off the radar, not OPRA-able, but that would be problematic- for Garcia.
DeleteYou have to keep a close eye on Mr Carmelo or it is back doing his sketchy funny business as usual because, If he can, he will, If no one is watching
ReplyDeleteCarmelo I like you but whoever in your campaign thought this was a good idea... FIRE THEM! This brought you more negativity rather than support from local republicans. Whoever in your campaign thought this would work obviously doesnt know what the hell they're doing.
ReplyDeleteNo great loss. No republican was going to support this shill.
DeleteYeah, the man is pretty much despised by a huge section of the populations. How did anyone think this would not be caught?
DeleteSuch an amateur move. Im almost embarrassed for him.
Delete