A Tale of 2 Fundraisers- UPDATED

Update-
A couple more folks who were at Ravi's event last night were: Gary Hindes, a close friend and advisor to former Vice President Joseph Biden, Frank Giantomasi, former Essex County Counsel, Steve Wielkotz – the auditor who worked with the late Nj State Fiscal Monitor Judy Tripodi to straighten out Hoboken's finances, Retired Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia, Current and former BA’s Stephen Marks and Quentin Wiest and Rudy Andrade from CarePoint.

Muckity-mucks are always nice to have, but GA was most pleased by the large turnout of Hoboken residents.

Both fundraisers, Ravi's and Mike's, got a good turnout of our Hoboken neighbors.
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Update-
GA heard that I missed some VIPs at Mike DeFusco's kicking event: "two state assembly people, the Mayor, Bernie Kenny, Cheryl Fallick, Hovie Foreman, Phil Cohen, Antonio Grana, LGBTQ leaders, young Dems..."

There you go!

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Thank you Horsey, for providing the pics from Mike's event last night; GA had planned to drop by.

Oh well!

GA hears it was a diverse crowd; some older folks, some younger folks and  a bounty of Hoboken politicos: 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, Former NHSA Commissioner Tony Soares, former HHA Executive Director Carmelo Garcia, former NHSA Commissioner Frank Raia,  Patty Waiters, Freeholder Anthony Romano, some drop-ins from the City Council (Tiffany Fisher),  lots of Academy folks including their VP of Real Estate (who sources say rented Occhipinti his Pet-shop pad), politico Perry Belefiore, Eduardo Gonzales,then a  helping of political operatives  and RE developers including RE developer/Architect Tom Chartier.





GA took these crappy pics during the speeches- as you can see, some folks were dressed to the  nines in their business attire- a lotta testosterone in the room.  GA will update later, as I was unfamiliar with many folks.  I did see many Hoboken friends, including Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro, Councilpersons Peter Cunningham and Tiffanie Fisher, Former State Senator Bernie "BK" Kenny and his distinguished partner Ed Florio, ZBA Chairman Jim Aibel, Kurt the Giant-Hearted, Garry Hines Head of Democratic Party, NHSA Commissioner Brian Assadorian, Hovie Forman,  a boatload of 2nd and 5th Ward neighbors.




GA will add more later- gotta run!

Comments

  1. If you haven't figured out Mike Fusco's true colors the Old Guard crew that showed up at his fundraiser made it very clear.

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  2. Interesting -- Dan Bryan, the mayors former chief of staff introduced her? That's ironic because he's now on the payroll to lobby on behalf of Advance Development -- the developers who built the behemoth on 14th and Willow and have a pristine lot to develop in northern Hoboken. GA, how about you write an article on that connection -- "Former personal aid to mayor lobbying for developer introduces her at fundraiser..." That story is deeper and more concerning than allegations that somebody might run against the mayor in a democratic election.

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    1. Maybe they'll develop a bowling alley at that lot and then all the bitter developer lobbyists can rest easy.

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    2. A little too much inside real estate information and more than a little vitriol 10:08.

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  3. Well I guess Mike D figured out a way to supplement his income if he runs and becomes mayor sort of like Peter C did. Just say'n.

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    1. Now that Councilman DeFusco has accepted money from the Academy folks, Hoboken developers and real estate people, will he have to recuse himself if anything they are involved with comes in front of the City Council ?

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  4. Okay - well if Mike wants to associate w/ those folks, he ain't getting my vote ever.

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  5. By having their events on the same night, each are complicit in orchestrating the optics we now see. I hadn't had a strong opinion abut DeFusco, but seeing that his supporters are the Who's-Who of everything corrupt and broken in Hoboken is all I need to know. Castellano's gone, and that's great. Any guesses as to who will run on the reform ticket against DeFusco?

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    1. Why are each complicit in orchestrating any optics? Bhalla's fundraiser was scheduled first. The "optics" including the Mayor Fulop fiasco, are all the responsibility of DeFusco and whoever his small circle of advisers is. Not to mention that the biggest optic is the rogues gallery that came to support him.

      I would guess that the reform ticket would be Mayor Zimmer and her team. Any guesses why a little troll would be soliciting guesses for something no one is actually wondering about?

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    2. Either party could have changed their date and did not. If Bhalla's was first, then the right thing to do would have been for DeFusco to change his, especially since Fulop could not attend on his original date.

      No one is wondering about? Speak for yourself. DeFusco moving over to the dark side will leave a void in the first ward. Not filling that seat with someone who embraces reform is unlikely to be tolerated by the voters who got him elected and are now seeing his true colors. No one is sorry Casellano's gone, but it seems DeFusco will be just a one term place holder.

      Any guesses why you'd say "little troll"? Your guess would be wrong.

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    3. Are you saying you were referring to who will run against DeFusco in the 1st ward in 2019? If so, I misunderstood though the question seems premature.

      The troll reference was not a guess as to anybody's identity. I thought you were referring to "guesses" about who would be carrying the reform flag against DeFusco in the Mayoral race which would be a troll-like comment given that the Mayor has announced her candidacy putting to rest Al Sullivan's contrived uncertainty. If I misunderstood you I apologize.

      My guess is that DeFusco is more likely to be taken out in 2019 by his good buddies the Russos. But certainly a reformer ought to be in the mix to take advantage of the split vote. It's pretty hard to see a scenario where DeFusco can retain his seat after a failed mayoral run. And wheile he may not be saavy enough to understand this, his good buddies Russo and Ramos want him to win the Mayoral race as little as Zimmer does. He's a sacrificial lamb as they hold their powder for 2021 when pretty much everyone thinks Zimmer will be moving on.

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    4. Nobody thought he could win against terry, but Mike proved to get nearly double the votes of Kurta four years earlier and Terry still held her base against Mike. Yeah, he's not savvy.

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    5. Reform gets stronger every election. Back then Kurta did a good job in strengthening reform's voters opposition to the entreched Castellano. The past election however had Zimmer's key supporters in the First Ward who swayed the vote for her candidate DeFusco. Castellano's insane vitriol didn't work anymore and she lost the a good part of her Marine View base. DeFusco was hungry and worked hard during the election but his post election actions lend some credibility that he has been set up by the old guard to make a placeholder run fill in for their boy Stick Romano who wants to hold onto his Freeholder paycheck and benefits

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    6. Actually alot of people thought he could beat Terry. That's why the Mayor threw as much support behind him as she did. Mr. DeFusco has burned his bridges back without realistic path forward, counting on the support of people who actually don't want him to win, and relying on the advice of an angry erratic has-been who is supporting Mike because he's been cast out of every one else's room.

      If that all fits within your definition of saavy then I guess we just don't see it the same way.

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  6. 1st Ward was duped. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled.

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  7. Was Berney Kenny at Defusco's event?

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    1. He was at both events.

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    2. As were many other people including Mayor Dawn Zimmer who briefly stopped by and then went to Councilman Ravi Bhalla's fundraiser.

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    3. He arrived and left with the Mayor.

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  8. Most of that crowd was to be expected. The only interesting attendee was Councilwoman Fisher. She is surely not oblivious to DeFusco's mayoral aspirations this year and DeFusco viciously tore into her accusing her of breaking the law at a recent council meeting. Maybe she's trying to be collegial to a colleague but is she really that naive?

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  9. It is interesting to see the pictures Defusco posted today on his Facebook page from last night's fundraiser. It is even more interesting to know who was there and he did not post pictures of himself posing with at the event. No Romano, no Raia, no Belfiori, no Garcia,, no Academy crew....

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    1. Interesting in that DeFusco pulled from across various sections of the community? That's how he won his election. Mike is popular in the first ward and his votes and opinions have been in line with "reform" -- so not sure there's any facts there to back your far-fetched claims up. What about all the city vendors at Ravi's event? That's okay? DeFusco is held to same pay to play laws as everyone else.

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    2. Not really. If you read the reports on MSV & GA the reformer side of the spectrum briefly showed up to be polite, even though they were invited after DeFusco's Fulop fiasco broke and then left Mike with the just the sketchy Old Guard politicos to spend the rest of the evening at Bhalla's fundraiser.

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    3. It would be interesting to see how many non OG attendees had the feintest idea they were donating to a DeFusco for Mayor event. Probably none of them.

      Its certainly true that DeFusco is bound by the same pay to play rules but that doesn't mean voters won't understand that a developer funded candidate is being bought and paid for by developers even if he's sold his soul legally.


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  10. If MSV pick up of Observer.com's story is correct Mike DeFusco lied when he said he not running to GA. So much for being open and honest.

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    1. Hmmm... been gone today so just catching up.

      Well, there is a reason why this was leaked to the Observer.

      Were I DeFusco, I would rather make the announcement myself, rather than through "sources." True or not, I imagine DeFusco wasn't thrilled that "sources" leaked. "Sources" are forcing him to deny or announce ('shit or get off the pot'). Any number of folks want him to run. IMO, "sources" have put him in a corner. This story hasn't been written just yet.

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    2. DeFusco is now texting MSV refusing to confirm or deny his run for mayor while trying to debunk the worth of any union funding, which makes him come off looking really amateurish, disorganized and a guy being screwed over his "so called" friends leaking stuff to the press without clearing it with him first. What a shit show.

      More important for reform is getting behind a candidate for Freeholder in June. Stick Romano is useless and needs to be removed.

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    3. The leak was a dipshit move. Who's the ass that thought that was a good idea?

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    4. From the Observer story:

      "According to an internal poll conducted in January by Zimmer’s team and released to Observer by the source close to Zimmer, the sitting mayor’s popularity is slightly over 70 percent among Hoboken residents. In the same poll, DeFusco was found to be relatively unknown to the majority of those polled."

      FAKE POLL, LYING DISHONEST, SAD!!

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    5. It's so funny when folks use Trump-isms.

      "FAKE POLL, LYING DISHONEST, SAD!!"

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  11. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

    One more time. Terry didn't lose, she was retired and replaced... which completely explains Mike's "friendly" campaign.

    I wouldn't doubt if the farm votes weren't told, it's okay he's on our side, he'll have your back just like Terry.

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    1. If that were the case Terry wouldn't have held onto every single vote she had against Kurta...and actually, added to her vote tally. It's absurd to even infer that she didn't want that seat back. You're drinking the good stuff!

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  12. Pictures speak a thousand words
    What was mike thinking?

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  13. Mike is never going to get much support from reformers with this cast of characters behind him. He may be better than Terry on the CC but that is like saying a gunshot wound to foot is better than one to the stomach. Do you really want either one? Nope. So if it him up against just about anyone else who is actually a reformer, I vote for just about anyone else but Mike.

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  14. He told msv that unions won't matter because of the cap on p2p contributions. That's super-dishonest. It's not simply the money, it's the votes, the family members, the post-election expectations. Really starting to smell a bit.

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