Hoboken's mayoral is going to be a squeaker; our next mayor may be decided by a few dozen votes- or less. Remember the 2000 U.S. Presidential race where George W. Bush won Florida by 500 votes?
Think that.
Hoboken has a field of 8 candidates and growing.
A second poll was circulating last weekend; one was Stick's (pollster Global Strategies) the other may be Beth Mason's (pollster SSI).
The Mason poll asked for "favorable or unfavorable" opinions for:
Anthony 'Stick' Romano
Ravi Bhalla
Jen Giattino
Michael DeFusco
Karen Nason
Beth Mason
Then came a bunch of fairly innocuous "how do you feel about" questions on a whole range of local issues. My source felt it was not a "nasty" messaging-type poll. Hmmm.
So, Beth Mason may be testing the waters, Pupie Raia is reportedly mulling whether to get in and Angelo Valente, a well-liked former Councilman, is in. Karen Nason, a local businesswoman is in. Apparently Nason has polled better than DeFusco (who lays at the bottom of Romano's poll- below the Bike Guy), and she reports receiving entreaties from former DeFusco backers.
And the Reform clusterfuck?
Jen Giattino has her kickoff next Monday. GA has inquired about the status of the campaign a couple of times, but has been told by campaign spokeswoman Tiffanie Fisher, "we don't have any more to say right now... sorry."
Ravi Bhalla is talking. Bhalla gave an interview to InsiderNJ which was published this afternoon.
Max Pizarro asked Bhalla about his Council Reform ally, mayoral candidate Jen Giattino. He replied:
“Jen is a personal friend of mine, a ward council member, and everyone has their own decisions to make,” the councilman said. “I am not bothered or surprised by her candidacy, but we live in a post Trump era and a lot of the policies that are developing in the Trump Administration are having real life impacts, such as CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] funding cuts, which will an impact on the Hoboken Homeless Shelter, and the TRUE Mentors program and Jubilee Center and those critical needs of nonprofits citywide. We know about the impact of climate change here in this city. We have a president who thinks climate change is a hoax, but we in Hoboken know it’s real because we suffered the effects of Superstorm Sandy. This is a non partisan race but still live in the United States of America and I have questions during these times about whether healthy relationships can be cultivated with a Republican mayor.”Well folks, Ravi is opening his headquarters Tuesday, July 25 at 7 PM. The address is 404 Washington St, Hoboken, NJ.
Rain or shine!
Even he is afraid .. ha .. this soup is getting spicy !!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course .. Jen is backed up by Tim too !! go figure ..
Interesting that Tiffany has "decided" not to talk now .. such hypocrisy.. but again .. this is Hoboken's politics everyone and this is the Reform (Old) Hoboken wants .. playing their little CIVILIZATION game amongst themselves
Who's afraid? Mike? Ravi has an amazing ticket and Mike has a Tea Party Republican Trump donor and a failed bidder for a city contract (re: a parking app). I understand why your haunt this blog, Hobokened Out. My sympathies!
DeleteI said .. even Ravi is afraid of the Christie-Giattino republican anti-health anti-equal rights , anti-education terror duo
DeleteNo you didn't say that but thank you for clarifying. Who's this Tim who is backing up Jen?
DeleteI suppose we will find out where Giattino stands on some issues, not on others. And there's the matter of what can the mayor of Hoboken really do to implement the national policies of conservatives.
DeleteGiattino refused to sign Beth's idiotic assault weapon letter. Another meaningless grandstanding gesture by someone whose career boiled down to meaningless grandstanding gestures. I'm hoping reform hasn't lost sight of the difference between politics and governing now that we don't have the daily example of Beth as a reminder.
This is a slippery slope for reform whose strength has always been a large tent to which membership only required belief in a core set of values. Obvious partisans like HO who will be gone the day after the election don't care about the baby in the bathwater. But the rest of us should give it some thought.
I don't think that's the issue, Dang. Hoboken relies on Dem representation in the Assembly, State Senate, prob our next governor, our two U.S. senators and Congressman. All Dems. The County is dominated by Dems. Hoboken doesn't exist in a vacuum. I didn't ask Ravi what he meant, but that's what I assume he meant by the questioning "cultivation of healthy relationships" in the toxic post- Trump era.
DeleteWhat good have those Dems done us, GA? Look at our tax situation. That would be the perfect venue for these good, healthy relationships to pay off for our little city, and it hasn't happened. Look at the economic and racial divisions in our public vs. charter schools. There's been no progress there either. I can't see things changing in those respects no matter which party wins the office. More, is there any evidence to suggest Jen would feel this way? Because IIRC there's some she wouldn't. There was a Hoboken Reporter article about her work for the homeless back during her last council race.
DeleteI doubt that Jen and Ravi differ much on issues of civil rights and caring about all the people in Hoboken, but making the Reform tent smaller by excluding non Democrats is a huge mistake that I fear will have repercussions long past this election.
Reform is not and should not be a partisan issue. People can disagree about the role of government and how to govern, but agree on the need for honesty and transparency. To tar all Republicans with Trump and Christie is like tarring all Democrats with Russo, Garcia and Mason. It's inaccurate, unfair, and ultimately hurts the entire movement.
Cat, political realities do not change because we want them to. It is a fact that the state and federal government can help/hurt Hoboken with their policies (education funding formula for public schools) and support (Christie administration's $5million 'emergency' funding to keep the hospital open, after Dark Side council voted NO to the 5 million bond). Now, why did Christie help Hoboken back then (pre-Sandy)? Because Mayor Zimmer was among the first Dem mayors to endorse his "tool kit." And why did Tubby turn on Hoboken and send Guadagno here to threaten Zimmer with no Sandy relief if you don't greenlight my friend's development project? Tubby did that because Zimmer withheld her endorsement for his second term.
DeleteThat is what "relationships" bring- or don't bring to Hoboken- and that is a POLITICAL REALITY. Now, if Guadagno wins the Gubernatorial, and Jen wins the Hoboken mayoral, that can only HELP the state's relationship with Hoboken. If Murphy wins and Jen wins, that does NOT help Hoboken. Why wouldn't you want voters to consider that reality? It is a POLITICAL reality.
As for your analogy ("tar[ing] all Republicans with Trump and Christie is like tarring all Democrats with Russo, Garcia and Mason") the reason why it fails is because the debate is about POLICY not CORRUPTION. RGM are the Dark Side not because of political party, but ties to CORRUPTION. Republicanism is an IDEOLOGY, and determines POLICY. For example, Christie fired an excellent Republican Commissioner of Education, Bret Schundler, because he was not towing Tubby's line, and replaced him with yes-man Commissioner Cerf. Tubby's Republican pro-voucher, pro-charter ideology has starved Hoboken District schools of funding... we have a shot at improving the funding formula for public education under Democrat Phil Murphy, should he win.
That is honesty and transparency, and denying political realities and their impact on our City is selective.
As for hurting the movement, I haven't seen it "hurt" like this since I became politically involved in 2008.
And you are completely wrong about this statement: "Look at the economic and racial divisions in our public vs. charter schools. There's been no progress there either." In fact, there has been progress, but it's slow and not enough. HoLa has 11% free and reduced lunch kids, the Hoboken district has 5x that amount. It used to be worse. Again, a Democrat in NJ will help our funding problem, a Christie-bot will not.