Yeah, GA's gotta agree with mayoral candidate Mike DeFusco, who filed 564 petitions on Monday.
He's got: (1) the most cash, (2) the 'Poopie' Raia VBM farm team, and, (3) in spite of appalling name recognition in mid-summer, once the Swibinski- machine revs up in September and October, your mailboxes will be howling for mercy.
Let's take a look at those (3) factors.
CASH
Last week Hudson County View reported that Defusco had $205,426, with $178,946 cash on hand.
In second place, Ravi Bhalla reported $151,859, with $84,380 on hand.
Jen Giattino (the "Reform Resistance" leader) reported $263.91 on May 16, 2017. It appears that Reform's "Resistance" leader has resisted fundraising for her political future.
THE POOPIE EFFECT
Don't sneeze at the Poopster. GA has heard that the FBI is surveilling Hoboken's vote-by-mail, but you know what they say: where there's a will, there's a way. And when it comes to vote-farming, there is always a way.
In 2010, GA documented the Poopie Effect in Hoboken's school board election.
Then of course, the notorious tidal wave of VBMs in the 2010 special election, which earned Hoboken's Fourth Ward an feature article in Blue Jersey.com "Red Flags: How much does it cost to buy an election in Hoboken’s 4th ward?" An excerpt:
Then in 2014's election, the vote-farmers harvested a Peter Biancamano seat on the BoE.Outgoing Hoboken Councilman Michael Lenz’s supporters say it costs about $22,000. That’s how much his opponent Tim Occhipinti spent on “campaign workers” to win Ward 4’s Council seat in November... Occhipinti paid 575 workers for an election in which only 2,076 people cast ballots (Lenz Election Day paid workers = 17). Most alarming is a spike – a big one – in vote-by-mail ballots, and who it was who turned them in: overwhelmingly it was Occhipinti’s “campaign workers”. Hoboken Ward 4 absentee voting dwarfs that of every other election in Hudson County, according to the Hudson Clerk’s figures."
Alas, the other beneficiary of the farming operation, incumbent "Bubbles" Rhodes-Kearn, did not score a sufficient machine vote total to retain her board seat. Shame!
As for the last election cycle, it appears the farmers have been tipped off to the rumored ongoing federal investigation into Hoboken's election vote-harvest; it has been quiet on that front.
But... given the huge investment in Mike DeFusco (even more $ rumored to be tucked away in an IE committee account which folks will never see), GA predicts the farmers will come up with a workaround.
We'll see!
But this is going to be a very close election- Hoboken's next mayor could be determined by a couple of dozen votes- and the vote farmers can taste victory.
MAILBOX ALERT
Folks, just you wait until Mike DeFusco starts choking your mailbox with crap!
People who read this site already know the score.
Undecided voters will read some of his crap (plus crap sent by special interest groups using DeFusco backers' invisible IE money) and may or may not be influenced by it. Yes, your mailbox will get very dirty. Certainly, if Mike DeFusco does not win, he'll have no friends left in Hoboken politics.
So, there you go, folks.
Those are the three factors which we (Reform) are up against.
Not so vibrant, huh?
His crew is certainly VIBRANT and motley!
ReplyDeleteoddly, i saw matt c. wander into stick's campaign office yesterday. as aretha once sang, "who's zoomin' who?"
ReplyDeleteLuckily, the younger hoboken, the marginalized hoboken , the old hoboken , they are all tired of Zimmer's administration, just look at the comments on any of her FB posts , people are tired of Zimmer and anyone who is directly related to her (Now Ravi and Jen ) , the ones that read this blog are the ones who support the "Reform" and won't change their minds , however your teams are doing an awful job reaching the masses , that's because both of your teams are a bit tarde for the party and can't get their $h&t together . So a few brownstones fight for their reform candidate .. so what ?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for this nightmare of administration to be over .
We don't need a $50 million dollar park over a contaminated area , don't people know about the presence of hazardous wastes there ? Great job Reform .
LOL, don't choke on yr own bullshit, HO! what about polling that showed mayor zimmer would have CRUISED to victory if she ran again his year, huh? gosh, it's a miracle how one can achieve that status when so many factions in town are "all tired of zimmer's administration", isn't it?
Deletewe get that you're shilling for MDF, it's ok.
HO is confusing developer money with popularity.
DeleteHobokened Out, you read this blog and you don't support Reform, and so do a lot of your non-Reform supporting friends. Ravi and his team have been doing a great job, but sure, there's much more work to do. True, your fella has money coming out his eyeballs, but he has no charisma, isn't that bright (certainly no Cammarano in the Brains Dept.) and cannot engage in real time, extemporaneous debate without sounding like a nasty, yappy chihuahua. Really, all he's got going for him is a bloc of wealthy developers desperate enough to gamble big bucks on him. A majority of likely voters are very happy with Zimmer, while your guy barely registers 4% approval. As polling goes, your guy's on life support. Without all that developer dough, your guy would be circling the bowl.
DeleteI think the post and those graphics tell the whole story when it comes to DeFusco and his associates. While I admire his ambition, I fear he has bitten off more than he can chew after just two years on the council, and is woefully unqualified and a danger to the town. Throw in the fact that he's a disloyal snake in the grass who previously ran with the support of Zimmer and Bhala and then declared himself against her before she bowed out, and is this someone we can trust with the keys to our town? You know, the town in which he's handing over to developers who he consistently votes in favor of to build, build, and build and over-populate? Gee I wonder why that is...
ReplyDeleteSo to summarize... disloyal, unqualified, and he sure does have a strange voting record when it comes to these developers. Follow the breadcrumbs people!
Oh and an ex english teacher (In Japan ) , ex photographer and an ex ballerina were / are more qualified ? Seriously ..
DeleteAre you talking about Jen on your last statement?
DeleteDanger is your republican wishing luck to a woman who is against vaccines running for office in NY , receiving money from Christie and with two-faced Fisher backing her up .
DeleteThrow in the fact that she is a disloyal snake who ran with the support of Ravi and Zimmer and then declared herself agains them . "Your words ".. buddy
Wow, I think it's rather telling that you just went on the offensive towards all the other candidates right away there, rather than offering up a defense of your man DeFusco... it's almost as if you are incapable of doing so? I wonder why that is, could it because there is NO defense? He's clearly incompetent, clearly a snake, and clearly has several developers holding the strings above his head like he's their puppet. In fact, I think I'll start referring to him as Pinocchio since he's a puppet and lies often. It fits!
DeleteFYI all - the City announced today that it lost the 3 of the Monarch cases that were on appeal before the appellate Division. Unless the State Supreme Court grants cert and overturns that means the City has only one card/case left to play, one involving the enforceability of a post sandy ordinance barring development on Hoboken's piers, among other things.
ReplyDeleteDisappointing, but for those without their heads in the sand not surprising. Sometimes the last card is the best card. Let's hope it turns out to be an ace in the hole.
Tea building residents were falsely led to believe the city's chances to prevail were far greater than they actually we're and that the proposed settlement was poorly negotiated. Wanna guess by who?
DeleteHad tea building residents spoken out in support the settlement might have passed. They did not because they were misled by you know who and the ever present FBW.
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ReplyDeleteHobokened Out, you will have to wait a few more days to drop your allegation, as I am unable to vet your information at this time. I am sure your smears are welcome at another online venue. Thank you for your patience.
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