BREAKING... GA has opened an investigation!
The subject of my investigation is the Tiffanie Fisher "Kangaroo Court" Resolution. You know, the one that was on pages 214 and 215 of the Council resolution pack-- until GA made a big stink about it last Friday, and it got pulled.
I call it the "Kangaroo Court" Resolution because the aim of the resolution was to hold public hearings "to investigate the current and proposed Suez agreement, specifically, the negotiations, the amount alleged due to Suez, and the decision not to budget for the alleged amount due."
But it was more than that.
The "Kangaroo Court" Resolution created a powerful legal entity it called "an ad hoc committee" (Municipal Investigation Committee) to run the "investigation."
A Municipal Investigation Committee not only has the authority to issue subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses and documents; it may make recommendations to the the governing body who then may initiate and take separate action, including personnel action. The committee's recommendations are "preceded by all of the substantive and procedural due process requirements that must be observed by a governing body."
Do you follow? That is a lot of power.
This "Kangaroo Court" Resolution's "ad hoc committee" would essentially be running a public show-trial; the 'Defendants" would be Mayor Zimmer and her administration. But wait... it gets better.
Who did Fisher appoint to be on her "ad hoc committee"?
Peter Cunningham, MIKE RUSSO! and RUBEN RAMOS!
And that's because every Reformer knows that when you want a fair and honest investigation of a reform mayor, the first people you'd pick are Mike Russo! and Ruben Ramos!
Especially 7 weeks prior to a mayoral election.
That's the best time for REFORMERS to hop in bed with MIKE RUSSO! and RUBEN RAMOS! for a live vivisection of Mayor Zimmer (proxy for Ravi Bhalla). Ignore all of the mean stuff GA and others have written about Russo and Ramos over the years...
WHY GA MUST INVESTIGATE!
GA has heard unverified rumors that a Third Party either wrote the "Kangaroo Court Resolution" or had substantial input. That is not unusual, except for the fact that this Third Party is a Giattino for Mayor political operative.
If true, that suggests that Fisher and Cunningham are abusing their office by aiming to stage a political operation at the Hoboken City Council to advantage the candidate whose campaign they co-Chair. Further, Giattino would be complicit by allowing her campaign co-chairs to execute this kind of political operation.
If true.
This morning GA had a polite offline exchange with Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.
I asked her a bunch of questions. She answered most. Here's what Fisher told me in writing:
- Brain Aloia (Corporation Counsel) is the only one she spoke to at City Hall about the draft Resolution
- She never saw a draft until I posted it
- She never spoke to anyone outside of City Hall about the resolution
- She chose the 4 "non-running council members... Thought is was the best of the worst ideas available."
- She did not ask Aloia to give her subpoena power.
"We shall prepare a resolution for the next agenda and you shall be set to investigate upon passage."
Then I asked for email from her side "you to Aloia" including the distribution.
Here is what I got... the same email from Aloia, not the one she sent to him.
 |
| By sending GA this email, Fisher has waived privilege. |
I wrote back:
"Sorry if I wasn't clear. This email is "RE: Suez"- his reply to you. I would like to see the email from you to Aloia ("Suez") that includes your distribution. The email that he is responding to. Thanks"Silence. I waited.
What is on Fisher's emails to Aloia that she did not want me to see?
Is it someone on the distribution?
Is it something in the body of the message?
A source told GA there was at least one other iteration of the "Kangaroo Court" Resolution, meaning that its language was debated. Who was debating? How many people were involved?
Questions! Questions! Questions! And that is why GA must investigate.
To understand the genesis of the current alliance, one need look no further than the 2001 election, in which Lenz served as campaign manager for the ticket that included Soares, Ramos and Marsh. Some people seem to leave Marsh's name off this rogues-gallery list, perhaps out of fear she may have lingering popularity that undercuts the value of exposing her complicity. You can rest assured, it was Marsh who threw the City Council into a year of deadlock in the clutches of Mason's legal team after trying to strongarm Mayor Zimmer into appointing Lenz's preferred finance director and having the Mayor call her bluff. She should be run out on a rail like the rest of this gang.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, Lenz received $1,000/week from the Ramos/Soares/Marsh ticket and worked shoulder to shoulder in the trenches with Perry Belfiore, Carmelo Garcia and Maurice Fitzgibbons for the better part of a year. After their ticket won the election, Lenz began demanding a job - initially Parking Authority Director - and was eventually named CFO. Garcia, similarly, was named Health and Human Services Director. That's how things rolled back then. That's what passed for "reform."
What happened next is interesting - Lenz's version of the story has him standing up to a corrupt administration that wanted him to fudge the numbers and being fired for doing his job properly. Ostracized for being "good at math." Sound familiar? What he doesn't tell you is, his schism with his higher-ups began much earlier, when he claimed Roberts had reneged on a deal he claimed to have agreed to with him to appoint a human train wreck named Lynda Walker as the 4th Ward councilperson to replace Ramos, who moved to an at-large seat. Now, far be it from me to argue the felonous Mr. Campos was a good choice - I can think of few candidates who could even compete with him in terms of sheer arrogance and obnoxious loudmouthery - but Walker was an unqualified disaster to whom Lenz, Marsh and Soares felt they owed something after deviously exploiting her in various ways throughout the election, to secure votes from her large family within which she then wielded much influence.
As an aside, securing payback for Walker never left the top of the "Real Reformers"' agenda. In the immediate aftermath of Cammarano's arrest - and I'm talking, literally within days of Zimmer taking office as acting mayor - Lenz, Marsh and Soares launched a full-court press to get Walker appointed to Housing Authority. They burned up the phone lines to Zimmer, Bhalla and Mello to not only appoint her, but to make it their absolute TOP priority - above dissecting the budget, stabilizing the city after a shocking shake-up, appointing directors - their absolute No. 1 agenda item was to get Walker onto the HHA, pronto. To his credit, Mello was the one who began asking questions and doing diligence on Walker, and what he found out - that she's insane, incompetent and potentially corrupt - effectively derailed the operation. Soares showed up at the spaghetti dinner that year screaming things about Mello that stopped just short of being actionable threats. Barely.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't believe me about any of the above, read Belfiore's account as reported in a news source most can agree to be of high journalistic integrity and objectivity. And if you don't believe Belfiore (after all, in this crowd, who does?), note that Lenz was reached for comment and denies none of it:
"Belfiore recalls the job-or-else threats that Lenz pushed in 2001, and another job push he made in 2002, stylistics that clash with Lenz’s prominent placement as the local brains behind Zimmer’s reformer image. It’s that image Lenz’s allies intend to burnish in the face of Occhipinti, once a dedicated ally of Mayor Peter Cammarano, who after pleading guilty to taking bribes is on his way to jail.
ReplyDeleteBut Lenz was hardly above exerting his own old school Hoboken flair, according to Belfiore.
'Lenz made this very clear early on that he wanted to be the director of the parking authority,' the councilman’s political friend turned foe remembers. 'He told me. He made no bones about it.' Other sources not as close to the 4th Ward race this year also confirmed these allegations against Lenz.
'(Lenz) lobbied Dave,' Belfiore said. 'My job was to work with (the sitting parking director) and try to cleave the position (from her).'
Contacted by PolitickerNJ, Lenz wrote back in an email, “I think it is good government to appoint folks who are well qualified, and in tune with a Mayor’s vision. Having been a supporter shouldn’t get you a job, but it shouldn’t keep you out of one either.
'Before the 2001 election the only commitment I sought or received was a very open one – Dave Roberts’ public promise that Lynda Walker would have his support to fill the 4th ward seat,' Lenz wrote. Roberts backed young Hispanic attorney Chris Campos, who was ultimately unseated by Dawn Zimmer. 'Once the votes were counted Dave broke his promise to Lynda and her supporters, and began rejecting everything Hoboken United had run on.'
He does admit going after the job.
'I fought against the shifting goals, and to see Lynda appointed to the Housing Authority Board, where she served honorably for five years. I also sought a position in government for myself,' Lenz said.
Belfiore said the tactics irritated other Hoboken United forces.
Having bagged a $1,000 per week salary as campaign manager, Lenz was unemployed and looking for work.
Other reformers were stacked on boards by Roberts, including the parking authority board that would need to approve a new director. Unfortunately, the board members, who were close to Lenz, were not buying into his placement there.
'It’s not my friends who are stopping you; It’s your friends who are stopping you,' Belfiore told Lenz, among them Tony Soares, a councilman and close ally of Lenz.
Lenz was angry that Roberts didn’t get buy-in from the commissioners to approve his appointment as director, Belfiore said, and said that he should have had a commitment from them before he put them on the parking board.
Leading into a meeting, infamous around Hoboken political circles, Belfiore said of Lenz: 'His frustration is palpable because all doors are closing on him.'
So at Stevens Park, five political players converged: Mayor David Roberts, State Sen. Bernie Kenny, Councilman (now-Assemblyman) Ruben Ramos, Lenz, and Belfiore.
'Michael gets very, very upset,' Belfiore said, and Roberts tells him, ‘I’m trying, I’m trying.''
According to Belfiore, Lenz said, 'I’m tired of this. Either I get that job or I’m running against (Roberts’ candidate) Chris Campos in the 4th.'
Roberts said, 'We’ll now I can’t give you the job because that’s a quid pro quo,' Belfiore recalled.
'All of the sudden you have a member of your own team trying to hijack you with a quid pro quo,' said Belfiore, who pulled Lenz aside and tried to calm him down."
http://observer.com/2010/08/something-old-from-new-hoboken/
You get the idea. Soares was later quoted in the Hoboken Reporter saying:
ReplyDelete"If dog catcher became an elected position, [Lenz] would probably run for that if it gave him leverage."
Lenz's dalliances with the Dark Side didn't end there. About two weeks after the June 2009 runoff election, when Cammarano was about to be sworn in and Zimmer's career, as far as Lenz was concerned, had reached a dead end, he received an overture from Mason, who, like Lenz, was trying to figure out her next move and re-evaluating her alliances. They met, with James Barracato as chaperone. After feeling one another out for whether they could find a way to work together, they left things open-ended for further discussion. But before they could pick it up, Cammarano was under arrest and Lenz darted back to Camp Zimmer like a prison escapee running from a spotlight. Interestingly, his dialogue continued through Barracato, over regular lunches in Secaucus near Lenz's county workplace.
After Lenz was appointed to Zimmer's 4th Ward seat, he began having lunches with Carmelo Garcia, whose support he pursued doggedly. And when the notorious deal was struck to appoint Soares to the NHSA for the health benefits despite his already holding the Zoning Board chairmanship, Lenz served as the lynchpin in a multi-faceted deal with the Russos that yielded Soares' appointment, Marianna Camporeale's appointment to the HHA and an understanding that Fox Hill Gardens would break Cunningham's way in the next election.
Another interesting avenue to explore is exactly how Lenz landed that county job, and what price he and Marsh paid - or, I should say, extracted from the unwitting Hoboken public and Reform community - to get it. For that, look no further than this extraordinary TV interview, in which Lenz giddily boasts of being a player when everyone else in the room is laughing their asses off at him for admitting to something they all know to be coy about.
https://vimeo.com/15798745
I remember he tried a couple of times to get me to meet Barracato for lunch, back around 2010. My answer was always, "Hell, NO!"
DeleteLOL. Here's another nugget - in 2011 and 2012, after Zimmer had won a council majority back, sans Lenz, and Lenz was drifting further and further into yesterday's news, he began strategically selecting various Zimmer supporters - not the diehards but the people a little further outside the innermost circle - people he "remembers from past Reform campaigns," as he put it to rudydawn - who might be susceptible to a little ego stroking. He systematically invited various of these people out to lunch at his beloved Coach House Diner in Jersey City, and testing the waters of their openness to dumping Zimmer in 2013. He was usually coy, gently feeling things out before really coming out and saying what was on his mind. In at least one case, he got comfortable enough to ask one prominent Reform luminary what they thought of having him run for mayor instead of Zimmer. He also had surrogates like Soares testing the waters with others on his behalf.
DeleteHis message was something along the lines of, she's nice and all, but not all that good at running the city, hiring mediocre directors, just not as fully on the ball as we need, and we can do better, and of course, who better than...
You get the idea.
The really sad thing is, Lane, Kim, Ines and Sara are reading this and watching this all unfold and, to the extent that such soulless creatures can have a sense of humor, laughing hysterically at us. "We told you so." And while no one would argue that Mason, a corrupt, deranged harpy completely devoid of professional skills, would have been a good choice for mayor under any circumstances, her band of orcs are not completely wrong about one thing - if Mayor Zimmer even moderately resembled their caricature - and Lenz's fantasy - as weak-willed, inept and dependent on his tutelage, as his vessel - we would indeed be living in a city as corrupt as it ever was, and Mason may not actually be a whole lot worse.
That she's nothing like that and kicked him to the curb early and decisively is one of the many things we should be thanking her for and appreciating. And we must show our appreciation for her indefatigable stance against corruption from all directions by electing the person she feels that, after working with in the trenches for the past decade, is best qualified to uphold her standards.
I forgot to mention, in an irony among ironies, I am 99.9% sure one of the people Lenz bluntly solicited in his mayoral "trial balloon" was none other than Mister Ravi Bhalla!
DeleteThere's lots more that went down in the intervening years that we have yet to unpack, but to GA's quite pertinent question of how the "Real Reformers" got in bed with the Russos and Ramos, allow this to serve as evidence of what many of us have known - they didn't "get into bed" with them. They've always been there. It's where they live. I'm not saying Jen and Tiffanie necessarily know all this, I don't even know if they know who half these people are. But if Lenz wrote their little resolution and put the coalition together - and while I have no proof, I strongly believe that to be the case - then it would certainly service as a logical and natural continuation of the same narrative that's been unfolding over the past 16 years.
ReplyDeleteSo to anyone puzzling over Lenz's coy publicity tour in which he makes no official endorsement but attempts to invoke his authority as an objective expert in municipal budget practices, I should hope the word spreads far and wide that his credibility as any sort of objective, apolitical authority with no agenda but the truth should be long dispelled at this point. If you want to know who Michael Lenz is, I point you to his own self-description in the above video clip:
"Political hacks make a living from being political. I've mostly not done that."
Reformbaseball...you clearly know whereof you speak! I was one of the lucky recipients of Mike Lenz's trolling calls on behalf of "Jen" yesterday. He's the first person I thought of when GA intimated in her piece today that a third party may have authored the now infamous Fisher Resolution. Why doesn't this guy just stop all of the endless machinations??? He's not physically well and should be concentrating on improving his health.
DeleteIt's the scorpion and the frog, my friend. It's his nature.
DeleteOh my - you certainly appear to be the man who holds a key to a closet in which many skeletons are stored.
ReplyDeleteIt also bears mentioning that while I can't recall clearly enough to state this categorically, I am fairly certain that in 2001, when Roberts, Belfiore, Garcia and company decided to back Campos for the 4th Ward seat, the "Real Reformers" initially promised Walker they'd field her as their candidate against him in the special election, then reneged on that and came up with some story about why it needed to be Lenz himself to run instead. He needed to run to gain leverage in his negotiating position for a city job, so Walker got tossed under the bus.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a Star Wars fan, you probably know the lore that there can only ever be two Sith at any given time because they're so treacherous that more than that would just all wind up killing each other.
So it goes with the Real Reformers. There are no friends, just "vessels." A word to the wise, Jen and Tiffanie.
Those two don't care. They went off all half-cocked attacking the mayor purely out of spite and for political gain.
DeleteTrue. And soon enough they'll have outlived their usefulness and face the wrath of the next ambitious new face to be taken under the "Real Reformers"' wings.
DeleteHoboken politics is some of the best entertainment out there. Is someone ON THIS BLOG'S COMMENT SECTION touting Perry Belfiore's recollection/views as the way it is/was? Really? My, how things have taken a turn. I can't believe what I'm reading! You mean his Perry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3-k9fCxkbw ?
ReplyDeleteYou guys really must get your narrative straight!
PS: Terrific show of leadership there by Ravi......NOT
I think the narrative is pretty consistent. Jen is in cahoots with scumbags.
DeleteBTW, w/ supporters like that, how safe do you think your rent control is if she wins? LMAO You think a bunch of Republicans are going to keep that around long?
Conveniently sidestepping the part where Lenz admits to it, of course.
DeleteIt should be noted that the above Nino Giacchi supporter feigning righteous indignation at referencing Perry Belfiore is precisely the sort of situational-ethics purveyor one would expect to be leaping to the defense of one of her ilk.
I have zero indignation, righteous or otherwise, at your mentioning Perry Belfiore. Why would I? I was just pointing out an obvious irony.
Delete@ Da Ojo Rojo for the win.....The Republicans looking out for the little guy, that narrative will definitely work out....oh and the Bernie voter for Jenn? oh please...they should just stick with #makehobokengreatagain and just buy the damn red hats already.
DeleteWell...it's clear as day, after reading all of the foregoing comments, that Mike Lenz is one big grifter. God only knows why anyone would give this guy the time of day.
DeleteWell they are not only giving him the time of day, he is effectively running the smear campaign. Romy, Jen, Tiffanie and the gang all on board.
DeleteTiffanie here: Full text of the email I sent to Corporation Council below (I just texted to Nancy). Basically the same language they used in the draft resolution.
ReplyDeleteSo - Thursday - the day after last week's council meeting - I spoke to Brian and asked how to proceed if I wanted to look into this further. The legal advice he gave me - that is his role - was two choices, subcommittee or full counsel involvement. I thought the former would be the better of the two and asked my non running colleagues to join. I asked if we could have independent counsel or accounting advice to which Corporation Counsel said no. And then he sent me a legal case on Friday confirming this. Monday I sent him this email (the mysterious missing one) - cc'd Peter, Ruben and Mike.
"Brian –
As a follow up to our discussion last week, we want to do a council led investigation into the current and proposed Suez contracts. Namely, the liability that the Administration has indicated has accumulated over the past four years and relating to bulk water rate increases and costs relating to repair and improvements of our water system in excess of what Suez is required to cover. I am not certain as to the amount but have seen reference to it ranging between $8.3 and $10 million and covering periods as far back as 2014 to today. We have formed a subcommittee made up of the four council members who are not running for election this year. All are cc’d here.
Please let us know what we need to do to move forward and codify this decision and path.
Thank you,
Tiffanie "
When Nancy does her OPRA investigation, she will find that assistant corporation counsel sent it to members of the administration (not the Mayor), members of the administration approved it, and then sent it directly to City Clerk. And there will not be a single cc'ing of me nor a direct email to me regarding the resolution. If there was some sort of third party involved, it did not come from me.
I saw it for the first time on Nancy's site on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday I sent Corporation Counsel an email at 1:35 asking him to not include it on the agenda. And he said no problem.
No other emails.
Text of the email but not who it was sent to or who is on the CC list? Weak. And you know that is not what she asked for.
DeleteAnd still waiting for you to answer my accounting question. I think you completely screwed up your analysis of the Suez contract. I mean, completely. It took me less than 5 minutes to spot the problem.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry Da Ojo Rojo. I thought I had but just looked again and can’t find it. I agree that I do not have an estimate for SG&A / Overhead (they are interchangeable) as I mentioned “So Suez keeps $63 million (to cover its remaining costs (overhead and taxes).” I do not know what the overhead estimate is as we were not provided with this. The $2 million investment in meter technology is meant to eliminate meter readers.
DeleteSuez is not going to give you that information. And you know why? Because they don't want their competitors knowing what their cost structure looks like b/c it would allow them to extrapolate that information underbid them in future contract negotiations. No company, I repeat, no company, will provide that sort of information and risk having it publicly released.
DeleteAs for eliminating meter readers, you still need to drive by the structure and collect the data from the meter even if that means nobody is physically walking over and checking it. Those newer meters simplify the process of checking meters but don't make it costless.
You folks have been making a stink about something you barely understand and playing way too much politics for my taste. Personally, I think your factions personal ambitions broke the reform movement and will cost reformers the election. And this most recent political stink is what has turned at least me, permanently against you.
Da Rojo Ojo--Agree with you on:"Personally, I think your factions personal ambitions broke the reform movement and will cost reformers the election. And this most recent political stink is what has turned at least me, permanently against you."
DeleteTiffanie- Thank you for the email I requested. So you know, my use of the term "investigation" is tongue-in-cheek. YOu know, I'm investigating the investigators. Maybe someone will investigate my investigation which means an investigation investigating the investigator of the investigators. And so on.
I'd say it's more like fact-finding. Because reformers getting in bed with Russo and Ramos is a seismic development, so I want to know how did it happen, who was involved. If you thought that was the "best option", I think that one is going to haunt you- politically speaking. You can talk until the cows come home that the entire SUEZ shitshow was "not political". We'll see what the City gives me and if folks can learn from it. Maybe not. Maybe I'm wasting my time. I would like to understand how someone like Peter Cunningham could sign onto an investigation of the Mayor with Russo and Ramos, and Jen's involvement in that. I don't understand why Jen appears so peripheral lately, since she is the candidate. IMO, she is being overshadowed by her campaign surrogates. It is the only campaign where that seems to be the case.
I've never trusted Michael Lenz. The article above where he indicts himself as a job-seeking operative confirms my sense that I needed to stay far away. Happy I did. That non-sense letter he wrote in the Hudson Reporter on behalf of Jen (he attended Jen's campaign fundraiser and is listed as a supporter on Roman's site) is so obviously a result of having foolishly misled Tiffanie and Jen and Peter into thinking they had some sort of gotcha moment with Suez and then being called on being so very wrong on the facts. It's clear that the 3 of them must be embarrassed for making fools of themselves at the Council meeting and receiving a strong and clear backlash from the rest of us who are disgusted by them. Michael is clearly trying to fix his mistake by writing a letter and making as many goofy calls as he can. What a goofball. First they team up with Mike DeFusco to push a Ravi is conflicted narrative, Ravi calls their bluff and says sure, no problem, you're worried about a conflict, I'll recuse myself, then they get upset because Ravi won't say anything because he's recused himself at their behest. Since Michael considers himself a master manipulator and strategist this all must be very embarrassing hence he's come out from behind the curtain to try to fix his mistake.
ReplyDeleteOf course his real Tom Foolery was convincing 4th place Jen that she had a chance. In the process Jen, Tiffanie, and Peter have completely ruined their reputations. And for what?
Well I personally think they are doing a darn good job of splitting the reform movement and helping DeFusco look good by comparison.
DeleteI am going to make a prediction. At the end of the day when the dust settles, they will pass the Suez contract extension the mayor has negotiated or something very similar to it (with Suez). They have no choice. There is no logical alternative supplier who can underbid Suez. Suez has been successful in getting so many customers in the region for that very reason. The city cannot do the job itself - not w/o spending substantially more than Suez would charge. And none of them want to stick the city taxpayers with a big fat tax hike to immediately pay off the liability and termination fee. So Suez will be the supplier going forward no matter how much they complain, point fingers or spin politically motivated narratives.
I just read through this thread and Tiffanie's spin is literally making my head spin.
ReplyDeleteTiffanie as best as I can tell, you are saying that you came up with the idea of conducting a formal faulkner act council investigation on your own based on a conversation you alone had with corporation council, without input from Jen, Peter, anyone associated with Jen's campaign such as Mike Lenz, or any of your other council colleagues.
You then decided, on your own, to ask Russo, Ramos and Cunningham to be part of the committee. You genuinely in good faith felt that because the four of them weren't actually on the November ballot, this committee would actually be apolitical and unbiased and perceived as such by the public.
Making you chair and giving you unilateral subpoena power was corporation counsel's idea. You never discussed any of this with Jen, Michael Lenz, Roman Brice or anyone else associated with Jen's campaign.
Corp council then prepared the resolution on his own without even showing it to any councilmembers including
you as sponsor, the other proposed committee members or Jen the Council President.
Corp Council went so far as to put it on the agenda without any Councilpeople even seeing a draft. Corp council worked on the resolution only with someone in the administration but didn't discuss it with the mayor, something you somehow know despite being entirely out of the loop after corp counsel sent his email telling you that he would write the resolution.
Then when you found out at the last minute that it had actually been put on the agenda by corporation counsel's despite your not having had any communication with him since the one e-mail, you unilaterally made the command decision to pull it, again without discussing that choice with your fellow proposed committee mates or Jen, Lenz, Brice or anybody associated with Jen's campaign.
Tiffanie, did I understand your story correctly? Feel free to correct anything I got wrong.
Yes. But some clarity. After the council meeting where emotions were high and I along with 5 other council members were verbally attacked by Mayor Zimmer, I walked out of the meeting that night, with Peter and said I thought we needed to look into this further. The next day I called Corporation Counsel who then gave me the legal advice about what is allowed under the Faulkner act. I did not know prior to speaking to him. We spoke that day for 5-10 minutes, tops. I alone chose from the two options presented - subcommittee or full council. Of the two, I envisioned the full council to be a political free for all. So I opted to go the direction of the subcommittee which I thought might be less political. I then asked Peter, Mike and Ruben if they would agree. Did I speak with Jen and Peter, yes, because I am around them clearly, but also because they are on the finance subcommittee and were at the last two subcommittee meetings leading up to the council meeting. And the context of those two meetings is critical. Ravi is the fourth person on that committee but is conflicted otherwise I would call him. That being said, I directed the discussion and said "this is what I recommend..." Talking each with Peter, Mike and Ruben, we agreed we would probably get 5 votes. I asked Jen and she was fine with what was proposed for the reason I proposed it - to include only those who are not running for office. I do not know who Mike and Ruben spoke with, if anyone.
DeleteAnother point of clarity - I don't know if corporation council or anyone else for that matter spoke with the Mayor - my reference was I wanted to be clear that I was not pointing at/to the Mayor. What I do know is that I never received a copy / draft and that assistant corporation counsel sent it to members of the administration, and one of those members forwarded it to the City Clerk on Wednesday afternoon for posting to the agenda. I was on none of those or any other related emails. It went up without my review.
So when I sent my note to Corporation Counsel on Thursday at 1:35 to pull it, it had already been added without having been sent to me. And yes, I unilaterally made the demand, ccing Peter, Mike and Ruben. I did not ask for their approval. In making this decision I spoke with a couple friends, two who were accountants, and they helped me determine that a better and more constructive approach was to submit our questions to the City and give them an opportunity to respond. Which I plan to do.
Yeah - usually not terribly constructive to get in bed with the Russos when you are supposed to be a reformer. You might also want to stop paying attention to people who are advising you and pretend they understand municipal finance. They do not and it is very obvious.
DeleteI suggest you go through the information the mayor sent out already. Most of the issues you bring up are addressed there. The only one that isn't is related to some of you thinking the CC should have been involved in the negotiations. I for one am happy you were left out. A negotiating team of 10 just does not work especially when so many of you are playing politics ahead of the election. Having you folks and your political hangers on involved in negotiating anything w/Suez would have been a disaster.
Tiffanie- In making your decsion to pull the resolution, you say above that you spoke with two accountant friends. That seems to conflict with what you told me offline yesterday. You told me yesterday that you hadn't spoken to anyone about the resolution "outside of City Hall." Was one of the accountants who advised you on pulling the resolution Mike Lenz?
DeleteThe discussion I had with friends who were in the accounting field was about their thoughts on the required accounting treatment for a liability like what is being discussed. And what questions I should consider asking given I was told by Corporation Counsel that the counsel could not hire an independent firm. So I did not speak with them about the resolution. And no, Michael Lenz was not one of these accounting friends.
DeleteSo to clarify, the idea was yours and the other council members, including Peter and Jen, were ready to follow your lead in choosing a committee of Russo, Ramos, You and Cunningham because they agreed such a committee would be objective and apolitical?
DeleteAnd since you were leading and the others following, there was no need to consult with the others when you changed your mind?
I'm curious why you felt accountants were the best people to consult about the best way to get information from the administration as a council person. That doesn't seem like an accounting question to me.
We're these accountants people who have expertise in municipal finance as opposed to GAAP?
What is your current opinion as to whether contingent future obligation that are not due and payable within the fiscally year are required to be included in a municipal budget?
It seems like you may have cancelled your investigation because your accountant friends explained to you that you were wrong so there was nothing to investigate.
Please explain your current view on the accusations made by both you and Mike DeFusco that past budgets were underfunded. That would help us to better understand why speaking to accountants caused you to call off the investigation.
Pretty sure the auditor already said they consulted an outside firm when doing the audit. It is not unusual for an auditor to have their own counsel. Go check the tape. Hiring another outside firm is neither required nor would it change the result of the audit. The auditor isn't going to do another audit based on any legal analysis a firm hired by you provided as they already checked with someone. You should just review the tape again and the documents provided and move on from there.
DeleteBTW, your obsession over the accounting treatment tells me a lot. While you obsess over that, keep in mind the liability keeps growing b/c you are not doing anything to get Hoboken out of a very bad contract. Not smart.
reformbaseball is my new hero. his/her comments above are an amazing insight into hoboken politics, kudos.
ReplyDeleteCan we expect pics of lenz and soares on a ladder to appear soon?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember Defusco?
Hobo1's most recent comment prior to the above is as follows:
Delete"I disagree with the assertions made. Zimmer made a calculated, smart effort that backfired. It happens. Shes been a great mayor.mistakes in judgement happen. I cant fault her for trying to do whats best for hoboken but i dont like nor support the idea that the council is somehow to blame for her choice of action. A mea culpa with best intentikns that turned out wrong os notjing to be ashamed of. We are humans and make mistakes."
https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2017/09/city-hall-disclosed-suez-liability-last.html
Earlier in this thread, I described Lenz's 2011-12 trial-balloon overtures to Reform community members to dump Zimmer as the 2013 candidate and run him instead as consisting of "something along the lines of, she's nice and all, but not all that good at running the city, hiring mediocre directors, just not as fully on the ball as we need, and we can do better."
We report, you decide.
Hobo1, the inference that this is H411 is pretty offensive. I never pick on people's physical appearance or disability like that douche Klaussen, in words or pictures. I assume commenters are reacting adversely to Mike Lenz' recent efforts to influence public opinion against the Mayor and about the SUEZ contract- some might say dishonestly- in his letter to the Hoboken Reporter, his MSV editorial, his phone calls to "old Reformers" which all follow the same script. In my opinion, he's been misleading and manipulative to benefit the campaign of Jen Giattino- for example, in his letter to the Hoboken Reporter, he failed to disclose he was on the Giattino campaign. When was Hoboken politics ever nice?
DeleteDon't waste your breath, GA. There's not a single word in anything either you or I have written that is insulting or demeaning to Lenz or Soares in any way. It's all factual, and they know it. If, after reading through all of the above, the best anyone can come up with is that Belfiore isn't a trustworthy source and comparing it to an offensive graphic no one else even remembers, that reveals all anyone should need to know.
DeleteThe truth hurts. If any of the above were erroneous in any way, Lenz sympathizers would be posting rebuttals instead of crying that their feelings are hurt. Our work here is done.
The H411 attacks on Soares were always a blend of fact and fiction, particularly because the Mason people were trying to connect Zimmer to Lenz's past antics she knew nothing about. Zimmer always saw through Lenz and kept him at a suitable distance and hell would have frozen over before she would have hired him to a responsible city job. The idea that he was ever under consideration for finance director BA was a laugh line, but Lenz himself probably was the source of the rumors floated by H411 since he was always trying to appear more important than he was.
DeleteBut when stripped of the fiction the facts are pretty damning, especially when the misdeeds are brought up to date.
Reform baseball seems to have a wealth of knowledge across multiple generations of Lenz/Soares/Marsh antics. To the extent I have personal knowledge about the events described in the Zimmer era, every word he has written is true. I have no knowledge other than anecdotal of earlier times, but the shoe fits.
Would never swipe at you GA. It was more of a commnetary toward the poster.
DeleteThe election is 7 weeks away. Dawn was and is a great mayor. I expect blips from time to time. We are human.
Depends on what your definition of "blip" is. If you're suggesting that, say, keeping someone like Alicea around for as long as she did out of magnanimity instead of doing a ruthless, no-holds-barred housecleaning from the get-go wound up, in hindsight, being the human but suboptimal course, then yes, I suspect even the mayor might agree that in retrospect, sometime you just need to grit your teeth and rip the Band-Aid off.
DeleteBut if your definition of "blip" is your way of clinging to the last shred of the now fully deconstructed political-theater operation around the Suez contract and suggesting she did anything less than negotiate the best possible deal for the public, only to have her ostensible allies flock like sheep into a county-employed political opportunist's scheme to use smoke and mirrors to discredit her, allow me to deconstruct your flaccid attempt at strategic retreat. At the end of the day, unless you are willing to state otherwise, your definition of "blip" remains an offense for which we must replace the mayor and/or her endorsed successor, lest these "blips" come to outnumber her many accomplishments, which is, according to you, where we're clearly headed.
Mayor Zimmer's approach to "blips" is a little different. Unlike some people in our current political environment, Mayor Zimmer has always maintained a surgical focus on the public interest. That means often having to make difficult choices and navigating myriad conflicts - to use your parlance, it means never letting a "blip" be the enemy of the public good.
I'll offer an example of Mayor Zimmer's approach to "blips." In the 2010 special election, there was a two-way race between Michael Lenz, a competent if ethically challenged councilman, and Tim Occhipinti, a petulant, arrogant corruption apologist who was running with the remnants of the Cammarano team as the bought-and-paid-for developer candidate.
Mayor Zimmer had an important agenda of Reform projects she needed to get through, including overhauling the Police Department, saving the hospital and getting key pieces into place for the southwest park. She knew Occhipinti supported none of this. She knew Lenz brought his own set of challenges but that he could likely be counted on to support her agenda.
During the course of this election cycle, Lenz took a developer to lunch at the Coach House. The developer had business before the city. He had contributed to Lenz's campaign. The meeting was improper, unethical and imprudent on every conceivable level. It became publicly known, and did devastating damage to Lenz, and, to some degree, to Zimmer by extension for her association with Lenz.
Combine this with various other infractions perpetrated by Lenz at this time - the Soares/Camporeale deal, the extra $5,000 council-salary stipend to replace health benefits he already got through his county job - and one might presume it abundantly reasonable for the mayor to withdraw her support from Lenz. But she didn't do that. Not because she thought any of the above behavior was ok, not because she's anybody's patsy, not because she felt like she had no choice.
She maintained her support for Lenz because of the options available at the time, he was the best one, and her best shot at getting her agenda through to serve the public interest.
Staying focused on what's best for the public while navigating a sea of imperfection is Mayor Zimmer's approach to dealing with "blips."
What's yours?
Wow. Awfully over the top there, RBB. Seems a little St. Dawn to me. I really hate to do this but, your comment was so over the top that I just have to ask about your thoughts on something. You see, I suspect keeping Alicea had nothing to do with magnanimity and was much more strategic. Strategy is fine, no reason to go over the top.
DeleteIt's ok for each of us to have our own perception, and perception is a funny thing - but the sainthood bit is a bridge too far.
So I ask: What about that Christie tweet? I recall being shocked when I read it. It went something like, Hoboken is lucky to have Chris Christie. (or NJ is lucky to have...) can't remember which. That tweet came out in August after the little incident with the Lt. Gov the previous spring.
Now, how EXACTLY was telling the residents of Hoboken that they were lucky to have Christie in their best interest? Or, did it, perhaps, have more to do with, in a mayoral election year, the mayor playing to the republicans in town - ya' know to show them that she was "with" them....even if she wasn't actually registered as one of them?
I would think that someone that knew first-hand about how the Christie administration was trying to shove a certain development down our throats wouldn't be tweeting such positive things about him. And, his re-election, by her own account several month after it was apparent to her, wasn't in our best interest.
Yeah - I am sure that the mayor wasn't at all interested in getting state support to cover the 25% match FEMA usually requires state and local governments when getting disaster recovery funds to cover emergency preparations, debris removal and rebuilding. BTW, because of Christie, that match got cut to 10% and the state picked up the cost of that 10% in some cases. So yes, we were lucky the governor took the lead on helping communities recover from Sandy.
DeleteNow that's what I call serious spin there, Da Ojo Rojo! By the time the mayor tweeted she already knew, for months, about the quid pro quo going on. Anyone that had the interests of the community at heart would have wanted this guy out of office.........fast. Instead we got a mayor promoting this guy to Hoboken's residents. Talk about putting personal ambition over the interests of the community.
DeleteKeeping Alicea on was strategic, you say? To what end? The only "strategic" role Alicea played during his City Hall tenure was on the political campaign of Michael Lenz, for whom he worked extremely hard and accompanied on walks through the Housing Authority buildings, evoking extreme displeasure and some outright threats from his Old Guard cohorts. Lenz was deeply fixated on winning the HHA vote and assistance from Alicea and Garcia. In fact, it was Lenz who indoctrinated Joe Branco into his temporary infiltration of the Reform movement in his effort to curry favor with Carmelo. Like Alicea, Branco was a constant presence on the Lenz campaign and rightly saw Lenz as his conduit to a shot at running on the Reform ticket in the 2011 6th Ward race (the one in which you supported Nino Giacchi). When that effort fizzled out, Branco then tried to position himself for an appointment to the Housing Authority board in 2012. Lenz was keeping a lower profile at that point, but interestingly, Soares - who's been quick to attack Zimmer for her brief association with Branco - was calling people the day of the Council meeting on the appointment trying to rally support for Joe's candidacy. He even went to sign up to speak on his behalf, but when others rebuffed his efforts to persuade them to support Joe, he realized the wind was blowing a different direction and came up with an out-of-town emergency he needed to get to - leaving his name on the sign-up sheet so it would be called by Farina, to be sure Joe knew he really did try. A couple of weeks later, Soares, who had not yet fully transitioned into his current real estate job, suddenly turned up working at a framing and decorating shop at 2nd and Garden, allegedly owned by a close associate of Branco's. Pure coincidence, of course.
DeleteSo, to your point about Zimmer's motivations for keeping Alicea around - there's not a doubt in my mind Lenz certainly lobbied her to do so. Did that factor into her decision-making? What's in a person's heart is not a discernible fact, but in the spirit of you having taken the time to raise this important element of the narrative, I'll throw you a bone and concede that it may have been a possibility.
Spin? Yeah, what you call spin I call expertise. Unlike you, I know how FEMA funding works. I know the role the feds, state and locals play. I know that FEMA by law only is required to cover 75% of the costs and only goes above that amount if the state is successful in convincing the feds to increase the match. I also know that the person who does that lobbying is typically the governor and not some low level paper pusher. Please stop pretending you know WTF you are talking about. You don't - you never have. And your whole act has gotten quite old.
DeleteMaybe what this town needs is Jen as mayor. No way the CT PILOT and rent control survive her as mayor. No free market Republican would let those policies remain - and if we get rid of those, we get rid of people like you, Russo and the OG gang permanently. That would be sweet sweet justice considering you are backing her and not the liberal Democrat reformer ;-)
I'm loving all the hysteria, although I rarely read fiction - what the two of you are peddling, is probably better late night reading than any Harry Potter novel. I'd call it insider baseball, but it's not insider (unless we're talking about an inner fantasy life that has little to do with reality.)
DeleteI'm not obsessed with ensuring that the mayor is bequeathed the noble title of Dame as her time in office comes to a end. It must be tiring to spend hours spinning distortions around kernels of fact wrapping them in a whole lotta bajardi-esque paranoia and delusions of grandeur with a heavy dose of real whopper on top.
Alicea made a great shield during the police negotiations. It's some year's ago now, but if memory serves, there he was side by side with the mayor during that infamous 6 hour council meeting before the anticipated police layoffs.
I don't exactly know much about the whole push for Branco, but as one on the periphery - it seemed like everyone, including Michael Lenz, thought the mayor's husband had lost his mind when he started pushing for him.
As to the expert in all things federal, state AND local Da Ojo, not to mention your legal expertise and supreme FEMA knowledge and proficiency, (angry much?) the WTF-thing that I know is that the mayor was tweeting how lucky we all were to have Christie.
Now I realize you're a little sensitive about that one little fact, I would be too if I were you - but, I can assure you that I wouldn't go off the rails doing the whole I know more than you do variation (on the mine's bigger than you's thing). It's strange to see an anonymous commenter be so incredibly insecure about things. Relax, I have no idea who you are other than a supporter of Ravi.
And the part that's makes is the most fun is the way you tip your own hold card - how 'sweet' you'd find it if we (you) get rid of 'people like me'. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Isn't the campaign that you are behind the one that's supposedly the 'inclusive' candidate?
As ususal, indie, you make the mistake of presuming anybody's interested in persuading or catering to you. Everybody knows you're like a Trump voter, unshakeable in your partisan conviction once you've invested in a candidate. Everyone also knows you have no votes. Giacchi lost. You couldn't move the needle for Kurta one iota even though he lived in a ward rich with your alleged affordable-housing base. Anyone dependent on affordable housing who is even aware of your existence knows at this point to make sure not to support whomever you're supporting. In fact, if you ever do break with Jen and start shopping for a new candidate, I would personally try to entice you to keep your Keim Kiss of Death as far away from Ravi as possible.
Deletewoo-wee, not only did we get the late night Harry Potter novel, we've moved into the Through the Looking Glass in the morning.. I am wondering if you're trying to dig Da Ojo out of the hole or if you've simply switched to your other screen name and you're trying to dig yourself out of that hole.
DeleteSpeaking of screen names, since your screen name is relatively new, I know you're not the same angry screen name that's been commenting forever and conflating affordable housing with rent control. Can I give you a tip? If you want readers to think you've got the full insider scoop on the evils of Michael Lenz, Carol Marsh and Tony Soares, you should try not to appear so ignorant about the difference between those two types of housing.
The Giacchi Kurta touch is an interesting new twist to your super insider knowledge. Careful there, remember you're the insider and as a real insider you know that I've only been involved in 2 elections in the last decade. Ya' recall them don't you? I'm guessing that in the all-knowing insider world you'll dust off the narrative about how those miraculous results are solely attributable to HRH Zimmer and not a hard-working group of long-term residents, kind of like HRH Zimmer single-handedly saved the hospital narrative, although more recently we're learning that it wasn't HRH. It was Ravi who had to run that city council meeting were one wrong move could have collapsed the entire deal.
Hole I dug? LMAO, folks might even throw a party once you are gone. They certainly will do so if the Russos move permanently to their beach house.
Deleteindie, you have certainly been involved in many elections over the years, and, on the occasions when you've found yourself on the winning side, believe yourself to have personally delivered the margin of victory. Of that I have no doubt.
DeleteRBB - come, come now - you're Hoboken's latest political historian. Don't ruin you're all knowing reputation so early in the game. Surely you know that HRH is the ONLY one in town that can deliver an election win.
DeleteIndie, you claimed that the city council already had subpoena powers, so why the autocratic grab for power by Fisher, with complicity from Aloia to pass a resolution that probably would not withstand a legal challenge? BTW, Giattino may be the candidate, but Fisher's the one who's running for mayor by proxy, and she will be running the show if your choice gets elected. But you knew that.
DeleteThanks Oracle, great example of how stuff metamorphoses from what was said or happened into something else. What I think I wrote (and I don't have time to look back right now) was something along the lines of how boards have subpoena power so maybe the city council does too.
DeleteAs to the rest of your comment, I think Tiff explained what happened ad nauseum, I have nothing further to add and I don't know why you're asking me. I disagree that Tiff is 'running for mayor by proxy or w/b running the show' when Jen gets elected.
I can see why you might be sensitive to the idea of a proxy mayor since many people believe Stan, the mayor's husband, has been the de facto mayor for years. It's a very upsetting thought to Ravi, so upsetting that he ended up costing the city a tidy little sum. The fact that Stan is attending meet & greets with Ravi now has others concerned that Stan has the intention to continue to be the proxy mayor.
Yes, Fisher, and you, do go on, ad nauseum. But she's not the candidate. And that's the problem.
DeleteIndie, you are welcome to comment but not to spread lies.
DeleteRavi doesn't bring Stan to Meet and Greets, really just take your malicious crap to the horse manure site where any thing goes.
Michael Lenz is an opportunist. And that's not a compliment.
ReplyDeletelenz has truly been deconstructed today.
ReplyDeleteWhy is Lenz, that smarmy, unctuous gas-bag still involved in local politics?
ReplyDeleteBecause he's taking disability retirement as a result of a chronic medical condition. Needs supplemental funds, needs something to do with his idle hands.
DeleteSome people get a hobby. This is his destructive hobby.
DeleteYup! The guy just can't help himself. Makes him a great patsy for "Jen"'s campaign.
Delete