ATTACKS ON FAMILY
An unwritten rule in political campaigns is to leave 'non-combatants' alone; a candidate's family members and children are off-limits.
It is an invisible line that no decent campaign should cross.
Which is why I was amazed to read in this week's Hoboken Reporter: "[DeFusco's] partner’s workplace supervisor received a Facebook message from a Hoboken resident who supports Giattino. DeFusco said the man “asked [the supervisor] if she was aware of what we were doing in Hoboken. "
Today GA contacted DeFusco's partner ("DP") for more information about what happened.
"DP" forwarded the Facebook message that his boss sent him:
"Hi! Someone named Derek Barnes from Hudson Valley Harvest messaged me on Facebook. Seems kind of sketchy I'm inclined to ignore him unless you tell me you've applied for a job or something and that I should talk to him.... no rush wanted to let you know"
"DP" told me that this incident happened on "September 18th. She's my program director... after that she blocked him. All I have is the email she sent me... I'm not even friends on Facebook with my boss so he must have done some work to find her."
DP said that he confronted Giattino yesterday, when she showed up to a DeFusco coffee event on Jefferson.
"So I go and introduce myself as Mike's partner and then I asked her specifically how is Derek involved in her campaign and all she said was that he was a supporter, that she wasn't aware and that I should talk to him directly."
She "wasn't aware"- yeah, right.
Barnes is a close friend of Giattino's for "20+ years" and has been a prolific social media guerrilla for her campaign since July. And that friends, is the modus operandi of the Giattino campaign.
Don't let the candidate get her wings dirty.
Nope, this is not Zimmer's Reform.
Zimmer was criticized for not being a touchy-feely politician, more aloof. But, she kept her troops in order and always ran POSITIVE.
Zimmer was criticized for not being a touchy-feely politician, more aloof. But, she kept her troops in order and always ran POSITIVE.
Ravi Bhalla is running like Zimmer. Organized, positive, decent.
The "Reform Resistance," not so much.
The "Reform Resistance," not so much.
GIATTINO CO-CHAIR TRASHES RAVI ON FACEBOOK
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| Oye vey |
Keep those angel wings clean!
I urge you to check out the vacuous indignation of Giattino Co-Chair Fisher's anti-Bhalla Facebook diatribe. It's full of insipid jewels like this:
"Ravi has a demonstrated history of trading his current office for higher roles, and wanting to ascend as quickly as possible."
Um, Bhalla is the only mayoral candidate who will complete his full 4-year Council term. It's the 6th Ward Councilwoman (Giattino) who is "trading up" her unfinished term for a "higher role" (mayor), as "quickly as possible" (she can't wait until 2021.)
"Ravi is an aspiring career politician and there is nothing wrong with that..., he is using Hoboken as a stepping stone at a time we need a Hoboken focused mayor."
Thank you Tiffanie, for your vapid opinion, unsupported by anything. Opinion, to be distinguished from fact. Here are facts which lead me to believe that Jen Giattino is "an aspiring career politician":
(1) she was a Romney delegate to the 2012 National Republican Convention, and
(2) she was a candidate to be a Kasich delegate to the 2016 National Republican Convention, and
(3) she arranged for Christie's Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to come to Hoboken to swear her into office in 2011
The above are Giatinno political resume-stuffers for a rising star in NJ Republican Party ranks. Otherwise known as "higher political ambition."
"But what about fixing potholes? Running a budget? Fixing Washington Street? Getting developers to make investments in Hoboken? I have never seen him actively participate in any of these, all of which are really where we need focus and commitment".
Of all Giattino campaign attacks on Bhalla, this one is the most obnoxious of all. Sure, right. Only Jen has performed constituent services, only Jen has the magic formula to fill a pothole. Talk about patent dishonesty; Tiffanie claims she "has never seen [Ravi] actively participate in any [constituent services]." Read on.
(1) Before Tiffanie was a Councilperson, Ravi and Mayor the mayor were invited to the Tea Building; Residents were very upset over pedestrian safety and wanted stop signs at 15th and Garden, Bloomfield and Hudson Streets. Tiffanie spoke at the meeting. Ravi listened to the concerns of the residents, and saw that a warrant analysis (required by law) was done for those 3 locations (Warrant analysis is a study of pedestrian counts, car counts, accident counts). The location at 15th and Bloomfield met the threshold of the warrant analysis, so because of Ravi, a new stop sign was provided there.
Where was Jen?
(2) Before Tiffanie was a Councilperson, all throughout the 'hoopla' over the location of the H-5 pump, Ravi met with concerned Maxwell Place residents, heard out resident concerns, brought their concerns back to City Hall. He continued to be a critical liaison between Maxwell Place residents and City hall throughout the H-5 pump location process.
Where was Jen?
(3) Ravi is co-chair of the Community Advisory Group of Rebuild by Design. He has held about 40 small meetings with residents. Again, Ravi carried back the concerns of Hoboken residents to City Hall, and he was crucial in developing a consensus plan for Rebuild-by Design; a compromise solution of running the 'wall' through an alley way between 14 and 15 streets and keeping it off the waterfront. Residents who looked for leadership from Tiffanie or Jen on this didn't get it.
Jen has never taken a public position to advocate for Rebuild by Design.
(4) A distraught tenant who was getting kicked out of her Applied building came to Ravi for help . Ravi used his previous experience as a tenant advocate lawyer to help her, pro bono. The Tenant resides in the 2nd Ward.
Tiffanie did nothing to help this 2nd Ward Applied tenant stay in her home: Ravi did.
Let me know if you want more examples of the work Bhalla has done to listen to and help Hoboken residents.
In the meantime, it is depressing that a Reform campaign is so cravenly ambitious they would turn away from the clean, positive campaigns of the Zimmer era.
UPDATE- Oct. 17, 2017
Folks, please find below a letter of thanks to Councilman Bhalla and every other individual involved in bringing stop signs to the intersection of 15th and Bloomfield.
The letter details the process, starting in beginning:"Spring of 2014" when Tea Building residents lobbied the Planning Board for the stop signs.
The author of the letter notes that "Councilman and then HPB Commissioner Ravi Bhalla, committed that he would ensure follow up from the City and a path to address resident concerns" and "Councilman Bhalla, via the City Council Parking and Traffic subcommittee and with the support from fellow subcommittee members 5th Ward Councilman Cunningham and 3rd Ward Councilman Russo, secured the commitment from Director John Morgan to include 15th Street in a warrant study to determine what improved traffic measures should be implemented. The results of the study showed that the intersection of 15th and Bloomfield streets warranted three-way stop signs."
What a difference an election (2 years later) makes.
UPDATE- Oct. 17, 2017
Folks, please find below a letter of thanks to Councilman Bhalla and every other individual involved in bringing stop signs to the intersection of 15th and Bloomfield.
The letter details the process, starting in beginning:"Spring of 2014" when Tea Building residents lobbied the Planning Board for the stop signs.
The author of the letter notes that "Councilman and then HPB Commissioner Ravi Bhalla, committed that he would ensure follow up from the City and a path to address resident concerns" and "Councilman Bhalla, via the City Council Parking and Traffic subcommittee and with the support from fellow subcommittee members 5th Ward Councilman Cunningham and 3rd Ward Councilman Russo, secured the commitment from Director John Morgan to include 15th Street in a warrant study to determine what improved traffic measures should be implemented. The results of the study showed that the intersection of 15th and Bloomfield streets warranted three-way stop signs."
What a difference an election (2 years later) makes.
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| read it at The Hoboken Reporter |
Homerun GA. Facts are so inconvenient. The line of people waiting for this election to be over so that we can address the mess that is Tiffanie Fisher is long. What a disgrace. She thinks she can hold the position of Dem Party Chair and also support a Republican for Mayor. How completely arrogant. I have come to the conclusion that only a person who thinks they have an unbelievable amount of privilege can pull the shenanigans she is pulling.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing facts Nancy and breaking down how ridiculous the Giattino campaign has become. What a joke. No class, no grace, no real policy positions. They just want power not because they have some real competing, principled idea to espouse, just because Jen wants to be Mayor. Ridiculous.
Hey, Tiff! Yes, Ravi's a great guy and a dedicated public servant. It's still not too late for you to start acting like a Real Democrat and switch your support to him.
DeleteIs she going to address the behavior or just not support it?
ReplyDeleteJen really is coming across pretty slimy as are her supporters. It has been the one consistent theme in their campaign since day one.
ReplyDeleteAt least DeFusco is slimy upfront! "Jen" and "Tiff" are such huge hypocrites.
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ReplyDeletewow, when Elysian Parents Go Wild......I ran into Mr. Barnes on Twitter and he was so lame, but this is beyond the beyond..... no wonder he killed his Twitter account..
ReplyDeleteHe's a piece of crap. But it's a very dark insight into Jen's lack of leadership.
DeleteReaching out to the employer of an opposing candidate's SO is lousy. Reaching out the the employer of an opposing candidate's gay SO is past lousy. It plants the tried-and-true seed that he or she comes with more baggage than, say, a straight employee. Doesn't matter if the word "gay" never makes it's way into the dialog. That's not how dog whistles work.
For Jen to say "talk to him yourself"... that frankly is the worst I've heard from her in the campaign. Most of the garbage has come from surrogates. But that bit of shirking, deflecting, not-my-problem bullshit - that's all hers.
Regarding Ravi's alleged higher ambitions, and Jen's supposed lack of ambition...
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's a problem at all that Ravi wants to do as much as he can to serve his community and help people. If he's a great mayor and then one day gets elected to a higher position, that would be wonderful. But realistically, I don't see any path in the near future for him to do that. The state legislative delegation isn't changing anytime soon barring a major health issue or indictment. Albio Sires isn't going anywhere anytime soon barring a surprise. Phil Murphy will be the candidate for governor in four years. We might have up to two US Senate seats opening up soon, for very different reasons, but Ravi won't have been in office long enough to go for one of those, and the statewide competition among Dems for those seats, if they're open, will be intense. Putting it all together, the odds of Ravi moving up anytime in the next four years seems close to zero, and even in the next eight, it seems almost as close to zero. He's not going anywhere even if he wants to.
So how about Jen's supposed lack of ambition? As pointed out already, if she's elected mayor she's not finishing her current term. She's attended two Republican national conventions, indicating that she does care about her party's views on national issues- she isn't "all about Hoboken". She's also retained her party registration, rather than switching to independent or D, despite the fact that it weighs her down like an anvil in overwhelmingly Democratic Hoboken and Hudson County. I think this all points to the possibility that if a Mayor Giattino were ever asked to run for higher office outside Hoboken, she'd be very tempted to do it.
And unlike Ravi, I can see a semi-plausible path for her to move up. Suppose Menendez is acquitted. At least so far, statewide Dems have been standing behind him. Maybe it was just until the trial completed, but maybe they'll stick with him? If the County orgs all get behind him, and any primary competition is divided, he could win renomination based on the county lines and having more money, even with less than 50% of the vote. If Republicans see this coming, they'll want to recruit a good candidate to take advantage- someone who can put forward a good image, and can say that she works well with Democrats and has a proven history of winning Democratic votes. A relative moderate. Jen would actually not be a terrible choice. And against Menendez, she's have a chance of winning.
Or, Murphy is elected. We have a recession in the next couple years, and he becomes unpopular. Republicans sense a chance to win the governor's office back. Maybe they recruit Jen to run for governor. Or, more likely, the Republican candidate for governor chooses her to be his LG. Guadagno was Monmouth County sheriff before Christie plucked her out of obscurity.
Since I'm a Democrat, while I'd be happy to have Ravi move up someday (after doing a great job as Hoboken Mayor), if Jen ever moves up, it would be terrible. I don't want to help any Republicans advance up the ladder. And she must be a real Republican to have stuck with the party so long and in Hoboken.
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ReplyDeleteThere are many better states in which to live and be registered as a republican. She should consider making one of them her residence.
DeleteI don't blame Jen for what one of her crazies did to Mike's partner without her knowledge. However her telling Mike's partner that she won't talk to her crazy follower and that it's his problem to solve is terrible and really an astonishing lack of ethics and leadership.
ReplyDeleteJen this was a layup, how could you blow it.