The last person who forwarded the email, a 5th Ward Reform stalwart wrote this:
Don’t know if you’ve seen this, but thought you’d enjoy it. Why can’t the three stooges stop whining and just crawl back into their holes?
I don't know. Why?
GA forwarded the letter to a politico, a veteran of many campaigns- winning and losing- who works all over U.S.; I asked for his thoughts. He replied:
"I’ve never seen a post election email that bitter or divisive. Losing an election is always painful, but it comes with the territory. For anyone to do anything other than congratulate their opponent, is disheartening and tasteless, especially if that individual is already an elected official. This is the time communities needs to unite, yet Tiffanie uses her position as Chair of the Democratic Party in Hoboken to defend herself and make subtle racist comments regarding Sikh contributions. If Tiffanie truly believes herself to be a “Bernie Sanders Democrat” then it’s time for her to move on from the election, apologize, and congratulate Ravi".
Even Mike DeFusco (!) of all people, issued a civil statement:
I would like to congratulate Mayor-elect Ravi Bhalla on the historic nature of his victory. As I return to the City Council, I am hopeful that we can work together for the best interests of our city and I’ve already expressed a firm desire to advocate for all of the issues that we announced during the campaign. I am especially proud of the fact that my running mate Vanessa Falco will be joining me on the City Council in January to continue to fight for a better future for our city. Vanessa worked incredibly hard and her triumph as the first black person ever elected to the City Council is further proof that Hoboken wants new ideas.
I have never seen such ungracious, sore losers in my life.
Not all of you, but you know who you are. The ones that are incapable of taking any responsibility for your loss. The ones who threw some pretty big stones at Bhalla, including a whisper campaign that he was "not-electable," but could not handle return fire.
Trust me, it could have been a lot worse. The "Republican" issue was low hanging fruit, fair game, and frankly no one bothered Karen Nason because she OWNED her party affiliation from the beginning.
When Jen's peeps are ready to listen, instead of feeling 'cheated' they may realize they lost not because of mailers or money, but because of hard, hard work and a focused, professional campaign. A GOTV effort that matched, possibly surpased, any race Dawn Zimmer ever ran.
So before anyone starts complaining about Ravi's money as the reason he won-- take a look of what Dawn Zimmer ran on in 2009. Recall that Zimmer won the machines, then lost by 131 absentee ballots.
Ravi ran a similar campaign, with a professional campaign manager and 100% volunteer workers.
The Giattino campaign had almost 2X the amount of money that Zimmer ran with in 2009- so when are any of them going to take responsibility for their loss and stop blaming their opposition?
The unprofessionalism in Fisher's letter, her lack of introspection, her failure to take any responsibility for losing, her lack of civility portends a very difficult two more years working effectively as a Councilperson with the Bhalla administration.
Just what Hoboken does NOT need.
Oh My G-D! I cannot believe the depths of the self-pity!!! The best thing that "Jen" can do if she wants to preserve her reputation is to get the Hell away from that maniac, "Tiff". What a freakin' nut case!!!
ReplyDelete"Congratulating their victory would mean condoning their actions which I can’t." is unacceptable under any circumstances.
ReplyDeleteHere's what John Kerry had to say in 2004:
"Earlier today, I spoke to President Bush and I offered him and Laura our congratulations on their victory. We had a good conversation. And we talked about the danger of division in our country and the need, the desperate need, for unity for finding the common ground, coming together. Today I hope that we can begin the healing."
Now, say what you will about Kerry (weak and clunky candidate, probably would not have made a very good president), but the man had his military service attacked by an anonymously funded television blitz to which Bush denied any connection.
Jen experienced no such thing. She was directly (and rightly) called out for playing coy about where she stood and trying to be all things to all people.
I don't care if there was a daily mailer saying "You're Ugly and Your Mother Dresses You Funny," having your campaign manager declare they're denying congratulations to the winner for their victory is downright amateurish and simply adds to the evidence that Jen and her team are not ready for prime time.
Ah yes. Who can forget the purple heart bandaids worn by delegates at the 2004 Republican National Convention. And the Swift Boat attacks on Kerry. These thumb sucking sore losers don't belong in politics if they cannot handle it.
Deletei've said my piece(s) about "tiff", and amazingly she continues to go above and beyond (and on, and on, and on, and on...) in proving my point. she's clearly in love with the sound of her own voice.
ReplyDeleteher complaints about attacks are insane. it's like a boxer complaining about getting punched in the face. you decided to be a friggin' boxer, what do you expect? don't wanna get punched in the face? then don't be a friggin' boxer!!
Btw Tiff, long before Mayor Zimmer plucked you from obscurity to run for a low-hanging-fruit council seat, people worked long and hard to get her into office to clean up a city hall that had been festering with rank corruption since as far back as anyone can remember. She has delivered on that promise many times older and upheld an ethical and professional standard that should be held up as a standard for all to aspire to emulate. When you sat in front of the cameras at that September council meeting and called Mayor Zimmer, to her face, a liar and a crook, you insulted not only her, but every one of us who worked all those years to get someone like her elected.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you sincerely believed the things you said to and about Mayor Zimmer regarding the Suez contract, in which case you are a complete idiot unfit for the office you hold. More likely, however, you were falsely accusing her of dishonesty, unethical behavior and ineptitude, all knowingly and calculatedly performed as a political stunt designed to give Jen traction. So please, take your amazingly amateurish sob story and blow your nose on it. Boo fucking hoo.
As with everything else coming from your campaign, your crocodile tears are disinJenuous.
I am a little embarrassed how much I am enjoying these post mortems. Keep em coming.
ReplyDeleteThis all seems so familiar. I remember another cast of characters who every time you thought they couldn't sink any lower, they prove you wrong. Seems like Jen, Tiff & the gang want to repeat their performance. It will be a very long 2 years with these bitter sourpusses on the CC.
ReplyDeleteI apologize for my outburst (see above)! I just cannot believe that "Tiff" has so little insight and is so unapologetic for her ridiculous statements. I am naturally an optimist, so I live in hope that Ravi will have a rational Council to work with. If, however, "Jen" and Peter Cunningham harbor the same feelings about the election that "Tiff" does, we will have a very large problem on our hands. They will end up enabling the other shit-stirrers to run rampant and nothing will get done, like in the good old days when Mason, Castellano, Russo and Occhipinti were baying at the moon!
ReplyDeleteWe're doing a bit of post-election house cleaning. We have had to fire several members of our clerical staff for some egregious typos that have been brought to our attention since we sent our resumes to Unelec- or rather, Balto's (sp?) transition team.
ReplyDelete"Team GiaFusco"? What the heck is that? It was supposed to say "Team Gee It's Fun Tho!" reflecting our light-hearted philosophy that we're all winners when we try our best!
"Unelectable"? That was supposed to say "Undelectable," a reference to the strident and some say controversial position we have staked out against cannibalism. Politically risky? Yes! Tough stands on The Big Issues? That us, baby! If it costs us votes, we can live with that. It's the right thing to do!
We're also changing the name of our corporate website from MSV to MSVA, for Mile Square Victims Association. We're just really enjoying the whole bunker mentality thing. Let's face it, when you lose by 50% you can either question the sanity of running in the first place or lash out at everyone else. Am i right or am I right?
Obviously you want to go with option B unless you're interested in months of masochistic soul-searching. Thank you, no!
Well, then yer gonna need an impenetrable bunker where no contrary opinions and analysis can just come waltzing in and cause... inadvertent and paralyzing self-examination!
In which case welcome to MSVA! It's always sunny and nothing is ever your fault! You was robbed! You were cheated! Your essay/art project/science project/pie contest entry was obviously the best one. Why can't they see it?? You know what they sound like? Bunkerphobes! Is that what this is all about -- BUNKERPHOBIA?? Hmmm, I don't hear anyone denying it... Of course, I'm in a bunker so if anyone is denying it, how the hell would I know? But that's not the point. The point is -- I'm still right! I'm always right! I'm right again! God, I love this place!
In closing, congratulations once again to Mayor-elect Unelec- Man, it's hard to stop doing that.
In closing, congratulations once again to your Mayor-elect and our future employer (please, please, please!) Mayor-elect Banjo (sp?).
LOL, team GIFT! i feared you'd lose your edge after the election, or at least run out of material. but this crew is clearly the gift that keeps on giving.
Deletespeaking of which, wouldn't surprise me if "tiff" turns into another hillary: in six months, she'll be on a "what happened" book tour with her 2017 campaign autopsy and trying to explain how they were cheated out of...i don't know, something or other, while reform gets on with life and even team jen probably tries to maintain their distance.
As a long time lurker on this site I’m commenting here for the first time. I feel Tiffanie’s letter is insulting to voters like myself in implying that had I only known that Jen composts and is anti-discrimination (and is a kind person!) that I would naturally support her over the other Reform candidate who does not compost and gets support from an ethnic community. Really?
ReplyDeleteI consider myself fairly typical of a conscientious voter who at the same time, in 12 years of living in Hoboken, is not overly involved in Hoboken politics. I don’t know any of these people and they wouldn’t recognize me, though I might look vaguely familiar to my councilman. I look to several sources for information, with political mailers being close to the bottom of my list as I don’t have time to read them and they should all be taken with a grain of salt, anyway.
So here’s my thought process on why I ultimately decided to vote for Ravi:
1) I’ve been impressed with Dawn Zimmer’s accomplishments and so I respect her endorsement of Ravi to continue her agenda which I support. I was personally and financially impacted by Sandy flooding, and my decision to remain in Hoboken is in part due to wanting to see Rebuild by Design completed.
2) I’ve met Ravi a couple of times and had the chance to converse and ask him questions and I liked what I heard. I support his platform.
3) I do not have a favorable impression of Romano.
4) Met DeFusco briefly once and wasn’t impressed, and upon reading his record was not impressed by that either.
5) I initially looked to find reasons to support Jen as another Reform candidate, particularly since my councilman came out in support of her. I was undecided for some time.
Ultimately I rejected voting for Jen as I grew suspicious of her motives and agenda and of those around her, specifically because of the following:
1) The attack on Dawn Zimmer over the Suez contract. (See item #1 above — “impressed with Dawn Zimmer’s accomplishments”.) The idea that Dawn was all of a sudden some ethically-challenged naive idiot didn’t make sense and smacked of coming from political expediency in favor of whatever kind of cabal was being formed by the Jen team, not as a legitimate issue raised for the good of the city. Grandstanding.
2) Jen’s coyness in discussing her national party affiliation and not addressing it forthrightly, instead allowing little tidbits to leak out through surrogates (“She didn’t vote for Tump”). That she hadn’t made up her mind about who she was voting for governor is not believable in light of the Kim Guadagno connection, attendance at Republican national conventions, being a delegate for John Kasich (who while being much more sane than Trump is still a right wing Tea Party Republican), all of which suggests someone who is active in her party. It’s baffling to me why the Chair of the Hoboken Democratic Committee would contribute to the suggestion that Jen is some sort of quasi-liberal independent when she’s clearly an active Republican.
3) The unhinged support for Jen from another Hoboken blog along with vitriolic anti-Ravi diatribes definitely put me off, so yes that was another factor in deciding not to vote for her.
And this letter from Tiffanie? It reeks of entitlement and self-importance on her part and on the part of Jen Giattino. Again, I’m not active in Hoboken politics, just trying to be a conscientious voter, but where I had little knowledge and a neutral opinion on both before this election, I’m now pretty solid in my dislike and distrust of them. Just saying. And I’ll be paying more attention to my councilman Cunningham now.
Thanks, greengarnet. That was quite a thoughtful mouthful! You reminded me of how popular Mayor Zimmer is. The Zimmer bashers, including your (and my) Councilman, Peter Cunningham, should be ashamed of themselves. Their complaints are made up out of whole cloth and completely contrived to camouflage entirely petty grievances. No wonder that the Mayor decided to pack it in.
Deletethanks for commenting, greengarnet. i know a number of voters old and new who went through a very similar process: in a nutshell, they like and trust mayor zimmer and recognize/appreciate the good job she's done, and were shocked by team jen's attacks of corruption and incompetence. it was a disconnect and total political miscalculation. they knew it wasn't true, and they were turned off to jen as a result.
DeleteThank you very much, greengarnet. I really value your input.
DeleteAs a partisan surrounded by partisans (on all sides) its not often someone like yourself weighs in here so thoughtfully on how you arrived at your own conclusions. Would love to hear from you again!
I have been trying to make sense of the shitshow produced by Tiff since the election. First, why the hell is she sending out a post election "campaign statement" on behalf of Jen? Is Jen a freaking deaf mute? Does Jen have the capacity to formulate a thought and write it down? The fact that Jen completely abdicated her campaign to Tiff and the jackass posing as a horse, speaks volumes about her lack of leadership skills.
ReplyDeleteOn top of the total abidcation of her campaign, Jen allowed Tiff to send out one of the vilest post campaign screeds ever from a losing candidate. Who would have thought that Defusco would show Jen and Tiff what graciousness means, and recognize the historical nature of Ravi's win, as well as Falco's election to the City council.
Put your fucking petty overblown self important crazy ass ego aside and try and have some objectivity about your irrelevance at this point. A, you were not the candidate, Tiff, and B, you ran a miserable and feckless campaign and surged to 4th fucking place. BTW, did any of your council candidates get elected? You ran the equivalent of a shut out in every game of the World Series.
Any rational person I know would be embarrassed at what a complete cluster fuck that they had just engineered and would be trying to avoid the spotlight, much less take a huge proverbial shit in the middle of Washington Street. It is amazing to me that Tiff and Jen are so fucking clueless and tone deaf.
And please, if I hear another reference to a "hit job" and the "horrrible attacks" against "such a great public servant like Jen" I am goiing to vomit buckets of oats up and down Washignton Street. It is as if repetition of such blatant canards will somehow make the those delusional fools believe their town craptastic rhetoric, and somehow convince anyone with a modicum of common sense to buy into their garbage.
And Tiff saying she "couldnt stop" the despicable whispers about Ravi being "unelectable" and not "good with numbers" and "not being executive material" is a total crock of shit. Those were the effing TALKING POINTS of that scurrilous campaign from the get go. Those nasty and facist dog whistles were the intial and continuing underpinning of the campaign. As I have said before, too many people heard from too many close acolytes of Jen and Tiff those whispered disgusting statements.
On top of that, when in the hell did the Mayor, and Ravi, become evil corrupt public servants? On what planet, in whose world? Ceratinly not the world of people that I know in Hoboken who remotely call themselves reform.
I have even heard Old Guard types snicker at the absurdity of those claims. Even though the Mayor has been their political enemy, none of the Old Guard ever considered the Mayor "corrupt". Why that fringe alleged reform coterie tried to sell that sad pathetic story is beyond me.
If Tiff is as bitter a troglodyte as her screed indicates, then she needs to stay home and off the council dais until she has composed herself and is able to conduct herself in a reasonable manner and attend to the business of the city. As for her being the head of Hoboken Dems, she is toast. She does not represent me and I am embarrassed that she has that position. Her conduct in the election was unforgivable and I can't imagine that her head is not going to roll, and soon.
That other site is obsessed with you, GA. It is really disturbing and unhealthy at this point and an intervention is in order.
"The jackass posing as a horse" has referred repeatedly to an "enemies list" rumored to be circulating at the Bhalla victory party.
DeleteThe last time serious claims of an alleged enemies list were made after an election, it was by Lane and Kim, about the Zimmer team. I'll say now what I said then -- enemies lists are the fantasies of those who wish to matter enough to be on one.
There is of course no list, but the fact that Roman wishes for such attention -- along with his parallel trajectory to his onetime counterlitigants -- should be lost on no one.
Well said, QOTV. There apparently are some people who think that Bhalla supporters were unfair to point out Jen's affiliation with the Republican party. I am one such supporter and I will never apologize for promoting Ravi over Jen based, in part, upon political party affiliation. I have always believed that Jen had no right to throw her hat in the ring for the city-wide position of Mayor when her strong suit appears to be limited to performing Sixth Ward constituent services. She never articulated a vision for all of Hoboken's future and her campaign co-chairs Tiffanie Fisher and Peter Cunningham never helped her do so. So, basically, I don't get what all of the post-election bitterness and anger is about. Jen should not have run for Mayor and Tiffanie Fisher and Peter Cunningham should never have made such asses of themselves over Jen and her stupid campaign.
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at what Republicans are actively doing or promoting, it is entirely fair to point out her party affiliation. Come one, eliminating the SALT deduction? That is something her party is trying to do - and it means a tax increase for every homeowner in town. And go look at the gubernatorial candidate who thankfully lost, she wanted to change the funding formula for Hoboken's schools and that is the "nicest" bad thing I can point out about her. So entirely fair to point out her affiliation and if she disagrees w/ her party's views or with Trump, she did a crap job getting the message out. Heck, she could have done what Peter did and switch parties if she really disagreed with Republicans and didn't want her affiliation to count against her.
DeleteOf course, she barely did anything to sell herself so I'd argue she did a crap job campaigning and like you, I thought she gave us no reason to support her. All she and her surrogates did was wage a negative campaign against the mayor and Ravi and it was this negativity that turned me off to her. As for "constituent services", I think that is way oversold. 99% of that just involves making a phone call the constituent is perfectly capable of making on their own.