UPDATE: "Hoboken Democrats at War"

UPDATE:  According to an(other) email sent yesterday, an Honorary Chairman of the Hoboken Democratic Committee begs to differ with Chairwoman Tiff-er! 

Yes!  We have a challenge to the veracity of the Chairwoman's email allegations! Like sands through the hourglass, these are the Days of Our Lives.   

From: Vijay Chaudhuri
To: GrafixAvenger666@gmail.com
Sent: Wed, Mar 14, 2018 3:23 pm

GA - I read with bewildered amusement Tiffanie Fisher's childish email she sent to the Democratic Committee.  

Just so you know, while I'm not surprised, she lied in her email saying she "included honorary committee members and active Hoboken Democratic elected officials" - she didn't include me, as an honorary chair, which has happened in her communication to the committee on more than one occasion. Also, I wanted to point out, I was not invited to the Stack meeting either because Mayor Bhalla wanted to keep it to just voting members, which is his right, and Tiffanie is not an elected committee representative.  

______________

Hoboken has become Peyton Place without the sex.

EPISODE 1

Central to the latest plot twist is the split in Reform that occurred in our mayoral election. That was the beginning; instead of post-election healing, the Council's (2) losing factions (Reform, Dark Side) united against the winning faction, shut them out of the Council reorganization,  purged Zimmer-Bhalla loyalists from Hoboken's municipal boards, and replaced them with their own  loyalists. Additionally, the losers grabbed all of the primo subcommittee assignments, and parked Doyle on a turkey farm (after booting him off the Planning Board).

Not a great start for governing, but excellent theater! And just like old milk, the plot thickened. 

EPISODE 5 (I skipped a bunch)

The facade of Council cooperation cracked wide open when the Mayor announced his "of counsel" role at a south jersey law firm. The council losers delivered 26 questions at a public meeting in OK Corral fashion; the mayor answered them and provided a copy of his contract. Unsatisfied still, a drumbeat of angry press releases followed, which garnered some local media coverage.  

And... emerging front and center to bash the mayor publicly was 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.   

EPISODE 8:   

Okay, I skipped more episodes. But today's news is big! How big?

We've got a war going, people. A Hoboken Democratic War.  No bloodshed, just email.

As featured in the  New Jersey Globe:

click article to read

Holy Fightin' Dems!

In brief, open warfare has broken out between Hoboken's Democratic Mayor and the Chair of the Hoboken Democratic Committee (HDC) in an email exchange...  and in a third email, the HDC Executive Committee piles on (the Chair)!  You following this?

Here you go, people. All (3) emails in full:

____________________

EMAIL #1 

From: Ravi Bhalla
Date: March 12, 2018 at 7:53:47 AM CST
To:  
Cc: Ravi Bhalla
Subject:IMPORTANT: INVITATION TO MEETING WITH SENATOR BRIAN STACK - MONDAY, MARCH 19th, 7 pm

Dear Hoboken Democratic Committee Member,

I write to invite you to a meeting for voting members of the Hoboken Democratic Committee this coming Monday, March 19th at 7 pm at Carpe Diem, 2nd Floor, 1404 Grand Street.  Our special guest at this meeting will be State Senator for the 33rd Legislative District & Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack.  

The purpose of this meeting is to affirm our support for Senator Stack as the next Chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) at the HCDO reorganization meeting to which you are invited on June 12, 2018, and to discuss recent developments in the Democratic organization at the County level.

Your vote counts!  It is critically important that you join us on March 19th and that we, as a local Democratic Party, affirm our support of Senator Stack at the County Reorganization meeting on June 12, 2018.   I also want to remind everyone on this email chain how much time and resources Senator Stack placed into ensuring a victorious election cycle for your Committeeperson campaigns in June of 2017, including regular mailers endorsing your candidacies and production of hand cards to support your GOTV efforts.  It's critically important for us not to forget this support, and offer our assistance to Senator Stack at this critical juncture of the County's future leadership.

At the meeting this coming Monday, both Senator Stack and I will offer remarks regarding both the County Reorganization meeting as well as our recent commitment to seek new leadership for the 2019 election of our next County Executive.  As you are all well aware, Hoboken contributes far more than we receive back from the County.  I am requesting your attendance this coming Monday to also explain why I am joining Senator Stack, along with Jersey City Mayor Fulop, West New York Mayor Roque and many other officials in seeking a new direction and progressive leadership at the County level.

Please RSVP directly to me at mayorbhalla@gmail.com or call me at 201-647-6090 to confirm your attendance at this meeting.  If you cannot attend, please contact me directly to pledge your support for this effort as I will follow up with next steps to secure Hoboken's seat at the County table.

Finally, please be advised that this is a private meeting by invitation only.  Invitations are not transferable and anyone who is not invited will not be permitted entry.

Thank you and I hope to see you soon!

Best,

Ravi

_________________

EMAIL #2

From: Tiffanie Fisher  

Date: Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 12:27 PM

Subject: Fwd: FW: IMPORTANT: INVITATION TO MEETING WITH SENATOR BRIAN STACK - MONDAY, MARCH 19th, 7 pm

To: Tiffanie Fisher  

Dear Committee Members –

Thank you to the many of you who forwarded me this email yesterday with questions about the event and why this did not come from me.  I was surprised when it was first forwarded to me.  It took me a full day to figure out how to respond so that you are best informed – not only of surrounding political events, but the embedded politics behind this invitation.  And how much emotion to include in my response.  So here is my best attempt.

For those unaware, this year in June, the Hudson County Democratic Committee (“HCDO” or “HudCo”) will elect a new Chairperson.  As you may or may not fully appreciate, you are voting members of the HCDO so you will be invited to vote in electing the new Chair.  The Chair leads Committee and County party activities, but also makes critical election decisions like which candidates get “the line” / Column A.  Currently, former Assemblyman and Speaker Vince Prieto is serving as Chair of the HCDO.  Speaker Prieto recently vacated his Assembly seat and was appointed to lead the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority Meadowlands Commission.  Our LD-33 State Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack is running for election to replace him as Chair.  It has not yet been determined if someone will run against him. 

Mayor Bhalla’s meeting Monday night is not an official meeting of the Hoboken Democratic Committee and no “vote” will be taken at the meeting.  The meeting is for Mayor Bhalla to introduce you to and potentially deliver your support for Senator Stack in his quest to be elected in June as Chairman.  This is purely a politically driven meeting for Mayor Bhalla to try to show that he can deliver the votes of the Hoboken Democratic Committee to Senator Stack.  

However, Mayor Bhalla did not invite the entire Hoboken Democratic Committee, only those who were on “the line” / Column E from last summer’s election.  And select media.  I, our committee Chair, was not invited either.  Once I became aware yesterday of the meeting, I immediately reached out to Mayor Bhalla and offered to him “Let me know if you want me to forward this to the other 17 who are no on your list”.  But apparently those of you who were not invited aren’t good enough Democrats as via email he replied to me “No thanks regarding the 17 people”.  His disdain continued in the same email towards me “This is a meeting that Senator Stack and I are hosting....It is by invitation only.  If we require your assistance or attendance, we’ll let you know.”  

I wish I could say that I am surprised that Mayor Bhalla decided to be so disrespectful to the entire committee and me by excluding 17 of our fellow committee members and myself from meeting with Senator Stack.  But I am not.  Nor am I ok with it.   Notwithstanding what he tries to brand himself as, actions speaks much louder than words and Mayor Bhalla’s history of being divisive and selectively excluding people speaks for itself.  I could be wrong, but I imagine that this is not the will of Senator Stack, especially in the face of his upcoming election.  I spoke with him briefly yesterday about the HCDO and we will be speaking again later this week where I will raise this with him and that Mayor Bhalla has let his own local politics get in the way of what could have been a unifying event.  

I have included on this note, those who were not originally invited.  I have also included honorary committee members and active Hoboken Democratic elected officials as it is standard protocol and the right thing to do. 

As Mayor Bhalla mentions below in his email below, I witnessed the support Senator Stack gave for Column E candidates in the election last summer.  Maybe that is why Mayor Bhalla has only invited Column E winners to this meeting.  But I do know that Senator Stack has historically supported many of the other 17 elected committee members and that he has been a strong advocate for Hoboken and its residents as a whole as well.  I am putting words in his mouth, but I am 100% certain Senator Stack would want to include all who would want to come. 

Please note, since you elected me Chair, and as I have said numerous times before, I have felt strongly that we have an opportunity to cross Hoboken's own political lines with this committee and come together, connected by common progressive values, and unite as Democrats.  I just wish that Mayor Bhalla felt the same and valued inclusion and unity instead of exclusion and division.  And that he was not still so eager to continue with historical divides within our community.  There is so much more we will be able to do together with a unified Democratic voice.  

I will not be in attendance Monday night.  There will be ample time to meet Senator Stack prior to June’s election when all committee members are invited.  I hope you will consider this in your plans.  Please let me know if you have any further questions or want to discuss this. 

Tiffanie

Tiffanie Fisher

​​Hoboken Democratic Party, Chair​

​​Hoboken 2nd Ward City Councilwoman

Engage. Inform. Advocate.

"More Voices are Better"

_________________

EMAIL #3

From: Phil Cohen  

Date: March 13, 2018 at 10:51:03 PM EDT

To:  

Subject: Democratic Committee Executive Committee Members’ Response to eMail Exchange Regarding Meeting With Senator Brian Stack on March 19th 

Dear Democratic Committee Members, 

As members of the Executive Committee of the Hoboken Democratic Committee, we would like to set the record straight with regard to the most recent email exchange about the upcoming 3/19 Meeting.  Many of us were motivated to run for Committee seats by the results of the 2016 presidential election.  At the time of our election in June, we were energized to work to advance progressive, Democratic ideals, and to fight for Democratic candidates.

Since June 2017, however, our Chair, Tiffanie Fisher, has not called a single official meeting of the Committee despite our regular requests.  In fact, the only meeting of the Committee, which was characterized by Tiffanie as “unofficial,” was held because we, the other members of the Executive Committee, and Mayor Bhalla requested it.

While we, as members of the Executive Committee, have been trying to organize, we are severely limited in our ability to advance the goals of the Committee.  Indeed, Tiffanie’s obstructionism runs much deeper than her refusal to call Committee meetings.  For example, (1) Tiffanie is unresponsive to inquiries, requests, and offers of help from Executive Board members; (2) Tiffanie has refused to share even the contact information for all Committee members; (3) Tiffanie has refused to initiate the process for making necessary changes to the by-laws, despite requests from Executive Members and Committee Members; and (4) Tiffanie has been unhelpful, and frequently uncooperative, with Executive Board members who have tried to do the work of the Committee. 

In short, the reason this Committee has been dormant and ineffectual is, simply, because of Tiffanie Fisher.

Now, to add to Tiffanie’s inaction, she is using her position as Chair of the Democratic Committee to attack the Mayor, a Democrat.  To clarify, every single voting member of this Committee was invited by Mayor Bhalla or would have been within two days of his recent email. We too noticed that some members were missing from the email invitation and reached out to ask the Mayor's office about it. They assured us that the members who did not receive an email (because Tiffanie has refused to share the email addresses of Committee people) received a phone call invitation or would have received such a phone call by the end of today (and all now have been called).  Tiffanie could have made similar inquiries before publicly maligning the Mayor, yet her first instinct was to quickly send out an attack email under our official logo and as Democratic Chair.  Tiffanie also opined as to Senator Stack’s involvement; Mayor Bhalla called the March 19th meeting, in the manner he did so, at Senator Stack’s request. The intention was to invite all members of the Committee who could participate in the vote to determine the next County Democratic Chair; as Tiffanie is not an elected member of the Committee, but an ex officio officer, she cannot vote in that election.

We, as members of the Executive Committee, were not consulted on Tiffanie's email sent earlier today. Tiffanie did not ask for our thoughts or opinions on how best to handle this situation. This most recent email was sent out as though it was an official communication from the leadership of the Executive Committee, which we, as a majority of the Executive Committee, can assure you it was not.

If, as a Committee, we are going to accomplish anything, we need to understand the sources of dysfunction that have stymied our ability operate.  To date, we have all tried to work collaboratively with Tiffanie.  We have not issued any statements because we had hoped Tiffanie would eventually decide to work with all of us, including Mayor Bhalla.  That, unfortunately, is no longer a realistic option. 

It is time for us to get to work championing the values we all ran to advance.

We welcome your thoughts and questions. 

Sincerely,

Phil Cohen, First Vice Chair

Nora DeBenedetto, Second Vice Chair

Mitch Fagen, Third Vice Chair

Paul Kuehn, Treasurer

Rachel Hodes, Recording Secretary

LaTrenda Ross, Corresponding Secretary

______________

OUCH! 

EPISODE 8 of As The Mile Square Turns is some great television. Unfortunately, it's not television!

I don't really get it. After the election, there was a rumor the HDC wanted to boot the Chair for her role in opposing Democratic candidates but it was the Mayor who wanted her to stay-- yes, him.  You know, the spirit of new beginnings, cooperation and hope. Yet, it hasn't quite worked out that way (see EPISODES 1-7).  GA imagines there has been a hardening of feelings on all sides. 

So, at the most base level, does it make sense for the Democratic Chair to savage Hoboken's most powerful, influential, elected DEMOCRAT? Like I said, I don't get it.  

But, GA is not a member of the HDC, and I only get these emails because folks send them. So, like you, I am watching this war from the sidelines. 

Your thoughts on EPISODE 8 of As The Mile Square Turns?