#SpankVoteThemOut

Pence is better than this. 

Hoboken residents witnessed a fantastic show of solidarity for safe schools/gun law reform on Saturday, in the March for Our Lives!   Over 1,000 folks hit the streets, many with homemade signs.

Folks watching from the sidewalk waved as the marchers passed, and a few joined in. 

Hoboken is a town of fine, caring people, and we deserve elected officials who put our interests first. In November 2018 we will clean house in Congress, then in November 2019 we do the same in Hoboken.  

SPANK THEM OUT

Excuse GA's rare foray into national politics, but did you watch the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels last night?  

The actual interview was 2 hours, 2/3 of it was left on the cutting room floor.  GA is glad they left in the part about the future president pulling down his pants in a hotel room so Stormy could whack his hiney with a rolled up magazine. Oh yeah, his wife Melania was pregnant at the time. 

Makes you proud, huh?  

Still, Alt-Right wing-nuts are standing by the Orange Thing. Well, they're not invited to the party that the rest of us are gonna throw when IT gets impeached. Better yet, a parade down Washington Street!  It's not going to happen until the Blue Wave washes the rats out of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. Speaking of which...

Make sure everyone you know is registered to vote. 

To register in New Jersey you must be:

• A United States citizen
• At least 17 years old, and understand that you may not vote until reaching the age of 18.
• A resident of the county for 30 days before the election
• YNOT currently serving a sentence, probation or parole because of a felony conviction

INSTRUCTIONS: The registrant must complete a Voter Registration Application and/or Party Affiliation Form. Mail or deliver the Voter Registration Application and/or Party Affiliation Form to the County Commissioner of Registration or Superintendent of Elections for your county.  Postage paid voter registration forms are available download for NJ residents at these links:

VOTER REGISTRATION (ENGLISH): http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/form_pdf/voter-regis-forms/68-voter-registration-english-hudson.pdf

VOTER REGISTRATION (SPANISH): http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/form_pdf/voter-regis-forms/68-voter-registration-spanish-hudson.pdf

Saturday's March for our Lives was a fantastic demand for change- to take hold, we must show a massive turnout on election day. 

STORMY HOBOKEN

According to sources close to Council President Ramos, the Council will continue to fight the mayor on Ordinance B-10, which Mayor Bhalla vetoed last Friday. 

If the source is correct, that means the Council will try to overturn the veto, thus defying the 10-page opinion of the Hoboken's Law Department, and their conclusion that the ordinance violated the Faulkner Act.  

Hoboken's opinion was long and full of mumbo-jumbo that flew over my head like a 747. However, some of it was written in plain English.  

Like this part, which explains how the sponsors of Ordinance B-10, Ruben Ramos and Jen Giattino, violated the Council Rules of Procedure by (1) not including their ordinance on the meeting agenda, (2) not providing it to Corporation Council by the 4PM Tuesday deadline to review and vet legality, and (3) if it were "urgent" as stated at the meeting, they did not provide the required written statement of urgency. 

Pretty clear, huh? 

So is this part.  It notes that hard copies of the unsigned "Ryglicki legal opinion" contradicting Hoboken's Legal Department on the legality of Ordinance B-10 were brought to the meeting, and distributed ONLY to Council members and not to Corporation Counsel!  Ramos would not let Corporation Counsel speak at all on the new, unsigned "gift" opinion that Giattino accepted for no payment from a North Bergen lawyer. 

This is pretty clear, too. 100% mumbo-jumbo free. 

Just a guess: the length and thoroughness of this legal analysis took the City many hours of work. Unnecessary work created by a rogue council.

This anticipated effort to overturn the mayor's veto will be a litmus test of who stands with Hoboken, and who stands for political patronage at all cost.

GA hasn't heard anything about the Council VP's violation of § 30-1 Gift policy of the City of Hoboken.   Is something coming?  It is not okay for an elected official to accept free legal services. In this case the gift came from allies of a Hudson County boss who wishes to get a toehold in Hoboken.  Imagine that.  This "gift" was an effort to interfere in our municipality. And Council VP Giattino knowingly or unknowingly took a political favor.   

Is the City is okay with legislators violating our anti-corruption laws? 

If nothing is done, think of the message that sends to everyone inside and outside of Hoboken. 

§ 30-1 Gift policy of the City of Hoboken 

"No officer or employee of the City of Hoboken shall directly solicit any gift or accept or receive any gift having a value of $25 or more, whether in the form of money, services,loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise or any other form, under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that such gift was intended to influence the officer or employee, or could reasonably be expected to influence the officer or employee in the performance of official duties or was intended as a regard for any official action on the officer's or employee's part."