It wasn't even close. The motion to rescind the vote making Tiffanie Fisher the Chair of the Hoboken Dem Committee passed with:
"YES"-- 39 hands + 8 proxies= 47 votes
"NO"-- 4 hands + 0 proxies= 4 votes
"ABSTAIN"-- 1 vote
Phil Cohen was nominated to replace Fisher; there were no other nominations.
Cohen won with:
"YES"-- 41 hands (dunno # proxies)
"NO"--0 hands (dunno # proxies)
Prior to the meeting, Chairwoman Fisher sent an email claiming "advice from counsel" had concluded that the "stated goal and procedural process" of the motion to remove her as Chair were unlawful.
Attached to her email was the unsigned, anonymous "summary memo" she purported was prepared by "counsel".
GA did a properties search of the document- it was authored by "KD" and completed about 3 hours prior to the meeting.
Let's see, the author of the opinion's first name begins with "K"...
His/her middle initial or last name begins with "D"....
If this document is not what it was represented to be- "advice of counsel"- that is fraud.
The Hoboken Dem Committee should urge the former Chair to identify "KD" - and don't wimp out.
Here is the email Fisher sent 3 hours prior to the meeting:
On Monday, April 9, 2018, Tiffanie Fisher
Dear fellow Executive Committee members –
As you can imagine, today is difficult for me but I remain committed to trying to find a way to work together. I have received advice from counsel that your stated goal and procedural process being used tonight are contrary to our bylaws and unlawful. Please see the attached summary memo prepared for me which addresses the procedural and substantive legal issues. The main points are:
[excerpt from "counsel" opinion]
Let me know how you want to proceed. I would recommend that we cancel the meeting. Hopefully in parallel we can then take the opportunity to meet and figure out the most constructive way to work together going forward. I will await your response before I circulate this to the broader committee.
I am available if you want to discuss.
Tiffanie
Here is Fisher's legal memo in full (no letterhead, no signature).
(ANOTHER) UNSIGNED LEGAL OPINION FROM ANONYMOUS COUNSEL
I think it's a pretty good bet this was produced by the same North Bergen firm that produced the RLB unsigned "opinion."
ReplyDeletethank goodness. 2nd ward voters, you're turn is next...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it will finally sink in for Tiff/Jen/Peter how ticked off everyone is now that Tiff got absolutely trounced. It wasn't even a competition. 10 votes to remove her for every vote to keep her. Or will she remain oblivious to the fact that SHE is the problem.
ReplyDeleteIf it’s unlawful get an attorney with a first and last name to say so.
ReplyDeleteAn attorney did not even sign her or his name to the memo. That says it all.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, she lost the confidence of her colleagues. This drama was a waste of everyone's time. Hopefully everyone can move on.
They won't move on. They are too entrenched in their "resistance" mentality to accept that folks are fed up with their stupidity.
DeleteWell if coming in 4th place in the Mayoral election, and losing more than 90% of the votes in the Democratic Committee Chair election yesterday isn't an indication to them of how little support they have, I am not sure what else will wake them up. Tiffany literally did everything she could, threw in the kitchen sink, obtained a supposed legal opinion, had Ruben calling people telling them not to show up, made multiple appeals via email to Committee members, made multiple calls to Committee members, declared that the meeting with unlawful, and made a final appeal speech yesterday and all of 4 people out of 52 wanted her to remain Chair. What else do they need to understand that their support continues to dwindle in town because their approach --- fight fight fight, instead of govern govern govern --- has been all wrong?
Deletewell said, @all hoboken. can't argue with the facts: tiff/jen/peter essentially have no constituency.
DeleteWhy is it Tiffanie and Jen can find legal opinions without lawyers willing to sign them so easily? How do they not see they're being played by whomever is helping them get these opinions? Pathetic.
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