UPDATE: Fisher appeals to keep her Dem Committee Chair

UPDATE: Along with a copy of tonight's agenda, Hoboken Dem Committee Chairwoman Tiffanie Fisher wrote this appeal to committee members.

From: Tiffanie Fisher 
Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 12:46 PM
Subject: Tonight’s agenda and my appeal
To: 
Dear HD Committee Members

After speaking with many of you I can hear that there has been a lot of misinformation made about me and what has transpired since last summer when we were all elected and I wanted to take the time to address a few of these.   I hope you will consider this in your decisions going forward.

• First and foremost, despite anything you have heard or read to the contrary, I support our Mayor and almost all of the Mayor’s agenda for Hoboken.  I would not be a sound representative if I agreed with him on everything blindly, and he told me when he, Rachel and I spoke that he would not expect as such.  Just last night I was with him, and some other residents at a Sunday night meeting discussing the next steps for Union Dry Dock.  Earlier this week I was coordinating closely with him on Rebuild By Design.  I have tried actively to coordinate his interests with our committee as it related to supporting congressional candidates as I felt and still feel strongly that a united Hoboken is when we can be most effective.   This specifically related to a near term potential fundraising event for Congressional Candidate Mikie Sherril – where our Mayor and members of our Executive Committee did not initially agree.  My outreach to the mayor led to agreement.  Although the activities of our local government are separate from those of our Democratic Committee, I can tell you that a lot is progressing quickly and more collaboratively under Mayor Bhalla in our local government.

• The 900lb gorilla in the room that I could have addressed better with you early on was my specific choice for mayor.  This was not an issue for everyone, but for some it was a big issue and I underestimated how big of an issue this was for you.  This was an incredibly difficult decision for me as I considered both Ravi and Jen as friends.  I simply chose the person I thought was the best fit for Hoboken at the time. 

• Although factually may be true that I never called an official meeting, it was never to intentionally not call a meeting as has been described to you and by no means does it reflect lack of activity.  Given the local efforts involved by many committee members in our local election last fall, the Executive Committee agreed that we would focus on the upper ballots in last November’s election first.  And that beginning in 2018 we would focus on the 2018 elections and other activities.  What we did do in the fall of 2017 was identify ways to support select candidates in that election including Governor Murphy and our Column A candidates and the gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam for Virginia via a phone bank.  With regards to the former, this was done in the face of lack of any meaningful outreach from the Column A campaigns who seemed to ride the coat-tails of our local election activity in lieu of allocating their own resources to Hoboken.  We also identified new poll workers and I, working together with Michael Harper from the Hudson County Board of Elections, and Dan Cillie, the Chair of Hoboken’s Republican Committee, was able to replace select poll workers on Election Day to help ensure honest elections.

In 2018, with the local elections behind us and a renewed sense of hope for Hoboken and our Committee, I called for our first Executive Committee in early January with the hope of setting our agenda and plan for the year which included, among many other things, setting our first meeting as a whole.  As I have said before, I then felt personally compromised when by-laws were offered up that night that included, among other things, language that would have the effect of removing me as Chair as well as Latrenda Ross as Corresponding Secretary.  Even with this in the background, we were able to work together as a committee and host what was a great 2018 first event. 

Do you remember the evening of June 12th, 2017?  We came together as Democrats, united and seemingly with an opportunity to make a difference on the national landscape.  Not as reform vs. “Old Guard”, not as old vs. new, not based upon some local definitions of good vs. bad, and not to drive the agenda of any one local politician.  At least that is what I felt.  And why I worked so hard to help many of you get elected.  Our community has a history of being divided with these locally defined titles.  This was our opportunity to rise above this, and just be Democrats.  Together. 

Do you know why and how I became Chair?  Leading into your election, after working tirelessly to elect many of you, those involved in helping to organize a slate for the Executive Committee discussed recommendations for Chair.  I said I would support any candidate the others – then councilman Bhalla, Mayor Zimmer and her COS Vijay Chaudhuri - wanted, so long as I did not feel that person would be divisive.  We had so much positive energy created during the campaign that I wanted it to continue.  And I personally wanted to see our local divide be narrowed.  I ultimately was asked by Mayor Zimmer to run for Chair.  Do you know how the other Executive Committee members on our slate were nominated?  The same group discussed the various other positions within the slate.  They put up Phil, Rachel, LaTrenda and Kurt.  I put up Nora, Mitch and Paul.  And we all agreed on specific roles and that that this slate would be representative of our community, and would bring the right energy to the committee going forward. 

In the words of a friend on the committee with whom I spoke yesterday, it may feel like the train has left the station, but it hasn’t.  We have an opportunity to make this committee about bringing people together for a common goal, and leaving any latent hostility behind.  Please give me the chance to do what I try hard to do on our City Council and on other issues important to Hoboken – I set local politics aside, bring people together and try to reach consensus to create the best path forward.

Thank you for considering and I hope to continue to have the opportunity to work with all of you.

Tiffanie

__________

TIME'S UP FOR CHAIRWOMAN FISHER?
That will be decided at tonight's meeting of the Hoboken Democratic Committee, when a motion to rescind the election of current Chair Tiffanie Fisher will be voted on. 

A quorum of 39 committee members is required. However, for members who cannot attend proxy ballots will be provided.  

Interestingly, the Hoboken Reporter wrote about the Dem Committee revolt, with telling quotes by the mayor and the Chair.  

Last week Bhalla said he has not been encouraging members of the committee to replace Fisher, but, “I support the effort and I absolutely believe the Democratic Committee would clearly benefit from new leadership.”

He explained, “I think it’s important in any municipality in Hudson County for the Democratic mayor of a municipality, who is largely considered the de facto chair of the party in that municipality, to have the political support of the Democratic Committee chair and to have a working relationship with that chair. Despite my best efforts, that relationship is not there right now.” 

When Fisher was asked whom she would want to replace her, she told the HR:

“I would like to see someone who is a committed Democrat who is not entrenched locally, and the best person for that would be Mitch Fagen.” 

GA knows that in the aftermath of the election, angry Dem committee members wanted the first order of business to be ousting Fisher, but the mayor opposed ousting her in hopes to unify members of the entire reform community, including his mayoral opponents.

Bhalla did not expect political retaliation from Fisher, Giattino, and Cunningham.

But, retaliate they did; the three 'reformers' consolidated council power with Ruben Ramos and Mike DeFusco, their coalition scrubbed municipal boards of Zimmer appointees, shut  out  Jim Doyle and Emily Jabbour from any participation in the reorg, tried to seize rent Board appointment powers from the mayor through an illegal ordinance, and all engaged in a media campaign to manipulate public opinion against the mayor for taking the of-council position with a South Jersey law firm. 

Of all the 'reformers', Fisher has been the mayor's most outspoken critic with this attack published in the Hoboken Reporter: "Mayor Bhalla thinks his second job is none of our business."  (Her letter was patently dishonest because the mayor had already answered the council's 26 questions and provided them with a copy of his contract.)  Note: she engaged in the aforementioned political retaliation during her tenure as Hoboken Democratic Committee Chair.

Further, GA has heard complaints from local Dems that Chairwoman Fisher patronizes a pro-Trump, Alt-Right e-tabloid that obsessively posts aggressive, Bhallacentric conspiracies.  (The same nut-case continues to troll this blog, and falsely publish that GA is a "paid" political operative for the mayor. Ironically, said nut-job was the focus of a May 2017 fundraising effort by Councilwoman Fisher- perhaps another strike against her from a Dem committeeperson's perspective.)

While Dem. committee members may not all be Bhalla loyalists, they are loyal  Democrats. Hence, the  Chair's open antagonism toward the de facto leader of Hoboken's Democratic Party has not been received well by many on the committee.

The irony of Fisher wanted her replacement to "not be entrenched in local politics" or "take a side" when she herself is a deeply entrenched partisan, is not lost on any political observer.  Yes, Fisher is entrenched in local politics and has taken a side.

GA's opinion:  if she wanted to retain her Chair, she's taken the wrong side- first, supporting the election of  Republican in a non-partisan election against Democrats, and second, by trying to undermine the de facto leader of the Hoboken Democratic Party, Mayor Bhalla.

So, it is Chairwoman Fisher's turn. Last Thursday she sent this email to Hoboken Democratic Committee members. 

From: Tiffanie Fisher 

Date: April 5, 2018 at 6:53:29 PM EDT

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Subject: FW: REMINDER Official Meeting at 4/9 at 7pm of Hoboken Democratic Committee

Dear HD Committee Members –

Thank you to those who have made time to speak with me.  I appreciate all of the feedback.  I wanted to share a few thoughts – both on the feedback I have received so far and the proxy you are being asked to sign.

In general, those I have spoken to have expressed views that range from my candidate choice in the mayoral election to frustration that the committee isn’t already doing more to commentary on how local politics is being brought into this process.  But I am heartened to hear that there seems to be a theme that says people mainly want this committee to make a difference and be something greater than just our local politics.  Something that I have wanted since the day the majority of you elected me Chairperson.

For those who will not be in attendance at the meeting and are considering sending in a proxy, please consider the breadth of the proxy you have been asked to sign (attached).  As written, you are effectively giving someone else not only the ability to vote to rescind my election, but also the ability to vote for the new Chairperson (if necessary).   Or any other matters that may occur that night that you have not yet been made aware.   My recommendation is to limit your vote to just the matter presented, which is whether to rescind my election or not.  Even if you have already submitted a proxy, you can always replace it with a new one with more limiting language of your own.

Why am I raising this?  Because I feel strongly that my potential successor (if necessary) will be defining the path and culture of this committee going forward and it would be shame if a small group potentially defined this outcome.   Remember that 39 people are required for a quorum and that proxies do not count towards a quorum.  But if 39 people attend that night (the prior meeting only 34 attended) and I am voted out, then just 20 votes will decide the next Chairperson.  Will it be someone entrenched in and taking a side in local politics, or someone who has the ability to bring all Democrats together for a common goal?  I have no idea who will be nominated that night, but it will probably be one of the other Executive Committee members driving this effort who in turn will benefit from many or all of the proxy votes.   In any event – whether in person or by proxy, please make sure you are comfortable with your vote.

I still have more calls to make as there is just one of me (vs. 5 or more people making calls against me) and it has been a busy week with Union Dry Dock and a council meeting.  I will try to reach the rest of you over the weekend but feel free to call me as well at 201/208-1674.

Thank you again,

Tiffanie

What do you think happens tonight? Stay tuned.