People, do not B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own Pizza) to a campaign event when an aspiring politician can pay for it!
And you know that our current City Council will protect you from ever subsidizing a slice of pizza or a soda at an event with Mayor Bhalla-- you're safe!
However, at least one sitting Council member has shown a willingness to dish out $400 for "food and beverages" for a Peter Cammarano for Mayor campaign event! Yep, 400 Benjamins... that's the same guy who fought to protect Hoboken taxpayers from underwriting a croissant!
(And fight, he did... with an impassioned speech on why Marine View taxpayers should not be allowed to underwrite their own pizza and soda! And why a mayor's aide should pay for croissants and coffee served to constituents!)
(And fight, he did... with an impassioned speech on why Marine View taxpayers should not be allowed to underwrite their own pizza and soda! And why a mayor's aide should pay for croissants and coffee served to constituents!)
Let's see... a $2 croissant divided by 50,000 Hoboken residents....
So, behold this fascinating historic artifact: a then-aspiring politician, Michael DeFusco, reached deeply into his pocket to retrieve 400 bucks to cater a Peter Cammarano campaign event (with pizza? soda? croissants?) Note, he was not the sole in-kind caterer, but none of the others became a Hoboken legislator.
 |
| Councilman DeFusco's 2009 in-kind contribution of "food and beverages" reported on Peter Cammarano for Mayor 29-day pre-election ELEC report |
You know, GA has heard that others privately compare the two: Cammarano and DeFusco; saying the latter is the Second Coming of the former. I don't know why, other than possibly sharing certain character traits. What I mean...
For a young guy, Cammarano's political resume was impressive. He was Hoboken's coordinator of the John Kerry presidential campaign in 2004, and in 2006 was the New Jersey legal director in Senator Bob Menendez's campaign. He worked as an attorney for Genova, Burns & Vernoia, a top election law firm. In 2005, he won his run-off election as a Hoboken at-Large Councilman. So, it's fair to say that Peter Cammarano was steeped in New Jersey politics by the time he sought elected office in Hoboken, and had served one term before running successfully for mayor.
Mike DeFusco's rise in Hoboken politics is largely due to the kindness of others. He got a hand up from First Ward Councilwoman Terry Castellano who lobbied for his Zoning Board appointment. He returned the favor by shivving her in 2015 and running for her council seat. He was elected on the Zimmer ticket, then returned the favor by shivving Zimmer in 2017 to run against her for mayor (before she dropped out). Unlike Peter Cammarano, DeFusco only served 2 years of his first term before running unsuccessfully for mayor.
GA saw Cammarano in action, against Zimmer and others at an OLG debate; he was cocky, but intelligent. Very. Could think on his feet without spewing a robotic litany of talking points. Didn't need to stare at his phone.
So why do so many compare the two? I don't see it. But apparently others do, because both attract the same supporters: developers, Unions and PACs.
What does that mean?
In 2009 I was neighbors with DeFusco and had no idea! Lucky me to have never met him back then!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you commandeer a public, county park for a political fundraiser, but that's just one more thing these two have in common. The other thing they have in common is that they, along with Occhipinti, were groomed for their political careers, such as they are, by the late Maurice Fitzgibbons.
ReplyDeleteTwo down, one more to go.
Cammarano saw himself as the smartest guy in the room. Often enough he was. Believing himself to be superior to the corrupt crowd he ran with made him think he could get away with the stunts that would do in a “lesser man.”
ReplyDeleteWhat he didn’t get was that like a lot of people, the skillfully corrupt have all their eggs in one basket. They don’t talk too good and don’t read a lot of “important books,” but they know how to run a long term scam. They are invariably underestimated by the smartest as well as 2nd through 5th smartest guys in the room.
Defusco is the 5th smartest guy in the room. Long on adjectives, short on nouns and verbs. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays this hand. Or how it plays him.
Vibrant!!!
DeleteYou make an excellent point dang - those running long term scams may not be book smart, but they sure are real smart about gaming the system. And no books are going to teach anyone that.
Delete