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| Independent legislator |
Last night's City Council meeting-- the first of 2019, ran short. So short, in fact, that when video feed dropped I thought it was a technical issue. But then, I was distracted; Councilman DeFusco's partner had joined the live Facebook thread to lob juvenile attacks at yours truly so I was forced to club him like a baby seal (figuratively) until he ran away. Later, I went back to screen cap the lively exchange, but he'd deleted most of his posts. I don't blame him!
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| Ha ha! |
(Note: Per Alejandro's trash talk, I am not/have never been paid to blog. Silly insult-- if a person is hired to do work, of course they should be paid. For example, if Tiffanie Fisher is paying Roman Brice's rent in exchange for those gooey, sycophantic puff pieces and attacking her critics in deeply personal and vicious ways, who cares? I don't. As long as the 2nd Ward Councilwoman declares those disbursements on her ELECs (ie; rent, food, utilities, meds, evil) Has she done it yet?)
But I digress! Back to the meeting...
FALCO'S DEFECTION- HA HA
The comic highlight of last night's meeting was provided by the defection of At-Large Councilwoman Vanessa Falco; Falco was the 6th vote required to overturn Mayor Bhalla's veto.
The comic highlight of last night's meeting was provided by the defection of At-Large Councilwoman Vanessa Falco; Falco was the 6th vote required to overturn Mayor Bhalla's veto.
GA heard that Vanessa was under tremendous pressure to be vote no. 6. So when I saw that the veto override had not been pulled off the agenda, I expected she'd caved. What other reason would there be to keep it unless all 5 Frankencouncil members (Jen Giattino, Ruben Ramos, Mike DeFusco, Tiffanie Fisher and Peter Cunningham) believed she was 'with' them.
SURPRISE! Councilwoman Falco has her own mind. She was unwilling to facilitate her colleague's petty, mean-spirited and illegal legislation.
Shame on the Frankencouncil for not considering Councilwoman Falco for that Council Planning Board appointment, because it was promised to Fisher in the Frankencouncil's 2018 dirty backdoor deal.
CONSUMMATING THAT 2018 BACKDOOR POWER-GRAB
The meeting started off with a bang...
A whole lotta banging: 5 council-members consummated their 2018 backdoor deal to consolidate their legislative powers amongst themselves; that's 5 members of a 9-member body, slipping in the sack together so they could 'own' the passage of legislation and board appointments and council leadership. Nevermind that 2 of the 5 are covered in pay-to-play violations and have reaped the benefits of vote-buying, while the other 3 governed as reformers for 8 years- in a coalition that fought pay-to-players and vote buying. This 5-member coalition truly is a Frankencouncil.
And they govern like one, too.
A whole lotta banging: 5 council-members consummated their 2018 backdoor deal to consolidate their legislative powers amongst themselves; that's 5 members of a 9-member body, slipping in the sack together so they could 'own' the passage of legislation and board appointments and council leadership. Nevermind that 2 of the 5 are covered in pay-to-play violations and have reaped the benefits of vote-buying, while the other 3 governed as reformers for 8 years- in a coalition that fought pay-to-players and vote buying. This 5-member coalition truly is a Frankencouncil.
And they govern like one, too.
Jen Giattino dealt herself a 4th appointment as Council President, while her arguably more qualified colleague, Jim Doyle, who has never once been Council President- was completely shut out of deliberations, as was Emily Jabbour. Tiffanie Fisher swapped a Planning Board appointment--blocking Vanessa Falco, who could have been the first African American Council Planning Board appointment.
This is not Reform, people. Fisher, Giattino and Cunningham betrayed everything reform fought for since 2009 when they jumped in the sack with the likes of Ramos and DeFusco. I hope they enjoyed that roll in the hay last night, hopefully it will be their last.
This is a mash-up of last night's nominations.
THE FRANKENCOUNCIL IS A POLITICAL OPERATION
Folks, it's time to take it to these hypocrites, whining and wailing that "political operations are run from the mayor's office."
This council is a 5-member political operation being run out of City Hall.
Last night's consummation of their sleazy backdoor power grab was proof. This 5-member coalition is abusing its powers on revenge-driven legislation aimed at weakening and harassing the mayor's office.
Fisher and Giattino are deal-making hypocrites... consolidating power amongst themselves and shutting out the mayor's At-Large slate, and Vanessa Falco. Evidence abounds that this Council functions as a political weapon, and not a mature legislative body.
We deserve so much better.
When is the deadline to get on the November ballot? I'm surprised I haven't hear any rumbling of challengers to the Less than Fab Five....
ReplyDeleteLook what happened to the guy who criticized Fisher. Next thing he knows they’re circulating a story that he was bribed, and Fisher is instructing her hyenas to complain to city hall.
DeleteNo one is jumping in early in this anti-participation “more voices are only better if they support me” environment.
I looked up 2017's mayoral election deadline to file petitions: September 5. As a rule, it's not a good idea to announce your slate, until it's obvious (petitions filed), and I expect that the Bhalla slate will do same. No matter how the Ruben-Fisher-Ramos-Cunningham-Giattino slate tries to spin it, financially THEY are the Goliath and we are the David. They will have developers, Unions, PACS and most likely North Bergen $$$ on their side. For all of Ravi's talents at fundraising, we are a tiny speck in their shadow.
DeleteGA - Why do you think it's a general rule that you shouldn't announce tickets or candidacies until the filing deadline? Whose general rule is that? Its certainly not a rule most political professionals I know (and i know quite a few) would agree with in most circumstances.
DeleteIt leaves little time for candidates with little name recognition to get known. Unless your partsan brand (ie Democrat or wearing a Ravi hat) is enough to carry you, it's a great way to lose, especially when facing incumbents with far better name recognition, more experience as candidates and at least some established base.
Respectfully, wearing a Ravi hat, while certainly an asset, is unlikely to do the trick by itself in 2019 with inexperienced first time candidates running against incumbents.
Well, now you know I'm definitely not a political professional! My "rule" applies to Hoboken. I didn't say to keep a candidate a secret-- one can get themselves out there (speak at council meetings, boe meetings, write letters to the editor, be active on social media, etc.)... But Hoboken is its own fishtank (or cesspool). It is my opinion that giving our "vibrant" opposition researchers a jump before absolutely necessary isn't advisable. Our BoE candidates never announced early. Vibrant!
DeleteYou are correct that's what the SB did every year. Candidates were chosen in secret by a secret committee then kept secret even from the Mayor whose name most voters associated the ticket with and whose support was needed to win. Most voters never even learned the names of the candidates they voted for by election day. They voted for the reform brand in a clear cut us vs them environment, with voters directed to ballot position more than actual candidates with individual identities. It was IMHO not the smartest choice even in that environment, but it worked because Zimmer held her nose and supported a "slate" she barely knew, and because of the strength of the Zimmer/KF "reform" brand in a brand vs brand election (akin to a partisan Dem vs rep election with a Dem lean).
DeleteThat will not be a prudent strategy in head to head council races against incumbents where the voters will be voting for people not labels, with the politics as muddled as it is.
Challengers who do not make their candidacies publicly known until September will be putting themselves at a significant disadvantage and I would not bet much on their success.
If you're worried about opposition research choose good candidates without baggage that your worried will come to light. You're not going to hide the baggage of flawed candidates with a late announcement. Stupid attacks on them without substance will help the candidates not hurt them by increasing their name recognition and their stature.
Remember Tom Greaney? And please don't say he was a victim of a dirty trick. He was not. His financial background was always aa legitimate campaign issue that he compounded by trying to hide it rather than be forthcoming, as he was advised to from the start. A better candidate with Dawn's support, an early start and without his baggage would have won.
I'm with you on running people with good character-- I wouldn't expect anything else from the remaining reform coalition. I will disagree with you on Tom Greaney (of course, I remember him!)
DeleteHe most certainly was the victim of a dirty trick-- boy, was he ever:
https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2015/03/birth-of-hoboken411-smear.html
That said, the dirty trick wasn't why Tom lost-- we can discuss offline, no need to rip a scab off old wounds. I think he would have been a great councilman had he made it.
If we don't rip scabs off old wounds we don't learn from them. Mason represented a ward in which Dawn was extremely popular but still won despite being seen by partisans as the anti-Dawn.
DeleteIf we don't ask ourselves "why" and learn from our mistakes we could easily be looking back at these upcoming ward races wondering again how these "horrible evil unpopular Ravi hating people" could possibly have been re-elected in wards where Mayor Bhalla is popular.
So you want me to post a litany of why, in my opinion, Tom's campaign sucked here on this blog? IMO, that's a conversation to be had by a campaign, to learn from others' mistakes. Let's just say dropping big bucks on a Hudco consultant to attend events instead of the candidate (the guy stood around and grinned) and be otherwise invisible, then not hit back when the wicked witch tries to brand you a loser and on top of that refuse help (making lemonade from lemons)... acually that wicked smear on him could have been turned into a very appealing "phoenix rising from the ashes" narrative. All not helpful-- feel better now? Other stuff that I wont put here.
DeleteDid you catch Jen's face when Jimmy Farina announces that the override failed? Priceless!
ReplyDeleteI hope Mister "People are afraid of my Guatemalanness" keeps up his trash-talking as it's soooo helpful to DeFiasco's reelection.
Priceless is right! I cut a clip- it's processing now. Depends upon when it's ready but will post.
DeleteYes, Alejandro is hysterical!
I hope Jen and company are disappointed often. I can honestly say I cannot remember anything she has accomplished in the last couple of years (or ever really) that helped out this community one bit. Same goes for Peter, Tiff, Mike and Ruben. I doubt I am the only one who cannot name 1 positive thing they have done for Hoboken.
ReplyDeleteI think Councilwoman Vanessa Falco has had enough of being marginalized and her vote taken for granted by DeFusco, Fisher, Giattino, Ramos and Cunningham just because she was the only winning part of DeFusco's losing ticket. Vanessa and her supporters values and views are much more closely aligned with those of Michael Russo that a Michael DeFusco.
ReplyDeleteI for one would like to see a slate to challenge these assholes come together and then start showing up at CC meetings where they can speak at the public portion of the meeting and rip these assholes to shreds for all to see.
ReplyDelete