It's official.
Props to Cunningham. He may have sold out to the Dark Side since the 2017 election victory of Ravi Bhalla; Peter was the reliable 5th vote in a Ramos-Defusco-Giattino-Fisher rubber stamp against his Reform colleagues Jabbour and Doyle. He never quite showed the gusto of Fisher and Giattino when it came to scorched earth council theater.
But Cunningham was meticulous about avoiding public engagement with (VBM King) Ramos and (Pay-to-Player) DeFusco. He declined attending their fundraisers, and (to my knowledge) never let himself be photographed with either of them outside of the Council chambers. By embracing Ramos and DeFusco, Peter betrayed the Reform constituents who had elected him 3 times. But when he jumped in the sack with Ramos and DeFusco, he did it discreetly. Very few out of thousands of 5th Ward constituents paid attention.
Peter let Jen Giattino and Tiffanie Fisher do the heavy lifting at the City Council when it came to scorched earth political stunts- from bitching over pizza, croissants and coffee to legislating appointments from the mayor's office to cutting Jason Freeman's salary to torturing Gary Holtzman before booting him off the Planning Board to Fisher's wacky "municipal Audit committee" ordinance... Peter let the ladies do the heavy lifting and get the blowback. He was almost studious in not having his name associated with the Dark Side stunts, and said little at the Council meeting to be quoted in the media.
So, while Cunningham appeared reluctant about this merger with the Dark Side embraced by Giattino and Fisher, that didn't stop him from voting with them. Peter succumbed to the vendetta that poisoned Giattino and Fisher, and consolidated council power with a developer's prostitute and a notorious VBM King .
But... running on a slate with Dark Side council characters was a bridge too far for Peter. Oh, he didn't put that in writing. But take it to the bank.
Peter is not a snob, but he guards his reputation. He can get away with voting with the Dark Side, and throwing in on Council stunts. But he cannot get away with embracing them publicly. And accepting the representation of their PR machine. Peter is the smartest one of that bunch. Fisher's much vaunted business skills do not compensate for political tone-deafness fueled by ambition.
Anyway, Cunningham was an excellent Councilman until he veered off into the "Reform Resistance" wilderness. So, GA thanks him for all of this good works and his service.
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| My opinion: Peter Cunningham wanted no part of this unholy Dark Side coalition. |
Whats more likely?
ReplyDeleteA. Peter was a good and principled Councilperson for 10 years who lost his mind for two
B. Peter was a good and principled Councilperson for 12 years and you changed your views because it suited your politics.
Most likely Peter was always a follower who went along with stronger people. First Zimmer and later Jen and Tiff.
DeleteZimmer was a force for good government so when Peter followed her he was as well.
(A)
DeleteUnlike transactional politicians like Fisher and Giattino, my principles don't bend like Gumby. I've been writing about Hoboken election fraud and pay-to-play and political corruption since 2010. I still do. I fully expected reform to "heal" after the 2017 election, but the Fisher -Giattino-Cunningham's defection to the Dark Side (everything this blog has opposed since 2010) ended that dream. What an utter betrayal of Reform principles, all ego-driven. The turn that Fisher and Giattino have taken with accepting favors from Sacco and representation by his PR firm is the last nail, so to speak. I do believe that was a bridge too far for Peter, who at the end of the day, cares about his legacy and reputation. My opinion.
Elections have consequences. Losers suck it up then work together with the winner for the greater good. That is how it works. Instead, the losers formed a childish "reform resistance" which has evolved into High School lunch room politics. It is sad to watch. Fisher and Giattino, "Reform Resistance" figure heads have betrayed reform governing principles by their coalition with unsavory VBM Kings and pay-to-players.
So, no. My views have not changed. I met Ravi before he entered politics, and know who he is. Perfect? No. Agree with all of his choices? No. Eat lunch with him? No. Bhalla hasn't changed since I met him in 2008-- he was good enough for Giattino and Cunningham to vote with on share governing principles since 2009, until Fisher and sour grapes drove them to the Dark Side. Who's paying Vision Media? Where are their ELECs? How come Jen took a "freebie" from Sacco?
https://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2017/07/how-i-met-ravi.html
You tell ‘em, anon 9:57!
DeleteOur coalition has ALWAYS been pro-vote buying. We just wanted to ensure the votes were bought by and for the right candidates. We have also ALWAYS been huge fans of extensive ELEC violations — provided the right candidate had them. And we have always been pleased to accept under the table gifts from Nick Sacco who, we’re absolutely certain, will never ask for anything in return.
Enough with the revisionist history: We have ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia!
Peter voted to put Mike DeFusco, the dark money developer shill, on the Zoning Board. He voted to make Ruben Ramos, the VBM King, the City Council President. He lost his mind for two years, he couldn't do it another 4 years. That's what happened. He felt gross.
ReplyDeletePeter deserves Hoboken's thanks for his service to our City. He was an important part of the team that under Dawn's leadership, really turned our City around.
ReplyDeleteKnowing when it is time to step away is hard, which is why so many people support term limits.
Kudos to Councilman Cunningham for recognizing that after 12 years on the Council, it was time to move on.
He deserves our thanks for his first 10 years on the city council. He deserves our thanks for stepping away now too. Let's leave it at that and wish him luck far from Hoboken politics.
DeleteAgreed!
DeleteI agree with you, Da Ojo Rojo. He deserves thanks for 10 years of collaboration with Reform colleagues and Zimmer, in those 10 years he made a substantive positive difference in Hoboken. That is his legacy. His last two years have been a clusterfuck. He is smart enough to recognize that and bow out gracefully.
DeleteMaybe the City can thank him by giving him a new handicap parking placard. He was shamed into giving back the one he used to use when his family was caught with it.
DeleteHilarious. I was just talking about his handicap placard-gate the other day. More people need to remember this.
DeleteSeriously? He scammed a handicap spot? Well, he does have one handicap...
DeleteThe events of the last couple of years should not cause us to lose sight of the very real contributions Cunningham and Giattino have made to our City.
ReplyDeleteFisher and DeFusco on the other hand, have been nothing but toxins with nary a positive accomplish ment to their names. It's weird how they have been able to control and manipulate Giattino and Cunningham.
Giattino has been nothing but toxic the last 2 years. And I would argue over those 2 years she has done far more harm than she ever did good.
DeleteDoubt Peter had a moment of moral clarity. Unlike Jen and Tiff, he has a professional reputation to protect and that was going to get harder the closer he got to Ruben and Co. plus he's a lazy POS and with the gig getting less fun I imagine the time commitment got hard to justify.
ReplyDeleteI buy this interpretation too. Any decision is complex and involves multiple factors. He was probably exhausted after 12 years. He was probably feeling icky with Jen and Tiff formalizing an alliance with DeFusco and Ramos and didn't want to sign up for it anymore. He does have a professional life to protect outside of the Council unlike Jen and Tiff. Phi is a game, qualified, strong candidate supported by the Mayor who is popular and did best in the 5th Ward in 2017 (in spite of Peter's endorsement of Jen), so Peter would really have had his work cut out for him to pull out a victory. Put that all together and moving on makes a ton of sense. Plus, asking voters to be a City Councilman for 16 years if he ran again is quite ridiculous. Really, who is that special that they need to by a Councilman for that long?
DeleteCunningham was there when the council went very briefly to 6 old guard to 3 for reform. But we soon found out that Beth was not with us so it was back to 6-1-2, with Beth worsening day by day.
ReplyDeleteI remember the earliest council meetings. Cunningham asked a procedural question and Russo snapped at him. It was so territorial, nothing to do with the question really. Just letting him know "this is our town and our dais." It was also the beginning of the turnaround. We could at last hear people who thought like us at council meetings - even if they routinely got voted down.
One of of the more bizarre recent developments is the tendency for Team Tiff to dump all over Zimmer's rise. The thinking isn't hard to parse - because not much thinking ever goes on over there. They want to dirty up Zimmer because they are in a coalition with vote buyers. The message is "See? Everyone does it, even Dawn. So what's the big deal so long as the right people do it." Morbidly stupid, but there you have it.
Back to Cunningham. He held serve in the 5th so it was possible to try to focus on races elsewhere. That in itself was a godsend, even if the other campaigns showed limited success. My favorite moments of his were as council chair dealing with Beth's harpies. His flat "yer done" at the end of Lane's 5 minutes of pompous snark remains a classic alternative to "thank you, Mr XYZ, but your time has expired."
With regard to anons 12:58 and 1:50, he does have that white slacks and navy blazer brand of affluence. It doesn't go well with even having your name in the same sentence with "X and Y, who are now awaiting trial in federal court." And it's going "there." Only the delusional continue to believe otherwise.
Because Cunningham was there from the beginning his endorsement, however tacit, for the makeover of the council majority was vitally important. It allowed Defusco and Ramos to be reinvented as "reform" without ever lifting a finger. Reform, in the new maps, meant and means no more than "anti-Ravi." It has no higher purpose or unifying principle(s), notwithstanding all the claptrap to the contrary. That's why Defusco and Ramos are welcome, but Jabbour and Doyle are treated shabbily at all times.
Cunningham lent his credibility to this miscarriage of the public's trust. And now he has withdrawn it. And it looks a whole lot less credible now.
Contrary to what you may be reading in Al "Crackpipe" Sullivan's column, we are NOT a ticket.
ReplyDeleteWe are a loose affiliation of candidates all having our PR done by Vision Media with no visible means of paying for it and accepting favors from Nick Sacco on the sly.
But DEFINITELY not a ticket.
Boy, oh boy. Did Al ever hit the nail on the head. I guess the Vision Media press releases his paper gets clued him in. He must have thought he was having a bad acid trip!
Delete