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| Hoboken Mayoral candidate Anthony 'Stick Romano and his At-large Council slate |
Yesterday morning, former At-Large Councilman and current Hoboken Housing Authority Chairman Dave Mello picked up petitions from City Hall for a 4th ward council run.
Welcome to the race!
It's no secret that Mello wants back on the Council. In 2017, Dave was spurned by both Bhalla and Giattino tickets, ending up on Anthony 'Stick' Romano's slate. Sadly, Mello lost that election by a landslide; his citywide vote total was 1,916, to Jim Doyle's 4,153 and Emily Jabbour's 4,009. This June, Dave got buried in another landslide; he lost his 4-2 Hoboken Democratic committee race to Rami Pinchevsky, 21 to 43 total votes.
Perhaps the third time's the charm?
Curious though, that he'd mull a run against 4th ward incumbent Ruben Ramos. Mello appears to support Ramos over Reform challenger Lisa Farrell-Sprengle, and he's attended two recent Team Ramos kick-offs (Jen Giattino, Tiffanie Fisher).
So why did Mello pull petitions to run against Ruben?
Rumor has it that Mello will only run for Ruben's seat if Ramos is unavailable for the election. Like you know, busy with other stuff. What does that even mean?
May the best man or woman win. That's Lisa Sprengle.
May the best man or woman win. That's Lisa Sprengle.
Will 2017 500 VBM MVP Romano be able to bail out former slate-mate Mello? Or will consistent VBM superstar Ramos work his 4th ward “magic”?
ReplyDeleteExciting times! Democratic no, but exciting yes!
Hard pass. His time has come and gone. Time to move on.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, this past June, Mello lost his Democratic Committee district election and by a huge margin. How is he supposed to win the 4th ward if he can't even win his own district in the 4th (same goes for Jen btw)? This comes on the heels of his massive loss in 2017 in the city council race where he placed 12th out of 14 candidates. Of note, in 2017 election I'm sure he benefited from the Romano team's unusual VBM haul, and yet even Romano VBM haul only put him ahead of Laini Hammon and Josh Einstein. It all speaks for itself.
ReplyDeleteThere’s more to winning than winning *wink*. I’d stay and explain but I have to RUN OFF and take care of something.
DeleteThat certainly could be an interesting development, buty guess is that all of this "picking up petitions" stuff is probably just be people blowing smoke.
ReplyDeleteDave's needs to sign up for anger management classes before thinking about getting back into public life. His less than grounded tirades at council meetings in the past couple years have been less than endearing.
ReplyDeleteI'd settle for him not writing every other word in ALL CAPS, since that's yet another transparent demonstration of his inability to not yell and habitually and unnecessarily take everything up more than a few notches. Trump and Mello both write in ALL CAPS often. Hmmm.
DeleteDavid Mello is the new Ines Garcia Keim.
ReplyDeleteThat's not fair.
DeleteDavid's time and passed anf he should have moved on gracefully two years ago as Peter Cunningham did last week, but David,was like Peter, an important part of the positive change that Hoboken achieved under Dawn's leadership.
IMHO he lost his way - by
the end his service had become too much about him, his ego and his ambition but that doesn't erase his real contributions.
Pretty magnanimous of you, after the four-letter epithet others have told me first hand they heard him call Mayor Zimmer (and it doesn't begin with "f"). Not being snarky, I really mean it.
DeleteSame precise trajectory as Ines, to a tee. Did some good once, got caught up in their own ego and need to be kowtowed to, then threw in with the bad guys out of thirst for power, importance and the nursing of grudges.
DeleteTo GA's point, Mello has a rather notorious reputation for inappropriate language and unprofessional behavior toward and about women, particularly women in power/authority. For the sake of his own professional career, he may serve himself well to stay out of the spotlight, for these things have a way of catching up with people in the post-MeToo era.
Please do not misunderstand me. Today's David Mello is not suited for public office for a litany of reasons, including the language you refer to that I personally heard him use to describe Jen Giattino and Dana Wefer.
DeleteBut I firmly believe that so far at least, his (and Peter's) positive contributions still far out weigh the negative.
To me it's not a question of whether the good outweighs the bad but rather who are they today, what are their primary motivations for public acts? Service, or self-importance and score-settling? The answer for both is the same.
DeleteFWIW, the reported gender-tailored slurs against WOMEN are totally unacceptable from any elected official, don't care whose 'side' they vote with or how much 'good' they have done. I suspect that this weighed heavily in Ravi's decision on his 2017 ticket.
DeleteAgreed. It's Dave's choice which legacy he wants to have. If he puts his positive legacy in his pocket and moves on it's his forever.
DeleteIf he chooses to continue tarnishing it, it will quickly be gone.
If Dave stays off of any tickets, I look forward to seeing his fundraising capabilities via his ELEC reports.
ReplyDeleteLOL.
DeleteActually an impossible scenario because Dave does not believe in fund-raising and is fundamentally opposed to it. He only believes in coasting on the funds raised by others, so he will never run off any tickets. Unless his principles on the matter have changed, which is plausible in light of his situational ethics when it comes to which ticket he'll run on (hint: any that will have him).
DeleteWas surprised to see Dave at a fundraiser for Lisa Sprengle last night. It was the definition of awkward. He can't be so clueless as to think there was the possibility of anyone in attendance giving him money. It would be funny to figure out what was going on in his peevish little brain. I wonder if the C word was flashing in neon lights in there.
DeleteTell me about it! Shortly after he arrived, I gestured to him and Lisa, and said, "Oh, look it's two 4th Ward candidates!" He walked off.
DeleteDid you really? That's very amusing.
DeleteYeah, I did. He wasn't amused.
DeleteNancy - brass balls.
DeleteDid he happen to mention that he used to teach in the Bronx, so he knows what life is like for "you people" in the 4th? He likes to mention that.
Delete