Hoboken Mayor replaces Doyle on City Council

HOBOKEN: In a move that surprised even his closest allies, Hoboken Mayor Bhalla decided to swap two-term At-Large Councilman Jim Doyle with a similarly qualified replacement, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.  

When asked why he would take this hasty action, Bhalla replied, "Its clear that Jim can't stand the petty vindictiveness of a few council colleagues who are less legislators than jealous babies with loaded diapers.  Jim deserves mercy, he has done his time."

But why pick Sanders? 

"Like Doyle, Uncle Bernie supports a ban on fracking, supports reduction in coal- and oil-fired power plant emissions and enjoys sliced bananas on his morning granola. Jim also favors wooly mittens over synthetic gloves" said Bhalla.

Councilman-Senator Sanders attended his first Hoboken City Council Meeting this week, voting with his colleagues on First Reading of an ordinance to limit pay-to-play contributions.  This ordinance was spearheaded by Sanders' colleague 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher. As reported in Hudson County View:  

“Over the past few years outside money coming into Hoboken’s elections has risen extensively via PACs and Independent Expenditures,” Fisher said in an email today.

“To further disincentivize ‘quid pro quo’ type arrangements, these changes fix loopholes in our pay-to-play laws to capture IE’s and vendors provided with emergency contracts, both currently excluded. Significant outside money makes local elections less competitive and not necessarily reflective of a community’s view.”

Councilwoman Fisher's latest perspective on Pay-to-Play precedes Hoboken's 2021 mayoral election; in the lead-up to her own 2019 election, Fisher took the opposite tact: she opposed proposed legislation to enforce local Pay-to-Play law. To add confusion, Ms. Fisher's renewed advocacy for tightening campaign finance law is directly at odds with her embrace of Councilman Mike DeFusco as a political and ideological ally. 

That said, Councilwoman Fisher's latest position on campaign finance reform aligns with the views of Councilman-Senator Bernie Sanders, who has said in the past:

"A few wealthy individuals and corporations have bought up our private sector and now they're buying up the government. Campaign finance reform is the most important issue facing us today, because it impacts all the others."

In keeping with her renewed energy for transparency, it's worth noting that Councilwoman Fisher has not filed a Quarterly Election Finance Report since October 2019.  Her October 2019 campaign finance report shows a balance of $3,437.81. Clearly, Ms. Fisher has not followed State of New Jersey campaign finance law, nor has allowed constituents to see her receipts, contributions and disbursements made since October 2019.   

Perhaps Councilman-Senator Sanders will remind his colleagues that no one is above the law, including law makers.