The Hoboken Tax Reform Coalition
Not Involved But Watch From Afar
I am not politically involved in Hoboken though I do vote, and have an opinion. Aside from quietly voting and joining this site today, attending this evenings' protest after living in Hoboken for 23 years is the first political involvement thing I will do for my neighbors. I have been wondering for years why the FBI didn't come into our town and investigate it. Now they have. And although there are some problems with it, I think it is great the state was brought in to clean up and rectify Hoboken's budget - an even bigger problem. I am sorry for the property owners - but where was the oversight before then?
I do believe in the "innocent" before proven guilty American ethic. But for the sanity of Hoboken - if any - I think Cammarano can step down for now. If found innocent, he can reenter politics afresh and exonerated, and we can apologize to him for jumping to conclusions before a trial. If found guilty, then thank the FBI for cleaning up our town.
I have been watching the City Council meetings on cable, for entertainment mostly, but also to be an informed citizen. It is my reality series. Filled with drama, posturing, etc., the antics of some of the council members (before July 1) were a scream. After watching for a while - I could tell who was trustworthy, who was siding with Roberts 100%, who was saying one thing and doing another, etc. Changing gears here, I must say I am tired of the Mayoral Inauguration looping on channel 78 - it is too ironic. Although I do admire Corey Booker and his patriotic speech.
From what I saw on 78, I will not say what I thought of Cammarano, but whoever says (such as he himself and the Hoboken Reporter) that he "broke with Roberts" - I just don't see it. I don't trust our hometown newspaper; I once read it is owned by a developer with political interests. I read it with a grain of salt.
Just for saying this I hope I am not "ground into powder," but it's my interpretation of what I observe.
I do believe in the "innocent" before proven guilty American ethic. But for the sanity of Hoboken - if any - I think Cammarano can step down for now. If found innocent, he can reenter politics afresh and exonerated, and we can apologize to him for jumping to conclusions before a trial. If found guilty, then thank the FBI for cleaning up our town.
I have been watching the City Council meetings on cable, for entertainment mostly, but also to be an informed citizen. It is my reality series. Filled with drama, posturing, etc., the antics of some of the council members (before July 1) were a scream. After watching for a while - I could tell who was trustworthy, who was siding with Roberts 100%, who was saying one thing and doing another, etc. Changing gears here, I must say I am tired of the Mayoral Inauguration looping on channel 78 - it is too ironic. Although I do admire Corey Booker and his patriotic speech.
From what I saw on 78, I will not say what I thought of Cammarano, but whoever says (such as he himself and the Hoboken Reporter) that he "broke with Roberts" - I just don't see it. I don't trust our hometown newspaper; I once read it is owned by a developer with political interests. I read it with a grain of salt.
Just for saying this I hope I am not "ground into powder," but it's my interpretation of what I observe.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by georgia on -
Jeff,
you are so right!
I did the same: watched them closely and a few months later I could tell a crook from another crook, and an opportunist from another! People in the council meetings were laughing out loud when PC would came up with another lie, but you can't really hear it by watching ch 78.
I think the only honest people in that room are Cunnigham, Zimmer and the new elected council.
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Permalink Reply by JeffOfHoboken on
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Beth Mason overall is pretty cool too. She got lambasted for suing Hoboken to acquire public access documents in line with the Freedom of Information Act - documents she had a right to see. She wanted the info as a council person to know what was going on in order to do her job. Were you watching back then when people were screaming at her saying the taxpayer had to pay for the lawsuits (defending Hoboken's withholding information)? I say more power to her - obviously the city had something to hide and needed to be sued. Maybe if they would have provided the documents they were supposed to she wouldn't have gone to court on her own dime. For that I applaud her.
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Permalink Reply by TJ on
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always good when someone new gets involved, there are way too many people who don't know much but blame everyone for the corruption and then don't even write a letter, make a comment on a message board (until now), etc etc. i am glad you are now starting to be involved.
as for cammarano, it is true if you remember, he "publicly" broke with roberts in order to further his own interests, this was documented and i think that's what the newspaper was getting at, that he made a political play (whether for show or not) two years after running with the guy. he actually held press conferences against roberts at the time in order to get chris campos elected, if you can remember. if they made up later, it's possible, but the point was what he did politically...
as for 'i once read it is owned by a developer'...i once heard and read a lot of things and every publication is owned by someone with money and interests (otherwise they do not survive) but the truth about that is that the reporter was founded by a developer in the 1980s and then he sold it to two businesspeople 10 years ago who are not developers. that's been written about numerous times.
don't let the wool be pulled over your eyes and believe everyone is corrupt, because that actually causes MORE corruption becaue then those who are trying to expose it are not trusted. i read an excellent article on the roots of corruption in the county, in fact i read it in the paper... give it a read as it might serve as good background:
http://www.hudsonreporter.com/pages/full_stories_home/push?article-...
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Permalink Reply by georgia on
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Cool she was, until she lost people's trust by making a secret alliance with Russo. That was her downfall - until then she had more chances than Zimmer to win the election. Now very few trust her....
JeffOfHoboken said:Beth Mason overall is pretty cool too.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Dawkins on
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But she sure is busy trying to get all the publicity she can from the Cammarano saga, isn't she? channel 4, Fox news, where she pitched her stupid ball field, extensive quotes in the star ledger. I thought it was the council president who gets interviewed for these things. What is she doing, calling every news service to see who will give her her 5 minutes? Jesus Christ! Is this the beginning of her next mayoral campaign?
georgia said:Cool she was, until she lost people's trust by making a secret alliance with Russo. That was her downfall - until then she had more chances than Zimmer to win the election. Now very few trust her....
JeffOfHoboken said:Beth Mason overall is pretty cool too.
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Permalink Reply by TJ on
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i used to agree about mason, jeff, but do you remember how beth sold out to the russos? ...she started off so well and i liked her suits and her fighting but the russo thing made no sense. i like the ballfield too but yes she really does hunger for publicity and how many networks has she called in the last week and press releases sent out?
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Permalink Reply by JeffOfHoboken on
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I didn't start following city council meetings until about a year or so ago on cable so I don't want to give the impression that I am fully informed. I'm just somewhat less ignorant than I was before. One of the people you want to wake up who is waking up. Because I don't frequently look in the town's paper I didn't know about Mason and the Russos - nor do I know any dirt about him. Although it is good to know the developer who owned the paper later sold it to businesspeople who are not developers, I don't find that paper to be a bastion of good journalism, fairness or impartiality. Thanks for the education, All, and I will check out that article.
Jeff
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Permalink Reply by georgia on
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You may want to scan this thread where lots of people complained about being censored by Perry at hoboken411 - that was another mistake Mason pulled out her sleeve and later lost by 1000 votes or so. People will remember! I am still waiting for Mason to do the right thing - PC gets into office and wants to keep absolute power (so the bribe money keep coming in), and Mason hands him the power! She stopped being a reformer last year!
http://www.hobokenrevolt.com/forum/topics/be-aware-hoboken411-heavily
JeffOfHoboken said:I didn't start following city council meetings until about a year or so ago on cable so I don't want to give the impression that I am fully informed. I'm just somewhat less ignorant than I was before. One of the people you want to wake up who is waking up. Because I don't frequently look in the town's paper I didn't know about Mason and the Russos - nor do I know any dirt about him. Although it is good to know the developer who owned the paper later sold it to businesspeople who are not developers, I don't find that paper to be a bastion of good journalism, fairness or impartiality. Thanks for the education, All, and I will check out that article.
Jeff
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Permalink Reply by TJ on
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And we are glad you are waking up Jeff! It is frustrating that so many more people are not. How hard is it to write a letter or post on a message board? As for not finding the paper a bastion of journalism, if you say you don't bother to read it (and if you didn't know about mason and russo clearly you haven't read it at all in the last 6 months) then you can't really say much about it, but that article we linked to above is one of the ones that one an investigative journalism award for them (and theyre also the ones that did a lot of the reporting on mason and russo that you dont know about...) if your problem is that you find typos, get over that because you are missing important info that would educate you. The bright side is that we should take EVERYTHING in Hoboken with some cynicism for the source but the reporter no more than anyone else. I have met many many people with hidden agendas, but if you decide not to read any of the local news sources (reporter, jj, 411) you will probably miss things, although what georgia said about 411 censoring is very true - it is a website and not a newspaper that reports the facts. the reporter and the jj do not censor reader comments so you can leave the comments on their sites, as many have been doing lately. both of those news organizations have written many good stories about the administration, so if you stopped reading, start again. the growdswell is swelling!
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