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Councilwoman Terry Castellano wasn’t lying when she said she made a mistake on EmailGate. With the actual document obtained exclusively by MSV, the details surrounding how a Mason political operative came to be included on a confidential legal request are revealed.

Castellano’s request went out on July 8th, Monday evening to Business Administrator Quentin Wiest and Corporation Counsel Mellissa Longo.

The email request reads like a political operative wish list for confidential and sensitive City information on legal cases and appeals.  The Old Guard Council and its paid political operatives have attempted to highlight Hoboken’s legal work for political advantage but the City has countered with its staggering win/settlement rate of 92% including several big cases netting over seven figures. Read More...

HHA Ed Carmelo Garcia and BFF Joe Branco are believed to have taken an HOLA bus without permission and are readying a trip to a Philadelphia suburb where they will take housing authority residents to protest outside Jake Stuiver’s home.

Garcia and Branco are unhappy with Stuiver who after being lambasted by Ruben Ramos political operatives and Carmelitos asked if a tabulation on how many thousands of dollars he’s gifted to the Hoboken Housing Authority be totaled. “He’s trying to make Carmelo look bad,” Branco complained.  “Carmelo doesn’t give money for events but he gets residents paid for vote-by-mail work like on the Tim Occhipinti campaign.”

All Aboard! Let’s go get Jake!

“The protest is not about me, it’s about the residents,” Carmelo Garcia said.  “We’ve also heard through one of our grapevines that our resident Hector Torres who writes letters to the Hudson Reporter on occasion for Beth Mason believes Jake has his baby, Hector Torres Jr.” Asked for more details on this rumor Garcia responded, “We’re going to bring baby Hector home to Vision 20/20 where a pot of gold will be awaiting him.” Asked who is going on the ride, Garcia said many Carmelitos would be joining and perhaps a HHA commissioner or two.  “I’ve invited Greg Lincoln to reconsider his recent vote for HHA counsel and will be presenting him another opportunity to vote my way,” Garcia said.  “I told him reconsidering would be good or something bad might happen to his vote like to Judy Burrell.” The bus is departing in front of the Sky Club at 10:00 am but residents are advised to arrive no later than 12:00 noon for departure after protesting Greg Lincoln and Dave Mello for voting for Vision 20/20 but not surrendering their apartments for Carmelo’s spokespeople. “We want good stuff,” Sondra Smythe said adding, “We plan to protest until we get all the good stuff.”

Talking Ed Note: This story is political satire. If you want to play a trick on a doofus, give it to Tim Occhipinti and have him read it as a letter in the City Council like when he did here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYxlZp65YwQ

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Hoboken Housing Authority Executive Director Garcia’s claim a 4-3 vote recorded in the meeting minutes last month in favor of reappointing HHA Counsel Charles Daglian counsel review is false with conclusive video from the HHA meeting last month.

In the exclusive video, HHA commissioner Judy Burrell clearly is heard on the phone voting “no” at the June meeting.

The Executive Director is claiming a vote at the July meeting approving its minutes with the incorrectly recorded vote is a legal pretext to seeking approval from an outside Hudson County attorney who may then approve the reappointment of Charles Daglian as HHA counsel. Read More...

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A Weehawken based political consultant and long time paid Beth Mason political operative is the individual identified on a sensitive legal email request to the Corporation Counsel office by Councilwoman Terry Castellano.

2015 Update: Barracato confirmed Nazi Truck Mastermind!

Days before the November election, James Barracato was working with Beth Mason on the Move  Forward BoE campaign hosted by the Mason Civic League office on upper Washington.  That  BoE slate became notorious for its use of the “Nazi Truck” showing videos of a Nazi swastika all  over Hoboken with attackson Kids First, Mayor Zimmer, council members Peter Cunningham,  Jen Giattino, MSV and Grafix Avenger.

Multiple sources confirm the name appearing on the email request is James “FinBoy” Barracato.

Barracato who sits on a board as a founding member of the Mason Civic League is also connected to a number of questionable and controversial Hoboken political activities on behalf of Councilwoman Beth Mason. Read More...

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In a breaking story on Hoboken Patch, Hoboken Housing Authority ED Carmelo Garcia friend Joe Branco threatened to sponsor a protest at Jake’s Stuvier’s home in Pennsylvania.

Branco himself sought a seat on the HHA but was rejected by the reform members of the City Council a little more than a year ago.

Joe Branco outside a City Council meeting he attended last year. The friend of HHA ED Carmelo Garcia says he’ll sponsor a vehicle to bus HHA residents to a protest outside Jake Stuiver’s home.

Stuiver moved to Pennsylvania this year and legally continues as an HHA commissioner in a holdover capacity.

Branco was quoted at the Thursday HHA meeting saying,

“I think Jake feels left out, that nobody’s protesting in front of his house in Pennsylvania.”


In the Monday Hoboken Patch story, Branco reconfirmed his willingness to bus residents to Jake Stuiver’s home for a protest.  In the story, Stuiver says he will not resign as requested in a phone call from Carmelo Garcia last Friday where he was “warned” things could get ugly. Read More...

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Hoboken Housing Authority Executive Director Carmelo Garcia following his never say die to get his way strategy against his bosses on the Board of Commissioners saw an effort to once again reappoint Charles Daglian as HHA counsel fail.

At this meeting, the minutes were in question as the recorded vote by most observers was clearly 4-3 with the reform oriented members voting against reappointment.  Judy Burrell already facing a police complaint by a resident believed to be in league with Carmelo Garcia on a cross-charges of harassment, corrected the vote recorded in the minutes saying she had voted for Daglian’s appointment. Read More...

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Late in the night as many in Hoboken were enjoying a summer evening, Corporation Counsel Mellissa Longo interjected late in a tedious council meeting itemization of how the legal office was being incorrectly subjected to abuse

Of course one primary target of that correction was Tim Occhipinti who has often dueled with the council and Longo insisting his legal prowess decide how any number of complex legal matters are handled  One of Occhipinti’s legal strategies offered is to combine cases unrelated to each other, another is to arbitrarily decide to stop fighting others and tell the law firm to stop working on a case. Read More...

The field and lights installation are moving to completion.

To contact Diana, please email gonza316@gmail.com
or call (732) 570-9841

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The sleepy summer weather apparently didn’t generate a memo to the council tonight as a it took its usual course becoming heavily political with the ninth seat open.  Lots of grandstanding, invective and bitterness from the usual quarters with doses of buffonery.

More complaints to push ahead Vision 20/20 once again with HHA ED Carmelo Garcia (still no plan but splashy t-shirts) and in an unexpected development the firm charged with the ongoing Monarch litigation – Maraziti
Falcon Healey as Special Legal Counsel failed in a 4-4 vote when Beth Mason and her Old Guard council members refused to fund the ongoing litigation.


Mason attempted to present another resolution in place of resolution 21 to fund Maraziti but in an attempt to classify it as an amendment, it failed passage.  A lowered amount of 10K (toward noise control work) to the increase of under 300K also failed and on the resolution itself Beth Mason, Michael Russo, Tim Occhipinti and Terry Castellano voted no putting the Monarch litigation in jeopardy.


The ramifications of failing to continue funding the legal fight against the Monarch project isn’t clear for the moment. It may depend on funds remaining from the original 150K authorization.  


This political game of not funding ongoing litigation was tried once about a year or so ago before by the Old Guard council members. When a special meeting was called to review each legal case and which ones they did not wish to fund, they refused to go on the record against any of them.


Beth Mason is asking for another meeting to repeat that game.  Why? Politics and election year. It’s an invitation to cause more trouble.  


For the moment, it’s the Monarch litigation in trouble.


Read More...