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Have you ever wanted to give back to the community but didn’t know how? So did I, that’s why 8 years ago I created the Senior/Junior Prep Day, an exciting volunteer effort to bring together various members of the community to meet with the junior class of Hoboken High School to help them plan the next phase in their lives. Volunteers from all walks of life gather in the High School gym to meet with the students (either one on one or in small groups) to discuss resume writing, interview techniques, what to wear to a first interview or just to chat about your job.
Participating in Junior Prep Day is your chance to really make a difference in the life of a Hoboken High School Junior! Come share your life experience with some fresh young faces….you won’t regret it. Guaranteed!
Last Sunday, the fact of Councilman Mike Russo’s meeting with the same FBI informant who’s cooperation led to a string of arrests and convictions in NJ and Hudson County produced not a sound on the issue from his city council allies.
Councilwoman Beth Mason who has been known to cry foul in what she typically calls any “appearance of impropriety,” shows no interest whatsoever in the fundamental issue of corruption regarding her ally Mike Russo.
| Beth Mason and Mike Russo want to do an investigation. Their witch hunt may differ with what the public has in mind worth investigating. A Mason mailer just mentioned Mike Russo’s father ineligibly receiving taxpayer benefits for one. |
Other than sending out a press release on college basketball, Beth Mason has chosen to team up with Mike Russo to begin an investigation – an investigation they say is required due to the “politicization,” of the city website.
The city website has been overhauled completely from the days where former Mayor Roberts would be shown in half a dozen pictures doing ribbon cutting ceremonies on the home page and not much else. It now features a number of innovations such as tracking the City HOP system, a new text based system for hailing taxi’s, online registration for recreation among others.
http://www.hobokennj.org/
Last week, the Hudson Reporter was first in picking up on Sunday’s MSV story on Mike Russo’s secret meeting with Solomon Dwek. Russo claimed the story was old and had been reported earlier but as MSV noted earlier, no reporter confirmed any previous story on the matter.
Talking Ed Note: The Mason-Russo team wants to do an investigation? Well there’s plenty worth investigating. How about an investigation into the paid health benefits to ex-mayor Anthony Russo? Is there anything else worth investigating?
Beth Mason just sent out a mailer in the second ward mentioning the issue of the taxpayer benefits that should not have been paid out to Mike Russo’s father. She makes some odd connection of that to the surplus. Wonder how kindly the ‘Association,’ will take to that?
The City Council agenda is out for Hoboken’s meeting next Wednesday and apparently Mike Russo and Beth Mason have finally come up with an idea to try and make the Hoboken public forget the revelation of the 3rd ward councilman’s secret meeting with an FBI informant almost two years ago.
They have declared war on the mayor’s communication manager’s and chief of staff’s emails demanding they be turned over to them as “the Council believes that a full investigation into an apparent abuse of tax dollars is warranted.” The apparent abuses are not stated or listed other than a claim communications “have become highly politicized.”
Local Hoboken websites’ comments by the public on Mike Russo’s defense have been relatively silent since the Sunday revelation in MSV of the 3rd ward councilman’s meeting with the same FBI informant who sat with Peter Cammarano, sending the ex-mayor and the 3rd ward councilman’s campaign manager to prison.
Mike Russo claims he never accepted a bribe but he has failed to explain why he was reported in “The Jersey Sting” accepting a series of offers on surveillance tapes for money beginning with a $5,000 payment and a reason he never reported the illicit cash offer to the authorities. The surveillance tapes, according to the co-authors may be released based on a decision in the near future.
Hoboken Patch has been lightning fast with the Mason-Russo charges posting its story: http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/council-president-wants-mayors-staffers-e-mails
Hoboken mayor-in-exile Beth Mason announces
The surprise announcement my council ally Mike Russo will not be seeking another term as 3rd ward councilman is both a shock and a sad day for all of Hoboken. Together we have forged an undying tie to make Hoboken into a more vibrant community with lower taxes, stronger developer arrangements, better subsidized housing pilots, and less heavy objects littering our parking utility, re: quarters.
Although Councilman Russo’s absence will be a huge loss to the City Council, I’m confident my finding his replacement will continue our tremendous progress. Although Mike will be missed by family and friends and all of Hoboken in City Council, he leaves Hoboken in good hands. I am confident and ready for the challenge to take on the added responsibilities at Church Towers and the 3rd ward and prepared to better deliver for those who expect and deserve additional compensation from Hoboken taxpayers.
For now we will move to maintain the quality of oversight in the Finance subcommitte by appointing Tim Occhipinti its chair. As part of the quality control, I will make sure to check his homework to be sure he has carried over all the proper one’s to the next column.
Hoboken can be confident it’s future remains in the most competent and capable hands as I lead its City Council government. As I move to obtain volumes of Hoboken government documents, my team of hired minions stands ready to subvert the efforts of the duly elected government in whatever vindictive and petty arrangement possible. Know that if they can’t find something, they are brilliantly creative enough to make something up and post it on Hoboken411.
Please join me in wishing Councilman Mike Russo all the success he has earned in his new endeavors. His contributions to Hoboken will never be forgotten.
Bet
Councilman Mike Russo announces:
Although my service to Hoboken has been clear to both 3rd ward and Hoboken residents alike over many years, it has become fairly obvious with the recent incidents surrounding my family that it would be best if I no longer seek or hold public office. I’ve already released this earlier to my friend at Hoboken411.
The controversy over my misunderstood appearance in a public New Jersey restaurant as stated in a recent book, The Jersey Sting along with the innocent mistake of health insurance benefits paid on behalf of my father have made my service in Hoboken untenable. After much thought, my family and I have decided it’s best to take a different tact and are looking to relocate to Florida.
While I feel my dedication to Hoboken is unparalleled on the City Council, my family is uncomfortable with recent events and the direction and actions by my one time political ally Beth Mason. While the concept of one united Hoboken holds great appeal, competence must be the ultimate decider of how we act as a community. Although I differ with some of my council colleagues on the City Council and the mayor on occasion, there’s little comparison to the equitable handling of the chair by Beth Mason’s predecessor Councilwoman Carol Marsh.
Becoming a father has made me realize I want peace above all in my life. The continued questions on my meeting a known con man and though I spurned his efforts, the harassment of me and my family will obviously continue into the future indefinitely. The recriminations are clearly not going away for me and my family. I appreciate all the support from my family and friends in this decision as I move to take the next step in my professional life and do what’s best for everyone involved. In the end, because I have always cared for and done what’s best for Hoboken, there is no other alternative.
As my name remains on the ballot for the May 10th election, I’d ask my friends and neighbors in the 3rd ward to exercise restraint and not vote for me as I will not serve if asked or chosen. My decision is final.
Thank you everyone for all your kind support in making Hoboken better. I look forward to thanking each and every one of you for all your hard work in joining me to make Hoboken the great community it is today.
The fallout from The New Jersey Sting’s exposure of Councilman Mike Russo, less than a week old is being compounded by the antics of Beth Mason’s minions including the release of a police report on Hoboken411 – this according to a source on Grafix Avenger.
For the second time in a week, a source claiming inside knowledge on the thinking of the Russo family suggests there’s big tempers flaring with the release of the police report on the incident involving a city bus driver and Transportation Director Ian Sacs last week. According to the source, the leak of the police report by source(s) within the department sympathetic to the Russo’s was not meant to be published.
The source, code named Deep Uvula remarked harshly on the utter vapidity of Beth Mason’s political operatives who will do almost anything to inflict even kamikaze gnat like attacks on Mayor Dawn Zimmer to impress their paymaster on Hudson Street. Grafix Avenger conveyed the sentiment of the source on her website earlier today:
Now that the Jersey Sting authors have reconfirmed their source tape and again addressed the matter of another Russo acceptance of the loot, this time the Mike Russo version – we’re on to reviewing other tape.
Why? Because it’s just so quiet out there. How is a political consultant to make any coin when they can’t issue a press release on behalf of the biggest politician paying person in town? Can’t a political consultant get a dime?
Of course the silence we’re hearing from the army of consultants from Councilwoman Beth Mason is raising quite alarming concern. How can her army of consultants be expected to feed their families if all they get to write about is college basketball?