We’ll be adding more to this today but for those who are interested in the debate held at Stevens yesterday Amy Sara Clark, at Hoboken Now did a live blog of the event.  She captures the essence quite well of the candidate’s discussions.  But take a look as it’s been broken down into three parts.  Hoboken Now also has their feature on Councilwoman Beth Mason in their candidate series available.


Although it was not groundbreaking in most respects, there was new areas covered and it’s worth a look.  On the whole the event was somewhat lackluster as the big news was the Hudson Reporter reposting of a story on the budget’s availability.  An earlier story indicated the budget was available but as it turns out that was corrected with Judy Tripodi stating the budget will be available soon.  


The headline in the story initially came out as
“Tripodi says: Taxes are down, but Zimmer should have released budget” 


Then when reposted the story was headlined: 
UPDATE — Tripodi: Can’t release budget! (Don’t blame Zimmer)

It’s created more of an eruption than the debate probably will. We find ourselves in a unique position as a result.  Since we initially broke the story, we’ve had several conversations with the Hudson Reporter on this, (both of us interviewed the fiscal monitor the same day) and the last was mere minutes before the candidates began the debate and before the story was reposted under the new headline.  As that conversation was not on the record similar to our recent impromptu meeting with Councilwoman Beth Mason, we want to be measured and fair about it.  It’s blown white hot since it was initially published and then recast.  (We covered this earlier and it still remains valid.) Scroll down if you missed that piece, “Taxes are going down.”


Can everyone take a step back and please breathe deeply for 30 seconds?  Okay, relax. It’s mere days before the voters decide the matter.  


Kim Glatt handed a family smear
Can it possibly get any lower at the Hoboken411 cesspool?  You would think the dirty deed’s done on behalf of one campaign is enough, but apparently no, one must pay homage to one’s masters and take it to the next level of slime.  (Can we get a pump installed in time before it does us all in?)


The Hudson Reporter did a story on the matter from a different perspective: you know the family smeared.  That’s not something you get at all when you descend into the depths at that other blog.  Is this their self-proclaimed “political truth” too?  


The Glatt Campaign responded with a statement from Kim herself, “The Internet smear intimates that foreclosure equates irresponsibility.  I wonder if the politicians behind it would be so bold as to say the same thing to anyone in our community who has lost their job, is caring for a sick and aging parent, and is behind on their mortgage because of the national economy and local taxes that are outside of their control….I will not be deterred by anonymous political attacks that distort the truth.”













Censorship Rules at Hoboken411
We have to wonder are there not enough issues to differ on without bringing people’s families and personal finances into the discussion?  We were absolutely convinced with Hoboken’s current list of problems, that this is in fact the case.  By chance, we had an opportunity to voice our displeasure to both Kim and her husband in this regard who were gracious in our brief chat.  


Short of filing Chapter 11, this strikes us as inappropriate. And Nathan Brinkman provided his taxes over several years and invited other candidates to do the same just weeks back.  The invitation was met by a big yawn from many quarters.  One conclusion we can draw is the questions on the origins of the attack do not involve one of the two City Council members considered suspect.  That would be Dawn Zimmer who is running a positive, issues oriented campaign.  We’ll let the reader draw their own conclusion.


Speaking of Brinkman, we had the pleasure of chatting with Nathan Brinkman also another victim of one sided Hoboken411 abuse.  (Does it ever end, ever?)  After the birth of his son, we couldn’t even get an answer for weeks if the baby was a boy or a girl to merely extend congratulations and we’ve been in touch with his campaign since a chance meeting when his campaign was collecting petition signatures.  Yet the Brinkman family was charged with using their baby as a prop.  Stay classy H411. 


We’ll rely on the readers to let us know when the so called offer by Hoboken411 to do a retraction meets reality. Censorship is a highly guarded prize so we won’t hold our breath.
We don’t expect any candidate like so many other Hoboken residents will have an opportunity to respond there.  Ever.


Ironically, as we updated this piece, commenter daize mentions Hoboken411 is still in denial about the story we had on taxes and the budget with Judy Tripodi.  To the whole gang of operatives there, we can only say, “Sorry, reality bites.”


Talking Ed Note: For the record, this is a free speech zone.  Based on the guidelines we posted, there’s no limitation on a free exchange of ideas. It’s hardly been a secret and dissenting opinions are invited.  If the challenge rises to a wider level of interest, posting on the column as a guest instead of in the comments is also possible.  


We’d note that every single campaign has been extremely gracious and professional in our communications.  We’d only wish people supporting various campaigns could meet the same standard.  The Hoboken Journal highlighted an instance where apparently someone has gone too far and stole a large Zimmer sign.  NJ.com also is covering the story here.  The banner was apparently valued at $850.  Yipes.


If you haven’t done so already, take a look at a recent piece we posted, “Stepping back from the election heat.”