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Coming on the back of the appellate court hearing yesterday in the saga of Jim Doyle’s frozen council seat comes this Star Ledger story showing the additional pain of Hoboken people being sued by the Old Guard council members – icing on a bad cake when it comes to insurance payments after Superstorm Sandy.

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The eternal council at-large seat with Jim Doyle’s name on it since February will come to a head in a hearing later this morning in the NJ Appellate Court.  Last fall, the Old Guard council implemented a ruse where Beth Mason and Michael Russo would avoid successive council meetings to create uncertainty in a tie-breaking vote by the mayor when Doyle was originally appointed.

The manufactured legal logjam led to Hudson Superior Court Assignment Judge Peter Bariso walking the City Council members through the process, ordering them to show up and vote.  He then examined the vote and concluded no “gamesmanship” should be permitted in the state vacancy law and officially upheld the Doyle appointment early this year. Read More...

Guest of the Stable bludiamonds submits for your consideration:

Good day my friends! Tis I, the bluest of diamonds, at your service! Yes, I realize I’ve been out of the public eye for a while, but rest assured, I’ve been keeping my blu behind just as busy as can be. As you know, there is a mayoral election this year, and I’ve been doing everything in my power to get my one true Counte$$ to dust off the ol’ street-cash suitcase yet again and prove to the people of Hoboken once and for all that just like King Arthur, she is the once and future Counte$$ for all to behold!  Alas, I have had no luck in my endeavors. Apparently Counte$$ is actually a little tapped out right now after bankrolling a slew of failed election campaigns (she was never a big Steve Fulop fan anyway – the schmuck got himself attacked with that Jewish-hooknose ad Healy ran with Counte$$’s money because, unlike Counte$$, Fulop never had the good sense to don a cross and an Italian surname in certain circles and not be so darned Jewish all the time). 


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Kickoff events for political events are notoriously predictable affairs.  Supporters show up and hear a boilerplate of the campaign, a fundraising plea and hobnob with the insiders who gin up the crowd and convey a sense of confidence suggesting victory lies ahead.

The Ruben Ramos kickoff lacked the sizzle of a mayoral bid and looked more like a HOLA kids or youth soccer event.  That was what the upstairs of Teak appeared to be when MSV was asked to sign in. Not even before sign in was done, who appeared but the former fourth ward political operative Nick Calicchio, a Bayonne resident better known by the Hoboken public for having

Peter Cammarano in his wedding party last September Read More...

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Billed as a Ruben Ramos mayoral kickoff, long time Old Guard political operative Calicchio tried to intimidate MSV to leave at the ‘orders’ of Ruben Ramos.

MSV declined Calicchio’s orders and told him to keep his hands off or the police would be called.

This time he didn’t threaten to whip out handcuffs and use them like he had in a City Council meeting. Eduardo Gonzalez waved hello, but fellow council member candidates Laura Miani and Joe Mindak weren’t visible. Read More...

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After the exchange in yesterday’s video where a tactical race card was thrown down for the second consecutive time in two council meetings, Councilman Michael Russo opted to add to it tossing in a pillow case and a Ku Klux Klan “hood” for good measure.

This led to more discussion where Councilman David Mello spoke about his efforts working with impoverished people.  He’s a teacher working in the South Bronx.  Russo derided it as not being in Hoboken.

Interjected was the Hoboken fires where dozens of people murdered in Hoboken arsons, many women and children decades and Mello asks Director Carmelo Garcia to detail a recent funeral of a former senior city official he chose not to attend who he felt was connected to the arson. Read More...

Here’s Episode II of Michael Russo’s “How I’m losing out on a developer deal so you get called a racist” game.

Following inane remarks by Timmy Occhipinti, the writing on the wall is clear to Michael Russo support for an “emergency” PILOT for a developer’s HHA plan is not passing.

He decides to whip out week two of the race card.  This time he adds a pillow case, scissors and the Ku Klux Klan.

While this was part of an orchestrated backup if intimidation to pass the project failed, later Russo would truly be angered when he is told to “desegregate” his building and give up his apartment. Read More...

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Like the Twilight Zone, another “emergency” twenty year PILOT plan for Vision 20/20 found its way to the City Council after midnight again with Executive Director for the HHA, Carmelo Garcia, his advisor and developer RPM making a pitch for two resolutions see approval.

The City Council was under pressure to evaluate and approve the first phase without an overall plan to consider.  The Vision 20/20 plan has proposed a massive expansion impacting all of Hoboken with large expansion into the third and fourth ward. Read More...

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A failed 4-4 vote on HHA candidate Barbara Reyes led to the controversial political environment in recent housing authority meetings coming to the City Council.

Councilman Michael Russo during the contentious battle for political control over the Hoboken Housing Authority laid out an attack on Council President Peter Cunningham saying “You’re not Jesus Christ.”

Michael Russo took the Lord’s name in vain while playing HHA politics. It follows his “racist” charge from the last meeting. Well he has to get in his election speeches.

The taking of the Lord’s name in vain came with his asking legal opinion on Councilman Ravi Bhalla’s comments earlier on a housing authority candidate. Read More...