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Upstart Amy DeGise, a late entrant to take on Hudco powerhouse Brian Stack for HudCo Democratic Committee Chair won a smashing victory in Kearny High School tonight.

The margin of victory: 452 vs. 360 votes as she tallied over 400 Democratic committee members. There are 24 provisionals believed to be added to Brian Stack’s final numbers but it will not alter the outcome.

Brian Stack is “Chasing Amy” no more.

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla was there and saw the defeat firsthand as the Stack insurrection was defeated. Read More...

The assemblage of party insiders are arriving in Kearny for the Hudson County Democratic Chair vote and the scene is best described in G rated terms as a political circus.

An observer described it saying “it’s pure insanity.”

Union City Mayor Brian Stack has brought down dozens of his supporters with astroturf signs reading, “Brian Stack for Chairman” in English and Spanish.

Does he think this is a rally in Union City?

One observer asked if they had ever seen anything like this, Hudson County or not quipped, “No, Stack is just an asshole.” Read More...

The finale to this sequel of “Chasing Amy” sees the upstart but intrepid Amy DeGise giving political powerhouse Brian Stack fits as the election tonight ticks off the final hours.

Amy DeGise is bucking the HudCo boys club, something former Mayor Dawn Zimmer never was able to dent but a historic opportunity lies on the horizon.

More whispers in recent days say the Ravi-Russo alliance is growing into more neotransactional deal-making as part of the Stack insurrection. Councilman Michael Russo who fought all manner of reforms in the last decade is rumored to be ticketed to be Hoboken Freeholder replacing Anthony “Stick” Romano. Read More...

Official release:

Official release:

With summer finally here, I just wanted to quickly update you on what’s been going on in and around City Hall…. STANDING UP AGAINST PREDATORY PARKING ENFORCEMENT After helping countless neighbors who had been incorrectly written parking tickets with time left on their meter, the Council recently passed my ordinance to safeguard against this unsavory practice.  The new law now requires the Parking Authority to wait two minutes from the time a meter expires before writing a ticket, thus ensuring that all data has been correctly relayed to and received by parking enforcement officers. It also is a signal to the administration that the City Council discourages what many like myself believe to be predatory parking enforcement.  This is not by any means “free parking” rather a check on administrative authority to ensure all relevant information has been considered before writing a ticket. BUDGET IN THE BAG  In May, the City Council approved a $118.6 million budget that was exactly the amount requested by the mayor, but we were able to tighten up spending and reallocate funds to secure needed funding for: A new city engineer and construction manager for all our infrastructure projects. Technology upgrades to help modernize our recreation and rent control departments Safety at intersections to study and install more stop signs Historic preservation design guidelines – a long overdue first step in preserving our historic architecture.   And though I advocate for all of Hoboken, I am specifically elected to represent my home district, the First Ward — and fighting for the first, I was able to secure funding for two important neighborhood projects, a new First Ward dog park and improvements to Court Street….  A DOG PARK ON HUDSON STREET @ GARAGE “B” For too long dog owners in the dense southeast have not had an adequate place for our K9 companions to play, and as a result we’ve seen an uptick in dog waste along our streets. A conceptual rendering of what the dog park could look like.  More detail will be made available as planning gets underway.   In this years budget we’ve allocated money to turn currently underutilized city property on Hudson between 1st and 2nd and turn it into a much needed dog run. Unlike other municipal dog runs, this one will be covered in permeable turf and not gravel so our dogs won’t come home covered in mud. This combined with the rollout of new garbage cans should help the administration combat rogue dog waste.   REHABBING COURT STREET After we earmarked money in last year’s budget, the City will finally begin fixing the sidewalks abutting court street this summer.  The disrepair of the sidewalks has long been a detriment to seniors, families with strollers, the disabled…and just about everyone that walks by.  Additionally, in this year’s budget, I secured funding for a complete engineering study of Court Street – a long overdue action plan on how to best repair and preserve our city’s most historic street.  I will keep you up to date  as planning gets underway.  THE TAX INCREASE NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT As I mentioned, the City Council approved the mayor’s request of $118.6 million and you’ve always known me to be upfront and honest with you, so I’m going to say something you won’t hear from anyone else  — our taxes went up. You won’t see any impact to your individual tax bill though and the reason is something you need to be aware of as we move forward — the City added $1.6 million in new residential construction over the past year and for the first time in eight years, we dipped into our “rainy day fund” by $1.4 million.  So the rise in taxes was covered by more residents using practically the same amount of city services while tapping into our emergency savings.   The biggest cost-driver was health insurance, which increased almost $3 million.  In response, the Council passed a resolution urging the mayor to go to market and solicit competitive bids and see if our current broker remains the best deal for the City.  Surprisingly, the last time we shopped around for a competitive insurance contract was over four years ago and if the mayor is interested in cutting costs, we should start here.  Also of note, the mayor’s office substantially increased it’s operating line by 30 percent — the first major increase in almost eight years.  Contrary to state hiring limits, the mayor onboarded a political supporter to act in the newly created and questionably needed roll of “deputy chief of staff”, even though he already had a “chief of staff”.  Carving out city jobs for political patronage at the taxpayers expense is everything that’s wrong with local politics. COUNCIL STOPS ILLEGAL PAY TO PLAY, ACTS AS WATCHDOG WITH MAYORS SECOND JOB I endeavor to work with everyone, whether I agree with them politically or not, to ensure that policy always comes before politics.  Though I prefer to keep my goals set on ideas and collaboration, sometimes the reality of Soprano-state politics  confounds me and I simply refuse to stay quiet. In April, I spoke out against Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s acceptance of a donation that wasn’t just over campaign finance limits, but also because he attempted to give that very same vendor a $50,000 City Contract — which if approved, would have been a stunning breach of pay-to-play.  The City’s legal department not only failed to catch the campaign finance violation, but the mayor himself didn’t disclose the information and acknowledged fault only after I spoke publicly about the conflict.  The same department that failed to catch this violation are the same lawyers that are charged with acting as an oversight authority and ensuring the mayor’s second job at a politically connected zoning and land use law firm.  Given the mayors unprecedented decision to hold this second job, I will be introducing an ordinance at tonight’s meeting to create transparency and see what, if any, conflict Mayor Bhalla’s very active legal career has with his position as our mayor.   OBSERVER HIGHWAY… FLOOD WALL? Hoboken is planning to construct an eleven-foot tall industrial flood wall parallel to Observer Highway over the next two years. This levy will be funded by $230 million in federal grants with the goal of making our city more flood resilient. Though it is imperative that we remain committed to protecting Hoboken against future storm surges — the placement of the wall is ill conceived. I am advocating to see this plan amended to simply set the wall back from the roadway and allow for a future pedestrian promenade and East-West waterfront connectivity. Placing the wall closer to Observer may also prevent Hoboken Terminal from being reimagined as a European-style market as the approved rail-yard redevelopment would literally be walled off. If we leave the plan as it is, all we’d get is, well…a wall.  Please click here to sign a petition advocating to set back the wall.   STANDING UP FOR EQUALITY   When I first took my seat on City Council our Human Rights Campaign: Municipal Equality Index score was 51% — second lowest in the state next to Patterson.  After speaking out about this failing score and butting heads with the previous administration about it, I’m happy that we’re now at 92% and stand to score a perfect 100% this year. In April the City Council passed an ordinance sponsored by myself and Councilwoman Jabbour requiring all single-user bathrooms to be gender neutral. Concurrently, I was proud to sponsor a resolution with Councilwoman Giattino for more city services geared towards LGBTQ senior citizens and the transgender community. I was also happy to see Mayor Bhalla do what the last administration failed to — show support to the transgender community and sign an executive order acknowledging that gender identity is not a choice.   I don’t play identity politics because there’s no gay, straight or trans way to fix a pothole. I may not agree with Mayor Bhalla politically and am deeply disappointed that he excluded me from speaking at the recent LGBTQ flag raising, but together we are products of Hoboken’s inclusive spirit and agree on equality….for everyone. EXPANDING SIDEWALK CAFES Dining alfresco is synonymous with summer in the city, but believe it or not the bureaucracy and dated zoning governing sidewalk cafes has prevented many from opening up.  I am proud to have worked with Council President Ramos and the administration on a long overdue ordinance that now gives restaurants more flexibility in establishing outdoor service areas.  Doing so helps small businesses succeed and gives us all more opportunities to enjoy our city’s streets this summer. Have some fun in the sun! Your Councilman, Mike DeFusco Hoboken City Councilman P.S. Should you ever need anything, please email me at Mike4Hoboken@yahoo.com or call me at 646.372.4341. News Council President Ruben Ramos & Councilman Mike DeFusco: ‘Time for transparency on Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s second job’ 06/07/201801/22/2021 by SmartyJones1 Min Reading Official release: Statement from Council President Ruben Ramos and Councilman Mike DeFusco regarding their ordinance to mandate greater transparency regarding Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s second job at a politically connected law firm: “Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s decision to break a campaign promise and accept a second job at a politically connected law firm put Hoboken in an unprecedented position and opened the Mayor’s Office to serious legal and ethical questions. We’ve given the Mayor four months to address the concerns presented but he has chosen to respond only with silence. This ordinance endeavors to bring transparency to the situation by ensuring that taxpayers know whether or not the Mayor’s second job is leading to any potential conflicts that could impact his official actions.  Read More... News Nanny State Cometh: Ravi Bhalla shovels plastic bag ban with special “exemption” he’ll allow 06/07/201801/22/2021 by SmartyJones1 Min Reading =&0=& The Hoboken City Council passes the vast majority of what the Ravi Bhalla Administration places before it but this time it may have gone too far. Ravi Bhalla put up an ordinance to ban plastic bags in Hoboken. In addition to that Nanny State Wet Dream, he’s added a poison pill. Only he can offer an exemption to the ordinance. Can you say =&1=& three times in a row? Talking Ed Note: The City Council passed Ravi Bhalla’s ban the plastic bag ordinance on first reading by a vote of 9-0 proving that diversity only extends to colors and not thinking. Conformity of thought is what we’re seeing here with political correctness running amok tied with a bow of potential political corruption. This Portlandia episode to Ban the bag was published by MSV on its YouTube channel in 2012. It’s easily the most popular video exceeding over 309,000 views. No one on the Hoboken City Council apparently has bothered to watch it. Common sense has escaped them as they kowtow to Ravi Bhalla and his mighty sword of political correctness, with a handy exemption he decides, don’t ya know. Read More... News Sign of the Times: ‘Brian Stack eats Hoboken’s money’ 06/06/201801/22/2021 by SmartyJones2 Min Reading Back in 2011, my friend and colleague Kurt Gardiner, a Hoboken Democratic Committeeman, published this cartoon at the Hoboken Journal when Reform lived and he a fledging Freeholder candidate was vying against the HudCo Machine. Big news is breaking out all over. The primaries for Hoboken and Hudson County were anti-climatic less the reports from the street of an insurgent campaign on behalf of Mayor Ravi Bhalla. An untold number of people reportedly wrote-in Mayor Ravi Bhalla for Congress to propel his political ambitions forward. In West New York, Mayor Felix Roque who sided with State Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack’s insurrection to take over HudCo saw a slaughter for Democratic committee. Stack and Roque lost fully 46 of 50 contested committee seats among 58 overall. There are reports Congressman Albio Sires held a victory party but called it a victory not for himself but for upstart Hudson Democratic Committee candidate =&0=&. Ouch. It could be worse. SpyGate’s exploding as the Russia Collusion Hoax is imploding and the HudCo civil war band played on. =&1=&: The Hudson County View published its story on all the gory news of the outcome. It’s looking rather bleak for the HudCo insurrection led by Brian Stack and his civil war allies Ravi Bhalla and Steve Fulop. Amy DeGise appears in the video of the Congressman Albio Sires victory party. In a statement she wrote, “Tonight Democrats in West New York and Harrison delivered a strong statement we will not allow our party to be taken over by the Stack machine and that we want progressive, inclusive leadership that puts everyone’s interests first, not just one city’s.”