Andy and Hobo, I don't think your differences are that great. And Hobo is right, he didn't say 411 had a great influence, but there are some people out there who believe what ever is posted on the site even though it filters out a lot of anti-mason opinions and information, and emphasizes info about her enemies.

Andy is right that many people saw this comign and tried to point it out before it turned into the reformers cannabalizing themselves, but egos won out over reason. Why can't Lenz and Bajardi and Soares and Jim Vance or whoever else is involved get along? Because some of them (not all) just want power.

Re: Andyboken, happy talk about 'reaching out to everyone' is great for politicians. But fact is the major problem in Hoboken's financial mess is a zero sum game. If the well off people living in Church Towers virtually tax free, bloated top heavy Hoboken City govt agencies, similar BOE, aren't going to absorb pain, taxes aren't coming down, in fact will probably contine to rise. And I think taxes in Hoboken are too high. Some may thing they are just fine or should be higher, fair disagreement if so, but it's not about 'reaching out' or not.

Those are the groups Mason seems to align herself with now, and those are the groups which called the shots under Roberts (and before Roberts, I've lived here a long time). I want taxpayers to call the shots *for once* in this town.

On 411, where did I say it had such great influence? But OTOH I haven't seen it stated publicly many times if at all that the site is a fraud, so I think it worth pointing out. Websites with an opinion are just fine if they permit open comment about their articles; or if they simply say no comments, here's my opinion. Websites that invite comments then filter out those they don't like, and deny doing it are frauds. 411 is a fraud, just pointing it out, not saying it's the biggest issue in the world, not saying anything in Hoboken is!

UPDATE: A RESPONSE FROM RAUL MORALES II

As a candidate for City Council I am completely engaged in meeting voters and discussing the vision Beth Mason and I share for one Hoboken. I would like to take this time to categorically deny the insinuation that I was in any way campaigning for any candidates for School Board. Mr. Bhalla’s assertions are false. I had a full schedule of events Tuesday afternoon, including volunteering at Ben and Jerry’s for the Jubilee Center and meeting voters along with Beth for several hours at Columbian Arms.



Sometime around 1pm I was leaving my home at 13th and Washington and stopped to briefly say hello to one of my neighbors who I am hoping will support the Beth Mason team. I recall briefly seeing Mr. Bhalla at that time.



As an attorney myself I think it is telling how Mr. Bhalla has decided to selectively word his statement in an attempt to leave the impression that I was campaigning without actually coming out and saying it. Mr. Bhalla should be ashamed for using this incident as a cheap political stunt to gain attention. Mr. Bhalla owes me, Ms. Garcia-Keim and Mr. Stuiver an apology.

Raul Morales II, Esq.

hobo87- I can agree to disagree with you. I'll say this though, how does Dawn plan to reach out to those who don't seem to fall under your umbrella? I for one don't want a candidate who will work only for a select few. We have that w/ Roberts and Company. On the 411 issue, I'm tired of hearing how 411 is the "devil". I used to read that website not for its politics but its take on the town shops and resturaunts and general life. I certainly don't take it for NEWS and I hope you don't think it is either. The Reporter is a newspaper. Its laughable that you think 411 holds that much influence over the town. My advice - make your own blog if you aren't getting what you want out of 411. Lastly, I am not a supporter of any candidate or H411 since that seems to be the smear du jour.

'Reformers' battling one another: I don't see what Mason's present campaign has to do with 'reform' or reformers. The basis of the dispute at the party (besides ego's etc) is Mason's have it both ways strategy wrt to KF slate in this case. She doesn't endorse them to avoid offending her new allies in Church Towers, the Russo's, the City and BOE employee vote, but then still wants to play 'reformer' once it's safe because KF won.

The other important lesson is what a fraud Hoboken411 is. There's never any byline on those highly slanted articles, and then the site owner censors out a lot of responses to give more room for the posts by the alias's who obviously are Mason operatives.

Completely agree with CDeVille. I saw this coming 4-5 months ago when no one had even announced they were running that the "reformers" would end up canibilizing themselves. You have a once in a lifetime oportunity to shake up the political machine and try to fix what's obviously broken in Hoboken. The last thing I want to see happen is we elect either Dawn or Beth and they end up dissapointing on their promises because they surrounded themselves with people only interested in taking the power for themselves. I'll say it again, Zimmer needs to do some damage control re her supporters and campaign staff. It takes 2 seconds for Lenz to appologize publicly and this news cycle dissapears but it seems egos are more important.

Very good points, General07030. Also here is Maureen Sullivans response from another blog, notice how she refuses to criticize anyone and all of sudden has no backbone whatsoever. Elected for two days and already refusing to take a stand against indecent behavior, she already has lost her famous backbone and has become a typical politician:

"I arrived at Maxwells with my family at about 9:30. The other candidates and supporters were at various locations around town. I was standing near the back door waiting for my phone to ring with results when Ines, who lives right across the street, and Jake arrived. We talked, they went inside.

At about 10:15 I got the call from Theresa with the good news. I went inside to finish my Bud (thanks Holly). Standing in the front room lounge near Ines, I could watch the back door as people posted around town began arriving. It must have been about 11 when I heard Mike Lenz start shouting that Jake was HudsonShark and Ines was (screen name) on 411. From my position, I couldn’t see hands on anyone or alleged headlocks. I rushed over and told Mike to knock it off. Tony Soares was right there but I don’t know whether he was saying anything. I didn’t notice Ravi. I apologized to Jake, who looked shell-shocked. When I turned around, Ines was already gone. When they were both outside, Jake called Theresa and she went out and talked to them.

Most people there that night missed it: it happened very quickly and in the lounge area, which is separated from the main bar.

Ines is a friend. She supported me this year and last year with donations in the school board races. I was happy that she had come by. (I was thrilled that so many people showed up for what turned out to be a great party both at Maxwells and later at the Malibu.) I have run into Jake maybe twice…both times he expressed his support for Kids First. During this campaign I have gotten to know Michael, Ravi and Tony. I appreciated their support and effort on behalf of Kids First.

I felt bad that people I had welcomed to what I believed was a big-tent party were coming under fire or, like Augusta, feeling uncomfortable. And as 411 said, I felt as though folks were raining on our parade. But it really was just a blip in the evening."

LOOK, the bottom line is that it is extremely rude to call someone out and make them feel unwelcome at a party where everyone is supposed to be celebrating. A tenet of Hoboken politics has always been you are polite to your political enemeies, even Russo and company would be inclusive even if they privately disagreed with you. If Mike Lenz acts like this over a perceived lack of political volunteering, is this what a Zimmer administration would be like? Non-inclusive? I question how much influence Lenz would have over her. He should apologize or she should apologize on his behalf.

Some may call this whole thing petty and not news, while I disagree because what is shows is the reason why reformers in Hoboken tend to go down in flames and the status quo keeps perpetuating. Wealthy Yuppies have egos. They start out claiming they want to change Hoboken, but they want power like anyone else, and when one of them gets powerful, the others want to knock them down, so you have Mason and Zimmer's supporters fighting with each other instead of getting along. And who makes out? The greedy pols who stay out of it.

So reformers, do not blame the political machine, blame yourselves. Blame the fact that these so-called reformers ally themsevles with machines. And blame their ego-driven supporters who can't be friends.

Although if you want to point a finger, the instigators in this case are kind of clear.