Dear Editor:
For a small town like Hoboken, the amount of money that pours into the Mayor’s political coffers is staggering. Since he was elected to office in July of 2001, Mayor Roberts has brought in about $590,000 in contributions to the Hoboken Democratic Party and Hoboken United, the two political organizations that he controls. The list of contributors reads like a virtual who’s who of individuals and firms doing business with the City of Hoboken.
In the past two months, political power broker Donald Scarinci of Scarinci & Hollenbeck donated $11,000. Scarinci & Hollenbeck provides Corporation Counsel for the City of Hoboken. Law partners of State Senator Bernard Kenny at Sarkisian, Florio & Kenny contributed $17,500 since August of 2002. This firm is the favored one for much of the litigation that is undertaken by the City. This year, William Kersey of Schoor DePalma, the engineering consultants to the Hoboken Zoning Board, wrote checks totaling $11,750. Since the beginning of the year, nearly every developer doing business in Hoboken provided funding for the Mayor’s Hoboken United candidates for Board of Education and City Council. Leading the way were Dean Geibel with $18,200, Daniel Gans with $15,500, Michael Sciarra with $12,000 and Dil Hoda with $10,000.
Applied Companies and SJP Properties have both been negotiating with the City of Hoboken over development rights on Block B at Hoboken’s south waterfront. Michael and David Barry of Applied have together contributed $5,000 since last fall. Steven Pozycki of SJP has contributed $4,900 since Roberts was elected. Stevens Institute of Technology, a nonprofit academic institution has a number of development proposals pending before the City of Hoboken. Since Mayor Roberts was elected, Stevens representatives — President Harold Raveche; Trustees Lawrence Babbio, Jr., Steven Schumann and Stephen Boswell; attorneys Anthony Coscia and Rinaldo D’Argenio; and architect Demetri Sarantitis — have contributed regularly, an amount totaling $13,550.
This raises a number of troubling questions. How democratic a system can we have in town when those in power amass such a war chest? How effective can the City be in negotiating over Block B with the developers who support them so generously? How do we know that the approval of a developer’s application before the Planning or Zoning Board has not been bought and paid for? Will the City Council’s vote on Stevens Institute’s proposed R-1(E) amendments to Hoboken Zoning Ordinance be unduly influenced by Stevens’ support of the Mayor’s candidates to the Council? How will these donations affect the final outcome of Hoboken’s Master Plan? Is there any wonder why the City of Hoboken issues so many no-bid contracts when it owes so much to so many?
This must change. Strict legislation needs to be put into place to limit or prohibit campaign contributions from firms which have business pending or contracts with the City of Hoboken. The public must be ensured that their interests are being represented and protected by our local government. Political debts owed to special interest groups must not dictate how our City creates policies and makes decisions.
Sincerely yours,
Ron Hine