Dear Editor:
It’s another year. The Chinese say it’s the Year of the Ox, but Hoboken’s politicos think it’s the Year of the Demagogue. Hoboken’s huge municipal tax increase has angered many citizens and our ox-like politicos have risen to the bait.
I recently went to a fund-raiser for Dawn Zimmer, who represents Hoboken’s Fourth Ward, where I live. Last year, she defeated incumbent Councilman Chris Campos. He was some piece of work! I met him one morning after Mayor Roberts appointed him to fill a council vacancy. I remember Chris carrying on about how great this country is, when a fellow from the projects could rise to such a prestigious position. The Mayor’s political machine poured funding into his re-election campaign. Everyone knew that a lot of this money came from well-heeled developers. It was obvious that the hapless Campos (later convicted of drunk driving) wouldn’t make an ideal member of the Council. Even Dawn could figure that out.
Now, this genius is running for Mayor! Naturally, she promises to cut taxes by “reducing salaries and benefits for elected officials.” A regular Huey Long, she is! And her announcement says she “will be running with a full slate of at-large council candidates.” Say what? Hoboken’s council has members elected by each of its six Wards and three (count-‘em, three) “at large” members elected by voters city-wide. Apparently, Dawn isn’t quite a rocket scientist. Somebody must have told her that running with a full slate of candidates might garner electoral support. But she couldn’t figure that a “full slate” should include enough candidates for the whole Council. She seems unfamiliar with the Council’s rules, too. At my urging, she introduced a resolution supporting national health insurance; she introduced one but failed to follow up. She subsequently failed to return my phone calls on the subject, taking a page from Mayor Roberts’ well-worn book on how not to relate to constituents, further demonstrating unfitness for that office.
Also attending Dawn’s party was one of our town’s largest politicians. A decade ago this big guy was campaign manager for Roberts’ original mayoral bid. Back then, I was interested in the pay-to-play issue and approached the big guy, urging him to get the Roberts slate to back legislation banning political contributions from people doing business with the city. What a waste of breath: the big shot offered only “lip service.” Roberts and his crew opposed this needed reform, which was later enacted by a 9 to 1 majority in a referendum. At the fund-raiser, after I told this person about Dawn’s shoddy handling of the health reform resolution, he bent my ear for 10 minutes, saying the subject was not appropriate for the Council (he must have forgotten that he used to be one of Roberts’ finance people, and later, Hoboken’s budget problems came from failure to predict the high premiums of the city’s pricy private insurance policy). I assume that the big man gave the same advice to Ms. Zimmer, who claims that he is not among her advisers.
Mayor Roberts should be replaced. Unfortunately, Ms. Zimmer isn’t qualified.
John Glasel