All six chairpeople from Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano’s transition team sent the mayor their resignation at noon today, including Michael Novak, who actually ran as a City Council candidate on Cammarano’s ticket.
Cammarano said today in an exculsive interview that the transition team doesn’t govern and has no imput into governance, so the resignation shouldn’t at all affect city business.
“The directors are in place and are working,” he said. “I don’t know if it would have much effect at all.”
He said the transition team was to get him from “Election Day to inauguration day,” and said they were only advising the mayor and the directors “not in a governmental role, not in an official role.”
The other five members of the committe are Timothy Occipinti, Ken Ferrante, Jason Maurer, Eduardo Gonzalez, and Brian Kirrane.
Novak’s statement below:
As a former Council Candidate who ran on Peter Cammarano’s ticket, I feel that it is important for me to make my own views about last week’s disturbing events clear. On Saturday morning, I called Peter and encouraged him to resign the Office of Mayor immediately. There is no doubt in my mind that he can not possibly govern the City effectively under these circumstances. Therefore, I am calling for his resignation as I believe that is the best thing he can do for the City.
Here is the correspondence from another City Council candidate Timothy Occipinti, one of the six chairmen.
The events that unfolded last Thursday were both stunning and unsettling to the thousands of supporters that voted for Peter Cammarano during the mayoral election. As an independent council candidate who endorsed Cammarano, it is especially difficult. As I stated during my campaign, I believe our elected officials should stand for honesty, integrity, and character and it is time we hold them accountable for their actions.
Effective immediately I am resigning my position as a subcommittee chairman on the Mayor’s Transition Team. I can not in good faith support Mayor Cammarano’s decision to remain in office. The public trust entrusted to him as our mayor has been shattered.
I can not foresee how Mayor Cammarano can effectively carry out the duties and responsibilities required to fulfill the office of mayor at this time. I respectfully ask for the benefit of the residents of Hoboken that Mayor Cammarano resign. We need to move this city forward and work together to resolve the issues at hand.