HOBOKEN — Normally, the vocal bloggers in Hoboken who tend to support Mayor Dawn Zimmer agree with each other on most of the local political issues of the day. But today is a different day.
At last week’s City Council meeting, the council voted Zoning Board Chairman Tony Soares onto a seat on the North Hudson Sewerage Authority board, replacing MIchael Schaffer, who was arrested as part of the FBI corruption busts last year.
While the council majority voted in favor of putting Soares on the sewerage board, Zimmer herself said later that she was against the move, as it is a long-held “reformer” principle that someone shouldn’t accumulate too many power positions.
So do Soares’ two seats violate such reform principles?
Apparently, the issue set off a little dissention in the reformer camp in Hoboken — so much so that some blog commenters have said that 4th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz, who voted in favor of Soares’ appointment, could see this brought up when he runs for re-election this November. And so much so that the bloggers have exchanged barbs in the past day.
On Wednesday, a Zoning Board member who uses the nickname “The Grafix Avenger” defended Soares on her personal blog, apparently disagreeing with posts by fellow bloggers Mile Square View and The Hoboken Journal. You can read GA’s post HERE;.
In response, the author of The Hoboken Journal blog commented on the Avenger blog: “2) Tony specifically attacked me and my site for potentially damaging Mike Lenz’s campaign when his vitriol and his greed for more than one position have the potential to do more harm to Lenz’s campaign then any of my Jib Jab videos.”
Meanwhile, Lenz, for his part, wrote a letter on that blog as well as the Mile Square View blog, defending his vote for Soares and noting, “I was aware that the appointment included a small stipend and believed at the time that it included health benefits as well. I recognized that every applicant for the position, including Tony, might have considered that compensation as a factor in deciding to apply for the position…While I disagree with those who believe that individuals should not be permitted to serve on more than one board, I recognize that this is a genuine issue deserving of an open and honest debate. With 20/20 hindsight, I also recognize that the events of last Wednesday have raised an appearance issue that is troubling to many of my friends and supporters.”
So is there room for honest debate among the reformers, or could it be taken personally and widen a gap? The author of the Mile Square View blog, a fellow who posts to other blogs under the handle “Smarty Jones,” writes with more than a hint of equine sarcasm, “Our colleague Grafix Avenger has written a somewhat disturbing meandering defense of patronage, uhm I mean Tony Soares. It trots out histories of ‘accomplishments’ and makes a valiant call for the rehabilitation of the two timing board position holder (all with no apology from the guilty who made this mess mind you). … Hey, I thought we were all on the same side? Aren’t we anymore? Or are we now splitting reform officially into a new HudCo wing? That sure sounds enticing. Those guys really know how to take care of their own. Okay, they may get arrested by the dozens every few years or so by Chris Christie and his friends, the boys of summer down in Newark but hey can’t we all get along?”
What do you think of Soares’ two board appointments? Contrary to reform principals, or acceptable as long as they’re not paid slots? Comment below…