Dear Editor:
When you peel away the layers of Mayor Zimmer’s disjointed diatribe against the Hudson County Democratic Organization you are left with certain incontrovertible facts.
At the same time Hoboken Democratic Chair Ravi Bhalla was supposed to be working to secure his committee members’ place on the HCDO line for the June primary election he was actually plotting a run for the General Assembly against the party. In the face of what can only be described as a Republican year, Democrats throughout New Jersey simply cannot afford infighting and internecine battles as we prepare to enter the November election cycle. We cannot afford “fair-weather” “Democrats-in-name-only” who feign to support the party’s values and platform but then jump at the chance to run against the party as soon as they see an opportunity to advance themselves.
Chairman Bhalla showed his true colors when he suddenly and without warning filed petitions to run against the Democratic Party. Such hostile anti-Democrat actions cannot be ignored and certainly cannot be rewarded with the party line for his allies. It’s as simple as that.
More importantly, Mayor Zimmer’s overwrought “conspiracy theory” that would have you believe that the world is plotting against her is a fantasy. Simply put, Ravi Bhalla and his county committee candidates were not afforded the county line because Ravi Bhalla chose to mount a campaign for assembly against the party. There’s nothing more to it than that. The imaginary machinations and so called “interference” involving Mayor Stack, Councilman Russo, Michele Russo and others never happened. Bhalla took himself and his allies out of contention by filing to run for assembly against the party. Either Mayor Zimmer is complicit in this blatant, anti-Democrat attack or she’s not in control of the Hoboken Democratic Party – either way they don’t deserve the Democratic line. Fortunately, Hoboken has many good Democrats who have stepped up to take their place and run. The people get a choice and there is nothing wrong with that.
Mark Smith
Chairman
Hudson County
Democratic Organization