Dear Editor:
Councilwoman Beth Mason this week decried the tone of political discourse in Hoboken, specifically regarding comments by Zoning Board Chairman Tony Soares about her family.
Let me be the first to say that, having been friends with Beth and Ricky Mason and their two lovely daughters for many years now, I can attest to the fact that she has a wonderful, wholesome, loving family that spends lots of quality time together and are a joy to be around. I was proud to attend the bat mitzvahs of both her daughters, who have always impressed me with their intellect, talent, deep concern for others and maturity far beyond their years. I have always found Ricky to be a kind and thoughtful gentleman whom I hold in high regard.
While I do not believe Mr. Soares “attacked” the Councilwoman’s family, I share her view that people’s families should not be dragged into politics, and that the tone of our political climate needs to change. I urge Ms. Mason to turn rhetoric into action by denouncing the various surrogates, consultants and blogs that have systematically worked to tear down — yes, even to the extent of attacking their families — anyone and everyone who disagrees with her and/or supports Mayor Zimmer and the City Council majority.
From the “expose” on Kim Glatt’s personal finances to the hit job alleging Keith Furman to have a nefarious agenda for having the audacity to criticize Ms. Mason on the municipal budget to depicting Mayor Zimmer as a chimpanzee and mocking Mr. Soares’ height, the local blog known for relentlessly toeing the Beth Mason line and attempting to incinerate anyone who doesn’t is something Ms. Mason can no longer appear to condone if she is to have any credibility calling for civility. Her unofficial spokesman who at every council meeting calls pro-Zimmer public speakers disingenuous is promoting an environment in which some might shy away from speaking at meetings for fear of being attacked — something Ms. Mason, with her own personal track record of civic activism, should seek to stop immediately.
Having been involved with Ms. Mason’s mayoral bid last spring, I realized too late that we had been running a campaign whose negative tone was coming back to haunt us. Her fall special-election campaign was even worse.
Further exacerbating the ugliness of our political environment is Ms. Mason’s penchant for issuing misleading statements about her council colleagues and many important issues. For example, her statements about the municipal garage have been designed to scare people into thinking it might get moved to Eighth and Hudson Streets, when she knows full well that the bond ordinance had nothing to do with moving it anywhere, and in fact the money cannot be used to do so. Publicly attacking Council President Peter Cunningham’s wife — while the Cunninghams were attending her mother’s funeral, no less — was also unfortunate.
Councilwoman Mason is right to want to improve our political discourse. She is in an ideal position to lead by example by rethinking her own scorched-earth approach to politics.
Jake Stuiver