According to the HobokenJournal blog, Michele Russo, the mother of 3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo who has been very involved in town politics in the past, sent out an e-mail to her friends and supporters the day before the election encouraging not to vote for Peter Cammarano. She blames him for nasty campaign literature that was posted around town before the election, linking Beth Mason – who was endorsed by the Russos – to former Mayor Anthony Russo, Michael’s father, who served time for taking bribes from a contractor. Apparently, the dirty campaigning went so far that people put nasty stickers all over the Anthony Russo Civic Association, which raises money to charitable causes (and yes, gets involved in political ones as well.)
Here is an excerpt: “…But this is not about that. I am asking ALL MY FRIENDS to NOT VOTE FOR PETER CAMMARANO. I’m not asking you to vote for Beth, although I believe she is the best person for the job and has the best ticket. This is about asking my friends to NOT VOTE FOR CAMMARANO. He has made this very personal to me. They put corruption stickers all over the windows of the club and on my brother’s brand new camry. It actually took the paint off the car. So this is definitely an all time low for Hoboken politics.”
Kurt of the HobokenJournal blog asks an interesting question: Why would she have to say “I’m not asking you to vote for Beth?”