Strength, brand image, and 'reformers'
A baseball pitcher, a Swartzenegger quote, and Beth Mason's dilemma.
Red Sox (sometimes) pitcher Craig Hansen has bopped around from the major to the minor leagues. Like any ballplayer, he wants to stick in the bigs. Hansen has taken to constantly writing down the following quote from Arnold Schwartzenegger:
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
This idea is pertinent to Hoboken's 'reform' gang. They insist they are 'strong' because they recently won two elections. Of course, those elections were won not because of their organization, moral compass, or 'reform' message, but because they had the backing of the HCDO mob. These are the political bosses of Hudson County, and the 'reformers' are currying favor with them. This is the source of the 'strength' they brag about.
The HCDO has an interest in the 'reformers' so long as they'll operate in an mutually-agreed 'zone', putting on a show of 'reform' without actually interfering with business as usual. Mason, by contrast, is a real thorn in the side of the HCDO, and has quickly become a thorn in the sides of Cunningham and Zimmer as well. However, Mason also presents an opportunity for Cunningham and Zimmer.
The 'reformers' seek to demonstrate their value to the HCDO by undermining Mason while delivering 'reformer' votes to the HCDO. The process of villifying Mason has already begun (as attested by Cunningham's 'school board' letter blaming Mason for their slate's loss).
The key to being a 'reformer' is to control the brand. If just ANYONE can run as a 'reformer', with no tribute to the 'brand' holders, reformers have no power. That's why Tony Soares worked against Beth Mason and Scott Delea during their campaigns: Soares gained nothing from their wins. That's why Soares and others constantly troll local message boards under various assumed names, slandering rivals to prevent them from gaining any footholds to political office. Power is what it's all about, for a 'reformer'.
Beth Mason lacks the covert support the 'reformers' enjoy. No one will curry favor for her, no one will buy influence for her, and no one will ensure the outcome of elections for her. Her strength, if she finds it, must emerge from her struggle. And she has quite a struggle ahead of her.
The challenge the 'reformers' face is in destroying Mason in such a way that she will be blamed for the 'reformer split', leaving their own hands looking clean. The challenge for Mason will be in surviving despite having no real allies on the Council.
Labels: Beth+Mason, culture+of+corruption, hypocrisy, reformers
posted by Jeff Faria at 11:20 AM
7 Comments:
Mister Snitch welcome back did not know you were posting again.
Your themes are similar but have to tell you much has changed. Reform is defined not by people who claim the mantle here in Hoboken but by legislation put on the table.
Legislation defines the man, not the other way around. And so too for your new love interest Bet.
She didn't do much other than try to sabotage the city for a half year or so. Other than her failures to sabotage the city budget and force layoffs, she's a real winner.
As for Cunningham who you have a bone to pick with still, he's putting forward anti-wheeling legislation among other items.
In case you haven't noticed, the County has not exactly taken an endearing eye to Hoboken. Anything but.
Hoboken, its people and mayor stand alone now. The battle is being fought and it's not pretty but we may get a little bump from the ref to help us in the war.
In case you haven't heard, the FBI is in town.
(smile)
Best,
Da Horsey
This is actually quite an old post which I post-dated because it wasn't finished or I wasn't satisfied with it. I forgot about it and it auto-posted.
Cunningham was the recipient of an HCDO voting fraud, period. It was well-documented in the papers. It's a very rare case where the culprit - the lowest man on the totem pole - admitted frankly to the cops that he'd been told to vote for Cunningham.
Unsurprisingly, the 'reformers' found this extremely inconvenient and have covered up ever since. The gospel now is that the homeless guy who was paid to vote lied about who he voted for.
Problem with that is: The man isn't all that bright, and he's from Jersey City - where he'd have heard nothing about the race. He had no idea who was even running, and the people who paid him to vote were't looking to educate him in the nuances of the Hoboken race. They didn't say "Pull the lever for Cunningham, not Belfiore." They said "Pull the lever for Cunningham" and gave him the slot number. They also either handed him a slip of paper or wrote the instructions on his hand.
Funny how 'reformer' Cunningham never cared to look further into that election. No one argues that it was fixed. The 'reformers' are simply married to the lie about which side fixed it - the guy with zero money / organization or the guy who had HCDO backing. To be a good little reformer-boy I'm supposed to buy that the guy with no organization (Belfiore) was the guy who fixed that race. Yeah, right.
"And so too for your new love interest Bet"
Tiresome, juvenile, not even worth responding to. You'd better stay in your playpen, that's the only place that crap works.
I've seen your site a few times since the last time I spoke with you. I have zero respect for what you're doing, even though I agree with some things you have to say. Yes, the Russos are slime, Mason's got problems, and so on. But what you're doing is the laziest yellow journalism and cheap rumor-mongering I've ever seen. All you're doing is sitting around masturbating and congratulating yourself for it. Disgusting.
And it's hard to miss how allergic you are to even the slightest frisson of criticism. Which means you won't like this swift kick in the ass, even though the fact is I'd wager most of the folks in Hoboken have even less respect for you than I do. They just won't tell you to your face 'cause you'll throw one of your tantrums.
"All you're doing is sitting around masturbating and congratulating yourself for it. Disgusting."
*Snicker*
Horse isn't a bad guy but him and his ilk spin so far in favor of zimmer that they can't take any criticism, and tend to criticize even valid dissent. They do throw tantrums and then act like it's the other side who displays bad behaviour. It's sad really.
Too bad there are so few good guys.
I was going to say 'masturbating and patting yourself on the back', but it sounded, you know, unsanitary.
Some of the stances he has to take to cheerlead Zimmer are unreal. For example, his pillorying of Mason, Russo and Castellano for insisting the surplus be returned to the taxpayer. I don't like Castellano and Russo at all, and Mason seems to have a few screws loose. But the fact is, a 'reformer' is ON THEIR SIDE in this. That money belongs to the taxpayer, and NOT the city of Hoboken. And if the city finds itself strapped for cash, it should EXPLAIN why to the taxpayer, and ASK for the money.
Instead, that clown wants to hand them a blank check, because after all it's ZIMMER's blank check.
And you'd better believe, if ZImmer was trying to give that money back and Mason et al were blocking it, clownboy would be on the exact opposite side of the issue.
Zero integrity. None. Not worth reading, and I don't.
Smarty Jones came back with a witless, incoherent response to the effect that I'm mad at him because the FBI is 'after [me] and my friends'.
Yeah, I can see how it might look that way from the looney bin. Look, fella. You've got your own site to spin out your harebrained fantasies. Don't come trolling around here. I can't be bothered, and as you can see, I won't publish your crap.
Go 'way now - I hear it's Meat Loaf Night in the main cafeteria.
UPDATE: 'Smarty Jones' is sending me foaming-at-the-mouth emails now, simultaneously asserting that no one reads this blog (aside from him, I suppose) and demanding that his comments be aired in full. Of course, his site deletes comments regularly, but apparently his reasons are 'good' while mine aren't.
Sorry fella, but you actually have to have something worth saying to have a comment published here. Save your worthless drivel for your own site.
'Anonymous' (above) captured the situation brilliantly:
they can't take any criticism, and tend to criticize even valid dissent. They do throw tantrums and then act like it's the other side who displays bad behaviour. It's sad really.
It's a great irony of this world that those most in need of criticism are least capable of accepting it. And that's where we'll have to leave this clown - there's no dealing with him, and no point trying.
Well I had quite a laugh over that. I actually disagree about the surplus and could see valid reasons for the city keeping at least some of it. Why give money back and then need to ask for it a year later when the waterfront falls apart? That said there are other issues that Smarty and his ilk defend Zimmer on that seem ridiculous. And they do foam at the mouth when criticzed (same thing they deride P. Klaussen for.) I am sure Smarty is not a bad guy but he needs to take a breath. I don't think he deletes comments as much as his brethren so he gets a little credit for that, but he is often a spin machine for the city. There are some of us here who just shake our heads about all this behavior, and move on.
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