Just finished cleaning the eggs off the van so I thought, geez, I've gone THIS far, time to re-endorse.
Given the exceedingly slow sales of the combination platter at Mason’s Café, here’s hoping that Beth will return to a la carte status and take the first-step-on-the-road-to-salvation course of endorsing the Zimmer slate in its entirety. Granted, this will leave her two still-in-the-battle running mates twisting in the wind, but she won't be doing any less for them than their candidacies evidently did for her. She can easily excuse this shift by reasoning that Dawn deserves a supportive complement; and such action will serve as a welcome and cathartic acknowledgment of misjudgment rather than a reinforcement of disingenuousness. The supporters from the traditional “reform” camp that remained with her despite their hand-wringing journey through her swift and palpable poll descent may be particularly heartened, and can actually begin talking to their old friends again. One can almost feel the chill beginning to rise through the Mason-Russo Palfest, and Beth may find herself holding the position of a powerful fifth vote on a realigned council on the thorny budget reduction decisions to come.
Beth was, of course, done in by her ill-advised alliances on virtually every front. Politics may allow for strange bedfellows, but not when the Hoboken populace had so long played the cuckold. The town still smarts from the corrupt abuses and invective of the Russo years and the Joe Barry/Raul Morales election sabotages of past reform efforts. Too many people remembered these personally and painfully to assimilate Beth’s sunny vision of dancing together under the rainbow. The campaign team was equally disastrous. Jake Stuiver, who at one time credited Michael Lenz with providing a “textbook” example of how to lose an election, should probably go straight to mini-series with this surprising blockbuster sequel. The Bijardis are likely to simply dissipate along with the odd amalgam of arrogance and paranoia which permeated the campaign. And it may be time for lesser-player but bombastic bellower Jim Vance to take a long, very long, bike ride.
As for Mason’s reluctant voters, here’s hoping that they wind up staunchly behind Zimmer. Here’s hoping that Dawn, who’s now one of two candidates guaranteeing that the next mayor will have a startling dearth of experience, has the capacity to grow into the job that her resiliency implies. Here’s hoping that the desertion of the Amatos from her support group will portend more productive and well-meaning alliances, and that she'll put a lid on any campaigning shenanigans or onerous political organization associations this time around. Here’s hoping that the cantankerous and counterproductive contingent of ultra-fervent Zimmer zealots (or, if you prefer, the nuts) will be kept appropriately compartmentalized. Here’s hoping that voters will take another look at the council debates, and conclude that the Marsh/Bhalla/Mello team were decidedly the most prepared, realistic and out-of-the box thinking at-large candidates. Here’s hoping that Tom Vincent, who impressed a lot of people who didn't vote for him, will truck down to what ought to be a receptive Zimmer headquarters with his progressive ideas in hand and roll up his sleeves. Here’s hoping that Peter Cammarano will realize that his ludicrous platform showpiece that Hoboken would be better off hiding its financial problems a little longer may not play so well in a one-on-one format, lose enthusiasm and say to himself, “What the hell, I'll just start my congressional run now instead of this dumb job.” Here’s hoping that Dawn Zimmer will be the next Mayor of Hoboken, and here’s praying that she gets plenty of the right help.
Regards,
Dean Kemph
Former Hoboken Resident
Editor's Note: If you have any letters endorsing either Dawn or Peter for Mayor or any of the six city council candidates remaining, please forward your letter to kurt.gardiner@gmail.com.
I will do my best to publish any letter that sticks to issues, voting records, and perceived leaqdership capabilities. Stay away from outright personal attacks or uncomfirmed information or rumors and you will be published.
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