Here is a letter of endorsement for Dawn Zimmer for Mayor from Maureen Sullivan:
Maureen Sullivan Endorses Dawn Zimmer for Mayor
When I was elected to the school board in April, it was because the voters of Hoboken believed that I was ready, willing and able to change the culture of cronyism, overspending and mediocre results that had overtaken our school system.
The voters knew that you don't have to be a lawyer to hire a lawyer. (The school board has already hired one of the best education lawyers in the state to analyze the bloated contracts that have been handed out over the years.) They knew I wouldn't just say yes to union demands; they knew I would want serious givebacks. They knew I wouldn't continue to allow our administrators to get away with "good enough" when the goal should be excellence.
I am asking the voters who elected me and the Kids First team in a landslide in April to vote for Dawn Zimmer for mayor. She has that same backbone and desire to put Hoboken on the path to fiscal responsibility and honest government. She has the guts to say what her opponent won't: 80% of the city's budget goes to personnel and the only way to cut the budget is to cut jobs and benefits. Unlike her opponent, she doesn't pretend that there aren't major problems on the horizon with the city-owned Hoboken University Medical Center. She understands that boneheaded moves such as spending millions of dollars to buy 1600 Park Ave. to use for playing fields, and then letting the land lay vacant for years and years only makes people cynical about our politicians.
To be sure, we don't see eye to eye on every issue. But on the most important issue we firmly agree: Hoboken desperately needs a mayor with the guts to speak the truth.
Like Dawn, I didn't grow up here, but we each have two kids who are Hoboken through and through. We've chosen to make our home in this wonderful city and we've chosen to spend a considerable amount of each and every day fighting to make it a better place for everyone who lives here. Some people see us as "militant moms" who don't know our place, or as the pushy newcomers who should just shut up and pay our taxes. We've been told over and over to leave the heavy lifting to the good-old boys down at City Hall.
Well, no more. They've had their chance. I expect the voters of Hoboken to hold the Kids First team to their campaign vow to provide our students with better schools and to do it for much less money. As a voter, I intend to hold Dawn and her team of Carol Marsh, Ravi Bhalla and Dave Mello to their promise to ignore the special interests and do what's right for all the people of Hoboken. And to do it for much less money.
I see the many endorsements that Dawn's opponent has gotten and they tend to blur together: the unions, the career politicians, the hangers on, the old guard, the wanna-bes, the out-of-towners, the special interests. They all seem to want something from the man they so proudly support.
Then I weigh them all against Helen Hirsch's endorsement of Dawn. Helen, a woman who has been fighting for good government for ages, doesn't want anything out of Dawn except an honest attempt at dismantling the patronage machine and putting an end to the lies and rip-offs that have been the hallmark of Hoboken City Hall for far too long.
I stand with Helen Hirsch and the Kids First team and the other Hoboken residents...those who were born here and those who chose it...who don't want anything out of a mayor except a job well done.
-Maureen Sullivan
◦
Maureen Sullivan Endorses Dawn Zimmer for Mayor
When I was elected to the school board in April, it was because the voters of Hoboken believed that I was ready, willing and able to change the culture of cronyism, overspending and mediocre results that had overtaken our school system.
The voters knew that you don't have to be a lawyer to hire a lawyer. (The school board has already hired one of the best education lawyers in the state to analyze the bloated contracts that have been handed out over the years.) They knew I wouldn't just say yes to union demands; they knew I would want serious givebacks. They knew I wouldn't continue to allow our administrators to get away with "good enough" when the goal should be excellence.
I am asking the voters who elected me and the Kids First team in a landslide in April to vote for Dawn Zimmer for mayor. She has that same backbone and desire to put Hoboken on the path to fiscal responsibility and honest government. She has the guts to say what her opponent won't: 80% of the city's budget goes to personnel and the only way to cut the budget is to cut jobs and benefits. Unlike her opponent, she doesn't pretend that there aren't major problems on the horizon with the city-owned Hoboken University Medical Center. She understands that boneheaded moves such as spending millions of dollars to buy 1600 Park Ave. to use for playing fields, and then letting the land lay vacant for years and years only makes people cynical about our politicians.
To be sure, we don't see eye to eye on every issue. But on the most important issue we firmly agree: Hoboken desperately needs a mayor with the guts to speak the truth.
Like Dawn, I didn't grow up here, but we each have two kids who are Hoboken through and through. We've chosen to make our home in this wonderful city and we've chosen to spend a considerable amount of each and every day fighting to make it a better place for everyone who lives here. Some people see us as "militant moms" who don't know our place, or as the pushy newcomers who should just shut up and pay our taxes. We've been told over and over to leave the heavy lifting to the good-old boys down at City Hall.
Well, no more. They've had their chance. I expect the voters of Hoboken to hold the Kids First team to their campaign vow to provide our students with better schools and to do it for much less money. As a voter, I intend to hold Dawn and her team of Carol Marsh, Ravi Bhalla and Dave Mello to their promise to ignore the special interests and do what's right for all the people of Hoboken. And to do it for much less money.
I see the many endorsements that Dawn's opponent has gotten and they tend to blur together: the unions, the career politicians, the hangers on, the old guard, the wanna-bes, the out-of-towners, the special interests. They all seem to want something from the man they so proudly support.
Then I weigh them all against Helen Hirsch's endorsement of Dawn. Helen, a woman who has been fighting for good government for ages, doesn't want anything out of Dawn except an honest attempt at dismantling the patronage machine and putting an end to the lies and rip-offs that have been the hallmark of Hoboken City Hall for far too long.
I stand with Helen Hirsch and the Kids First team and the other Hoboken residents...those who were born here and those who chose it...who don't want anything out of a mayor except a job well done.
-Maureen Sullivan
