This message from a Senior at Stevens who is in the same fraternity as the brother that sent out the email about Beth Mason and her attempt to get signs at $25 a pop. I did not anticipate the fallout from this story to be as big as it was. After all it is perfectly legal to pay campaign workers but politically stupid to try to obviously pack the house with faux supporters. Intelligent Hoboken voters can usually see right through that stuff. I was able to speak with this gentleman (Senior whose name is withheld) and he was quite understanding and composed. Without further adieu:
To Whom It May Concern:
As you can see by my signature, I am a graduating senior and well respected member of the Stevens community and the Sigma Chapter of Beta Theta Pi.
I would like to formally apologize for one of my brother's actions. He did not realize what he was doing and we as a fraternity did not realize what was going on.
I would like to propose that you kindly remove our fraternity from the article, but please leave the article in general up, so students at Stevens do not make this mistake again.
As a student who was attending Stevens during the Peter Cammarano incident, it was disgraceful to my university and myself as I did not like the feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing that our cherished university was being linked with a criminal. This time, the incident hits home as our cherished fraternity, that has been in Hoboken since 1879, and even lives at the original mayor's home, has now been linked with a criminal like act of Beth Mason.
I can assure you that this will never happen again and that the Sigma chapter always has Hoboken in it's hearts and minds when it comes to giving back to the community. We are partnered up with a local church and routinely work in their lunchtime ministry cooking and feeding the homeless in addition to helping preserve the historic church located near campus. We also recently won an award for being the most recognizable Greek House during the Hoboken Park cleanup two Sunday's ago and were recognized by our Inter-fraternal Council with the award for organizing, running, and having the best participation percentage at the event. In addition to that, we also have an upcoming philanthropy event where we are raising money for The Hoboken Boys and Girls Club, and as of yesterday, we have already raised nearly $500, before the event will even take place.
I hope you can please consider removing our fraternal name due to our realization of our mistake and in good faith of the pride that our chapter takes in itself, and our beloved community that surrounds it. If you have any further questions/comment I would love to hear them and I am open to suggestions you may have for future Philanthropic events to help the city of Hoboken, as we at Beta Theta Pi are always looking to give back to our community in our striving for excellence.
Sincerely,
(redacted)
Stevens student
Stevens Institute of Technology 2011
Another update: I removed the identifying numbers and put the disclaimer about the fraternity. I posted this story in no way to start a witch hunt on what appears to be a student that just wanted some easy cash. Perhaps he didn't know what is at stake, or perhaps he did. If he truly wanted to support Beth Mason he has that right; I just wanted to draw the distinction between a volunteer and a paid worker for the Beth Mason campaign. Beth Mason doesn't have a lot of core support outside of Applied Housing so it makes sense that she would try to buy the appearance of support.
I was spammed last night from what appears to be an automated program to generate text messages. I received over 300 text messages in 15 minutes. Coincidence? Maybe or maybe not. I also had other posters insinuate that I am homosexual which is not true but even if it was displays an intolerance that is not acceptable in my world view.
Update: Per multiple requests I have removed the name behind the email below. It should be noted that this email contained nothing personal in nature in its subject matter. Apparently not every Stevens student knows that Beth Mason's money is likely bankrolling corruption (Mike Russo and Tim Occhipinti) this election season. Maybe its time that they reach at to Dr. Wharton who has attended some recent City Council meetings and focuses much of his research on political corruption. Hoboken has been giving him lot of material lately. Cammarano, Occhipinti, Russo, and now Beth Mason, are all part of it. If Beth Mason chooses to financially back Mike Russo, then she too is corrupt.
Of course there is nothing wrong with a student trying to make a buck but you would think after the Peter Cammarano debacle students at Stevens would be a little more careful when it comes to candidates whose ambition is so brazen that ethics fly out the window. Perhaps history will repeat itself.
Original Post: The Hoboken City Council Candidates forum is tonight for both the 2nd Ward and the 5th Ward at our Lady of Grace Annex starting at 7:30PM. It would appear Beth Mason, ever so desperate to look like the front runner that she isn't has sought to pay Stevens Students $25 a pop to hold pro Beth Mason signage before the meeting. Nothing illegal if they are paid by check (wasn't always done that way by Beth) but surely a sign of desperation and foolish expenditures. Reminds me of the Kim Glatt cheerleaders from Union City. Kim came in 4th place in the November 2009 mayoral race. Here is an email forwarded to me from a Steven's student (name witheld) looking to get his pals a quick $25 bucks.
Hello,
I was wondering if you could forward this to the rest of your house.
I am a brother of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and I have been working for the Beth Mason campaign for the past couple of weeks trying to get people to register to vote in Hoboken. Tonight there is going to be a debate tonight at 7 to a little after 9 or so and basically the gentleman I am working for would like 100 people or so to stand out side of the debate and hold up signs for Beth Mason and picket line. You will be payed 25 dollars to do this. If you would like to do this we will be meeting outside of the Beta House at 6:40 tonight. Also if you want to do this please email me with your full name and phone number at (email witheld). We need a good showing for this and its an easy 25 dollars to hold a sign. Hope to see you tonight.
Thank you,
(name withheld)
Stevens Institute of Technology 2012
Civil Engineering
Beta Theta Pi (not representative of the Fraternity, on his/her own behalf only) ◦
