Augie Torres got wind of my video on Timothy Occhipinti's Kickoff video spoof and mentioned it in his Weekly Political Insider column:
A VIDEO BONUS FOR INSIDER HATERS
"Appearing in some "in-bed-ed" bloggers' sites out of Hoboken is the latest use of a favorite political weapon, JibJab, best known for their Hillary and Obama spoof.
It was a response to an item about Timothy Occhipinti announcing his intention to run for the Mile Square City 4th Ward council seat now held by Michael Lenz, a crony of Mayor Dawn Zimmer. Occhipinti held the event in a local tavern which attracted some local and area political figures.
Usually, who listens to the shouts from the ant hill, but I gotta admit it was pretty funny. You can check out JibJab at, what else, www.jibjab.com.
Below is the video, starring the Insider and includes some folks mentioned in my column, including Occhipinti, former Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons, Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, and Hoboken developer Frank Raia. Fulop is pretty good in this. Enjoy!"
http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2010/07/hudson_county_democratic_party.html
My Comment: I am glad to see Augie has a sense of humor. I am certainly no "Insider Hater" but I am entitled to rebut as I see fit. I hear that others in the video were less than thrilled at their inclusion and honestly I took some criticism from supporters of Mike Lenz about the subjects I chose to put in the video. Let me set the record straight, this video was done at my sole discretion and I got input from no one. This website generally has my take on events or readers who decide to contribute. As a taxpayer I support who I choose to but I am cognizant of the fact that what I write can be attributed to the candidate of my choice even though in the case of this video and quite frankly any of my commentary, there is no direction coming from the outside.
As far as the inclusion of Steve Fulop in the video I ask these simple questions: Why was Steve Fullop who resides in Jersey City at a Hoboken political event? How have his votes in Jersey City on any potentially abated developments in Jersey City adversely impacted Hoboken taxpayers with respect to County taxes? And how would Steve Fullop like it if I got a bunch of people from Hoboken to campaign against him in the next election? Lighten up Steve, its just a JibJab video. Political parody is the nectar of this blog. :)
With that said, I would expect whoever is elected to the 4th Ward in November to work with Jersey City on issues of common interest and that would include working with Steve Fulop as well.
Scroll to the bottom of this article for the video.......
Original Post 6/25/2010: NJ.com political hack reporter Augie Torres had this to say about Timothy Occhipinti's Hoboken 4th Ward kickoff last week at Northern Soul on June 17th and managed to mention who showed up. Augie Torres takes embedded journalism to a new level. I find that the list of early attendees is revealing given Timothy's early campaign assertions of independence....
Augie Torres:
"Among those attending the Occhipinti announcement were former council candidate Mike Novak, developer Frank Raia, former city Judge Kimberly Glatt, Ines Garcia-Keim, who lost the chairmanship to Bhalla, Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, and others. Occhipinti's people say there were 50 to 60 people at the only bar in the 4th Ward at Monroe and First streets. Zimmer's people say their spies said it was more like 30 to 40. And they probably only drank beer."
Here is the link Augies' Column:
http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2010/06/bayonne_mayor_mark_smith_wants.html
Timothy Occhipinti Celebrates his Campaign Kickoff at Northern Soul 6/17/2010 with Augie Torres, Maurice Fitzgibbons, Frank Raia , and Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop....
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