Ines Garcia Keim and Maurice Fitzgibbons - "Reporting Requirements are for Suckers"
Ines Garcia-Keim, the frustrated head of the so-called "Real Democrats for Hoboken" ran on the ballot last year under the "Real Democrats for Hoboken" banner and failed to win election as either the Chair of the Hoboken Democratic Party (Ravi Bhalla defeated her handily) or as Treasurer of the Hoboken Democratic Party (Gary Holtzman defeated her by an even larger margin).
Ines appears now to be partnering with the "developer friendly" Mike Novak (President of the newly-politicized Hoboken Chamber of Commerce) and convicted ELEC-offender Maurice Fitzgibbons to put together an "Annual Lincoln Day Dinner" so that she can raise money to run against other Democrats and defeat them. Some may feel after some analysis that she is doing this so she can gain her revenge for her defeat and become the new leader of the Hoboken Democratic Party. I say that you can't conclusively draw that assertion as fact at this point but one thing is fairly certain, at play here is an attempt to divide the Democratic Party in Hoboken. Perhaps all for the sake of personal ambition. Where oh where have we seen this type of scorched tactics before? Think Beth Mason and Maureen Sullivan and you are on to a trend.
The Rules Don't Apply to Them
When the so-called "Real Democrats for Hoboken" (Ruben Ramos phraseology) were busted for being an unregistered PAC by the Hoboken Democratic Party, what did Ines/Novak/Fitzgibbons do? Did they respond contritely, and pledge to clean up their act? No, not from this political faction that seems to disregard the rules as a matter of habit. Instead we got excuses and spin.
This faction has doubled down and found a loophole and claimed that they don't need to register, and can keep a slush fund that is accountable to no one. No need to register with ELEC. No need to report who give them money. No need to report who gets they money they raise. How convenient! Who knew that the folks who want to take over the Hoboken Democratic Party would want a cloak of secrecy over their finances? Some people never learn!
If anyone looks at Tim Occhipinti's November 20, 2010 R-1 ELEC disclosures on page 4, you'll find an interesting link between the most recent egregious wheeling of Beth Mason and the person who some feel still wants to take over the Hoboken Democratic Party:
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| The Address for Friends of Beth Mason for City Council is that of Ines Garcia-Keim for Beth's $8,200 contribution to Tim Occhipinti on 10/30/2010. When large donations go in at the last minute is that an act of transparency? |
In trying to balance out this editorial I give you Ines Garcia-Keim's response over the weekend on Hoboken Patch.....
Ines Garcia-Keim on Hoboken Patch Saturday, February 26, 2011:
"The "Real Democrats" CPC did not exist on January 15th, 2011. Were we to file an A-3 form, we have until April 15, 2011. Our first fundraiser is on Monday evening. If we raise enough money to put us over the $4,900 threshold in expenditures in 2011, we have until Tuesday, March 1st to file a D-4 form. I sent all this information to Claire, including links to the ELEC site. We are on track to meet either deadline and may choose to file the simpler A-3 form, so as I said to Claire, the press release had major errors and omissions."
Link to Patch article and discussion thread: http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/hoboken-democratic-party-expresses-disappointment-slams-former-freeholder
My Final Remark: Are the spirit of the ELEC rules on PACS being violated once again? Share your thoughts in the comments below.... ◦
