"I Want my Money Back! WAAAAAH..."

As the saying goes: you win some, you lose some.

A wise loser cuts his losses and moves on.

But the Hoboken City Council has four special losers- the kind who throw a live grenade at themselves and wait for the mayor to explode. And they keep doing it, over and over again.  Whomever is running political strategy for these four numskulls should look for a new occupation- maybe gardening.

GA can't think of a more politically self-destructive, tone-deaf maneuver than to gin up a lawsuit timed to paralyze Hoboken's legislative branch in the aftermath of a hurricane; when we need government to function most.   Worse, the money Hoboken squandered in court on this stunt could have been used to help some of our most stricken residents.  And morons like Tim Occhipinti rub salt in our wounds, telling this to our devastated Hoboken residents:

"the entire Jersey shore coastline was almost destroyed... we had some very terrible devastation ourselves but we're not facing the structural damage of an entire town washed away."

Thanks, Tim.

That's the same Tim Occhipinti who mocked our HOP, calling it a "super bus" and voting against funding badly needed new buses AFTER Sandy.  Parents need HOP transportation now for the 16-block walk from flood-damaged Connors to Brandt school. These parents and their pre-k kids  have Tim to thank for their long walk in the bitter cold.

GA said "gin up" a lawsuit, because that's what they did, with a succession of staged absences when Carol Marsh's vacant City Council seat was to be voted on.   The first staged absence was Mason's- she claims she was in Italy.  However,  at least on person claims to have seen her in Hoboken.

GA suggests to those who saw Beth Mason in Hoboken on the night of Wednesday, October 3, 2012 write a witness Affidavit.

It's easy.  Simply: (1) state your name, (2) what you saw and when. (3) sign and notarize.  (4) forward to the City's attorney (brief email in lieu of a call to save the City's money):

William W. Northgrave, Esq. 
 northgrave@msbnj.com    
McManimon, Scotland & Baumann, LLC, 75 Livingston Avenue, Roseland, New Jersey  07068

Then of course, Michael Russo was absent from the next meeting on Oct. 17, he said for personal reasons, caring for his sick child.  If anyone has first-hand information otherwise, see above.

Well, we didn't need Judge Bariso to tell us these four: Mason, Russo, Occhipinti and Castellano were playing political games.   But he did- on Friday, when he ruled that Doyle was validly appointed to the City Council.  Case Closed.  Or is it?

It's not.  The Beth Mason Brinks truck is fully loaded and wants to keep this appalling waste of taxpayer money alive.  So I hear.  Another Appellate Court appeal.  But, GA believes that Judge Bariso anticipated this and doomed it with these words:

The Council’s vote of four (4) yeas, two (2) nays, and two (2) abstentions must be interpreted as a tie because abstentions have the effect of a negative vote.  Mayor Zimmer correctly used her power to cast a tie breaking vote, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:16-8.  To conclude otherwise would permit a single member of a city council to exercise veto power over the filling of a vacancy which would thwart the process established by the Municipal Vacancy Law.  This court cannot countenance the notion that the Municipal Vacancy Law was intended to encourage gamesmanship.  Council members should not be permitted to undermine the deliberative process and trump the intent of the legislature. 

So, the "face-saver" in the works is.... (read title).

Yep, the scuttlebutt is that Mason wants her money back.

Beth Mason, the woman who sprayed a bloody fortune in 2012 for political contributions, whose hubby rakes in an estimated $12-15 million/year, who was the underwriter of this taxpayer-shakedown (a.k.a. Doyle lawsuit), who hired THREE attorneys (not ONE like the City did) for perhaps $1,200 in fees per HOUR... this Beth Mason wants YOU to pay HER legal fees!

That's the scuttlebutt.  Of course she'll put up one of the other 3 to present this to the City Council.

GA actually hopes they do.

Because then the public gets to see how much of her own money Mason spent on her legal folly. And the public will learn how much of OUR tax-money Mason, Russo, Occhipinti and Castellano wasted to piss on Doyle.

That will be a figure to repeat over and over- until next November.