Council to Vote on Resolution Tonight

Mayor Dawn Zimmer today endorsed the use of eminent domain for the creation of a park in the city’s fourth ward. In a memo accompanying her proposed resolution, the mayor asked for the council’s support.

Zimmer went on to profess: “It is my hope that the knowledge that the City would use eminent domain if necessary will create a dynamic in the negotiations that would ironically cause the use of eminent domain to be unnecessary.”

Employing the mayor’s reasoning, we suppose a common thief might say: “It is my hope that sticking a gun to your head will create a dynamic that would ironically prevent me from having to reach into your pocket to snatch your wallet.”

In either scenario, could we really say the property was handed over voluntarily?

Update: The council voted 5 to 4 in support of the mayor's position. Ravi Bhalla, Peter Cunningham, Carol Marsh, David Mello and Tim Occhipinti all voted yes. Theresa Castellano, Jen Giattino, Beth Mason and Mike Russo opposed the resolution.

When Obama's massive "stimulus" plan was signed into law, he promised that it would "save or create" over three million jobs--many of them "shovel ready." More recently, the president conceded that a lot of those jobs weren't as "shovel ready" as he initially thought. And now, nearly 2.5 years post-stimulus, U.S. News is reporting that we now have "more idle men and women than at any time since the Great Depression." This video from the NRSC, released on the stimulus' two-year anniversary, really says it all:

The Kids Firsters are in full spin mode after last week's marathon session at 1115 Clinton Street, during which parents and students begged them not to fire star teachers Paula Ohaus and Cheng-Yen Hillenbrand. Over the past few days, they've enlisted former councilman Mike Lenz and former school board trustee Jean-Marie Mitchell to defend their unpopular decision. But as early as last Tuesday, cracks were already forming in the Kids First facade. Barbara Bravo (widely known as a Kids First booster) sent us the following letter of support prior to last Tuesday's meeting. Although Bravo wanted her statement read aloud that night, we could not definitively verify her e-mail address in time.

To whom it may concern,

I would like to send the message to the BoE that it is my position to do every thing we can to keep Mrs. Ohaus. After seeing her production of Hair Spray and seeing her dedication to Alice in Wonderland she is a gem! I must admit at first when I heard of the sleep-overs I was alarmed. But now that I think about it... I don't really care. If the parents say it is ok and the kids want to go - why would you care? The endless blogging is petty and unfair!

Consider being blogged about and slandered, having to keep your head high, still come to work, do a job (at the present time) 6 days a week? She is truly a professional and consider her an educator, friend to all these students.

Most sincerely,

Barbara Bravo, parent

Here's a YouTube ad from John Featherman, a reform-minded conservative who's running for Mayor of Philadelphia. So many parallels to Hudson County!

Report of Tampered Voting Machine in City's Third Ward

We have received a very unusual report of a tampered voting machine in Ward 3, District 3. Peter Henshaw, unsatisfied with the candidates in his ward, was planning to "write in" John Forsman for council. When he attempted to vote on Tuesday, however, there was a makeshift sign taped over his machine's keypad. The sign read: "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH."

Assuming the machine was out-of-order, he approached the poll workers for clarification. They explained how they purposefully covered the keypad so as to not "confuse" senior citizens. Then he was advised to just vote for one of the names on the ballot!

Only when Mr. Henshaw questioned the workers' authority to prevent voters from "writing in" candidates did they state that he "clearly" had the right to do so. When Mr. Henshaw further questioned the appropriateness of altering the machine, he was met only with hostility.

We ran this story by a seasoned veteran of numerous political wars and he said he'd never in his life heard of this, calling it "extraordinary."

Mr. Henshaw feels that his rights as a voter were profoundly disrespected—and we concur. Although we're not sure that voter intimidation or disenfranchisement was necessarily the motive here, you don't tamper with the machines—no matter how "pure" your rationale!

Continuing Persecution of Highly Effective Teachers

On Tuesday night, our school board plans to vote on firing six district employees. Unfortunately, two of our district's best and most beloved educators—Paula Ohaus and Cheng-Yen Hillenbrand—are on the list of the doomed.

Ever since the "Kids First" faction assumed control, they have seemed determined to root out our schools' few remaining centers of excellence (they've already abolished the International Baccalaureate). Tuesday's vote comes after two years of hostility towards Ohaus from the Kids Firsters and their hand-picked superintendents. Evidently, they've been egged on by jealous educators who resent high achievers in a unionized culture that doesn't especially prize hard work, excellence and merit. And now it appears that Hillenbrand has fallen victim to the same mistreatment.

In order to pull off these firings, Superintendent Mark Toback had to fashion a secret deal with Board President Rose Markle and local teachers’ union head Gary Enrico. Toback, who started his job in March, missed the April 30 deadline for not renewing teacher contracts for the next school year. So he negotiated with Enrico and Markle to amend the teachers’ contract and retroactively move the deadline to May 15. It is not known what Enrico got in return for selling out Ohaus and Hillenbrand.

The full board will vote Tuesday night on switching the deadline. Passing this measure would clear a path to vote on the list of teachers to renew for the coming year. Ohaus, director of the high school's widely-acclaimed theater productions, and Hillenbrand, who founded the district's Johns Hopkins Program for Gifted Students, are not on the list. So approving the list means, in effect, firing the two.

To save these teachers—and their respective centers of excellence—please attend Tuesday's 7 PM meeting, located on 1115 Clinton Street. For more information, please contact us via info@hobokenrepublicans.com.

Update: It was another marathon session Tuesday night, as speaker after speaker expressed support for these persecuted educators. The Kids Firsters (Rose Markle, Theresa Minutillo, Ruth McAllister and Irene Sobolov) voted in lockstep to fire them anyway.

In the News
Hoboken411, 05/09/11, Toback and Markle Move to Fire Paula Ohaus

(Anybody But Cunningham)

As a candidate in 2007, Peter Cunningham vowed that he wouldn't switch parties if elected. However, as Patch recently noted:

"Cunningham, 47, who switched from being a Republican to being a Democrat in 2009 and voted for President Barack Obama, described himself as a moderate Democrat.”

In 2007, Cunningham also vowed to oppose any tax hike. And then, as a councilman, he voted for one.

On the basis of his (now broken) promises, we endorsed Cunningham when he ran four years ago.

Needless to say, we are NOT endorsing him for re-election. As they say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

We are not fooled twice. On Tuesday, vote "ABC" in the fifth ward.

In the News
Hoboken411, 05/09/11, Fifth Ward Battle Cry Is ABC: Anybody But Cunningham