Hoboken Mayoral Candidates Ramos and Fisher Release Joint Statement Calling Out Emily Jabbour’s Misleading Statements on Leo Pellegrini Sentencing

HOBOKEN, NJ — In a rare occurrence of two candidates competing for the same office coming together to push back on a blatantly false narrative, Hoboken Council members Ruben Ramos and Tiffanie Fisher are releasing the following joint statement calling out Emily Jabbour’s attempt to mislead voters after the sentencing of disgraced former city director Leo Pellegrini. Jabbour’s statement included several mischaracterizations of the Pellegrini situation and an overall attempt to spin a political narrative that is not based on the facts at hand, compelling Ramos and Fisher to join together to correct the record. Their statement is below:

“Hoboken deserves leaders who are honest with residents—not ones who twist facts to rewrite history. That’s why we feel compelled to correct the false narrative Councilwoman Emily Jabbour shared in her statement following the sentencing of former City Director Leo Pellegrini. Let’s be clear: No one on the City Council defended Pellegrini once we became aware of the allegations of embezzlement. To suggest otherwise is political spin—designed to score points, at the expense of the truth.

Councilwoman Jabbour claims she acted in February 2023 to remove Pellegrini from oversight of the Recreation Department because of these concerns—and that we opposed her.

That’s simply not true. At the very same February 1, 2023 City Council meeting that Councilwoman Jabbour cited—where she also shared selective clips of statements from ourselves and Councilman Russo—she offered a very different explanation for removing Leo from running the recreation department.  Her own words that night:

“...The logistics of this, to be very specific for the members of the public, is to relocate the Division of Recreation from the Department of Human Services into Environmental Services and—as alluded to by Councilwoman Fisher—the purpose of this is to create efficiencies with respect to how programming and facilities are linked...”

That is not the language of someone sounding the alarm on corruption. It’s the language of someone advancing a bureaucratic shuffle. If Councilwoman Jabbour had been briefed on more serious allegations—as she now implies— then she failed to share them publicly and failed to act on them transparently. And it’s misleading to now claim credit for a move that she and the administration explicitly framed as routine at the time. Her language at that meeting painted a picture of a Council member either not informed about the underlying concerns—or simply reiterating the administration’s stated rationale without questioning it. Either way, it was not the warning of someone sounding an alarm on corruption.

And Councilwoman Jabbour’s claim that we ‘aligned with’ Pellegrini at a press conference are also false. The event took place in May 2024—more than a year after he had stepped down and after the Council was already aware of the embezzlement allegations. We called on the Attorney General to investigate new claims that had been made in his wrongful termination lawsuit, which pointed to a potential abuse of office for personal or political gain, out of a desire to protect Hoboken taxpayers. We did not defend Pellegrini or support his lawsuit—and clearly stated at the time that he should be investigated as well.

Hoboken deserves better. We need leaders who tell the truth, own their record, and focus on fixing the system—not protecting it.”

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