I am by no means a political neophyte, and I know that sometimes elections bring out the worst in people. Unfortunately, this has become a new norm in the post-2016 Trump era. However, I have never been more disgusted than by the dirty campaign tactics of FairerNJ 2019, the Super PAC that is funding and supporting the Jersey City Board of Education candidates of the Change for Children slate. FairerNJ 2019 has hidden behind a screen name to attempt to discredit, humiliate and smear candidates not on their “payroll” as well as Jersey City residents who have questioned their motives and actions.

In a recent Facebook post, Jersey City parent and community activist, Natalia Ioffe was told by FairerNJ 2019 to “learn how to use the English language properly while in America”. In another post, directed at candidate and current JCBOE member Gerald Lyons, FairerNJ posted Lyons picture and stated he was “fat”, “gay”, “old” and has “no children”, seemingly alluding to the idea that any of these descriptors would preclude Lyons from being an effective board trustee. In yet another post, FairerNJ ridiculed candidate and current board member Gina Verdibello for running for the BOE numerous times and having “lost every time”, even attempting to make the hashtag #NOGina go viral.

The bigoted, homophobic, mysoginistic and anti-immigrant content of these posts is beyond the pale of decency and should be denounced in the most emphatic way. While the vitriol from a desperate campaign, as well as the seemingly acceptance of these comments from the candidates being bankrolled by developers is expected, the silence from many of the elected officials is deafening.  These are not actions that should be ignored, or worse, pushed aside as “typical politics”. I am imploring all elected officials in Hudson County to denounce this hate speech and call for an end to these ugly campaign tactics. Candidates should be able to stand on their own record or ideas and not sit idly by while a Super PAC does their dirty work for them. We have seen how Trump has divided our country and made it commonplace to hurl aspersions, however, I know we are better than that in Jersey City. We cannot let hate win.

Kristen Zadroga-Hart