MAYOR BHALLA STATEMENT ON CITY COUNCIL MAJORITY’S FAILURE TO PROTECT INTEGRITY OF HOBOKEN ELECTIONS

Last night, for the third time, the Hoboken City Council majority failed to vote on a resolution introduced by Councilmembers Emily Jabbour and Jim Doyle to affirm that Hoboken City Councilmembers will adhere to and abide by Hoboken’s pay-to-play laws. According to current Hoboken law, as adopted in 2011, Political Action Committees (PACs) are limited to $500 contributions for individual candidates for elected office and severely restricts contributions from developers and professionals with or seeking city contracts in Hoboken.

“It’s unfortunate, but unsurprising that once again the Hoboken City Council majority failed to protect the integrity of our elections and safeguard our city contracting and redevelopment process,” said Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla. “This was a very simple choice for the Council: would they agree to abide by the law or ignore it for their own personal gain. The decision to purposefully avoid a vote, led by Councilmembers Giattino and Fisher, made it clear that they’d rather disregard the law and allow special interest groups and developers to unfairly influence their own elections. I’m grateful that Councilmembers Doyle, Russo, Jabbour and Falco were ready to take a stand and put a good government vote ahead of petty politics.”

Councilmembers Jen Giattino, Tiffanie Fisher, Mike DeFusco, Peter Cunningham and Ruben Ramos voted to table the resolution without a vote, while Councilmembers Jim Doyle, Mike Russo, Emily Jabbour and Vanessa Falco voted against the tabling of the resolution.