14 Hoboken council candidates expected for ballot drawing with Waiters still in

The 14 Hoboken City Council candidates who filed to run eight days ago are all expected to for Wednesday’s ballot drawing with 2nd Ward council candidate Pat Waiters still in after a petition challenge by the incumbent.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

Waiters, a perennial candidate who is already on the ballot for the non-partisan November 7th board of education race, decided to try her hand at the 2nd ward council race simultaneously.

She submitted 93 signed petitions of nomination, 21 were disqualified by the clerk’s office during their own review, and Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher challenged five: two for signing more than one candidate’s petition and three for no longer residing at the address given.

70 valid signatures are required in the 2nd Ward, so while it was close, the clerk’s office determined that Waiters had done just enough to qualify.

Marla Decker, a second challenger in the race who has the backing of Mayor Ravi Bhalla, wrote on Facebook that she was against Waiters’ petitions being questioned and supported the eventual outcome.

“I support the outcome of the city clerk’s review, which found that Ms. Waiters did submit a sufficient number of qualifying petitions,” she said in a post from earlier this week.

“I am glad that Ms. Waiters was not silenced through a ‘gotcha’ initiated by Ms. Fisher, who claims to be a champion of ‘more voices are better.'”

While Fisher declined to address the situation, she has been vocal that 6th Ward council candidate Lauren Myers submitted several suspect petitions that the clerk’s office choose not to take a closer look at.

Both of her upcoming opponents, 6th Ward Councilwoman Jen Giattino and Ian Rintel, challenged the signatures to no avail, as HCV first reported. Myers collected and submitted 121 signatures in just one day and only 68 were required in the 6th Ward.

In a truly only in Hoboken moment, Waiters agreed with Fisher on Twitter that Myers’ submitted suspect petitions.

“If I emailed my petition and asked people to send back to me and submitted only 70 printed out petitions from confirmed voters – exactly the number I needed, would you be ok with that? What would your response be?” Fisher wrote.

“One shouldn’t be ok with that because interacting with the voters shows that you have respect for their signature and hopefully gain trust for their VOTE residents should not be lied to or deceived by a candidate they don’t know🤔A candidate with no integrity is useless to HOB🥊,” Waiters replied.

In the 1st Ward, the only ward where the incumbent is not seeking re-election, administration critic Paul Presinzano faces off with former Health and Human Services Director Leo Pellegrini and Rent Leveling Board Chair Rafi Cordova – who has the mayor’s support.

Over in the 3rd Ward, Councilman Mike Russo, the longest serving member of the council, will take on Republican data analyst Ed Reep, a first time candidate who is making rent control a hallmark issue of his campaign.

Additionally, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen faces a challenger in another first time candidate in Liz Urtecho, while 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos is running unopposed.

The ballot drawing the non-partisan municipal races in the Mile Square City is set for Wednesday at 12 noon, with the only realistic possibility of the lineup changing between now and then being if a candidates decides to voluntarily withdraw from their race.