Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) let it all hang out at a lively one-on-one debate last night at Hudson Media Group where both competitors swung for the fences early and often.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
From the get go, Bhalla sought to establish himself as a leader with a proven track record, with documented successes in areas such as flood resiliency and traffic safety, while pressuring the incumbent on his ties to machine politicians including, but not limited tok and his father, scandal-plagued U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
Conversely, Menendez touted his record on bringing millions back to the district and solving around 1,500 constituent cases, with the two were eager to stand and trade on a number of controversial topics.
“You can try to throw Leo Pellegrini under the bus, there are five Hoboken believe there is an investigation. The former mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, has said there is credibility behind what Leo has said,” Menendez said about the former Hoboken health director’s lawsuit alleging quid pro quo, retaliation, and defamation.
“You have an opportunity to say that you will engage in any meaningful investigation, that you won’t compromise any investigation, that you won’t obstruct any investigation, and if you want to be transparent, you can open up your phone records with [Jersey City Mayor] Steve Fulop.”
Menendez continued by demanding that the Mile Square City mayor can proactively release all his texts, emails, and phone logs with Fulop to show that Pellegrini’s claim that Bhalla received a legal contract in exchange for a Hoboken dispensary operating out of a building co-owned by Fulop’s wife receiving local approvals are false.
Bhalla said that it was absurd to think the allegations of someone being investigated by the FBI could have any validity, calling the claims made in the court filing “pure utter nonsense.”
In real time, Bhalla was happy to stand-and-trade, following up on an earlier point that while he had endorsed Menendez for the 8th District congressional seat in 2022, he only did so because he was threatened.
“You want to talk about machine politics, when I endorsed you Rob, I was told my Michael Soliman ‘you have to talk this call and Rob is gonna call you to ask for his endorsement, you’re gonna be on speaker phone, and his father, the sitting senator, is going to be listening to your response,” he exclaimed.
“You want the truth? That’s the truth, that’s why I had to endorse you, because I was threatened by the Menendez machine, saying if you don’t endorse him, Hoboken is gonna get hurt. We need to put an end to that. And that’s what this election will do. Vote for me on June 4th.”
The younger Menendez seemed thoroughly amused by Bhalla’s recollection, wearing a big grin the whole time, and was quick to question the legitimacy of his claim.
“Sorry, but that’s a lot to allege in one comment,” Menendez said.
“If the truth hurts, I’m sorry,” Bhalla retorted with a smile.
“You said you’re gonna stand up to Donald Trump, you can’t stand up to Michael Soliman? That’s a ridiculous claim! If you really thought I was not the qualified person, you shouldn’t have endorsed me, you choose to endorse me. The second point, you want to talk about intimidation, you should look at his track record as a mayor!”
Menendez again pointed to the lawsuit, noting that Bhalla was accused of having directors ignore council members that were critical of the administration.
“The things that he tried to claim of me, he actually does himself, he has a track record of having an issue there,” the congressman asserted.
“This is an election between someone with an earned track record of accomplishment, you just need to look at the accomplishments, and look at his experience: one year in office, never served elected office, see whose more qualified, vote for the person whose more qualified, that’s all I ask,” Bhalla said to end the tense exchange.
Other topics discussed included legislation to combat the opioid epidemic, effectively advocating for the $16.1 billion Gateway project, keeping CarePoint Health’s three hospitals up and running, the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, advocating for transparency on the state and federal level, and much more.
This reporter served as the moderator for the one-hour, head-to-head showdown.