Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla is counterpunching mayoral candidates Emily Jabbour and Mike Russo for making “inaccurate” comments about the much discussed reinstatement of Fire Chief Brian Crimmins.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“It recently came to my attention that Council Members Emily Jabbour and Michael Russo have made inaccurate comments regarding a highly sensitive personnel matter, based on an incomplete set of facts. It is reckless for both Council Members Emily Jabbour and Michael Russo to actively interfere, clearly for political reasons, with a personnel matter that impacts the functioning of our Fire Department,” Bhalla began in a statement.
“If they simply picked up the phone and asked me for an update, they would know that the City is in the middle of active and constructive discussions to conclude this matter amicably and in its entirety, within the 10-day period referenced in the civil service letter.”
He added that the New Jersey Civil Service Commission (NJCSC) has indicated that they are encouraged the city is working towards an amicable resolution, despite the matter being in litigation and under appeal and cross-appeal.
“However, rather than make a simple status inquiry with my office, both Council Members Jabbour and Russo decided to compete with each other for political points. I find this disappointing, and expected better from Councilwoman Emily Jabbour in particular,” Bhalla stated.
On Monday, NJCSC Chair Allison Chris Myers wrote to Hoboken Business Administrator Caleb Stratton that the city is committing a crime if they do not reinstate Crimmins, which would potentially end a four-and-a-half year saga.
Back in May 2021, Crimmins was placed on administrative leave and Anton Peskens was named acting chief before returning to work as a firefighter in April 2023, before an administrative law judge and the NJCSC ordered his reinstatement, all as HCV first reported.
Then in September, the Hoboken City Council voted 4-3(1) for the city to reinstate Crimmins, with Council President Jim Doyle, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, and Councilman-at-Large Joe Quintero voting no and Jabbour, a councilwoman-at-large, abstaining.
Earlier today, Russo and Jabbour called for Crimmins to be reinstated immediately, with Jabbour calling out Bhalla by name.
“The New Jersey Civil Service Commission has made it clear: Mayor Ravi Bhalla must comply with the court order and reinstate Brian Crimmins as Hoboken Fire Chief. His continued refusal to follow the law is unacceptable and a disservice to Hoboken residents,” she said this morning.
In response, Bhalla said his two potential successor are letting election season get the better of them.
“Both Jabbour and Russo appear to be too consumed with electoral politics. I would remind them they are still sitting Council Members with a primary responsibility to our residents,” he concluded.
“And I hope in the future they are both more mindful of their civic responsibility to the public, as they try to demonstrate to Hoboken’s residents that they are well prepared to lead our community.”
While Crimmins is acknowledged by civil service as the fire chief again, he has not assumed the role just yet.
As for Bhalla, he is the state Assemblyman-elect in the 32nd Legislative District, opting to run for a different office instead of seeking a third term.
My favorite part is not Ravi’s noise, nothing new with his BS, it’s Ms. Emily.
She wanted to stop the council from voicing support to follow NJ law but without her fingerprints on the gun. So, she abstained thinking mission accomplished but then the City Clerk confirmed the council vote is approved – thanks to Emily.
Don’t play with guns, Emily. 😂
Bhalla, maybe you should have communicated with the Hoboken council instead of keeping them in the dark!
And you have never done anything for ”political reasons”. Or because a big developer contributed? Pot calling kettle black! And bet there is a lot of truth in what they said or why bother . Counting the days til you are gone
Suddenly Emily is talking about this?
Last month she called Crimmins ” a neighbor” despite living halfway across town…
We all know what Russo is, and he’s open about it, Emily is whatever one needs her to be to win.
Truth is she’s a fraud
The truth is Bhalla Politics is the reason Crimmins was demoted in the first place. He recommend a more qualified Captain who placed first on the Battalion Chief test for promotion. Bhalla skipped him and the second superior candidate and instead promoted the third place candidate who is a supporter and contributor to Bhalla campaigns. Crimmins also opposed using firefighters who are not licensed CDL drivers to drive the HOP bus during the early days of Covid. Bhalla overruled Crimmins and in violation of the law allowed firefighters drive the bus.
Also, I read the letter from Civil Service and never saw a mention of a 10 day grace period. Bhalla lies.
Mayor Bhalla owns this and if the world were fair, he would have to write a personal check to cover the enormous costs of this fiasco. This has been both malfeasance and incomprehensible incompetence.
I’ve read thru the court decisions to date and
It’s clear that the claims against Crimmins were contrived. It’s also obvious due to the highly unusual rejection of the stay that the City has a near zero chance of prevailing at the appellate division. In fact, the AD is likely to toss the one minor upheld claim against Crimmins, which would result in the City having to pay all of Crimmins legal fees in addition to back pay with interest.
I don’t know why Bhalla, Farrante, Peskins and a few others contrived the baseless charges against Crimmins. That’s probably the mysterious “backstory” that Mike Russo alluded to from the Council dais a couple of months ago.
But I do know this fiasco will cost Hoboken taxpayers a bloody fortune and probably will end up compromising public safety as well.
As we have seen “law fare” ends up biting you in the butt
More B.S.
Let’s not kid ourselves — the list of parallels between Bhalla and Trump grows longer by the day; cronyism, bullying, lying, managerial incompetence— yada, yada. Emily should have known better than to align herself with him, which calls her own judgment into question.
There appears to be a general, and growing,recognition that Mayor Bhalla has been bad for the city — and that we will be digging ourselves out of this mess for quite some time. Emily was there for him at the beginning and throughout his terms – only distancing herself when it became poltically expedient to do so We need to keep that in mind on December 2nd. True, Russo is not a great alternative — but Emily has not sufficiently articulately what she intends to do differently than her poltical patron…..
Hoboken can not survive another corrupt Russo as mayor.
It has taken two decades to clean up the stain Anthony Russo left on Hoboken
When someone shows you they are corrupt you should believe them
Michael Russo has.
Russo and his gang of corrupt old cronies want to restart their old machine.
Emily Jabbour has much less baggage and dirty laundry.
The choice is easy