In a letter to the editor, former Hoboken Councilman Mike Lenz explains why he doesn’t think 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo would be able to live up to the legacy of his father, former Mayor Anthony Russo, if elected.
Dear Editor,
Michael Russo is in the runoff for Hoboken Mayor. How did that happen? He started in a tough spot. With over a decade in office, Michael has precious little governmental success to show for it.
His record had been one of making a big show of saying no until the folks trying to run the city met his price to say yes. His business experience was no help as his physical therapy practice had cratered over billing disputes.
His ethics weren’t a plus to anyone familiar with the FBI tape. Slick campaigning, flexibility with facts, and lots of developer cash can only get you so far. So, Michael leaned into the image he has honed throughout his career.
That of his father, Mayor Anthony Russo, decisive, effective but without the corruption.
The “without the corruption” part has been a tough sell ever since the feds released that hidden camera tape.
In it, Michael seems ready to make a corrupt deal with an FBI plant.
Always out for himself, that’s the Michael I know, someone who learned the shortcuts and the deals, but not the leadership, discipline, or drive to actually deliver for the public, except when he can gain personal advantage.
Michael would not be near the runoff without the Russo name. But the Russo legacy is more than a name.
It’s also the dark bag of political tricks that he mastered growing up. A perfect illustration of their effectiveness comes from the recent debate at the high school.
Folks who never knew the senior Russo certainly missed it, but it was as if Michael was brilliantly channeling his father. Michael smiled and blustered and at one point boldly implied support he knew he didn’t have.
They were talking about rent control when he stated he had been singled out for praise by tenant activist Cheryl Fallick when she had done no such thing.
At most she had grouped him with some others for mild praise one week, just as at other times she had grouped him for criticism, but nothing personal.
Michael knows Cheryl and he are at odds on rent control as often as they agree. He also knows Cheryl had not agreed to support him despite his specific request.
Yet he lied about a comment she never made and lied effectively to create the illusion of support and so far, has gotten away with it. Just like his father did for a real long time.
Anthony Russo was a formidable organization builder, a keen judge of talent, and a highly effective, if deeply flawed, leader. He was a force, a presence.
Under him, the city functioned well in many ways. Streets were clean. Work got done. Sure, a lot of money went missing, and we paid for it, but people mostly showed up and performed. He was vicious to those who stood up to him.
He inspired loyalty from allies and returned it. Years later, even with the bad stuff now publicly aired, many still miss his outsized presence and would be happy to vote for him one more time.
Mayor Anthony Russo, dominated Hoboken for over a decade in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. He built Hoboken’s most successful – and notorious –political machine. He suffered a major setback in 2001 losing the Mayoral election.
He then regrouped and was threatening a return when the authorities stopped him for good, landing him in prison for public corruption. Age and illness made sure there were no more comebacks.
Now many, out of nostalgia or hope have transferred that loyalty to Michael. But if they carry the day, we all lose. May he rest in peace.
Those of us who knew Anthony Russo and loved him, and those of us who knew Anthony Russo and really, really, didn’t, know a simple truth: Michael Russo is no Anthony Russo.
Even if Michael had his father’s strengths, which he does not, it’s not his father that we need. Anthony left real damage behind. He sold off schools for a pittance we will struggle to replace today.
He privatized the publicly owned water department to cover his overspending, a decision that continues to cost Hoboken.
Vendors were forced to donate politically and then overcharge the city to make it back. His legacy was a volatile blend of ruthless effectiveness and corrosive corruption.
Strip away the elements of leadership Anthony had and Michael lacks, and the mythology of the Russo name and what remains is swagger without sweat, attitude without accomplishment.
Michael treats power as all leverage and zero responsibility.
Council colleagues speak in awed tones about his ability to extract concessions when his vote is needed for critical legislation — concessions that typically benefit him and his circle rather than the public at large.
Hoboken doesn’t need a mayor who has mastered the art of saying “no.” We need one working to say “yes” to solving our pressing problems.
Emily Jabbour is different.
Her earnestness makes her easy to underestimate — but that would be a mistake. While Michael cuts deals behind closed doors, Emily talks to residents, listens, and works to make things happen.
She is consistent. Emily in public is Emily in private. That matters.
Recent mayors had their strengths and weaknesses. Dawn Zimmer made real strides on flooding and began rethinking our endless cycle of more parking and more cars but was too often tripped up by trusting the wrong people.
Ravi Bhalla defended important freedoms and ran much of the city capably, but at times seemed too comfortable operating in the gray zones of New Jersey’s overly permissive political culture.
There are successes here to build on, and mistakes not to repeat. If you talk to Emily Jabbour for five minutes, you’ll see that she understands this very very well. She’s watched Ravi and Dawn very closely.
What she’s seen will serve her well when she becomes mayor. We all recognize the same issues. The question is who is ready to do what needs to be done. Who will work for all of us.
With any mayor, there is risk. You never know exactly what you’ll get. But with Councilwoman Jabbour, I like our chances. She is running because she believes in effective public services and helping those who need it most.
She is not running because she sees office as a reward or a transaction. She’s motivated by what she can do, not what she can get.
She will have to grow into the job. Everybody does. She may stumble. But her values are clear, her intentions genuine, and her commitment real. She has my vote, I hope she has yours.
Michael Lenz knows who and what he is talking about. He is right about Russo and he is right about Emily.
He knows that Russo’s spending with no plans how to pay will run Hoboken into deficit, just like Mayor Roberts, triggering the state to appoint a Hoboken fiscal monitor. Remember Hoboken’s stratospheric tax hike under Fiscal Monitor Judi Tripodi? Hoboken’s Repubs fearmonger about Emily raising taxes, well they ain’t seen nothing yet… we will all pay taxes out the whazoo for the irresponsible spending under a Mayor Russo, to patch up the deficits he will cause. He drove his own personal business into bankruptcy, and you think he can run a city?
Lenz is right: public Emily is no different from private Emily. She will govern with heart, intelligence and responsibility. She will not spend our tax dollars like a drunken pirate. There is a reason why Dawn Zimmer and Mike Lenz have stepped out of private life to endorse Emily Jabbour. They trust her with their beloved city, know she’s a person of high character and they know WHO Mike Russo is. It’s that simple.
Vote for Jabbour & her slate on December 2.
Didn’t Lenz work as his CFO, then get fired?
Has lenz ever left a public job, elected office or appointment to board without public controversy or some kind of litigation?
Lenz was hired, then fired as CFO, and won a large court settlement after suing the city for wrongful termination. Why was he fired?! Because he didn’t underfund the budget against Robert’s wishes, that’s why.
Boy, this has the Russo trolls flipping out!
Lenz is more like Russo than Jabbour
He sees in Mike what he sees in himself and perhaps in his old age, he wants redemption?
Sure Lenz negotiated a SETTLEMENT.
Dave Roberts settled with EVERYONE
ALL mayors DO!
You think Roberts, Zimmer or Bhalla wanted to sit in a deposition?
Lenz like Carmelo Garcia sued.
Neither Roberts or Zimmer wanted these cases to go to trail.
Wonder why?
OUCH !
“I don’t give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it’s HELL”
From 25 years ago that suspended a respected Hispanic School Superintendent?
The same Lenz who was Dave Roberts paid campaign manager who then months later ran against Roberts Hispanic choice for 4th Ward Council?
The same Lenz who then took another job with Roberts only to be fired
Then sued the city and settled for nearly a quarter million dollars?
The same Lenz who after that suit cut another deal with Roberts and the HUDCO bosses to get a lucrative county job?
The same Lenz who convinced dawn zimmer to appoint him to replace her as an interim city councilman?
The same Lenz, who, while serving his councilman lunched with a Developer who was to appear before the city council in an appeal for a zoning variance?
Is this the same Lenz who lost a special election to Tim Occhipinti because of his behavior as a council person- leading Beth, Mason and her crew to take the council majority back from dawn zimmer and causing Hoboken to have almost 2 years of dark days and Russo running the City Council?
It can’t be the same Lenz because the Lenz who wrote the above letter couldn’t possibly behave so much like the two Russo’s he wants us to avoid now?
Integrity? Michael Lenz uses that word the way some people use cologne: drowning in it to cover the smell of everything underneath.
This is a man who built an entire political persona on “reform,” yet somehow kept finding himself in the middle of the very behavior he claimed to fight. Let’s revisit the highlights, since he prefers everyone pretend they never happened:
• The 4th Ward absentee-ballot circus.
That election was a disaster of accusations, questionable ballot activity, and backroom nonsense. Lenz wasn’t some innocent bystander; he was knee-deep in a race that became a textbook case of how vote-by-mail gets abused in Hoboken. If that’s his model of ethical campaigning, the bar is somewhere underground.
• Developer money while voting on the same developers’ appeals.
He took campaign cash from developers whose zoning issues he was literally deciding on. Legal? Sure. Ethical? Absolutely not. It reads like a chapter ripped straight out of old-school Hudson County politics: vote on my project, here’s a check. The fact he acted stunned that anyone questioned it is almost comical.
• The pension-benefit maneuvering.
He tried to boost his pension by having retroactive pay counted as salary. The state said no because it looked like what it was: an attempt to inflate benefits beyond what the rules allow. Reformers don’t usually spend their time searching for technical loopholes to pad retirement checks. Funny how his principles always bend when his personal financial benefit is on the line.
• The long record of political arm-twisting.
Multiple insiders over the years have described him as the guy who threatens to run against you if you don’t give him what he wants, then wraps himself in a reform banner to make it look noble. It’s opportunism dressed up as ethics.
So when Michael Lenz stands in front of Hoboken and talks about honesty, transparency, or good government, it’s hard not to laugh. The history is public. The patterns are obvious. And the truth is simple:
Integrity? What integrity?
Every time he had a chance to prove it, he chose himself instead
Nah. I’m voting for him and he’s going to win.
Yesterday, the Occhipinti campaign released a statement accusing Lenz of accepting $1000 in campaign contributions from two developers, Kyle Enger and Anthony Sabia in exchange for a vote in favor of a zoning variance.
Two $500 contributions from each developer are listed on Lenz’s latest campaign finance report to the state.
In April, the City Council upheld a zoning variance requested by Enger and Sabia, giving them the right to build a four-story residence at 226 Park Ave. Following a story on local blog Hoboken411, the Occhipinti campaign argued that Lenz met with the developers for lunch at the Coach House in
Jersey City prior to the vote, accusing him of “back room diner dealing.”
“This reeks of possible Quid Pro Quo,” said Occhipinti. “I’m calling on Attorney General (Paula) Dow and U.S. Attorney (Paul) Fishman to investigate whether Michael Lenz broke the law.”
Indeed, campaign officers sent formal requests via letter to Dow and Fishman calling for an investigation.
Journal photoHoboken Fourth Ward City Council Seat Candidate Mike Lenz speaks during a debate at the Jubilee Center in Hoboken Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010. Doug Bauman/The Jersey Journal
Lenz declined to comment on the allegations, but this is not the first time the state Attorney General has been summoned with regard to Tuesday’s special election. Lenz wrote a letter to Dow two weeks ago, calling on her office to supervise the election to avoid ballot fraud.
This afternoon, Lenz’s communications director Sam Briggs filed a complaint on behalf of Friends of Michael Lenz for City Council with the
Hudson County
Superior Court, accusing the Occhipinti campaign of paying campaign workers for votes.
According to recently filed state ELEC forms, the Occhipinti campaign has paid 79 campaign workers $40 each. Seventy-eight of the 79 workers, said the complaint, submitted mail-in ballots.
“Based on the experience, the Plaintiff concluded that there was probable cause to believe that Occhipinti for Council had paid those seventy-nine persons for their votes,” stated the complaint, drafted by Lenz’s attorney Timothy Howes.
The 88-page document includes four signed affidavits from voters who told Lenz they had been given the $40 as an incentive to “vote absentee.”
While it is unclear how the attorney general, the courts or voters will respond to the dueling accusations, one thing is for sure: things are getting ugly.
Last time I heard about Tim Occhipinti he was in the news for pleading guilty to zoning violations
Some serious damage control going on in this comment section.
Notice none are denying the message?
Michael Lenz, while sitting on the island of irrelevance, rears his big head to condescend. It isn’t enough for Lenz that his buddy Karen over at Patch is continuing her Russo hit job parade. Now he needs to try and pile on himself. Too bad he doesn’t carry the weight that he used to. What about when Lenz landed a County job after Carol Marsh’s disaster of a State Assembly campaign? What about when Lenz voted with Castellano and Russo to appoint his buddy Tony Soares to the Sewerage Authority against Dawn Zimmer’s wishes? What about when Lenz was on the campaign payroll for disgraced politician Joe Vas? Lenz got crushed each and every single time he put his name on the ballot. Emily Jabbour must be desperate, delusional, or both to have this washed up conman around. He’s not even a has been, he’s a never was – and on Tuesday, he’ll show Hoboken one more time that he’s nothing but a jerkoff.
Reality check folks, the only time Michael Lenz’s name comes up these days is when someone is playing Trivial Pursuit – The No One Gives A Shit Edition. He’s got a big mouth and an outdated act. How does anyone this mediocre stick around so long? Seriously, Chris Duffy how does that happen? Anyway, back to this colossal failure – Michael Lenz is one electoral loss away from being Glass Joe from Mike Tyson Punch-Out!! On Tuesday, he’s is going down for the count once and for all.
A great Letter had Lenz not been the “ Pot” talking to the Kettle ( Hoboken Mayors and Job Givers ) all these years…
His trail of Mayoral carnage spans 3 decades
https://observer.com/2010/08/something-old-from-new-hoboken/
This artfully crafted missive serves two functions — at one should succeed, at the other it should not.
Function 1 — Offer a thoughtful, fact-based, persuasive and logical argument for voting for Emily Jabbour and her ticket and rejecting Russo. Of this, there is no question, and I hope everyone recognizes that despite his voluminous baggage, Michael Lenz is indeed a shrewd veteran observer of the local political scene, and is at his best here in contextualizing the history into a cogent and incontrovertible argument for Team Jabbour. Please join me and Lenz in voting for them.
Function 2 — To launder Lenz’s own public-service track record from something — as astutely noted by a couple of other commenters here — actually far closer to every single quality he cites about the Russos than anything resembling the honesty, sincerity, transparency and integrity for which he lauds Emily. Michael Lenz has long sought to have it both ways — aspiring to be a backroom-deal mastermind while lambasting those whose power abuses he not-so-secretly coveted. I’m sure deep down, there’s some part of Lenz that genuinely believes in “reform.” But like the scorpion and the frog, he can’t resist his own nature, and the preponderance of any time he’s spent within five feet of the levers of power has been exactly as characterized in great detail by other commenters here, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In his longing to tie his own legacy to that of true reformers like Emily, he cleverly attempts to lay out the history as one he’s been consistently on the right side of, framing it as though he’s endorsing her to carry his own torch.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Lenz’s personal track record is best summed up in his own words, on the now-curiously-deleted Pat O’Melia interview show — “A hack is somebody who uses political connections for personal gain, and I’ve mostly not done that.”
Please vote for Emily and her team on December 2, but please do not allow Lenz’s forked-tongued argument to whitewash his own legacy, which not only includes many backroom deals he himself cut with Russo, but features those engagements as the points in his political career when he was most truly, gleefully in his element.
Dawn had many good running mates and ward council picks.
Cunningham, Cohen, Giattino, Fisher, Doyle and Mello
But why if what you say about Lenz is true, why did Dawn appoint him and vote for hi to take her 4th ward seat?
Obviously his record predates her choice.
She and her husband tend to blame everyone else after things don’t go as plan.
She was famous for tossing out those who supported her early on and replace them with Mason fans like Ann and GaryH, Mike DeFusco and Pupie Raia
A great deal of Russo developer campaign funding to try desperate to run cover for him.
With tens of millions contracts in play they are protecting their deals.
Lenz is right Russo is bad for Hoboken.
The Russo’s have always been bad for Hoboken.
An elephant walking along a parade route has a bigger following than Mike Lenz. The last time he saw his own d***, Nancy Reagan was teaching us to “Just Say No”. Anthony Russo forgot more about politics than Lenz has ever known. His biggest claim to fame is parlaying a failed State Assembly candidacy by Carol Marsh into a county job for himself. Why does this guy think he’s still relevant?
Apparently Mike Lenz’s letter has stuck a nerve.
Dawn, then her buddy Ravi, now their pal Emily. Who’s the corrupt one here? Look at what they did to Grand street, who asked to coddle all of Hoboken with this nonsense. Clearly stupid people. Hoboken doesn’t need more years of Zimmer politics. Russo is winning, cope and seethe.
The rumor mill is rife with the sentiment that Ravi is supporting Russo. I mean, after all, Russo did lots of deals with Ravi through Ravi’s tenure and Russo was a huge supporter of Emily and the entire team Bhalla slate in 2021. Maybe the real Ravi 2.0 isn’t Emily after all.
Russo openly talks about collaborating with Nazis to kidnap our neighbors and his council team are personal friends with my friggin landlords.
Go to hell and never come back.
The more obvious question that will prove the allegations of corruption:
Why does a “doctor” have a no show job at the Sewage Authority?
The Sewage Authority. There is not a more appropriate position for Mike
Let’s not kid ourselves that if Mike Lenz was invited to a lunch with Solomon Dweck some of Lenz’s words would have potentially been taken out of context or similar to Russo’s.
Lenz has made dozens of deals for political gain.
For decades He loved sitting at a table with the likes of the HCDO’s worst followed by meetings with his new comrades in the local DSA and uncommitted pals