LETTER: Tom Zuppa sold us out, vote for Kevin Bing for Jersey City Ward C councilman

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In a letter to the editor, Jersey City Ward C resident Kamala Jasmine Chopra Patel says that recent council candidate Tom Zuppa “sold us out” by endorsing Councilman Rich Boggiano and voters should still elect Kevin Bing.

From left to right: Ward C council candidate Kevin Bing, former candidate Tom Zuppa, and Councilman Rich Boggiano. Photo courtesy of Hudson Media Group.

Dear Editor,

I had supported Tom Zuppa to be our new councilman in Ward C. However, given the recent announcement that Tom Zuppa has endorsed Rich Boggiano, I feel that I’ve made a terrible mistake.

I believe that I totally misjudged Tom Zuppa. Obviously, his campaign slogan of “A new day for Ward C” was meaningless election year rhetoric.

The touching story on why he ran for public office; because he was concerned about longtime residents being forced from their homes due to greed was just a tall tale to play on the sympathies of the voters.

Knowing what I now know, I should have supported Kevin Bing from the very beginning.

In reality, Tom Zuppa is just another self-serving opportunist, no better than Rich Boggiano.

Tom Zuppa’s “new day” is just another day of the same old wheeling-dealing, machine-style back-room politics that has haunted and plagued Jersey City for the last century.

The simple fact of the matter is that although we believed in Tom Zuppa’s “new day for Ward C;” he sold us out to be part of the mayor’s association, the very same political group responsible for the greed that is causing many of our long time residents to leave Jersey City.

No matter who endorses Rich Boggiano, I simply refuse to support his re-election to the Ward C council seat. Rich Boggiano has been an enormous embarrassment to Ward C.

Rich Boggiano never supported affordable housing. He has introduced legislation, and then voted against his own ordinance. In one of his more outrageous “stunts,” he tried to evict a minority business owner from her shop at the old police kiosk on McGinley Square.

The list of Rich Boggiano’s inept absurdities can continue. However, the readers are already familiar with them.

Regardless of who supports Rich Boggiano, he is the one running for office. If re-elected, then Rich Boggiano will sit in the council chamber, not Tom Zuppa, Sean Connors, or anyone else backing him.

Some may believe that this “alliance” between Boggiano and Zuppa means that the incumbent will be more receptive to the community at large. That is not the case.

This is only a temporary alliance of convenience – a “marriage de convenance” – between Boggiano and Zuppa. Ultimately, being the mayor’s rubber stamp toady, Rich Boggiano will submit to the wants, whims, and passing fancies of city hall.

I know, Boggiano and Zuppa are working together for the betterment of Ward C. Nonsense! If that was the case, then why did Zuppa run against Boggiano in the first place?

If it was about making Ward C a better place, then why didn’t Tom Zuppa team up with his fellow independent, Kevin Bing? C

urrently, the mayor still has half a million dollars in his war chest; Kevin Bing just raised $13 thousand. Five hundred thousand dollars buys a lot more opportunity than a mere $13K. Maybe that was the deciding factor for Tom Zuppa.

Boggiano is hoping that Tom Zuppa can herd his supporters into Richie’s corral during this election year road-up. However, we’re voters and not livestock that neither Rich Boggiano nor Tom Zuppa can herd into a political camp.

If my friends and neighbors want real progressive change – and not lip service from a political opportunist – then I strongly urge them to vote for Kevin Bing on December 7.

It is now readily apparent that Tom Zuppa has no intention of giving us a new day for Ward C. Instead, by joining Boggiano, Tom Zuppa has sold us out in favor of the status quo.

We already have one sell-out; we now have another. Consequently, Kevin Bing is now our only chance – our only hope – to get a new day for Ward C.

Sincerely,
Kamala Jasmine Chopra Patel


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