A new super PAC is backing Hoboken Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour’s mayoral run, with a political flyer hitting mailboxes on Saturday, about 72 hours before the polls open on Election Day.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Emily Jabbour: A fighter for Hoboken’s working families. We will have the chance to vote for strong, honest leaders who will fight to make Hoboken safe and affordable for all,” the mailer, paid for by the Stronger Communities Coalition, says.
“Councilwoman Emily Jabbour is a problem solver for our city – protecting pedestrians, expanding youth programs, and defending rent control. She is ready to do even more as our next mayor.”
Filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC) show that the PAC, which has an address in Montclair, has spent $22,875.80 on printing and postage for direct mail from Brooklyn-based Person 2 Person Solutions.
This would indicate that a second mailer is likely to hit today, while the treasurer is listed as Alexandra Caiola.
She was also the treasurer for America’s Promise, a federal PAC that blistered U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) with attacks during last year’s spirited primary against Mayor Ravi Bhalla, as HCV first reported. Caiola did not return an email seeking comment.
Bhalla is the Democratic nominee for state Assembly in the 32nd Legislative District, opting to seek a new office instead of running for a third term. He has not endorsed anyone to succeed him, though Jabbour was part of his ticket in 2017 and 2021.
Former 1st Ward Councilman Mike DeFusco, the runner-up in the mayoral race eight years ago when Bhalla was elected, initially questioned if a labor PAC that backed Bhalla in Jabbour in 2017, Stronger Foundations, was involved, but later changed his tune.
” … I’ve since learned that ‘Stronger Communities’ is not connected to that PAC, but instead tied to a Democratic fundraiser who also supported Ravi Bhalla’s Assembly race. I apologize to Stronger Foundations for the misrepresentation,” he wrote on X.
“That said, it’s fair to ask: how can Emily Jabbour promise a ‘new direction’ for Hoboken while working with the same fundraiser used by Bhalla’s campaign?”
2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, one of Jabbour’s opponents, also questioned the new PACs involvement in the race in an email blast this morning.
“What’s curious about this SuperPAC is that it’s run by Alex Caiola, who also served as treasurer for America’s Promise, the SuperPAC that raised $768,000 to support Ravi Bhalla’s failed run for Congress,” she wrote.
“Caiola also continues to work with Alex Freedman, Bhalla’s former campaign manager, who runs multiple SuperPACs under the same political network. What a coincidence … Whether the next one is another ‘positive’ piece promoting Emily or a hit piece on me or another candidate, it’s all part of the same political operation we’ve seen for years. And we are so close to finally seeing this come to an end.”
In New Jersey, political candidates are not supposed to coordinate with super PACs.
However, the repercussions of doing so seem to be largely non-existent even when candidates have shown clear, direct ties to these independent expenditures (that doesn’t appear to be the case here).
The non-partisan November 4th Mile Square City mayoral race features Fisher, 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo, 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, former U.S. Treasury official Dini Ajmani, and Pat Waiters.
Why would Councilwoman Fisher assume a hit piece would come out on her? She’s the only one running a negative campaign and rumor has it that she’s not even polling high enough to make the run-off.
Fisher thinks a hit job is possible because that’s how Ravi rolls.
Senior county observers think Tiffanie Fisher is a target, that she’s on the move and surging:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hoboken/comments/1ol6o1b/comment/nmxvmtg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Senior County observers don’t talk to you. No one talks to you. Does Fisher?
No, I’m a shut-in. Only go out at night to ACME. Leave some donuts for me.
that reddit link is to the clueless moron who’s obsessed with a flyer from like 15 years ago. at this point everyone is pretty sure he made it and he wants people to remember that as his big moment.
Don’t read it. Don’t believe the victim who confirmed Team Bollard was behind the entire Hate Crime against Hoboken.
Holy cow, everyone knows and that means the Feds!
Incorrect. Trump is obviously above the law.
But dragging around a 15 year old story like he does is just sad. No one cares. It’s made him at best an object of pity, but mostly he’s regarded as an example of someone who can’t move on with his life and just keeps reliving some high school glory day. To be honest you sound like him in the sense that no one knows what you are talking about. Team Bollard? Feds spending calories on ancient flier stories?
Inside baseball that no Hoboken voter outside of a tiny political hack bubble will care about.
Ravi’s last dirty politics play.
The similarity to 2017, uncanny.
Where did the money come from for another late PAC action connected to Ravi and Emily?
Who is funding this?
It’s like the 2017 campaign with that shady Ravi Terror Flyer dropping late.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
You’ve definitely stayed the same. Boring, obsessive, irrelevant.
DeFusco blew the whistle exposing your criminal hero for what he is.
It has to hurt knowing you’ve been conned for so long. Stay stupid.
You’re wasting your time. Pretty sure she’d never hire you for anything.
Bidding for the new pest control contract in January. You don’t have much time. Eliminating rats, a specialty. ☠️
What oh what will all the Hoboken incels do when Bhalla is no longer mayor? This week is your last hurrah!
Will anything be able to get them out of bed in the morning (it certainly wouldn’t be a job)? Will they still spend all day commenting here about an election fantasy that happened over a decade ago, for which there’s no evidence and no charges (gee, why would that be?)?
Reminds me of one of those guys who peaked in life as a high school athlete and sadly continues to cling to it as his glory days 40 years later.