A Tale of Two Cities

An Excellent Anaysis..... (0.00 / 0)

....and some astute cogent observations and telling juxtapositions there.  Thank you Paul.  This isn't a day for too much focus on the BCDO fiaco/tragedy; but your spot on contribution needs to be acknowledged and reinforced.   In the days to come we will pick up on this nexus of challenges in more detail.   Clearly it was the indicted Chairman's strategy to use the inauguration as "cover" and to some extent, it's worked. Having said that, I'm confident that "the fix" will not hold except, perhaps, in the short run.  

Let's celebrate the victory of aspirational hope over political pragmatism today.   Despite what appears to be a likely "victory" for the agents of legalized corruption.....I dare say, things will change a lot sooner than most of us may think.  
The people, UNITED, can never be defeated!!!   That's a good part of what America is all about.....and even the "...almighty wizard" of waste will eventually be even more of a loser than he already is...............Let's all follow Barack Obama's example and organize, organize organize!!!!

Yes, we can!!!

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by: Nick Lento @ Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 13:59:05 PM UTC

Well said! (0.00 / 0)

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 19:37:30 PM UTC

Nice spin by a spin master (1.33 / 3)

This is the same Rotarian American who was the mastermind behind the "I'm a gay American" debacle of disgraced Governor Jim McGreevey.  Now he wants to be the face of the Bergen County Democrats.  Now he wants us to forget that he was part of shaming democrats in this state with that garbage PR spin made to save a guy who was giving top Homeland security jobs to his romantic lovers.  

Let's be honest.  We need a new face.  We need someone who can RAISE MONEY.  We need someone who is willing to reach out to all facets of the party.  The weinberg crew, the ferriero clan, the rothmanites, and the 10 republican who live above route 4.  We don't need a spin master.

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by: jerseyboy32 @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 00:06:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

If you really knew Paul (4.00 / 1)

you would realize what YOU just wrote was pure spin.

If the ONLY THING you care about is money, then you belong with the Ferriero-crats.  The ANONYMOUS ones who take potshots from the darkness of their closed minds.  

In Tenafly we proved that it is IDEAS that win elections. Obama proved that big donors don't win elections.  IDEAS do.  And heart. And inspiration.

Paul has integrity and honesty on his side, while you side with people who stand indicted of various crimes who are always trying to take our voice and our votes away or to render them meaningless.  

Paul has something you will never have jerseyboy32.  The respect of Dems in Bergen County.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 00:32:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

interesting response (0.00 / 0)

I think it is interesting how you want the free flow of ideas inside the BCDO, unless of course those ideas oppose your own.  Then you merely brush them away as the ranting of a 'ferrierocrat'.

Truth be told I am not a Ferrierocrat.  What I am is a Democrat who sees the need for a positive face on the BCDO.  I do NOT think that Mr. Aronsohn is that face.  I have mentioned my reasons.  My aim is to point this out to members of the County Committee who read this website.  

Unfortunately, we do need to worry about money.  In dream land, aka: 'Tenafly' maybe you don't need money to be successful in politics.  But in the real world, campaigns need funding.  

It is worth noting that it is incredibly difficult to effectively govern with democratic values, if you are not in office.  Politics, and money are a necessary evil.

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by: jerseyboy32 @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 03:58:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah (0.00 / 0)

it is nice here in Tenafly, where we have kept the Ferrierocrats out.  We can worry about governing instead of corruption. When I won office, it cost less than $2,300 per seat for my campaign.  We beat two popular incumbents with a positive message and not one negative ad.  

That is why we don't have pay to play here.  It isn't needed.

Take the $$$ out of politics and you take away the incentive for criminals to enrich themselves.  Even in a Borough that is considered a wealthy one.  Show the voters some respect for their intelligence and you get..... victory.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 05:55:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

JB32 Did You Actually *Read* Aronsohn's Diary??? (0.00 / 0)

He sliced up the Ferriero BCDO in such a way that your buddies are left speechless and without any kind of retort except to rely on third rate ad hoministic garbage like what you just spewed that was stale 2 years ago..........Sorry jerseyboy32, and I truly am sorry for folks like you and "wonderwoman" who for some perverse "affection/true belief", or just cold hard cash, have taken it upon yourselves to try to defend the Ferriero BCDO and the obviously ethically corrupt tactics they've employed under Boss Joe.  

Even if you were brilliant and articulate and creative (which you isn't :-)  you would still have a hard time defending what is, on it's face, ethically/morally corrupt.    The fact that pay to play is still legal, doesn't make  it good.   The effects of pay to play are corrosive to our democracy, waste money, give us bad laws and even worse regulations across the board....the downstream cumulative result is what we have now......a terrible mess that may take decades from which to fully recover and at the cost of countless lives.   If you really think that your primitive and childishly  coarse swipes at folks like Paul Aronsohn are doing anything other than generating sympathy for him; you're bulb is even dimmer than I thought.   So feel free to keep up the bad work, it only makes you look stupidly angry.   If you want to quote Paul's diary in context and make a rational and informed argument that is intelligently rebutting anything he said there; then I dare say he just might deign to respond to you himself.   Meanwhile, you ain't doin Boss Joe any favors by "spinning" for him......so please, keep it up!    :-)

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by: Nick Lento @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 04:16:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

low blow (0.00 / 0)

Nicky,

why do you have to say that i am stupid?  Is it just because i disagree with you?  You know nothing about me.

Stop being so idealistic and open your eyes.  

The BCDO needs money.  I'm not saying that the Ferriero way is the right way.  But why condemn Mike K, or Paul Sarlo, or whoever just because they are not supported by Weinberg?  And just because thet have been classified as "the Ferriero candidate"  by Weinberg.

As an outside observer, I think that the ferriero methods are wrong, but if weinberg's crew, (you, carol, valerie H, gordon J, buzzy, Paul Aronsohn)  got control of the BCDO, you would be fundraising in a similar manner.  

Maybe I'm a little cynical realist.  But thats how it looks

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by: jerseyboy32 @ Wed Jan 21, 2009 at 22:45:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Excuse Me? (0.00 / 0)

We are angry not at Kasparian.  If you are too blind to see that the PROCESS is broken, then we can't help you.  

This doesn't have to do with who is blessed or not by Senator Weinberg.  It has to do with us wanting to ask for a real election, and being denied that by a Governor who makes sure any opposition drops out, and the BCDO Pay-To-Play operatives that he enables.

Were you at the District 37th meeting where all discussion was dissallowed?  Were YOU ever challenged by BCDO staff at a special election simply because of who YOU supported?  Were YOU ever thrown off the BCDO line simply for voting against the Chairman's pick at a special election?

If the answer is no, then you don't understand what is at stake here. You don't understand that Bergen County Democratic Organization is an oxymoron.  You don't understand why we are so mad, we are willing to demonstrate in 10 degree weather outside the BCDO right now.  You don't understand something that is now so obvious to everyone except you.  The old Soviet Union was where there was only one guy on the ballot, not America.  But the current BCDO has not only made our votes meaningless, but has actually ACTED to PREVENT our voices from being heard AT ALL.

That is not Democracy.  It is  dictatorship.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 00:04:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I Didn't Say You Were "Stupid" (0.00 / 0)

What I said is that even a brilliant articulate and creative person couldn't defend/justify the pay to play modus operandi.   It is a morally, ethically, and intellectually flawed way of doing business.   I'll own up to being sarcastic in my assertion that you didn't have those qualities.   Let me modify that assertion and say that your words here don't display those qualties......it may well be that in other contexts you may be quite smart etc.

Frankly, I know that I would come across as stupid if I ever sold out and tried to use my powers of persuasion to try to convince anyone that pay to play was a good thing....so please don't be overly offended.   I am against the position you're taking, not you as a person.....I don't even know who you are.   For what it's worth, you seem sincere in your beliefs.   Let's continue this discussion in more depth so that we might better understand each other.

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by: Nick Lento @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 00:52:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

hold on (0.00 / 0)

last i recall paul was not an RBD(i could be totally off about that but i do not recall him being one) so i do not know how u say he is a "weinberg" candidate.  

Secondly, this has nothing to do with the McGreevy scandal whatsoever.  To bring that up is completely classless and disrespectful, that PR "nightmare" has nothing to do with Paul potentially becoming BCDO chairman.  Also I would rather have a chairman that totally sucks at fundraising but runs a fair balanced organization than the way it is currently being run with 1 person essentially picking his own candidate.

Lastly, I'm voting for paul as I'm sure all of the RBD's and anyone not in the Ferierro inner circle will be.  But Jerseyboy32, if you think that just because Paul is chairman that we will all lay off the BCDO that is flatout untrue.  If Paul runs the BCDO in the same manner as Ferierro i GUARANTEE that everybody who is currently Anti-BCDO will continue to be so and will be even more vocal.  

P.S.  I wasn't aware that if you were against the current BCDO establishment that it made you one of "weinberg's crew."

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by: Erik Preuss @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 01:59:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Paul was not an RBD. (4.00 / 1)

He was the candidate for Congress in the 5th District against Scott Garrett and a supporter of Dennis Shulman.

I appreciate his wish for a real election to replace a Chairman - a very important position in our party.  Many folks in the BCDO who were not RBDs agree with Paul on this one.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 03:18:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

i agree (0.00 / 0)

with u 100%. that was the point i was trying to make, that this goes beyond the RBDs, this is an issue of democracy and justice.

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by: Erik Preuss @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 13:51:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why I Rated Your Trollish Comment as "Excellent" (0.00 / 0)

I want people to be able to see the character and the "mentality" of the prototypical Ferriero supporter.    Giving you a troll rating, in this case, actually makes you look relatively good because it precludes a broader audience from seeing your "position" utterly eviscerated since that rating ( below 1) means that all the refutations of your totally wrongheaded "take" on pay to play are also blocked from view as was amanjester  below.....now he can read the missing comments.

In other words, that attack on Paul was so groundless and so ugly that it actually deserves to be memorialized as an example of what kind of deficient thought process it takes to be for Ferriero/Kaspian/Pay to Play.   Your  attempt to denigrate Paul and those opposed to the Ferrierocrat BCDO agenda actually backfires nicely...and imho the more that is exposed, the better.

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by: Nick Lento @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 23:46:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

where are the rest of the comments (0.00 / 0)

at the end of paul's post it says 10 comments but I can only read 2 why?

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by: amanjester @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 01:19:46 AM UTC

hidden comment (0.00 / 0)

It appears that most of the comments in this diary were in response to a comment which has been down-rated enough that it's now "hidden". When a comment is hidden, so are all the replies to it.
I wasn't even aware that "trusted user" status existed here, but I guess it works the same way it does at Daily Kos -- there's some formula that calculates how much you participate and how many "recommends" your comments receive, and determines whether or not you're a "trusted user". If you're a TU, you can view hidden comments, among other things.

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by: Bill W @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 13:45:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great post, Paul (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

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by: rmfretz @ Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 19:32:34 PM UTC