We once came upon an elderly state Senator pulling campaign signs for his Democratic challenger right out of the ground. We caught this out our car window at about 45 mph and swerved over to the side of the road to stop. Whereupon, said Senator made a big show of putting them back in the ground, saying he just stopped his car there to straighten the signs out. But I don't think I've seen anything like what goes down in Hoboken.
Campaign shenanigans are routinely practiced, though my thinking is there are certain deeds that if committed signify you've lost a bigger battle of right vs. wrong than you may ever lose at the ballot box. And that brings me to Hoboken's 6th Ward.
A video surfaced today, from the kind of quality and angle that looks like standard shopkeeper's security video - grainy and overhead. But it's clear enough to make out a figure the Jen Giattino campaign says is Matt Calicchio. Matt Calicchio works for the Beth Mason - Michael Russo faction of the City Council reelection, which includes Giattino's opponent, Nino Giacchi. It's not the first time we've seen Calicchio's name pop up in connection with complaints of dirty campaigning. According to the account by the Giattino campaign, the man in the video, who does look like Calicchio, walked into her store April 19 saying he worked for Giattino, and that she'd be fined if campaign posters were in the window. The video shows the man removing posters from windows on both sides of the store. In reality, the Hoboken Zoning Office has jurisdictions over signage, and campaign material is exempt from restrictions under the 1st Amendment (signs have to be down a week after election). You can read more here. The video comes via Rami Pinchevsky's YouTube account. But, yeah, this video looks pretty bad:
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