Sunday, March 9, 2014

Beth Mason Fail!

Well, Hoboken's 2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason, seems to have stumbled in an elaborate dance with New Jersey's Election Law Enforcement Commission. Mason, her lawyer husband, Richard G. Mason, and a number of sundry Mason operatives, have been charged with nineteen counts of ELEC law violations, related to Mason's failed mayoral campaign in 2009, and her ward council campaign in 2011. Extensive coverage of this story is provided by Hoboken's plucky journalist-bloggers Grafix Avenger and Hoboken Horse so I won't go into details here, except to mention two startling sums. These charges aren't simply about forgetting to submit a campaign receipt or two. Horse tabulates the total number of violations to be 387.  And, GA calculates the total possible fine on all counts to be in the neighborhood of $14M! 

There's more to this story than simple schadenfreude. Mason spends lots of money promoting her public face of good governance and transparency. But, as they say, actions speak louder than words. The ELEC charges against Mason stem from bad governance and opaqueness, and constitute more evidence of her true, not-so-hidden agenda.