Mason and Zimmer Clash Over Pay-to-Play, Wheeling Ordinance

Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Council President Beth Mason are involved in another political back-and-forth, . 

City Council voted on a new and updated pay-to-play ordinance on Wednesday night, which includes the appointment of a pay-to-play officer. The ordinance was written by . In a case of "pay-to-play," a developer or a vendor donates money to a candidate in return for significant financial favors, such as contracts or zoning variances.

The ordinance, however, does not include the , which would prevent moving money from one donor to another to avoid campaign finance restrictions, that was introduced by the administration last week. Fifth Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham introduced an ordinance that included an anti-wheeling legislation, which was was voted down twice during Wednesday night’s meeting.

“The meeting was noteworthy not just due to this unfortunate and inexplicable vote, but due to the efforts of the Council President to stop Councilman Cunningham from even explaining the legislation to the public before it was voted down,” Zimmer reacted to the meeting in a release that was sent out by City Spokesman Juan Melli.

During the meeting Mason said—while defending herself for making a $13,400 donation to —that “thousands of dollars” were received by Zimmer from a committee that had received money from Solomon Dwek, the FBI informant who bribed former mayor Peter Cammarano. Cammarano .

Zimmer called this a  “malicious and untrue statement completely made up to divert attention from the real issues raised by the wheeling of money into Hoboken political campaigns.”

Mason, too, sent out a release to her constituents on Thursday morning. The pay-to-play legislation, Mason wrote, “places tighter restrictions on developers and public contractors that contribute to local political campaigns.”

When introducing the anti-wheeling legislation, Zimmer mentioned Mason’s contribution to Occhipinti as an example of wheeling money. ““Provisions were added to resolution with the intent to target me specifically,” Mason said, “because I supported Tim Occhipinti.” Mason called that measure “unconstitutional.”

In her communication to constituents, Mason did not mention the proposed anti-wheeling provision, but instead focused on another candidate entirely: former Fourth Ward councilman Michael Lenz. In her communication to constituents (as well as during the meeting on Wednesday), Mason referred to an alleged lunch between Lenz and a developer, who later donated money to the Lenz campaign.

Zimmer is now looking for an apology from the

“I urge Councilwoman Mason and Councilman Russo to issue an immediate public apology to me, County Executive Tom DeGise and former Councilman Michael Lenz for their knowingly false and defamatory statements,” Zimmer wrote.