With rival out of town, Mason tables ordinance as Ramos defends dual status

HOBOKEN - Councilwoman Beth Mason tabled her proposed salary Assemblyman/Councilman Ruben Ramos: Politicker file photoand benefits ordinances at tonight’s council meeting, a move that likely did nothing to diminish the prolonged stare-down from now until next year’s mayoral election between Mason and her opponents.

Broken into two reform pieces, the freshman councilwoman’s proposed ordinances would scrap benefits and limit to $1 the council salaries of council people who hold more than one public job.

She sent them to committee tonight, but not before rousing her opposition.

Mason’s antagonists see the prospective mayoral candidate’s measures (backed up by Councilman Peter Cunningham) as an attempt to bait At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano and humiliate Assemblyman/At-Large Councilman Ruben Ramos, the governing body’s lone dual elected office holder.

Cammarano was out of town. Ramos fought back.

"I would like to express that the motivation for this ordinance was purely political and directed specifically at me, for the purpose of attacking a perceived political opponent," said Ramos in a prepared statement.

That political opponent is prospective mayoral candidate Cammarano.

"I’m on vacation in Cape Cod," he told PolitickerNJ.com via telephone. "It’s the first vacation I’ve taken in two years. I told the mayor to call me in the event there’s a 4-4 tie but otherwise I’d be away."

Like Ramos - and likely mayoral candidate 3rd Ward Councilman Michael Russo - Cammarano is on record in opposition to the proposed ordinance. But unlike his political ally and fellow at-large councilman, Cammarano firmly opposes dual-office holding, citing Alexander Hamilton’s condemnation of the practice in the Federalist Papers.

Hamilton cautioned about the potential conflict of interest that could arise if a congressman attempted to serve in some additional elected capacity, and Cammarano said the same principle applies in local politics.

At the meeting, Ramos attempted to defend his status as a dual-office holder.

"My cognizance of Hoboken municipal issues allows me to better represent my constituency at the state level," the assemblyman/councilman said in a prepared statement that he sent to PoltiickerNJ.com before the meeting.

"As a state assemblyman, it was my mission to advance local initiatives such as Hoboken University Medical Center, the Henkel Site, 1600 Park Avenue, and the soon to be constructed movie theater," he said. "And as your assemblyman, I will continue to fight for the benefit of Hoboken and the entire 33rd District.

"It is a sad day when members of government think they can dictate to the public who may appear on the ballot or hold public office. ...When did maintaining wealth become a prerequisite for holding elective office? How do I tell a child in the neighborhood in which I was raised, that if you want to serve the public good, you must first reach elite financial status?"

Ramos further criticized Mason’s bill as an infringement on democracy.

"Essentially, if you choose not to earn a living as they do, you are unfit to serve on the City Council," he said. "Disallowing a population to engage in the political process is predatory to the institution of Democracy. The politics of exclusion must be rejected."