Paul Swibinski

Beth Mason launched her campaign for Mayor of Hoboken last night standing in front of signage that proclaims "Real Reform. Lower Taxes."  That's a similar slogan Peter Cammarano used earlier this year -- "Lower Taxes. Real Change." when he defeated Mason in the Hoboken mayoral race.  Cammarano was arrested a few weeks after taking office for taking bribes and resigned after just one month on the job.

The "Lower Taxes. Real Change." plan was also used in November 2008 when Mark Smith was elected Mayor of Bayonne.  Mason, Cammarano and Smith used veteran Democratic messagemeister Paul Swibinski as their consultant.

Democratic political consultant Paul Swibinski with U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park)

Veteran Democratic strategist Paul Swibinksi spent several hours this week in a conference with Beth Mason laying out a plan for her to win a November special election for Mayor of Hoboken against the new incumbent, Dawn Zimmer.    Swibinksi, who was the consultant on the recent mayoral campaign of Peter Cammarano, who beat Mason in the May election and Zimmer in the runoff, thinks Mason can win - if she hires him.  Mason has not hired a consultant yet in a race to replace Cammarano, who resigned last week after nearly a month in office.

There are some strong technical similarities between a new television ad for Republican gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan produced by consultant Rick Shaftan and ads for Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith that were produced last year by his consultant, Paul Swibinski. The ads include similar silhouettes, fonts, and other graphics. 

Shaftan, who works for conservative candidates, and Swibinski, who does considerable work for candidates backed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization, are longtime friends.  But Swibinski is not secretly working for Lonegan are wrong; instead, the two firms use the same video editing house.  That company, PolitickerNJ.com is told, is under strict instructions not to comingle political work brought to them from Shaftan and Swibinski.  There’s a good chance the video editor will get the wrath of Shaftan sometime today.

Left to right: April Tricoli-Busset, State Sen./North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, and North Bergen Commissioner Theresa Ferraro

State Sen. Nicholas Sacco, who is also the Mayor of North Bergen, is being sued by a former municipal employee who says she was taunted by comments about her wardrobe and her "big boobs."   Paul Swibinski, a spokesman for Sacco, told the Jersey Journal that Sacco would "never make such a crass comment."

April Tricoli-Busset, who worked as secretary to the Chief of Police and ran the municipal website, alleges that Sacco once asked other Commissioners: "Don't you think we should have a big boobs page on the Web site?"  She also says that Commissioner Theresa Ferraro once criticized her for dressing provocatively, and claims she told her that although she "had very lovely breasts, maybe it would be a good idea for (her) to either wear turtleneck or scarves."

Longtime rivals: State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe FerrieroFour weeks before Election Day, the intra-party battle between State Sen. Loretta Weinberg and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero heated up today after three Democratic state legislators held a press conference to allege abuses by Democrat-controlled “shadow governments” – local authorities that they say have little or no oversight from Trenton.

The main target of the legislators was the Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority, where Ferriero serves as Chief Counsel. She says that the PVSA has spent over $3.2 million on government relations consultants and $12 million on legal fees since 2001 – with about $4.5 million going to Ferriero’s law firm.

My Tribute to Byron Baer
By Paul Swibinski

I met Byron in 1976, when he ran for Congress against Henry Helstoski, who eventually won after a scandal involving over 2000 altered absentee ballots. I was a young volunteer at that time. Later I became his media consultant and worked on all of his campaigns.

In 1993, Byron and Englewood Mayor Donald Aronson (also a friend and client) both wanted to succeed retiring Senator Matty Feldman and appeared before the District 37 county committee convention seeking the party endorsement.

Paul Fader was working for Don and I was working for Byron. Paul and I were both very intense and we began arguing over where campaign posters would be placed. We had one of those "gentleman square-offs" where we circled each other, both waiting for someone to separate us because neither wanted to throw a punch. Fortunately someone did!