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Deconstructing Michael Lenz – Updated!
21
November
11/21/2009 Update:
The non-sugar coated version of the current state of Hoboken politics…
No Surprise Here: Lenz Appointed
Some of you may have noticed that your humble host here at Hoboken411 didn’t waste any of your time with monotonous daily updates on who was supposedly “in the running” to be appointed to represent the Fourth Ward on the City Council.
Why? Well, for starters 98.7% of Hoboken is burned out on election talk and 411 strives to serve the majority, not the tiny minority of obsessed political crazies. Second, because the so-called “competition” for the seat never really existed. It was all a diversion. The decision was made at a diner table days before the election. The seat was going to longtime Hoboken political player and wannabe HCDO operative Michael Lenz from moment one. Everything else you saw was smoke, mirrors and deception.
These are things Dawn Zimmer is very good at, as nearly all of Hoboken will be finding out over the next four years.
But wait, Zimmer said Lenz doesn’t control her?
Yep, and she also said she wouldn’t take money from the HCDO (she did) and would serve a full term as 4th ward Councilwoman (she didn’t).
There are many Dawn Zimmer supporters scratching their heads about the non-tie breaking vote she took at this week’s council meeting to install Lenz as her successor.
They believed her when Dawn and her busiest green-shirted beavers on the streets and on the web told people that Lenz “was not running the show” and “would not have a significant role” if she were elected Mayor.
Some took it a step further and claimed Zimmer was only “tolerating” Lenz because she didn’t want him against her, but “would never put him in a position of power.” So much for that…
You can’t say you weren’t warned!
Hoboken411 was in on the ground floor of Zimmer’s race against Chris Campos, so who knows her better than most people who voted for her? Everything else you read is “post-brainwashed” fluff and propaganda!
You were also warned about Mike Lenz, and told you why he should be avoided over a year ago (see that original story after the jump). Hoboken411 isn’t the only place on the web you can find criticism of Mike Lenz. Others have been far more critical and specific about why Lenz should not return to a position of political power, but yet the only people Lenz has ever sued for defamation of character are the taxpayers of the City of Hoboken.
Lenz assumes a position he can exploit
Jersey City government is a giant patronage mill in part because the HCDO machine-backed city council members often also end up on the County Payroll. They do what they’re told because it’s in their best interests. Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega was scooped up in the same corruption sting that brought Peter Cammarano down, yet Vega remains on the council and in his job as Hudson County Director of Parks, Engineering and Planning. Mike Lenz is also on the county payroll, and answers to the HCDO bosses who gave him his job. Who will Lenz represent on the council, the people of the 4th ward or his Hudson County bosses? (There is only one answer to that…)
Zimmer useless without Lenz, the shadow Mayor
As 411 predicted and said repeatedly in the past, Zimmer depends on Mike Lenz to tell her what to do on budget and operational issues, and appointing him to the 4th ward seat is the perfect cover that will allow Lenz to be in the Mayor’s office as often as he likes. Unlike Zimmer’s supposedly “clean slate,” Lenz brings his decades long list of enemies to settle scores with into City Hall. As you’ve been told in the past, it’s not beneath Lenz to lie about people who see things differently than him, including spreading false information about who’s who on the Internet. As a former Hoboken CFO under Dave Roberts and one-time Board of Education President, Lenz has a lot of political baggage.
There ya go! Lenz and Zimmer control it all
Make no mistake about it. Barring a successful legal challenge to the Lenz appointment, Mayor Dawn Zimmer will have absolute power at least through November. In addition to the public honeymoon period, she has a reliable five-vote majority to push her initiatives through. There are no excuses to be made. It’s in their hands.
So far they’ve already made a mockery of their “open applications/transparency” campaign promises with their fixed appointments. Hoboken411 will be watching to see what other promises are broken, because power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, especially when the county bosses are just a stone’s throw away. As usual, you read it here first.
Read the original “Deconstructing Michael Lenz” post from 2008 after the jump!!!
8/25/2008:
It’s rare that I find a letter to the editor in the weekly paper that says so many things that need to be said that I take the time to bring it to the much larger Hoboken411 audience.
Jake Stuiver has written such a letter.
In it, he takes on one of Hoboken’s best-known political opportunists, Michael Lenz. The kind of guy who thrives on the saying “you can fool some of the people some of the time” in the way he sucks in new residents looking to do good, only to fool them into thinking he has Hoboken’s best interests at heart. More on that later, but first a few words from Jake:
Dear Editor:
The real reason Lenz is against Mason
After reading last week’s article on prospective mayoral candidates, I felt compelled to respond to county employee and Hudson County Democratic Organization ally Michael Lenz’s regrettably sexist and derisive remarks about Councilwoman Mason’s bona fides as a reformer.
Having been heavily involved in Carol Marsh’s mayoral campaign four years ago, I proudly worked alongside Lenz and a united Hoboken reform movement toward attaining change in Hoboken. By the time the movement splintered, I had enrolled in an intensive grad-school program, which I saw as an ideal opportunity to stay out of politics and above the fray for the time being. I valued the chance to maintain good relations with a wide range of people who were no longer on good terms with one another, and perhaps even help to eventually get people back on the same page.
Watching and listening to events over the past year, however, I have felt myself coming down off that fence and no longer able to give Mr. Lenz the benefit of the doubt. I truly am sad to say this because Michael is someone whose company I once sincerely enjoyed. Unfortunately, he is also someone who has repeatedly proven that any grandiose talk of a “greater good” he stands for appears to be mere cover for what he’s really out for – himself.
Lenz, who four years ago created a textbook example of how to lose a perfectly winnable election, did one thing extremely well during the Marsh campaign – he chased out the door numerous people with strong talent and desire to help us. I am not referring exclusively to one incident in particular, but rather a steady string of volunteers who came into the campaign office eager and able to help and left jaded and turned off. I would even count myself among people who came off that debacle feeling used, abused, under-appreciated and in no hurry to get back into politics anytime soon. Observing Lenz’s behavior in many of these instances, I came to suspect that he would rather lose an election than win without getting full credit for it.
Now, Councilwoman Mason is making waves in Hoboken, making a difference and making a name for herself, quite deservedly. She is bringing a level of commitment to public service I have not seen in this city in the seven years I’ve lived in the area. She is not aware that I am writing this letter. Because she’s gotten to where she is without Michael Lenz running the show, he appears to be resorting to spewing envious bile when he should be lauding her for accomplishing things he once claimed to stand for.
Instead, all he seems to stand for these days is old-boys-network jobs, sexist “Roberts in a dress” jabs and hypocritical accusations of machine alliances. I find it curious that Lenz would invoke Mayor Roberts as a negative point of reference being that he managed his first campaign, inadvertently (if not intentionally) helped re-elect him in 2005 and now works for the organization that backs him.
Jake Stuiver
Burn!
Hoboken411 and many readers have had our own run-ins with Mr. Lenz over the past few years. At first he ignored the site. Then when he saw how many people were reading, he and a few minions attempted to take control of all political discourse. When told to lay off, they just kicked it into a higher gear. When told they were breaking the site rules, they persisted until they were no longer welcome.
Since then, Lenz and his small crew have tried in vain to damage Hoboken411 through a smear campaign on other boards, trying (and failing) to “out” those who post here and generally disrupt the course of business of the site. They have failed on all counts, as Hoboken411 continues to grow at a blistering pace.
Who is Michael Lenz?
Watching Lenz speak during a typical city council you may be fooled into thinking he is a typical Hoboken resident who is sick and tired of the status quo. Hardly. He is actually a big part of the problem. Following a brief but disastrous run on the Board of Education which set back the cause of “reform” politics for a decade, Lenz returned to the scene shortly before the 2001 Mayoral Campaign claiming he was going to run for Mayor under a “reform” banner against incumbent Anthony Russo. At first Lenz told people he didn’t think the likely challenger at the time – Sixth Ward Councilman David Roberts – would do enough to reform if elected. At the time Russo dismissed Lenz as a challenger, and said his race would be against Roberts. He was right.
Read the rest of this story after below…
Lenz sells out to Roberts
Around the time that Lenz “decided” not to run for Mayor and instead support Roberts, a deal was brokered to bring Lenz on as a paid employee of the Roberts campaign. It then became Lenz’s job (literally) to convince reform-minded Hobokenites that Dave Roberts was a great man that was going to do big things to reform Hoboken’s government. Many got on board, later saying it was against their better judgment but better than the alternative at the time. Unlike those volunteers, Lenz was paid.
Roberts elected, but no job for Lenz
Once the campaign was over Lenz needed a job. It became clear he wanted to run the Hoboken Parking Authority. This was not a job that Roberts and State Senator Bernie Kenny wanted to put in Lenz’s hands. When Lenz didn’t get what he wanted he tried to “get even” by running against newly appointed Fourth Ward Councilman Chris Campos in the November 2001 special election. The then little-known Campos pummeled Lenz by a 4-to-1 margin.
Lenz kisses and makes up with Roberts
Almost immediately, Lenz (with his tail between his legs) resumed kissing up to Roberts and Kenny, such as writing letters to the editor supporting their candidates for Board of Education, and – still in need of a job – trying to get on the city payroll.
His opportunity came when despite his lack of state certification as a Chief Financial Officer, Lenz was hired by Roberts to be the acting CFO of the city.
Lenz was later fired and sued the city for damages. Roberts settled the case for $183,000. People still wonder why Roberts settled out of court rather than go to trial with a non-tenured employee he could fire at will.
At odds again with Roberts and Kenny, or not?
By now Carol Marsh was also on the outs with Roberts (she was the very last to jump off the Roberts ship) and with the 2005 election fast approaching, Lenz ran the Marsh for Mayor campaign (see Jake Stuiver’s letter above for more on that debacle.) The joke afterward was that Lenz helped get Roberts elected in 2001, and helped get him reelected in 2005. That’s when he went back into “kiss and make up with the machine” mode again.
Lenz has dinners with Kenny, makes deals
Lenz and Kenny share a love of the history of the Civil War, and would have dinners on a near monthly basis to discuss it. They were also believed to be talking politics, and of the time they would once again work together in an election. Kenny knew that when his back was against the wall and his political machine was divided that he could get a lifeline from Lenz, who fancied himself “Leader of the Reformers.” That time came in 2007 when Lenz and Marsh joined with Kenny and his HCDO against Union City Mayor Brian Stack and his upstart Democrats For Hudson County. Just like in 2001, Lenz’s job was once again to corral up Hoboken’s “reform” vote for HCDO candidates like Roberts.
Lenz loses again, but wins a job
Endorsed by Dave Roberts (like in 2001), Marsh was trounced in Hoboken and throughout the district which also included West New York and Union City. Still, the HCDO as a group in control of the county, survived the challenge and Lenz was given a $65,000 a year job (plus juicy county employee benefits) at a Hudson County facility in Secaucus. Marsh’s running mate Nicole Garcia was also given a $65,000 a year county job after the election. Both Marsh and Garcia were made ceremonial (and powerless) co-vice chairs of the HCDO.
Now he needs to move up the HCDO ladder
$65k is a decent starting salary, but to move up the county payroll ladder Lenz needs to show his new benefactors that he can do their bidding. One way to do that is use what little “reform” credibility he has left to take down someone like Beth Mason who is a threat to the county machine’s control of Hoboken.
Most people who have seen Lenz in action over the last 8 years or more know what he is about, but he has an ability to fool many newcomers who want to believe him. Many reject him soon after meeting the guy, but others get pulled into his thrall and don’t do their due diligence.
Take it from me. Avoid Michael Lenz.
280 Responses to ** Deconstructing Michael Lenz – Updated! **
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November 21st 2009 - 17:52:19 |
As a strong Zimmer backer from Day 1 in her 4th ward race against Campos, I am very disappointed that she picked Lenz. I had a feeling she would, but hoped she would clean house and not bring any of the old guard players back on the stoop. Start new and REFORM. It gains her NOTHING politically, and Lenz won’t even be able to hold the 4th ward in next year’s election, throwing off her current 5-4 majority. Too bad.
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November 21st 2009 - 20:28:14 |
There are at least two things at play here. One is, Lenz is still an effective and formidable rabble-rouser. (I personally admire rabble rousers!) Having Lenz on the “inside” in a Council seat will be easier for the other Reformers in Government now (all with better interpersonal skills, imho) to “deal with” him. The second thing is that this seat now gives Lenz a genuine “Put Up or Shut Up” opportunity over the next 12 months.
He can either a) deliver for his constituents and be reelected, or b) he can deliver for his allies on the Council and have them Get Out the Vote for him in 12 months and carry him to a real victory; or c) he can be a self-adulating Councilman who is undone by his total ability to connect with anyone who isn’t already in his fan club. At that point he’s on his own and the other Nouveau Reformers can just let him hang himself out to dry.
I’m not a betting person, but my money is on #2, or #3 above.
Good luck to all of us, and even to him!
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November 21st 2009 - 22:22:23 |
Great find, John! Lenz was making the same promises back in 1992 too, and still failed. How good a con man is he that he keeps getting new yuppies to support him? He hasn’t improved anything in Hoboken except his own wallet!
In response to john14 who said:
Oh, Lenz was also FOR the towers along the river where Pier A now stands. We have a winner for sure.
nytimes.com/1992/04/09/nyregion/sch...reflects-big-shifts-in-hoboken.html
Mr. Lenz and his allies, who had been on the short end of a 5-to-4 split on the nine-member board, now hold the majority.
School board elections may seem like small-potato politics, but in Hoboken, Tuesday’s vote was a sea change. For the first time since young, upwardly mobile professionals discovered the charms of this port city in the 1970’s, they control the direction of — and the money and jobs dispensed by — one of Hoboken’s most powerful bodies. And the election came only a week after a referendum in which voters defeated a waterfront redevelopment plan that had divided the city, with some exceptions, into bitter camps of newcomers and natives.
Mr. Lenz, who moved to Hoboken 10 years ago, conceded that many residents would see the school-board election — especially after the waterfront referendum — as a sure sign that the newcomers have taken over this city of 33,400. But he disagrees with that assessment. To him, the election was not so much about newcomers and old-timers but about changing a school system that both groups find woefully inadequate. High Property Taxes
“We asked residents to consider a question like the one Ronald Reagan asked when he was running against Jimmy Carter,” Mr. Lenz said. “Our campaign asked, ‘Is the school system better off than it was 10, 20 years ago?’ “
Hoboken voters, saddled with high property taxes, defeated the district’s proposed $39.9 million budget, $22.5 million of which would have come from the taxpayers. The $782,650 capital budget was also defeated. To Mr. Lenz, that was proof that many voters had heard his campaign slogan, “The schools cost too much and do too little.”
It would be hard to argue that Hoboken’s schools do not need to improve. The system, with 3,250 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, spends more per pupil than any other urban district in the state, about $12,000. Faculty salaries are also among the highest, at more than $50,000 for tenured teachers. And the student-teacher ratio, 11 to 1, is lower than the state average. But students’ averages on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests are more than 100 points below the state average. Only 69.1 percent of the students passed the state’s ninth-grade proficiency test, compared to the state average of 82.1 percent. The high school has no advanced placement classes.
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November 22nd 2009 - 07:33:53 |
One thing to be sure of ..The Marx bros can’t wait for Judy to leave..Remember her new boss is cristie..If anyone recalls the mayor of weehawken came on as a moderator and wound up becoming the mayor..Judy would be a threat should she decide to stay.It is she that negotiates with unions and sets budgets..Notice the camera zooms in on the reformer five and they stare at each other for answers..dhhhhhh.Scarey al right..
In response to wiskeytango1 who said:
Its a sham..Zelda has 4yrs to ruin the city.go morticia
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November 22nd 2009 - 11:34:31 |
i just started watching the the insanity that is city hall. i think the rest of you should actually watch before you post. Your dumb.
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November 22nd 2009 - 20:08:46 |
I remember speaking with you this past spring very clearly.
This was a very difficult vote, especially since we’re talking about a ward that my family lives in and where we have many friends and neighbors. I spoke at length about my vote at the most recent City Council meeting for that exact reason.
If you would like to discuss this, or anything else pertaining to Hoboken for that matter, please feel free to call me at 917-699-1312.
- David Mello
In response to whewwhewwhew who said:
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November 23rd 2009 - 10:03:44 |
Councilman Lenz is competent, experienced (Bdo of Ed. and Hob. CFO and has gained even more self-confidence by reason of same. Let’s monitor his performance and see how he does.
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November 23rd 2009 - 13:10:49 |
real right ..He owes the taxpayers 180 clams..u r one of the tax payers.of course dosen’t matter..shims see what they want to see
nothing personal like our left out riccotta says..stay tuned she is due ..
In response to realstuff who said:
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November 23rd 2009 - 17:26:30 |
Whats with our LOCAL politicians with the out of state plates, cell numbers etc….if anyone has a problem with this or anything else they wish to talk about please call me 867-5309….thank you
jenny
In response to DaveMello who said:
This was a very difficult vote, especially since we’re talking about a ward that my family lives in and where we have many friends and neighbors. I spoke at length about my vote at the most recent City Council meeting for that exact reason.
If you would like to discuss this, or anything else pertaining to Hoboken for that matter, please feel free to call me at 917-699-1312.
- David Mello
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November 23rd 2009 - 17:32:40 |
Besides, there’s nothing to discuss. Mello LIED when he said Lenz won’t get the seat and he (Mello) would consider resigning if it happened. Nope. Instead Mello gave a rambling speech at the council meeting trying to justify his vote for Lenz even though he knew it was all a lie.
In response to blahblahblah who said:
jenny
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November 23rd 2009 - 18:23:50 |
This is a tough one. Didn’t Mello get in trouble before for stretching the truth? (I think it was that he overstated his involvement in a community group or something.) That doesn’t help things. But the guy does have the right to change his mind, especially if he can offer reasons for doing so.
Seems as though everyone in Hoboken says one thing and does another. Otherwise, we’d have all those parks, pools and community centers people keep promising.
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November 23rd 2009 - 18:46:41 |
Whatever condition our council is in, the majority put them there. The biggest problem right now, connected to our only HOSPITAL is the budget. Mr. Lenz, like it or not, has been described as a genius with budgets. Give him a chance…perhaps he can do some good. Mayor Zimmer had to achieve control of the majority to get anything done. She now has it, and that might not be a bad thing, time will tell. There is opposition also, which is necessary for checks and balances. ALL the eggs cannot be in one basket! Give it a couple of council meetings to add up whatever progress is being worked on. Cunningham as Council President seems to be doing a good job as a referee, but could be a little kinder (slightly more congenial) in his dealings with the public. He is beginning to be appealing as a Council President.RUSSO makes sense, and has a good ally in Castellano,
and MASON shines bringing her usual transparency issues to the attention of the public. Her questions of the hospital CEO were
very informative and brought out a lot of information to the public. HElen Hirsch did a big investigation on where the hospital wasted their big bucks. I checked out what she said, and she was 100 percent on target. AMAZING…..the rest are not critiqued as yet. I am working on that in addition to other things…See ya,
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November 23rd 2009 - 18:51:13 |
THE BOE touted their experience and smarts. The marks are the worst in History. The students were actually better off thirty years ago.
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November 23rd 2009 - 19:13:26 |
The recent audit and test scores were based on Raslowski and “your majority board’s” performance. They were horrendous. Admins taking money from student funds (car washes etc..) to give to staff, 10 admins being paid from intsructional funds, stipends paid for work not done, consultants approving overtime pay, uncollected monies..The list goes on. This was your supported majority. Worse, many of the issues were going on for years and brought to your (supported) board’s and Jack’s attention. He did nothing and “your board”, supported this. Read the 2006 kpmg audit-those were also under “your supported board.”
This new, KF, board brought the issues front and center and this new administration promised a Corrective Action Plan to be presented at Next month’s meeting (Dec). I have yet to see a Corrective Action Plan by your supported board. They’ve had more than 3 years, where is it? Face it, Carter and this board has done more in 2 months than your board or super has done in years.
This was the first time the test scores were ever presented by the superintendent at the BOE meetings, even though it is a State Statue. Not only did Carter present them, he offered a plan to improve them. Very unlike, Raslowski’s lame attempt of blaming the kids and comparing our district to Ferris.
How can you not see that the great many violations, perpetrated by this past administration, are against the best interest of the students and teachers? Don’t you care about this city’s Public school students and teachers?
In response to Margaret who said:
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November 24th 2009 - 14:30:09 |
Poed – it took a couple decades of mismanagement, nepotism and outright incompetence to create those test results and that dismal audit. Rome wasn’t built in a day, it didn’t fall apart in a day and it certainly didn’t take a day to rebuild it. It will take years to fix the school system.
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November 24th 2009 - 14:55:08 |
couldn’t agree more.
In response to matt_72 who said:
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November 24th 2009 - 16:18:54 |
This guy Lenz was a BOE member, so he was and now will be part of the problem. Lenz=Zimmer=KF; great, our kids are all f—–.
In response to Margaret who said:
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November 24th 2009 - 18:12:16 |
True Grizzly, Lenz was on the BOE a long time ago, about 17 years ago I think. Who has been in power since then? So, you want Jack and Frank back? In your opinion, that was better? Our kids weren’t f—— then? Really? no….really?
Did you read the audit? that was Jack and Franks doing.
You are a supporter Jack and Frank. Where is the outrage for the millions taken out of instruction and given to admin? Where is the outrage for misspending Student Activities money? Where is the outrage for paying stipends for non existent jobs?
Did you see the test scores? They were last year’s test scores. From Jack.
Last year, many parents were afraid this was going to happen and spent a better part of the year begging Jack to present the scores (which we now know is required by law) and come up with programs to assist those students falling behind. His big idea was Hola. sigh.
Back then, you challenged the moms to come up with ideas. Thanks god we now have a new Superintendent who knows how to do his job!!. Mr. Carter has already put in place, programs to assist these students. Money and programs right into the classrooms. The word so far is that the teachers love the new programs and appreciate the support.
It is a shame and shocking that you would support such a corrupt administration after such clear evidence and then curse the new one…the one that is actually doing things by the book and for the children.
In response to Grizzly who said:
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November 25th 2009 - 20:18:27 |
Watching the council meeting on tv & the mic caught Kleinman sarcastically saying during the Lenz vote,”This is why they pay me the pretty lousy bucks. To sit through this?”
He says something else about his opinion right before Lenz is sworn in but I can’t make it out and after 5 minutes of rewinding I feel like too much of loser for being so interested!
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November 26th 2009 - 09:16:21 |
Happy Thanksgiving to all and that includes the Mayor, city council, Bd. of Ed.,, their employees and friends and relatives. Enjoy and stay well.
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