This van was driving around Hoboken Tuesday and Wednesday, displaying an ad attacking a local blogger for using Nazi imagery on her site in connection with a political parody.
HOBOKEN -- Apparently, last week's anonymous "midnight flier" related to the upcoming Hoboken school board election was only the start of the rough campaigning that residents are in for over the next two weeks until Nov. 6.
The school board flier, left on cars last week, made an issue of local blogger and Zoning Board member Nancy Pincus, who has done graphics in the past for one of the two slates that has a ticket in the upcoming election, Kids First. Pincus was thanked in the past in the Hoboken Reporter's letters to the editor for doing graphics work for the slate.
Now, Kids First has a new slate of candidates in the upcoming election. They are opposed by a slate called Move Forward.
Tuesday night, during a contentious school board meeting in Hoboken, an advertising truck drove around town and parked in front of the school board building displaying the type of Nazi imagery that had appeared as part of satire on Pincus' blog and others. The voice in the ad criticized the school board members for not condeming Pincus for the graphics.
Imagery was used on Pincus' blog for a parody two years ago in which she took aim at Councilwoman Beth Mason, taking the Nazi propaganda film "Triumph of the Wills" and changing it to "Triumph of the Shills." Beth Mason is a political rival of Mayor Dawn Zimmer, whom Pincus supports.
At the time, a minority of council members who are politically opposed to Pincus and Zimmer took issue with her use of the imagery, as did a Jewish group, to which Pincus apologized. Pincus and Mason are both Jewish.
Apparently, the Move Forward school board ticket, which opposes the Kids First ticket whom Pincus supports, is making her a focus of the current school board campaign, saying Kids First should condemn Pincus.
However, Pincus has said that she is not the graphic designer for the slate this time around. Supporters of Pincus have said that while Pincus used the imagery on her blog, it's another matter to have a truck driving around town displaying her graphics.
When contacted for comment on Thursday, Pincus said she would have her attorney contact the newspaper regarding her response. Pincus later sent a response but said the Reporter could not use it unless the entire statement was published verbatim. Thursday afternoon, the Huffington Post picked up on the story.
Reactions
When contacted Thursday, the Move Forward slate distanced itself from the truck.
Campaign co-chairman John Castellano released this statement: "The Move Forward campaign is not responsible for the video truck or content it was playing outside of the Hoboken BOE meeting. We do not support sensationalism of that nature; however, we also do not condone Ms. Pincus' long history of inappropriate behavior on her blog."
Pincus was recently at the receiving end of a $2 million defamation lawsuit from a Hoboken couple, Lane and Kim Bajardi, who are strong supporters of Councilwoman Mason. The couple were frequently a target of Pincus on her blog. The couple's lawsuit noted that on another website, someone with Pincus' screen name repeatedly made posts one morning saying that people should call the state Divison of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) on the couple, who have a toddler. The posts from Pincus' screen name were made in response to an anonymous commenter who criticized the public schools, which Pincus supports. The person with Pincus' screen name apparently thought the anonymous commenter was one of the Bajardis, and wrote repeatedly in response, "You 2 suck as parents. Somebody call DYFUS."
The couple also mentioned other posts Pincus had made on her blog and around the web that made allegations about them. The couple also alleged that Pincus sent a letter to Lane Bajardi's employer, making untrue allegations against him.
Pincus has said the suit is an attempt to silence her blog.
Castellano said Pincus should not protest the use of an image she has used.
"Our position is simple," he said. "We denounce the bully tactics used by Ms. Pincus, and we call on Kids First to do the same. Now it is time to get back to discussing ways to improve test scores [and other school issues]."
For past stories in the Hoboken Reporter on the current school board campaign, the candidates, and related past political issues, click the links below or use the archives at hudsonreporter.com.
Apparently the $7,000.00 plus that the Masons have given their BOE ticket is against the ordinances of Hoboken. If Move Forward doesn't return the cash in thirty days then they could be fined over $24,000.00.
Mrs. Mason has already lashed out as usual saying she will take the City to court.
They once had control of the only blog in the city now that that site has been discredited and they can't control the new Hoboken blog they have set out on a expensive and coordinated campaign to shut them down.
Their $100.00 an hour "Nazi Truck" is still out spreading their offensive messages.
Read the targets (Grafix Avenger, MSV)of their campaign to silence critic of the Old Guard politicos actions that have for so long gone un-reported and un-challenged.
Considering this lengthy article which gratuitously repeats allegations that the Reporter already published in August- the allegations themselves constitute actionable defamation- AND considering the paper understands I am legally bound not to respond outside of court- And considering the Reporter's endless rehashing of tired, old political attacks fed to them by operatives...
After all THAT I would have expected The Reporter to print the statement that they asked me for. So much for expectations. Here it is:
FULL STATEMENT
I have no role in the current school board campaign. My inclusion in this campaign is patently absurd. This vicious, anonymous attack appears to be retaliation for my efforts to expose political corruption in Hoboken through my blog. Such attacks are not new. Lane Bajardi and his wife, Kim Cardinal, political operatives for Beth Mason, have filed a frivolous defamation lawsuit, prominently referenced on the van, in a misguided attempt to silence my blog. One element of the van’s display, the graphic juxtaposition of my caricature of Beth Mason with a Nazi film poster, is identical to a juxtaposition created by Lane Bajardi for his City Council rant attacking me on November 15, 2010. Another image on the van was toted to the City Council and BoE in April 2010 by Lane Bajardi as a visual prop for similar rants. These images are years old and have nothing to do with the current campaign. I urge voters to repudiate this most vile campaign tactic in modern Hoboken political history- displaying swastikas on our streets to elect School Board candidates- at the polls on November 6th.
The End
http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2012/10/political-attack-on-hoboken-mom.html
then this one:
http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2012/10/more-old-guard-sticky-fingers-at-boe.html
You think all this effort to target her is because only 5-10 people are reading her website? Look this isn't inane nonsense like on Hoboken411 with occasional deranged stuff on Hoboken politics.
If you make Grafix Avenger annoyed, she's going to write more not less and about her daughter's school in the district and that's not helpful to any of us especially Frank Raia and Beth Mason who is spending a lot of money on her political operatives and massive illegal expenditures on the Move Forward ticket to get them into power.
So leave this Grafix Avenger person alone or more people are going to read all the stories on the Frank Raia led school board that spent a fortune on everything but the kids in the classroom.
We need to get people out to vote and right now some are not to happy considering our Nazi truck backed Republican Board of Ed slate.
Telling people about the Grafix website at http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com is not useful so please stop talking about it and her.
There's lots of exclusive stories there on the bad things the Old Guard people did.
If you keep doing this, you are going to make Beth Mason angry. You don't want to get her angry because then she does videos and sends them out on trucks around town.
Do you think that if only 10 people reading the blog, Beth and Joe would bother to hire the Nazi truck and post thousands of midnight fliers in every ward? Do you think there would be a multi-million dollar SLAPP suit?
If you're going to be a liar, don't be an idiot too.
If it is a frivolous lawsuit then why is it still in the courts? Why do you dump your own wrong doings on everyone else, you never take any blame. All you do is grab your daughter and shield her in your blogs as a tool. You play the whole 'why me' card, everyone sees right through it.
Maybe you were right about DYFUS, just incorrect about whom to call about, maybe we should be calling about you?
Move Forward denies responsibility for the Nazi truck. Really? In a city this small some OTHER group who are UNKNOWN to everyone is behind it? That's the kind of lie we're supposed to swallow.
Here is the conclusive evidence of who is behind the truck. It's pieces like this, not Dyfs, not turds, not Leni Riefenstahl take-offs that have caused this massive campaign to silence GA.
Whose video content is on the truck: http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2012/10/nazi-truck-video-source-beth-masons.html
Who hired the truck: http://grafixavenger.blogspot.com/2012/10/who-hired-move-forwards-swastikas-on.html
Go ahead and lie your way out of it. It's entertaining.
So far you have a SLAPP suit, midnight fliers, and a Nazi truck. What next? I guess if GA keeps exposing you for what you are there will just be more of this preachy BS from people like you who are afraid of the daylight and post your fliers while decent people are sleeping.
You failed.
Few people are naive enough to accept the excuses their handlers.
The video truck also appeared in Hoboken about a year and a half ago, the night of the protest at city hall after the FBI video was released of Mike Russo's meeting with Solomon Dwek.
The person responsible for bringing the truck to Hoboken that time was Joe Branco. The same Joe Branco who is the campaign manager of the "Move Forward" efforts.
According to Roman Bryce's inquiries of Mr. Branco, "MSV spoke to Move Forward co-campaign manager Joe Branco. Asked about the origins of the truck and its appearance outside the Wallace School, Branco repeatedly said he didn't "know anything" about it including its cost."
http://www.hobokenhorse.com/2012/10/hoboken411-and-nazi-swastika-to-move.html
That also is an outright lie. Joe Branco was the person who suggested having the van last time, and was the one who made all the arrangements. If I remember correctly, Joe described it to me as "I have a friend who has this truck...". For him to deny any knowledge of it at this point is patently ridiculous.
It's all about the kids!
We of course here at the Mason Civic League Art Gallery had nothing to do with producing, directing, writing, video montage making, script development or product placement of that perfectly placed Nazi swastika. ;)
We stole that one from the horse guy but we saying it's the Grafix woman. Pretty slick huh?
This Hudson Reporter story is great getting our message out and not a word from that Grafix woman. Seig Heil! Page 3 ads ad infinitum guys!
We also managed to trash in the video the two people who hurt us most in the 2011 election - Peter Cunningham and Jen Giattino. We eviscerated those Kids First moms.
That Castellano kid has a bright future. He really knows how to follow orders. Beth will have to give him a bonus later.
I would think that in an effort to appear to be fair and unbias the Hoboken Reporter will also soon post them in full here.