The Russians Gave America A Monument As A Memorial To The Victims Of September 11 And It’s In New Jersey (Copy)

The attacks of September 11, 2001 brought the world together. Even Russia and the United States.

I know this to be true because one of the many times I came back to New Jersey from another state put me right in the middle of getting the gift of a monument to the victims of September 11 to New Jersey from Russia.

Shortly after the untimely death of the late state Senator and Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham I ended up in Jersey City working with then Councilman Steve Lipski. Lipski was one of several candidates running in the special election to fill the unexpired mayoral term of Cunningham. I came back and set up shop with my still friend and former partner in the old Kush and Associates, James Barracato.

At some point during the campaign Lipski informed me that I needed to meet someone because Cunningham had been working to have a monument from the Russians placed in Jersey City but since his passing they were now getting a lot of push back. Lipski set up a meeting with Emily Madoff, who was the American lawyer to the Russians at the time.

Long story short. In the middle of a special election campaign, James and I agreed to work on bringing this monument to Jersey City. We didn’t realize the significance of the monument at the time, it was more of a, “how dare they dishonor Glenn” kind of thing.

We worked our butts off getting support for this monument. Unfortunately, for some reason there was a very vocal group fighting it. We set out educating the public on the significance of this gift and collected tens of thousands of petition signatures in support, the powers that were didn’t want to hear from us.

Barracato and I went to Madoff and informed her we needed to step up the pressure. She asked what we suggested. The answer, “Let’s run a tasteful commercial on cable.” She agreed.

Great, in the middle of a mayoral campaign, now we have to find the time to produce a commercial, no way that was happening. I enlisted the help of the late Tom Blakely, Tom was awesome, early in my career he always encouraged me, I still miss him. Anyway, Tom put us to work with Al Riberio, then a part of the Jamestown Associates team, and still one of the nicest guys in the world.

Together, Riberio, Barracato and I put together a nice 30 second spot.

Apparently, that spot caught the attention of then Bayonne Mayor Joe Doria. And that’s where the monument stands today. If you get the chance stop and see it. It’s a beautiful monument.

And, that’s my 9/11 story. Oh, yeah, there was a brief argument with the Secret Service because we arrived at the dedication incredibly early, maybe the only time Barracato was ever early for anything, and we parked in the spot that was reserved for former President Bill Clinton’s motorcade. It might go down in history as the only time I ever backed down from an argument.

This post first appeared in the blog on September 11, 2018

Where Are Those Menendez Loving Hypocrites Now? Is Ignoring Sexually Inappropriate Behavior The New Normal For New Jersey’s Democrats?

Remember those 88 women who signed a letter bashing all male eating clubs? Or that time Hudson County Democratic Organization Chairwoman Amy DeGise claimed Bob Menendez’s record has always defended women?

All of these women, in their hypocritical support of Bob Menendez, claimed to have issues with sexual misconduct toward women. Every single one of these women chose to ignore the fact Menendez’s own lawyers conceded the fact that Menendez worked to secure visas for young women to come into the country to visit with his pal Salomon Melgen.

Of course my friends on the left side of the aisle will argue Menendez never laid a finger on these women so he did nothing wrong, and that argument would be a bunch of BS. No matter what way you look at it, when a man 30 years older, maybe 40 years older, than young women plays sugar daddy to those young women there is something inappropriate going on. By helping get those women into the country, Menendez, at the very least, provided the conditions for Melgen to act in a manner that was sexually inappropriate.

Fast forward to the recent news of the sudden resignation of Governor Phil Murphy’s staffer Albert Alvarez, a guy who allegedly committed a sexual assault, rape to be specific, of a campaign volunteer in April 2017. I refuse to type the woman’s name in this post because I don’t think it’s fair to continue plastering her name all over the internet. Alvarez was able to stay in his $140,000 job after it was known there was an investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

Republicans have been calling for investigations into this matter. Those 88 women who signed a letter bashing all male eating clubs? Not a peep! Where are they? Where is Hudson County Democratic Organization Chairwoman Amy DeGise? Maybe they are all busy getting ready to spend between $500 - $5,400 to see Hillary Clinton suck up to Bob Menendez tonight.

It does make sense that Clinton would come to New Jersey to stump for Menendez. Clinton did just say, her husband, President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky wasn’t an abuse of power because she was a 22-year-old adult. To me, that statement means Mrs. Clinton thinks that Bob Menendez helping bring young women into the country for Salomon Melgen to play sugar daddy is perfectly acceptable.

It’s time for all these women “leaders” to step up and stop being hypocrites. If Phil Murphy, Bob Menendez or Albert Alvarez were Republicans they would all be making a lot of noise over Alvarez’s alleged sexually inappropriate behavior and Murphy and Menendez providing the conditions for men to engage in sexually inappropriate behavior. They would be angry over Hillary Clinton’s statement regarding Monica Lewinsky.

The actions, or lack of action, from these women “leaders” gives the appearance they only care about sexually inappropriate behavior when the actor is a Republican. It’s a disgusting double standard that causes me to ask, is accepting sexually inappropriate behavior the new normal for New Jersey’s Democrats?

The only question left is how many of these women “leaders” will be there to see Hillary Clinton this evening?

The Russians Gave America A Monument As A Memorial To The Victims Of September 11 And It’s In New Jersey

The attacks of September 11, 2001 brought the world together. Even Russia and the United States.

I know this to be true because one of the many times I came back to New Jersey from another state put me right in the middle of getting the gift of a monument to the victims of September 11 to New Jersey from Russia.

Shortly after the untimely death of the late state Senator and Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham I ended up in Jersey City working with then Councilman Steve Lipski. Lipski was one of several candidates running in the special election to fill the unexpired mayoral term of Cunningham. I came back and set up shop with my still friend and former partner in the old Kush and Associates, James Barracato.

At some point during the campaign Lipski informed me that I needed to meet someone because Cunningham had been working to have a monument from the Russians placed in Jersey City but since his passing they were now getting a lot of push back. Lipski set up a meeting with Emily Madoff, who was the American lawyer to the Russians at the time.

Long story short. In the middle of a special election campaign, James and I agreed to work on bringing this monument to Jersey City. We didn’t realize the significance of the monument at the time, it was more of a, “how dare they dishonor Glenn” kind of thing.

We worked our butts off getting support for this monument. Unfortunately, for some reason there was a very vocal group fighting it. We set out educating the public on the significance of this gift and collected tens of thousands of petition signatures in support, the powers that were didn’t want to hear from us.

Barracato and I went to Madoff and informed her we needed to step up the pressure. She asked what we suggested. The answer, “Let’s run a tasteful commercial on cable.” She agreed.

Great, in the middle of a mayoral campaign, now we have to find the time to produce a commercial, no way that was happening. I enlisted the help of the late Tom Blakely, Tom was awesome, early in my career he always encouraged me, I still miss him. Anyway, Tom put us to work with Al Riberio, then a part of the Jamestown Associates team, and still one of the nicest guys in the world.

Together, Riberio, Barracato and I put together a nice 30 second spot.

Apparently, that spot caught the attention of then Bayonne Mayor Joe Doria. And that’s where the monument stands today. If you get the chance stop and see it. It’s a beautiful monument.

And, that’s my 9/11 story. Oh, yeah, there was a brief argument with the Secret Service because we arrived at the dedication incredibly early, maybe the only time Barracato was ever early for anything, and we parked in the spot that was reserved for former President Bill Clinton’s motorcade. It might go down in history as the only time I ever backed down from an argument.