Issue 153: Sort of a voters' guide

Also, bird art, VEG vet office, feral of the week, and more!

Good morning! Primary day is Tuesday — please get out and vote. Let’s get into this week’s newsletter! — Amy

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Bird art show

Local group Jersey City Birds is hosting an evening of bird art at Park Tavern (575 West Side Avenue) on June 7th, 7pm to midnight. Come check out the work of local artists as they celebrate the diversity of birds in our city, in a variety of media. There will be music by the Penniless Loafers at 9pm, and of course Park Tavern’s terrific drinks and burgers. Sounds like a fun way to meet some neighbors and see some really fun work!

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Recommendation: VEG, aka Veterinary Emergency Group

I genuinely hope you never need this, but if you ever wake up on a Saturday morning and find your furry best friend in medical distress, only to then find your usual vet with alternating busy signals and a phone line that never gets picked up, VEG, the Vet Emergency Group (1327 Willow Street in Hoboken) is phenomenal. This Saturday morning, I experienced exactly this with my 16 year old dog Oscar who woke up in profound pain from his back and drooling all over everything. Two hours of trying to calm him down and we were in the Uber Pet vehicle barreling towards Hoboken, and I had no idea what to expect when we reached the other side. I had very clear visions of returning both alone and totally bankrupt and I was terrified.

Honestly, it was the best vet experience I’ve ever had. They took us immediately (we called first so they were expecting us — but since when does this make a difference?) — literally we walked in the door and went straight to an examining table, and were seen by a vet who gave him focused, compassionate care. Five minutes into the appointment, he had an injection of some heavy opioids to get him out of pain. Numerous tests, an extended examination (including the vet relocating us to a couch where we could sit comfortably and she came and sat on the floor next to us), and a very long conversation where I felt very listened to, and we had a workable diagnosis. We were treated kindly and fully, and as I watched the other patients interact with the staff, so were they. Confession: Oscar pooped all over the vet at one point; she took it with a great sense of humor and all in stride (Dr. Vet, I do not know your name, but I will be forever grateful to you for this and so much else).

An hour later, with many pharmaceuticals in my bag, we were on our way home. We’re not quite sure where things are headed, but in terms of a vet visit, things couldn’t be better or more through. My one complaint: a very strict one-human-per-pet rule, which meant I had to leave my husband at home while I was absolutely terrified as to what would happen. But, it’s understandable once you see the space they have, and realize the time they give to each client. I respect it.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the bill. Great vet care isn’t cheap, but our bill was $600 and change — a far cry from the $2k+ I expected when I got into the Uber to get over there. I’ve paid much more than that for a routine vet bill; for this to cover an emergency, loads of tests, and medication — well, it was by far the best I could ask for. Not cheap; but having a very old dog is expensive, and when I saw the breakdown for the bill and all the tests they ran, I felt it was fair. I can’t do this every week but for an emergency? I get it.

May we all, as humans, have such great medical care as my dog got to experience yesterday. I don’t know what the future is gonna be for my little guy, but he at least got some fantastic care and comfort for now.

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Sort of a voting guide

I’ve been going through a sort of depression/mental health spiral for the last few weeks that have left me looking at local (and also national) politics and just wondering, why do we do this? Is there a better way? along with my usual What is my life? down-the-drain spiraling. These questions have been living in my head alongside my ongoing, nagging question: Why in god’s name does anyone ever ask my opinion on these political things, let alone ever take it seriously? which really generally haunts me.

Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer any of those questions. But at least when it comes to voting and wondering why we even bother to do it, I can tell you what I said to a friend of mine recently: Look, voting is free and it’s pretty easy. There is literally never a line or a wait more than 30 seconds at my polling place. Someone’s gonna win this election anyway, so may as well vote for someone. It can’t hurt. Everything sucks but not voting doesn’t make it better.

The good news about the Tuesday primary is that very little matters, so that means you can just have fun with it! Sort of. Well, there’s one race you shouldn’t take so lightly (see below) but the others provide some space to purely vote however you’d like without worrying too much about the opposition. In November I’m going to ask you to be strategic and to put aside any qualms you might have about Biden and just vote for him because I’m so worried about the alternative. But for now? Protest vote all you want — I’ll be right there with you.

I have a lot of thoughts about progressives and where we’re headed and the aftermath of The Line, but for now I want to stay focused on what we have coming up on Tuesday. So, here is my “voting guide” of sorts. Honestly, do your own research. Talk to lots of other people. Don’t take my word for any of this. But people ask me for my opinion, so here it all is. (I’m only talking about the Democratic candidates because they’re the only ones even somewhat palatable to me and also this is JC and the Republicans really don’t stand a chance at all.)

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President

Because this is the primary, you have some real choices. I would never, ever encourage anyone to vote against Joe Biden in the final election against Donald Trump, because Trump was a horrible president and I don’t want to go back to that. But I’m not so thrilled by Biden either so, personally I will be voting Uncommitted to send a message about the ongoing conflict in Gaza that I desperately want to end, and also to let ol’ Joe know I’m not that excited about the job he’s doing in general.

If you agree with me and would like to push Biden left, I encourage you to do the same and also vote Uncommitted. If, for some reason, you want to push Biden right — well, in that case I’m unclear what you’re doing reading this newsletter, but there’s Teresa Bukovinac who is running as an anti-abortion protest candidate, so sure go ahead and vote for her. And if you think Biden is doing great, vote Biden. This is the easiest part of the ballot for me.

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US Senator

Andy Kim has run a fantastic campaign and of course, along the way, got rid of The Line, at least for now. He’s personable, intelligent, and radiates a level of down-to-earth compassion that is remarkable. He’ll make a great US Senator, and barring some sort of galactic intervention¹, will easily sail into that position.

So this then opens up some possibilities for voters. If Uncommitted wasn’t on the ballot, I’d just vote Biden; since Patricia Campos Medina and Lawrence Hamm are on the ballot and they are significantly to the left of Kim, seems like I should probably vote for them. Again, it’s not going to affect the final outcome, but it will send a message that there voters in NJ who are to the left of him and we show up to vote, and I think that’s an important message for him to hear, if only to serve as a reminder.

Out of the two, I’m picking Campos Medina. I found Hamm to be a total disappointment at the senate forum I hosted a few weeks ago; he seemed more interested in shouting out slogans than actually working through difficult and nuanced issues. What makes him a good activist — his unwavering dedication to getting people hyped up and emotionally keyed into a handful of issues — would also make him a terrible elected official. Elected officials, good ones at least, have to work with a wide cross section of people with a steady hand and weigh in on issues that may not be personally interesting to the official but crucial to his constituents. I didn’t see this in him.

Campos Medina is a long-time labor activist and organizer and walked the line between activist and candidate pretty well. Her platform is terrific; I have some questions about her closeness to Steve Fulop, but whatever — she’s not going to win, so I’m not all that concerned. And again, her platform is really terrific. So, she gets my vote.

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NJ08 Congressional Race

Ok, here’s where I get in trouble and everyone gets mad at me, but hear me out: in NJ08’s race for Congress, I endorse Rob Menendez. This is the one race that is potentially on your ballot (if you’re downtown or in the Heights) that actually really matters who you vote for in this primary because the winner will almost certainly be your congressman.

Rob got the initial nomination for Congress last term in the crappiest way possible — through nepotism and political connections that ran through his father. That’s not great and I fully acknowledge that. However, since becoming a congressmen, he’s done a really impressive job. He’s voted about 90% of the way I would want him to (my politics being very left, that’s about the best I can hope for from a mainstream Democratic politician and the only NJ rep who votes more in line with my personal ideals would be Bonnie Watson Coleman — who, by the way, has endorsed him for re-election), and he’s built a constituent services department in his office that is fantastic.

If you’re relatively well off, accustomed to knowing your rights, and that sort of thing, the idea of constituent services may not seem like a big deal. But if you’re poor or working class, if you’re an immigrant or speak English as a second language or just don’t have a great familiarity with how the system works, or have a whole lot of other resources (and are facing things including senior issues, having a kid with special needs, etc), having someone on your side who can guide you through federal benefits, immigration issues, getting your passport, and other situations can mean a huge difference. I have referred many people to his office, and they’ve all left singing his praises. I should mention that this department was completely built by him — the previous office holder, Sires, didn’t have anything even close to resembling it, so this was something that needed to be put together, trained, gotten up and running and now delivering great results in just a year and a half. (I’m not entirely sure I should say this because I don’t want to get him in any kind of trouble but under the circumstances I think it’s probably ok: he’s even scooped up some constituent services issues from over in NJ10. Donald Payne had a good voting record, but absolutely lousy constituent services. I’ve not known Rob to be, shall we say, a stickler about exactly where you live before his office offered help — I’ve definitely sent a few people his way that were out of his district and still in Hudson County and it’s been no problem in terms of getting assistance.)

He’s never had so much as a whisper of a rumor of involvement in anything his father is accused of. He’s been under a microscope since announcing his intention to run with critics scouring his every move looking for any sign of anything even remotely questionable, so since absolutely nothing has come up, I have to believe the guy is pretty clean. From what I can tell he’s just been a good congressman with a good voting record, a solid record of being active in his district, and — again — great constituent services.

Meanwhile, I have some real concerns about Ravi Bhalla. There are the concerns about his ethics (see here for the big one; there’s also this and lots of smaller issues, including this). Beyond that, I only know a few people personally who haven’t been completely priced out of Hoboken and continue to live there, but none of those people are happy with his tenure as mayor overall and they, in particular, complain about constituent services. This is purely anecdotal, but the fact that the one of the main things I admire about what Menendez’s department has been able to accomplish is the same thing that Bhalla seems to struggle with concerns me.

Politically (meaning, how they’d both vote if both were in congress), if we were to put Menendez and Bhalla side by side, they’re practically identical. The two of them would have very similar voting patterns. There was one issue that I thought they might differ on, but in the end I came to the conclusion that they really don’t differ in any substantial way.

Back when this campaign first got started, a member of Team Bhalla reached out to me and asked to have a phone meeting with me. I agreed, and we talked about a number of issues facing Hudson County and the country as a whole. I told him I was almost certainly going to back Menendez because I had had such good experiences with him and his office and was generally very pleased with the job that he had done. I was asked if anything would bring me to the point where I might change my mind and I thought for a moment and said yes. I would be willing to change if Bhalla came out in support of Gaza.²

The team member sort of hemmed and hawed a bit — not surprising. It’s a very complicated issue and I get how it’s extremely tricky — look, I was basically just shooting my shot. I would have been shocked to get a different reaction. But it was clear to me at that moment that using this as a wedge to push the candidate left wasn’t really an option, and that made it clear who I should support — I didn’t feel as though anything would be gained politically by moving Menendez out and Bhalla in. It would be one thing if Bhalla was going to give a full-throated statement calling for an immediate stop to all arms sales to Israel, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Weeks later, here’s the answer he gave during my Q&A, which has been pretty consistent throughout the campaign and repeated at different events:

Do you support a ceasefire in Gaza? Please explain your position.

I am lucky enough to have spent time in both Israel and the West Bank, first as a visiting student at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and then as the Mayor of Hoboken. During both of those visits, I had the benefit of learning from and spending time with Israelis and Palestinians. What I found was that both people were remarkably similar insofar as they both wanted mostly the same things - peace, stability, economic prosperity, and a future for their children. I engage on this issue through that experience, and it’s why I support a negotiated ceasefire agreement that ensures the immediate return of the hostages and the continued delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza trip. I would also hope that any future deal includes actionable steps geared towards the ultimate goal of a two-state solution in the region.

It’s a perfectly fine answer and many people will be satisfied with it — I respect that. But it’s also not one that I find to be substantially different than what many Democrats in congress already support: a negotiated ceasefire. What most of the activists I’m in touch with want is an immediate ceasefire or a permanent ceasefire — no strings attached, in an effort to stop civilian deaths and get humanitarian aid to people on the ground as soon as possible. Negotiating for the release of the hostages could take weeks or months, during which time what exactly would happen? The bombing and starvation would continue? Thousands more civilians will die? There’s a reason why protests continued on Friday after Biden’s announcement that he supports basically the same as Bhalla. There is an abiding fear that if we give this situation more time to unfold — even if that time is granted for something as crucial as the hostage release, the details of which might take weeks to work out — soon there won’t be anything in Gaza left to fight for. (I sent a few campus protesters I know a copy of Bhalla’s statement and asked if it was acceptable to them; I got back a series of laughing/crying emojis and statements affirming that absolutely not, this was not acceptable to them in any way.)

I don’t think the entire campaign should come down to this one issue. There are many things facing the people of Hudson County, and to have the entire race hinge on this one issue simply doesn’t make sense to me, so I’d definitely not making the argument that “Bhalla isn’t ‘ceasefire’ enough so you shouldn’t vote for him” or whatever, and to be clear, Menendez hasn’t called for a permanent ceasefire either. But given that I have concerns about Bhalla already, I don’t really see any major political gains won by bringing in a new guy and kicking out the one who was working out pretty well. I mean, for what — so Bhalla can be the incumbent next time and then we can kick him out and bring in someone new, over and over, rinse and repeat every two years? You replace a congressman when they’re not doing their job and not voting the way you want and not providing any other services. Seems silly to me to get rid of someone who is doing all these things well.

Anyway, I’m exhausted by this race. I endorse Rob Menendez.

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NJ10 Congressional Race

Meanwhile, over in my neighborhood, we’ve had it pretty easy. Our representative was running totally unchallenged and, as such, seemed to be poised for an easy re-election. Then, he died. Now, in a few weeks, we’ll have 11 people vying for his spot on the Democratic side, but more on that soon.

For now, we have things pretty simple. Vote for Donald Payne, don’t vote for Donald Payne, write in your friend or your mom — look, you just do you, because it really doesn’t matter. Soon enough you’ll have a ton of people to choose from. It’ll be great.

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Hudson County Surrogate

This is one of those positions where I’m not sure why we vote on it rather than just list the job somewhere and then hire a qualified person. From a site I found discussing the Surrogate in Cumberland County in NJ (but Hudson County would be the same):

What is a Surrogate?

The Surrogate of Cumberland County is using authorities which trace back to the Archbishop of London. As long as there have been Wills, and Orphans, there have been judicial officers to handle those affairs.

In New Jersey, the Surrogate passes on the validity of a Will and gives the Executor or Administrator proof of their authority to administer the Estate. The word Surrogate means one who takes the place of another. The Surrogate is taking the place of the Royal Governor who received from the Archbishop of London the authority to probate Wills, issue marriage licenses and perform those functions which at the time were in the province of the Church.

Today, the Surrogate probates Wills, appoints Administrators, appoints Guardians for minors, handles applications for Adult Incapacitated Persons, Conservatorships, Adoptions, contested Probate matters, Accountings, Trusts and most other matters involving Estates.

I mean, sure — sounds like an important job; don’t understand why this is political at all. Honestly, I just posted the above because I love the line “as long as there’s been wills and orphans.”

Tilo Rivas is totally unchallenged as a Democrat, and sure, I guess that’s fine. I see this as a real missed opportunity by progressives to force the HCDO to spend some money in this race by running another candidate, but whatever. Voting for Surrogate can be another “you do you” type position since he’s just going to win it anyway.

Just gonna put it out there that this is what a reader did:

I mean, I’m not saying to write me in, but my uncle’s estate is in probate in Essex and it would help me out a bit if I got some leverage by being the Hudson County Surrogate and I could just call up my colleague over there and see if we could hurry things along a bit. (Also, this is all very clearly a joke and I do not want to be Hudson County Surrogate for goodness sake and I doubt I will even vote for myself.)

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…and, that’s it.

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Feral cat of the week

How did I forget this last week? I have no idea. But this week, I present two to make up for it. They may not be strictly feral (they looked awful comfortable on that front lawn) but let’s just say they have that feral attitude. I do not have names for them, as the names of black cats are secret to all of us. They know what their names are.

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ICYMI

• The JCBOE just keeps on, keeping on; check out Jersey City BOE president clears audience completely after woman refuses removal. Good times all around. Ugh.

• Two Socialist Worker Party candidates have filed for the general election and their platform is kind of weird and not at all like anything I have ever come to associate with the SWP, as someone who grew up around a bunch of SWP folks. Does anyone out there know what on earth happened? The SWP people I knew as a kid wouldn’t stand for most of this, but admittedly I haven’t paid attention to the party in over thirty years. I’m pretty curious though.

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1. You’ve probably heard that Sen. Bob Menendez has been collecting signatures to get on the ballot and there’s people who have been wondering if his being there could somehow tip the race to the Republicans. I truly do not see that happening unless (again) there’s some kind of completely unforeseen intervention we can’t currently predict. I mean yeah, if aliens crash to earth and nuclear war breaks out, and if Andy Kim is proven to be siding with the aliens, maybe NJ will elect a Republican senator. But Democrats far outnumber Republicans in this state; according the Pew Research Center, NJ adults identify 51% as Democrats, 30% Republicans. That’s a significant enough break between D and R that unless the Republicans nominate a candidate that is somehow able to be insanely MAGA enough to appeal to that crowd, yet also moderate enough to appeal to the moderates and independents, I think we’re gonna be ok. Have you seen the Republican candidates? They’re pretty bad. I don’t see either of them coming even close to pulling this off.

Bob is not going to be able to peel off enough votes in the general. Let the sad old man get on the ballot — it’s not going to make a lick of difference and Kim will be our senator either way. All Bob is doing is further destroying his legacy and it’s incredibly sad and cringey to watch, but it’s nothing to really worry about. Unless aliens do crash a saucer into NJ which, I suppose, after the past four years anything is possible.

2. There’s honestly other issues I could have asked about, but I saw this one as being a bellwether issue. Basically, knowing how much pressure he was going to face from Gaza activists in the race, I figured this would be the easiest example of, can we push Ravi left? I came to the conclusion that the answer was not really.