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Publication Date: October 24th, 2025
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Mayoral Aide Justin Weaver’s “Weather with Weaver” broadcast (a Facebook post since scrubbed from the Zucker-web) blurred the line between civic communication and campaign advertising, featuring official staff, city property, and public time used for political promotion. What seemed like harmless banter from an “undisclosed location,” a recurring punchline that disguises an election rule violation, turned out to be taxpayer-funded content filmed atop City Hall. Our Fact Check dissects five major claims from that rooftop appearance, separating verifiable achievements from exaggerated ones. Since Mayor Kamal did not take part in Hudson’s Mayoral Debate, we decided to post his now deleted rooftop video, dated September 4th, 2025.
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Screenshot featuring Kamal Johnson in Justin Weavers’ now deleted live Facebook post, dated September 4th, 2025.
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The latest broadcast from City Hall was not a press conference, not a campaign rally, but something in between. Mayor Kamal Johnson and his aide, Justin Weaver, appeared live on Facebook on September 8th, 2025 in a 25-minute handheld segment that Weaver himself styled as the “Weather with Weaver” segment, with the tagline “what’s going on with that?” The broadcast opened with Weaver cracking jokes about an “undisclosed location.” Only later did it become clear that the mayor and his aide were sitting on the roof of City Hall.
Weaver, by local standards, is a natural performer. His timing, delivery, and ease before the camera suggest radio or comedy instincts. In a bigger, more entrepreneurial town he might have spun this into a podcast network with professional backing. In Hudson, he is the mayor’s office aide, and in this case, his interviewer. Broadly, he seems to be Kamal’s aide-de-camp in their battle to keep their jobs, and possibly and regrettably, also their housing.
The bulk of the rooftop video was Weaver cueing Johnson to list his “successes” and reframe controversies that have dogged him all summer. Yet since its publication, the Facebook Live vanished from the both Weaver and Johnson’s Facebook pages and from public search. Why was it deleted? Who decided it should disappear? For a mayor who preaches transparency, erasing public content is an odd choice…especially during an election.
See video at 09:47 timestamp
If the city has no “contracts” with Galvan, does that mean no connections at all? Galvan is Hudson’s dominant developer and a fixture in housing and land-use policy. The administration has supported zoning and planning measures that directly benefit Galvan projects. Can a landlord–tenant relationship with the foundation really be dismissed as “no ties”?
See video at 20:08 timestamp
Was this truly the mayor’s achievement? The 2024 reopening was executed and funded by New York State DOT and Amtrak, following years of planning that predated Johnson’s term. Hudson’s own Rob Perry at the Department of Public Works oversaw the entire project across multiple administrations. Should credit go to the current mayor…or to those who actually built it?
Read: https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2016/04/building-bridges-latest-news.html
Writes Rob Perry from DPW:
Bridge funding:
Kamal talks about one of his greatest accomplishments at 21:32 in the video.
Is this accurate, or simplified for applause lines? Johnson did technically appoint Chief Franklin, but does her race define her? Why tokenize one of Hudson’s most qualified and respected public servants? This is classic Kamal, turning every event, person, and issue into race, gender, and other immutable traits. Similarly, he may have appointed Judge Cheryl Roberts, a criminal reform lobbyist and activist judge known for baking cookies for defendants, yet he celebrates only her gender. A professional and educated mayor would have cited their credentials, accomplishments, and character, not their melanin and chromosomes. The real question a competent mayor would ask is whether Judge Roberts’ “approach” has led to repeat and avoidable cases of domestic violence against Hudson’s most vulnerable women. But then Kamal avoids the issue, likely out of fear that it will focus attention on his alleged history of domestic violence.
A second greatest accomplishments is shared at 21:50.
Whose program was it, really? On this video, and other podcasts and interviews, Mayor Kamal has taken credit for the entire UBI program, stating that he conceived and created it, and often overplays its scope. According to The Spark Founders, wealthy philanthropists from New York City, this program would have happened regardless of whether Johnson was Mayor, though they certainly involved him in his capacity as mayor on the Advisory Counsel.
Exaggerated claims aside, Kamal’s UBI credit misses the core issues. First, does UBI work? Research is mixed. Second, is it the right program for a town this small?
Kamal is once again taking credit for handing out other people’s money, either our tax dollars, returned with a high administrative cut, or donations from New York philanthropists distributed to a selective group. He has been quick to blame Hudson’s problems on “transplants,” families moving from Brooklyn and elsewhere, in campaign materials and panels co-created with the Housing Justice Director. Yet he overlooks the irony that he is distributing money from one such family.
Kamal boasts at 19:15 that not only Warren Street has enjoyed attention under his watch…
Finishing whose work? Hudson won the $10 million DRI grant in 2017 under Mayor Tiffany Martin. Most projects were designed, approved, and funded before Johnson took office.
Again, Kamal is quick to take credit he does not address the dozens of concerns about workmanship, dying plants, and some of the DRI funds being re-directed away from its original purpose to a troubled housing project.
Is he completing a legacy, or claiming one?
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The Sword and the Seal
The rooftop broadcast opened with casual charm, but the real tell is visual, not verbal. The mayor’s campaign banners feature the City of Hudson seal - a small symbol, but an illegal one. Using official insignia for campaign promotion is a breach of both ethics and election law. It’s also revealing: a candidate who cannot separate his office from his campaign may not see a boundary between public service and self-promotion at all.
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This is not the Common Sense Editors’ first rodeo (read more about us here), and we know to keep the receipts.
The problem is not the jokes, nor even the casual format. The problem is the blurred line between non-partisan governance and political campaigning. The broadcast was not posted on the City of Hudson’s official channels, nor on the mayor’s official campaign account. It lived only on Facebook Live, locked inside a private platform that many residents cannot access. Several readers wrote in to say they were unable to view it: some because they do not use Facebook, others because they had been blocked by the mayor or his aide.
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Curious for more news from the campaign trail? Our FOIL Files will expose what City Hall doesn’t publish - official records, calendars, and documents that reveal how public resources and time are really spent. From the banal to the bombshells… subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the know. Normally only a monthly briefing, we will have more regular updates during this last 10 day sprint to election day.
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That raises a serious question: was this an official update to all residents, or a campaign video aimed at supporters? American courts have already weighed in on similar behavior. In 2019, a federal appeals court held that President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking critics on Twitter, since he used the platform for official communication. The same logic and law applies here: an elected official cannot conduct government business on a private channel and then exclude critics.
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The Third Mayor - Where’s Waldo… err… Loyd?!
The rooftop video could not even escape the shadow of Lloyd Koedding, the Harmony Party and Republican Party candidate. Homeless, phoneless, and perpetually on foot, Koedding wandered past in the background, unaware he had walked into the frame. Far from a ghost, he is more present, more engaging, and more knowledgeable about the city than either of his rivals. He actually lives in its streets and depends directly on its public services. In modern jargon, he has “lived experience” of Hudson in a way no other candidate can claim. His omnipresence turns even a rooftop campaign video into a “Where’s Lloyd” moment, and earns him more genuine impressions than the incumbent.
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Even the setting matters. The rooftop backdrop might seem like harmless hijinks. But Weaver is a paid city employee. He was on the clock, on city property, interviewing his boss in his capacity as a candidate. Campaign activities are supposed to take place on private time and away from government resources. A resident could fairly ask: why is my money paying for the mayor’s campaign manager, and why is City Hall doubling as a campaign studio? Such standards are observed in Europe or the Commonwealth. In New York, single-party dominance has dulled the boundary.
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The Quixotic Weaver Factor
Though the Common Sense Editors have no working experience with Weaver, his on-screen ease showcases certain talents. Despite these, he serves loyally, almost to a fault, doing his employer’s bidding on rooftops and livestreams alike. He reminds our editors of Sancho Panza, Don Quixote’s humorous and loyal sidekick in Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. He is often portrayed as practical, earthy, and good-natured, in contrast to Don Quixote’s delusional idealism. Where Don Quixote and Sancho chased imaginary Dutch windmills, Don Kamal & Sancho Weaver chase grievances and imaginary -isms.
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