There was yucking - I would just say that not much of it involved Fulop. Is he cordial and does he laugh at the occasional joke? Yes. I was there. You were there, but often involved in trying to drum up stories for your little blog. I'm surprised you would have been able to notice all the yucking. By the way, when you are begging someone for an interview, would you please take it out in the hall? It's disruptive for the people who are actually there to listen to what is going on.

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Odd, I didn't notice yucking, per se. They did speak together several times. May have had something to do with council matters, even. What is it you are looking for, exactly? Do you expect Fulop to sneak up behind each one of them and hit them over the head with a skillet? Or throw rocks at them from his chair?

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Unless you are the one person among the group who wouldn't be included in anyone else's list of "top four people to run for mayor if the election were held today." Then it seems more like a brand building exercise, to me at least.

Okay - is this where I'm supposed to say something like "I'm rubber you're glue?"

Seriously, look at how campaign dollars flow. Please. Please. I'll walk you through it if necessary (and I don't say that condescendingly - the system is very poorly designed and difficult to use.) It's a far more useful exercise than posing "magical hypotheticals." As outrageous (and outraging) as the corruption arrests and convictions are, they are a sideshow full of salacious details that have whipped up short-lived anger. The main event is the ongoing movement of dollars from one cog to another, day after day, week after week, month after month... you get the picture. Where do those dollars come from and what is the return on investment? That is what people should be walking around city hall with signs and bullhorns about. Every week. Rain or shine. So what if Vega ends up convicted and out of office? The next dandelion will sprout right back up from the same root.

There is no question that some people who made significant contributions would end up with jobs in a Levin or Fulop administration. For starters, the numbers (people who actually vote, people among that subset [if we assume that a ranking city employee should be engaged enough to vote] who are qualified to hold a professional managerial-type job) are such that it would be hard to avoid.

The point I'm making is that if you were to look at our imaginary winner's campaign contributors in October 2013, what you wouldn't find is that all of their contributors are now on the city payroll or soon to be. Nor would you find scores of businesses and individuals with fresh services contracts. Nor would you find a long list of the customary barnacles (professional overhead types) who move from winning ship to winning ship. That is a bet I'll happily make with you and offer you odds while I'm at it.

I'm not saying that there aren't qualified people among those who line up for a seat at the table for some patronage pork pie. I'm just saying that if you play that game (making significant contributions to the machine candidates), you reasonably leave yourself open to question.

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You should spend the time to look into campaign contributions for Santa Healy and his reindeer so you can make an informed statement and contribute intelligence to the dialogue. You don't have to agree with me, but at least know what you are talking about. It's quite clear from your breathless hyperbole that you don't.

The essentially perfect correlation between campaign donors and either:
1) people on the city and/or county payroll, or
2) companies/people with contracts with the city

speaks volumes for both the recipients and the donors. Are they all criminals? Of course not. Does their knowing participation in a self-perpetuating system that benefits them say something about them? Very much so.

But, I guess anyone can stand on a street corner and yell the sky is falling. Only in America.

Anyone planning to go to the council meeting tomorrow night? Should be interesting. Donnelly nomination, 77 Hudson with hat in hand, Brennan coronation as council president.

And for what it's worth: Whatever bad blood that is perceived to exist between Mary Donnelly and the Healy team, she gave $500 to Team Jersey City in March - David gave $550 to Healy. Say what you will about the many positive things the Donnellys may have done for the city, the machine takes care of its own - and vice versa.

I got the same call too except Cunningham was second and Fulop was third. No Levin??? Had to be Connors - who else would think to include him?

Amen, Andrew.

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Agreed - and I like the fact that they seem to have ended it in a way that didn't reward Booker for his pandering with an appearance on the show. I like Booker a lot, but this just seemed incredibly silly and self-serving to me.

You can't be serious.

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I have mine as well. JC List is full of opinions - kind of the point of a message board.

Have a great weekend.

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Healy endorses aide for council seat
By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Jersey City mayoral aide David Donnelly has Mayor Jerramiah Healy?s support to succeed Phil Kenny on the Jersey City council, according to Dominick Pandolfo, the mayor?s chief of staff.

Kenny, who had been in office for about six months, resigned Wednesday ? one day after pleading guilty to taking bribes from a federal informant who posed as a crooked developer.

Donnelly?s mother, Mary, held the council seat until 2005.

?The mayor has asked [Donnelly] to consider running,? said Pandolfo, who added that Donnelly agreed to do it. ?He?s ready to serve his ward like his mother did.?

Although it?s up to the council to pick Kenny?s replacement, seven of its eight remaining members are Healy allies.

?It?s strictly the council?s decision. The mayor is simply makin a recommendation to the council,? said Pandolfo.

Donnelly, who is currently a special assistant to healy, has worked for a host of New Jersey politicians, including Edison Mayor Jun Choi, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski. He is about to receive a master?s degree in urban policy and management from The New School.

Matt Friedman is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at matt@politicsnj.com.

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Amazing, I found myself wondering that very same thing earlier this morning. What gives indeed?

Former candidate Webb-Washington, charged in corruption sting, appears in court
By Ron Zeitlinger/The Jersey Journal
October 08, 2009, 12:31PM

Former City Council candidate LaVern Webb-Washington, charged in the massive corruption sting in July, is making an appearance in federal court in Newark right now, Jersey Journal reporter Michaelangelo Conte reports from the courthouse.

Webb-Washington made an unsuccessful run for the Ward F City Council seat, which was won by incumbent Viola Richardson. In July, Webb-Washington was charged with conspiracy to commit extortion under color of officials right. She is accused of accepting $15,000 for her campaign in three installments of $5,000.

At his plea hearing on September 18, former Jersey City Housing Authority commissioner Edward Cheatam told the court he introduced Solomon Dwek, a federal informant posing as a developer, to several officials and candidates, including Webb-Washington.

On Tuesday Jersey City Ward B Councilman Philip Kenny pleaded guilty to taking $5,000 in bribes. He is the sixth Hudson County public official to plead guilty in the investigation revolving around informant Solomon Dwek. The others are Guy Catrillo, Maher Khalil, Edward Cheatam, Denis Jaslow and Jimmy King.

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Right - because no one travels a mile or two for things these days... if only he had a horse, right?

The point is - it defies logic that one insanely small park can be used for decades as an open air drug market to the extent that everyone within several blocks knows every detail about it and yet the police are unable to stop it? Over the course of what - 30 years?

So sure, criticize the rush to judgment. But there has to be a reason why the cops can't/won't clean up such an obvious problem and I offered up my admittedly shoot-from-the-hip theory as a possible cause. You're the journalist - put your investigative superpowers to a positive use for a change.

Good thing the city gave Crystal Point that sweetened abatement since CP isn't selling....

AN AMAZING NINETEEN HOMES SOLD IN TWO WEEKS AT CRYSTAL POINT ON JERSEY CITY?S WATERFRONT

October 7, 2009

JERSEY CITY, N.J. ? The traditionally slow summer sales period certainly didn?t deter prospective purchasers at Crystal Point where the iconic 42-story condominium building directly on the Hudson River in downtown Jersey City is reporting accelerated and strong buyer interest since May.

The high sales volume during the summer months has been quickly equaled by a flurry of activity in early fall with nineteen condominium homes sold at Crystal Point within the last two weeks alone, according to Fisher Development Associates, which is developing the building a mere 25 feet from the banks of the Hudson River.

Much of the success is being directly attributed to the debut of the professionally-decorated model residences and continued construction progress at the magnificent building which enable visitors to get a true sense of the high quality, upscale interior designs and unrivaled waterfront location with majestic views of the riverscape and New York City skyline. Also contributing are limited-time summer Grand Opening prices starting from the low-$500,000s which provide tremendous value and have created an unsurpassed buying opportunity.

?We typically see a slow down in sales activity during the summer months as prospects spend more time with family and friends, vacationing and enjoying the warm weather outside,? says Brian Fisher, a principal of Fisher Development Associates. ?That hasn?t been the case here where we?ve experienced a significant uptick in buyer interest since May.

?Our sales numbers have seen a dramatic rise as buyers have been allowed to tour our models, experience the building as it nears completion and see for themselves exactly what the buzz surrounding Crystal Point is all about. Of course, the opportunity to purchase at grand opening prices before it?s too late is also spurring buyers to act now.?

Created by the renowned New York City architectural firm Gruzen Samton LLP, the distinctive design of the landmark Crystal Point building maximizes its unrivaled waterfront location and creates homes with modern, open and furnishable living areas.

?Unlike many high-rise developments which often seem cavernous with long hallways, we split the Crystal Point plan in half with elevators positioned in the middle of the residential floors to create short corridors and provide the building a very intimate feel,? says Jordan Gruzen (FAIA) of Gruzen Samton. ?We utilized multiple fa?ade planes to break the building?s mass up and ensure that every home had magnificent views. Each condominium was designed so from the moment the front door of each home is opened one is aware of the views and the light emanating from the water.

?The layouts of the homes themselves often create large square rooms and sprawling living spaces that are open, airy and extremely functional.?

Crystal Point features a crystalline-style glass exterior and has been designed to maximize the building?s waterfront setting and views of the ever changing Manhattan skyline. Inside, one-, two-and three bedroom homes will range from 800 to 1,817 square-feet and offer an array of premium finishes. Residents will also benefit from free on-site parking.

?Features will include kitchens with Italian Pedini wood and glass cabinetry, sparkling quartzite counters, under-cabinet task lighting, full height pantries, islands with breakfast bars and a full Jenn-Air appliance suite,? points out Adrienne Albert, CEO of The Marketing Directors, Inc., Crystal Point?s marketing and exclusive sales agent.

?Floor-to-ceiling windows will drench the homes in natural light and many of the residences will offer river front balconies. Each residence will also have SMART home technology capabilities and a washer and dryer.?

Homes at Crystal Point are made even more attractive thanks to a 30-year tax abatement that has been granted to the building.

Crystal Point?s superb amenities include the Crystal Spa with a thermal bath, sauna, steam and treatment rooms. Residents will also enjoy a yoga/aerobics room, state-of-the-art fitness center, lounge with flat screen televisions, game room with billiard and poker tables, children?s play room and a screening room within the Crystal Club.

?An outdoor deck overlooking the Hudson River will feature a lap pool, hot tub, private cabanas and lounge chair seating, as well as a BBQ and dining area, fire pits and a children?s play area,? Ms. Albert says. ?The building will also offer a professional concierge, valet parking and lobby level restaurant.?

Crystal Point is conveniently located between the Paulus Hook and Newport sections of Jersey City and steps from PATH trains at both Exchange Place and Newport with direct access into New York City and a Light Rail station.

KENNY QUITS COUNCIL
Thursday, October 08, 2009
By JOURNAL STAFF

In a terse one-sentence statement faxed to the Jersey City City Clerk's Office yesterday morning, Philip J. Kenny, who on Tuesday pleaded guilty to accepting $5,000 in bribes, resigned from his Ward B council seat.

"As of this day, I resign my position as councilman for Ward B," Kenny stated in the typed letter on City of Jersey City stationery to City Clerk Robert Byrne.

Kenny pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark Tuesday to accepting $5,000 in bribes as part of the massive New Jersey corruption case that broke over the summer.

Kenny, who represents the city's West Side, hadn't been charged in the original roundup of suspects.

In pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, Kenny admitted that in March he twice met with a government informant posing as a developer wanting to grease the wheels for a fictitious development project on Garfield Avenue.

At the first meeting, Kenny agreed to accept $5,000 broken down into two $2,500 contributions from "straw donors" for his Friends of Phil Kenny war chest in exchange for future official favors in getting zoning and other approvals.

At the second meeting, he accepted the money, knowing it was illegal to do so.

Kenny is free on $55,000 bail until his Jan. 12 sentencing, when he faces 12 to 24 months in prison.

The eight remaining members on the City Council have 30 days to select a replacement for Kenny, but they can leave the seat empty, Byrne said. A special election will be held in November 2010 to elect someone to serve out the remainder of Kenny's term, which ends June 30, 2013.

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Kenny's bribes given to charity: Fricchione
Thursday, October 08, 2009
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The $5,000 in bribes former Jersey City councilman Philip J. Kenny said he accepted from a government informant for his campaign has been donated to charity, "Friends of Phil Kenny" treasurer Thomas Fricchione said yesterday.

Fricchione, assistant director of the county's Corrections Department, said the money was red-flagged shortly after the corruption sweep in July in which 44 people were arrested. It was given away "a while ago," well before Kenny entered his guilty plea Tuesday, Fricchione said.

Fricchione declined to say which charities received the money and said he couldn't remember the signatories on the illicit checks. In court, Kenny said the government informant used "straw donors" to give him two $2,500 checks on March 30.

Kenny's campaign filings with the state list only two $2,500 contributions since March 30: Mervat Nagib, owner of St. George Travel and Tours on Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan, and Jack Cohen, an employee with Blanbium Equity on Wall Street.

No listing was found for "Jack Cohen" at 44 Wall St., the address listed for "Blanbium Equity," and no listing could be found anywhere for "Blanbium Equity."

Reached Tuesday, Najib said she never met Kenny and mailed his campaign a $2,500 contribution in response to a fundraising letter.

"When I contribute, I believe maybe the city put me on the list to use my business," she said.

Asked if her travel agency received any business from the city, she replied: "I'm stupid. I don't get nothing" - an assertion that could not be verified yesterday.

Wow - cops as customers. Maybe that begins to explain why the drug bazaar on Wayne operates as steadily and brazenly as it does.

It's sad that Mr. Vega lacks the self-awareness (desire?) to understand what the decent thing to do is. While he may bridle at Fulop's suggestion, the truth is that Mr. Vega has demonstrated throughout the period since his arrest that he is incapable of recognizing the proper course of action. It is clear that someone needs to be telling him what he should do - why not Fulop? No one else seems either willing or able to.

This can't bode well for Healy and cronies - Christie is going to have to really step up the pace of arrests, convictions, etc. to keep from falling behind... What an odd dichotomy: Healy supports Corzine, Corzine goes easy on Healy and his lackies - yet the better Corzine does, the greater the peril for Healy.

Gov. Jon Corzine pulls even with Chris Christie in N.J. Gov race, poll shows
By Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau
October 06, 2009, 1:45PM

TRENTON -- Gov. Jon Corzine is neck-and-neck in the polls with Republican challenger Chris Christie for the first time, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University report released today.

Despite Corzine's 38 percent job approval rating, he has gone from five points behind in September to one point ahead this month, with 44 percent of likely voters supporting the governor and 43 percent backing Christie.
Four percent of respondents said they will vote for independent candidate Chris Daggett.

The poll's margin of error is 4 percent, and both Democrats and Republicans downplayed the results.

"The only thing that matters is the poll on Election Day,'' Corzine said after a forum at the Trenton Marriott.

He said the numbers were moving in his favor because of the candidates' differing views on health care and children's issues.

"We have been begun to establish dramatic contrasts between the candidates," he said. "When the public finds out the contrasts, I think it is changing their perspective on the election.''

Christie said he's still confident of victory on Election Day and said his campaign is doing well given Corzine's funding advantage and the state's heavily Democratic electorate.

"We're in a dog fight. Who would have predicted that?" he said. "I should be dead and buried by now."

Christie, speaking at a press conference in the Statehouse, said the poll is not evidence of momentum shifting to Corzine.

"I'm out there everyday and I don't feel it," he said. "It's time to kick Jon Corzine out. That's the message people are giving me."

Daggett said he's counting on voters to give him a fair shake.

"This campaign can change in a heartbeat because the support for both candidates is very soft," he said. "If people said just once, we will vote for what I believe is the right thing, I would win this election in a walk."

Brigid Harrison, a political scientist at Montclair State University, said the poll shows Corzine is gaining steam among female voters with his positions in favor of health insurance mandates, abortion rights and paid family leave.

Harrison said Corzine's deep pockets were also turning the tide.

"[Christie's] YouTube ads are clever, but they're not hitting a really broad audience," she said. "I'm seeing many more Corzine ads in both media markets, New York and Philadelphia."

Harrison said the pressure is increasingly on Christie to reverse his trajectory in the polls.

"Typically after Labor Day the Democrats start to pull ahead in the polls," she said. "It's more up to Christie and his campaign to shift the momentum."

Peter Woolley, who directs the Fairleigh Dickinson poll, said there's evidence that Democrats are beginning to rally around Corzine.

?Corzine is still swimming upstream against heavy currents,? he said. ?Many Democrats are voting for him despite their misgivings.?

I would think that if Vega is forced out and/or Lopez has to go, there'd probably be the critical mass necessary to get a court order for a special election. Especially Lopez - two of the city's six wards would be underrepresented for up to a year.

So if "this decision was the right move for our city and our people" why wasn't it the right move 74 days ago? What were (are) you afraid of Mr. Mayor?

Governor Corzine - clearly our city is not being run with the best interests of the people in mind. What are you doing to fix this ungovernable mess??

I'm assuming Vega resigned from the council altogether, but the story (and Healy's quote) create doubt as to whether he only resigned from the Presidency or the council.

It will be awfully interesting to find out who the unnamed "Jersey City Official" is....

Geez, Kenny wasn't even involved in the original round up - not even mentioned. Wonder what Jersey City Official 4 is thinking about today???

Because the program was about developers, corruption and pay to play.

I think you'd have a stronger case if "serving the public" didn't consist of silly make-work such as "confidential aide (drinking buddy?) to Tom DeGise or liason to the jail.

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Before Mariano Vega in corruption probe-Jersey City pols' history of double dipping with admin jobs

BY Karen Angel
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, September 21st 2009, 3:15 PM

Even before Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega was arrested in last summer's federal corruption sting, the council had its share of issues.

Newly elected Councilwoman Nidia Lopez (D-Journal Square), the council's first Hispanic woman, came under fire for claiming her Florida home as her primary residence on tax returns.

Councilwoman-at-Large Willie Flood was criticized for hiring her son Phillip - who was arrested in 2007 for selling marijuana out of his mother's Mercedes - for both a city and a county post.

And then there's the fact that six of the nine council members also hold county jobs.

Vega is director of parks, engineering and planning for the county; Flood is the county register; Viola Richardson is the liaison between the county government and the jail; Peter Brennan is the confidential aide to County Executive Thomas DeGise; William Gaughan is the chief of staff to DeGise, and Philip Kenny is the secretary to the board of freeholders. All are Democrats.

According to the think tank Jersey Policy Perspective, Jersey City is one of the state's worst offenders when it comes to elected officials also holding administrative government jobs.

Although New Jersey banned the holding of dual elected offices in 2007 (but grandfathered in current dual officeholders), state law is silent on officials combining elected and nonelected government positions.

"When the state-appointed superintendent of the Jersey City public schools spends two days a week in Trenton as an assemblyman, he is spending less time as superintendent," said Tom O'Neill, a consultant who co-authored the Policy Perspective report.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy countered that because council positions are part time, they save taxpayers money and attract qualified people who don't want to be full-time politicians.

"All city council members in Jersey City are likely to have a secondary income, whether by working in the public or private sector," Healy said.

Several council members did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/b ... bledip.html#ixzz0SnkZGQSt

All good and noble suggestions Dan. But the problems we face in Jersey City aren't unique to us - much of the state suffers from the bloated government that enables corruption, patronage and worse. Every time a corrupt politician falls, oftentimes another seems to sprout up in his place like a weed. How do we get to the root?

What is the root? Government on steroids. I recently asked Tom DeGise about how we can try to eliminate duplicate government and services within the county. He responded by pointing out East Newark as an example that some might point to as an obvious candidate for consolidation in Hudson County. He then said "but Joe Smith has been the mayor there for (I think) 42 years and he'd never go for it."

Why should Joe Smith have a vote in that conversation? East Newark consists of 16 blocks (one tenth of a square mile) and fewer than 2,400 people. Yet it has a mayor, city council (all paid positions) and a half-million dollar per year board of ed for its one K-8 school. And a bunch of other municipal services that are entirely redundant to those provided by Harrison and Kearny, its neighbors.

So my question (finally) is: will New Jersey ever see a Howard Jarvis? Someone who leads a revolt like California had with proposition 13 in the '70s in response to a system that was completely broken? (Please don't let this get bogged down on the subsequent 30 years in CA. I'm not advocating for policies implemented post-prop 13.)

East Newark is an extreme example, but NJ has an incredible number of municipalities - more than Texas, which has more than double NJ's population. It seems meaningful change is hard to come by within the system - at what point do people stand up for themselves and enact real change through voter initiatives, the type of change Trenton will never take on out of fear for their political viability?

No.

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