Mayor-elect Fulop: I'll work hard for supporters, win trust of opponents

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 15, 2013 at 12:15 AM

Jersey City Mayor-elect Steven Fulop tonight said he would work hard for the people who voted for him, and work equally hard to win the trust of those who voted for his opponents.

Fulop, who tonight won a decisive victory against incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy and two other mayoral hopefuls, said his No. 1 priority for now is to work hard for his running mates who must run in the June 11 run-off election.

"I think it's important that we have a council that can work to move this city forward," he told The Jersey Journal tonight at Zeppelin Hall in Downtown Jersey City.

Election results from the Hudson County Clerk indicate only Ward E council candidate Candice Osborne won her election outright. None of the remaining first-place winners in the eight other races won more than 50 percent of the vote, which is necessary to avoid a runoff election.

Fulop, who represents the Downtown ward on the Jersey City council, first won election in 2005 ? defeating a Healy man who has since endorsed Fulop ? and was re-elected in a 2009 landslide.

A former U.S. Marine and ex-Goldman Sachs trader, Fulop was making his first bid this year to become the city?s top executive.

The councilman has argued that Jersey City under Healy's leadership is not what it could be.

Fulop was considered something of a shoo-in in the middle of last year, with Healy?s campaign making a slow start in the fundraising department. But some good numbers at the end of 2012, and a high-profile endorsement of Healy by none other than President Obama, put the race back into something of a toss-up.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _suppor.html#incart_river

Video: Fulop gives victory speech to lively Zeppelin Hall crowd By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal May 15, 2013 at 12:57 AM Jersey City Mayor-elect Steven Fulop tonight said he would work hard for the people who voted for him, and work equally hard to win the trust of those who voted for his opponents. Fulop spoke to the crowd at Zeppelin Hall tonight shortly after it was announced he won the city's election to become Mayor. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ry_spee.html#incart_river

Former Wall Street Trader Fulop Ousts Jersey City?s Mayor

Bloomberg
By Elise Young - May 14, 2013 9:39 PM ET

Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, who quit Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.?s trading desk to run for mayor, ousted incumbent Jerramiah Healy in an election that drew attention to an FBI investigation and a drunken nude photo.

Fulop, 36, who had financial backing from Wall Street, won 52 percent of the votes, according to results posted on the Hudson County clerk?s website. Healy, 62, who had endorsements from President Barack Obama and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, had 38 percent, with 85 percent of the votes counted. Both are registered Democrats in the nonpartisan race.

Healy conceded to Fulop, according to Bruno Tedeschi, a Fulop spokesman. The two battled for control of a city savvy enough to coax Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG and Citigroup Inc. to open offices there, earning it the nickname ?Wall Street West.? Healy, though, was unable to shake Jersey City?s reputation for a century of crooked Democratic politics. Fulop won after telling voters it was time for Healy to quit embarrassing New Jersey?s second-most populous city.

In 2009, Jersey City was rocked by ?Operation Bid Rig,? the largest Federal Bureau of Investigation corruption sting in state history. It netted 44 public officials and rabbis. The case led to prison sentences for Healy?s deputy mayor, Leona Baldini, who had been his campaign treasurer, and several other aides and allies.

Never Charged

Healy, recorded on a hidden FBI camera meeting with an undercover informant, was never charged in that case. Fulop used the footage in a campaign advertisement with a tagline, ?Mayor Healy got away with it.? Healy?s campaign issued a cease-and-desist letter that called the material defamatory.

Healy, a former prosecutor, municipal judge and councilman, became mayor after winning a November 2004 special election to succeed Glenn Cunningham, who died of a heart attack. He was re-elected in June 2005 and again in 2009.

In 2004, while Healy was still a councilman, a photo of him sleeping nude on his front porch surfaced on the Internet. The New York Times quoted Healy saying in 2006 that he didn?t remember how he got on his porch after drinking six to eight beers at a local bar.

Nude Photo

In an interview this year with the Star-Ledger of Newark, Healy was quoted as saying that ?three Hispanic girls? had lured him outside, pulled off the towel wrapped around him and did ?filthy? things to him. He chased them off, then sat on the porch, and was then photographed by a political enemy, he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

In 2006, the mayor was arrested and convicted of a disorderly person offense after scuffling with police outside a Bradley Beach bar owned by his sister. Four years later, the state Supreme Court?s disciplinary review board admonished him for the incident, and the Jersey Journal of Jersey City called for his resignation.

Fulop previously had worked at Citigroup Inc. (C) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), leaving after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks to join the U.S. Marine Corps and serve in Iraq. He was elected to the City Council in 2005 at the age of 27. He was endorsed for mayor by Advance Publications Inc.?s Jersey Journal and Star-Ledger newspapers.

His political backers included Appaloosa Management co-founder David Tepper and Pennant Capital Management founder Alan Fournier. He was the subject of supportive mailings from Better Education for New Jersey Kids, a New Brunswick-based political action committee that was started in 2011 by Tepper and Fournier to support the creation of charter schools, privately run with public funding.

Healy had tried to get a Superior Court judge in Hudson County to force the group to stop producing campaign ads. In a May 10 lawsuit, Healy accused it of engaging in ?explicit advocacy of Fulop?s candidacy? and skirting campaign-finance laws. Judge Peter Bariso dismissed the suit.

As of May 2, Fulop had raised $955,964 to Healy?s $804,028, according to state campaign-finance data.

Jersey City, with 250,000 residents, is New Jersey?s second-most populous municipality. It?s also the state?s most diverse, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by Bloomberg. About 75 languages are spoken in the homes of the children who attend its public schools

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05 ... -jersey-city-s-mayor.html

Jersey City police charge man in shooting outside Healy campaign event

By Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
May 13, 2013 at 8:09 AM

The innocent victim of a drug deal gone bad, a 47-year-old woman was a shot in the chest around 6:30 p.m. Saturday as she was standing outside of a bar that was hosting a campaign event for one of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy's council candidates.

Jersey City police charged Rahmed Jones, 24, of Clark Street, with the shooting tonight.

The woman was in stable condition, officials said.

The shooting occurred at Mallory and Clark avenues on the city's west side, outside the PNK tavern where Ward B candidate Gerald Meyers was holding a meet-and-greet.

Healy was in attendance, as were other members of his slate, including Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson.

The woman stepped outside to have a cigarette when she was struck by a bullet, according to witnesses.

A witness told police she saw the shooter -- later identified as Jones -- walk out of the alleyway between 69 and 71 Clark Ave. with two men, reports said.

Jones, who had a handgun behind his back, raised the weapon and began shooting toward the intersection of Mallory and Clark, the witness told police.

Martinez said Jones was arrested at Hillside this afternoon and brought back to Jersey City at 6:30 p.m. The details of how police tracked Jones to Hillside were not immediately available.

Jones told police he was in the backyard of a property on Clark Street selling 40 pills of ecstasy to two men when they tried to run away without paying for the pills, Martinez said.

When all three men ran out of the alleyway, Jones said, he fired three rounds at the two men, missing them but striking the innocent bystander, police said.

All three men fled east on Clark Avenue, according to Martinez.

The woman who was shot once in the chest according to police, told officers she was having a cigarette at Mallory and Clark when she heard three pops that sounded like firecrackers.

She looked down and thought she was bleeding from her right arm after being hit by a firecracker, but then a man standing nearby told her she had been shot in the chest, reports said.

Healy, who visited the victim in hospital, issued a statement.

"She is in stable condition and my thoughts are with her and her family," Healy said. "This is an unfortunate example of the senseless violence that occurs when the intentional mass production of handguns and the reckless distribution of such weapons winds up in the hands of persons whose only intent is to commit crime."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... rge_man.html#incart_river

On Election Day tomorrow, Jersey City voters will choose mayor and all nine city council members

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 13, 2013 at 7:31 AM

President Obama has weighed in. Rapper Jadakiss has, for some reason, offered his opinion.

And finally, tomorrow, Jersey City voters will have their say in the city's quadrennial municipal election, when the mayor's office and all nine City Council seats are up for grabs.

Most of the focus is on the mayoral race. Incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy is seeking a third full term and fending off a very aggressive challenge from longtime rival Councilman Steve Fulop, with mayoral hopefuls Abdul Malik and Jerry Walker also in the mix.

The top-of-the-ticket contest could be the closest Jersey City has seen in years, with neither Healy's nor Fulop's camp extremely confident of the outcome. There is no public polling, but sources inside the two campaigns say internal polling shows a tight race.

Walker's bid could result in the city's first mayoral runoff election since 2001, the Healy and Fulop campaigns fear. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote - and if Walker draws in enough votes - then the two top contenders meet again on June 11.

The campaign is just about as expensive as the last citywide race in 2009. Healy and Fulop have raised more than $3.2 million total, with Fulop's haul a smidgen more than Healy's, according to their latest campaign filings. Walker has raised about $48,000 and Malik $12,000, the filings show.

The campaign has turned especially nasty in recent weeks, with Healy's campaign hammering Fulop over his support from Republican donor and education reformer David Tepper, his hands-on dealings with the public-school district and his decision to send out vote-by-mail ballot applications with his own campaign's address on them instead of the Hudson County Clerk's.

Fulop and his surrogates, meanwhile, have released multiple television ads and campaign mailers highlighting the 2009 corruption sweep that ensnared numerous Healy loyalists who later spent time in federal prison on bribery charges.

The focus has "definitely" hurt Healy's standing with voters, according to a Healy insider who asked not to be identified. It also has personally angered the mayor, who has noted that no charges were ever filed against him as a result of the sweep, the insider said.

The nine council races could bring change to City Hall, too. Only five incumbents are running, and two independent candidates in Wards C and D are well-funded enough to make Healy's and Fulop's campaigns nervous.

Polls for the nonpartisan election open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

The Jersey Journal will have comprehensive coverage starting early. Keep an eye on nj.com/Hudson, and follow The Jersey Journal on Twitter, @jerseyjournal, for updates as returns begin to come in and for dispatches from Fulop's and Healy's election night parties.

After the polls close at 8 p.m., results will be recorded on The Jersey Journal's election hotline phone number at (201) 217-2498 as they become available.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... on_day_tomorrow_jerse.htm

Ex-mayor McCann's letter: Fact-checking Healy's boasts

By Letters to the Editor/The Jersey Journal
May 11, 2013 at 9:33 AM

With all due respect to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, he did not build the first five parks in the last 100 years. During my administration, the park at Exchange Place, J. Owen Grundy, was designed, built and opened. The Caven Point facility that is one of the most used parks in Jersey City was designed, built and opened. I also funded the recreational facility in front of the gym at St. Peter's Prep High School. We also designed, built and opened the ice skating rink and swimming pool at Pershing Field.

At my urging and influence, my administration enabled St. Peter's College to develop the western part of Lincoln Park along with my brother Tom, the Hudson County Parks director, for over 30 years. I was also mayor when we paid for the construction of the Boys Club on Grand Street that also opened during my administration. The park at Claremont Cove was also designed and built during my administration and the Smith administration at the foot of Essex Street on city-owned property. I also was able to get the Liberty Science Center built in Jersey City after we donated the city-owned land to it to lure them here.

Finally, the river walk at Liberty State Park, the Environmental Center, the restoration of Ellis Island and Liberty Park while I served on the National Commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan (Morris Pesin was my designated representative) were again done during my tenure in office.

I have noticed that after nine years in office, one park has just started construction on Garfield Avenue, and for that I applaud you. I am not sure what parks you are referring to, but would like to enjoy them if you could point them out to me. If you are referring to imaginary parks, let me know that also because I do not want to get lost.

Also, I understand that you were taking credit for the park at Essex Street. The park was built over 20 years before that. You might not remember it because you did not live there, but the boat club previously occupied the property illegally. I tore down the boat club and built a park. I might note that the LeFrak Organization did build a new park along Washington Street. I did not take credit for the parks and recreational facilities built at Society Hill, Port Liberte, Liberty Harbor, etc. because they were part of the planned development that we approved during my administration. I might want to point out that the parks within Newport were part of the planned development when my administration sold the property to the LeFrak Organization.
As a councilman, I voted on at least five new parks built during the Thomas Smith administration, and I know of parks built and improved during the Bret Schundler administration. There were many parks built during the Paul Jordan administration. It is probably because you are not from Jersey City that you did not notice them being built.
You noted these as your major accomplishments. I do not blame you for the murders in Jersey City nor do I credit you for the murders that never occurred. The crime of murder is very difficult to eliminate since most murders are personal and may occur in the act of another crime. Murder was down all over the United States. I am not going to give you credit for that, either. The murder rate is up over last year and I do not blame you. As far as buying back the guns, we do not know where they came from (Jersey City or wherever), but I applaud you for initiation of the program. While you have replaced police officers who have retired, stating that you hired over 300 police officers might be misleading. It also goes to the fact that more police left the department during your tenure in office than most other mayors for the past 50 years. Some might criticize you for police no longer wanting to work for you. Some others might point out that you rehired more police into civilian jobs than any mayor in history, giving them a full-time job that could have been filled by someone else.

They now collect a pension from the city and still work full-time from the taxpayers dollar.
GERALD McCANN
FORMER MAYOR

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index ... _fact-c.html#incart_river

Nearly 6,000 more Jersey City registered voters since Nov.

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 10, 2013 at 1:46 PM

With few days remaining until Jersey City?s quadrennial election, the city has nearly 6,000 more registered voters than it had in November, with the highest number of new voters living in Ward F.

The re-election campaign of Mayor Jerramiah Healy concentrated its voter-registration efforts in Ward F, a swath of the inner city that is largely African-American and poorer than the rest of Jersey City.

Of the 5,851 new voters in Jersey City since November 6, 22 percent, or 1,280, are in Ward F. Ward B, which encompasses the city?s West Side, has the next highest number of new voters, 1,113.

Healy?s campaign believes high turnout in Ward F could be one their keys to victory on Tuesday, when voters are tasked with selecting a mayor and all nine City Council seats. But mayoral hopeful Jerry Walker has been targeting Ward F, too, hoping that his popularity in the Bergen-Lafeyette community will lead to a large show of support for him.

Healy, who is seeking a third full term, is in a tight race with Councilman Steve Fulop, his longtime rival. He also faces a challenge from Abdul Malik.

Fulop?s home base, Ward E, which encompasses most of the Downtown, saw a small increase in registered voters, 835. The only ward with fewer new voters is Ward C, 823.

The nonpartisan election is Tuesday, May 14.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _city_r.html#incart_river

Hung jury declared in Jersey City stabbing murder trial

By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal
May 10, 2013 at 4:11 PM

After two days of deliberations totaling more than ten hours of deliberations, the jury in the case of a Jersey City man accused of stabbing another man in the back told the judge it was unable to reach a veridct and a mistrial was declared.

Ricky Roman, 27, is accused of stabbing Kareem Trowell, 31, twice in the back on Oct. 25, 2010 at 14 Montgomery Court in Jersey City.

Trowell was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center after the stabbing, but died shortly afterward, authorities said. Roman was tracked down on Oct. 28, 2010 on Third Avenue near 88th Street in North Bergen after a foot chase, authorities said.

The murder weapon, an eight-inch kitchen knife, was found in a sewer on Merseles Court wrapped in a pillow case days later.

Deliberations continued this morning around 9 a.m. after the jurors were unable to return a verdict during five hours of deliberations yesterday. They returned around 2 p.m., telling Hudson County Superior Court Judge Fred Theemling that they were unable to return a verdict "without compromising their beliefs."

Roman, his attorney Dawn Florio and Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Sal Rozzi are scheduled to meet on June 13 to decide a new date for Roman's next trial.

Florio said that despite the new trial, she doesn't plan on altering her defense strategy.

"I wouldn't change a thing I did," Florio said after the trial. "I think I mounted a vigorous defense."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ersey_c.html#incart_river

Political Insider: Foot-in-mouth outbreak does Jersey City mayor no good at all

By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal
on May 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Panic: A sudden overpowering fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical behavior.

This is a definition of the Team Healy camp with the Jersey City election almost upon us. There isn't a soul in this city that is unaware that Mayor Jerramiah Healy pulled one of the biggest political gaffes in Hudson County history. Because this is Hudson County, only after the election will we know if the laws of la politique physics actually work in this dimension.

While being interviewed by Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger, the mayor is asked about the al fresco photo taken of him sitting on his front porch during a 2004 election campaign. Now we have heard every story of how Healy wound up on the Internet in his birthday suit, but his response to Moran opened an entirely new scenario, almost as if a repressed memory came to the surface.

The mayor blamed The Three Amigas. While wearing a towel -- now I would have understood if it was a toga -- Healy confronted three Hispanic girls to stop them from making a racket outside of his house. Not only did the mayor say that one of the Amigas snatched his Cannon -- I'm guessing it wasn't a Ralph Lauren or Jacyln Smith towel -- but they also did "dirty things," leaving this open to interpretation by what Sigmund Freud calls our id.

What was he thinking? Obviously the mayor didn't recall Moran's interview with state Sen. Sandra Cunningham a ways back when he wrote that the senator was clueless.
Healy's stock plummeted. Team Healy campaign leaders received numerous phone calls from panicky major donors. The energy went out of the Team Healy campaign workers all week. Their Internet commenters are working overtime to respond to criticism of the mayor's comments that some say is a slap in the face of all Hispanic girls and the Latino community.

What is interesting about all this is that while Fulop supporters are inclined to swing around their version of the Pittsburgh Steelers fans' "Terrible Towels" and the mayor's supporters may feel the campaign is on the rocks, Healy is still certain he will be victorious.

Today, Healy workers will gather at Casino in the Park in what is being described as a rally but is where the poll challengers will receive their credentials. It is expected that there will be some Hispanic demonstrators outside the catering hall in Lincoln Park shouting their displeasure at the mayor for his comments about the Three Amigas, who are no doubt figments of one man's imagination.

POLITICAL INSIDER

-- There was a call from one critic of The Jersey Journal endorsements of council candidates who backs Downtown council candidate Dan Levin. She said that a word caught her eye in the seal of approval for Ward E hopeful Candice Osborne. The word is "funny" and she did not think this would be considered a criteria for public office. Funny, many times I thought the City Council's actions were hilarious.

Actually, the word was used in describing Osborne's personality, as in "smart, funny and charming."

The caller added, "To me this is code word for 'pretty.' "

Uh-oh.

-- Here's what I'm thinking about Tuesday's election results -- and I've received similar numbers by email and phone calls from election groupies interested in this fun but important campaign.

Healy's hope is a big margin of victory in Ward F, the center of the city's black community. Ironic isn't it, considering they have received the least from local government. If he doesn't win big there, the administration is finished.

Fulop needs a record turnout from Downtown, more than the 5,500 votes from the last city election -- say closer to 6,500 to 7,000, then the councilman wins. By staying close or winning Ward F and just a good turnout in Ward E, then Fulop should win. Pressure.

I'm projecting that mayoral candidate Abdul Malik gets 350 to 450 votes. Jerry Walker receives anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000. Past Healy voters walk away and he gets a tally of between 13,400 and 14,000. Fulop has a shot at somewhere between 15,500 to 16,400 -- and possibly a 51 or 52 percent win to avoid a runoff.

Those council seats break down with plenty of runoffs.

Ward A: Epps avoids a runoff, although Gajewski is gaining this week. Chico Ramchal is top vote-getter in Ward B but in a runoff with Gerald Meyer, and the difference maker in this race could be candidate Esther Wintner. In Ward D, there's a runoff between Michael Yun and Sean Connors.

Fulop's old Ward E seat goes to Osborne, but Levin could just get enough support to force a runoff. Ward F, Diane Coleman is on top, but there's a possibility of a runoff with Healy's pick, Jermaine Robinson.

At large, I have to think name recognition is big, which gives the edge to incumbents Peter Brennan, Viola Richardson and Rolando Lavarro.

A landslide by either mayoral candidate means all bets are off.

-- Because of the recent rains, Team Healy - I mean the mayor's office - had to drop a trio of groundbreakings and announceents, including a blah-blah promise involving the long delayed 100 steps project that was to connect the Heights with a Hoboken light rail station. It will be tough to cram all these events into the day before the election.

-- Congratulations to Fulop for cramming enough political ads into the Urban Times. The black commuity newspaper that seems to only come out during election season mirrored state Sen. Sandra Cunningham's inaction and made no mayoral endorsement. Coincidence?

-- Hoboken Councilman Ravi Bhalla gave up his 33rd District Assembly seat quest after Housing Authority Director Carmelo Garcia successfully appealed getting booted from the primary ballot as the Hudson County Democratic Organization line candidate.

Union City Mayor and 33rd District sen. Brian Stack is still mad at Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and her team member, Bhalla. The HCDeadO leadership is also not amused.

-- On Wednesday, Zimmer, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turnerheld a press conference to moan about the big tax increases their municipalities will suffer as a result of the proposed Hudson County government budget.

The interesting part is not that they are complaining. These communities are always abused come county budget time. This is all Kabuki theater. The mayors always whine and the county says they can't help it - and nothing changes. Everyone plays a role.

Freeholder Chairman Anthony Romano of Hoboken attended the press conference and promised to run his comb through the budget. Do I sense Romano has hitched his wagon to the Zimmer express? Let me see, is there a public safety director in the Mile Square City. Just wondering?

It will be interesting to see how Romano votes on the budget, after his exploratory surgery

-- The Journal will bring you Tuesday's election all day with blog posts, photos and twitter. Those registered should vote for their hometown's future. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are watching.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index ... in-mout.html#incart_river

Longshot Jersey City mayoral candidate Malik rails against pols

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on May 08, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Yes, there are four men running for mayor in Jersey City.

Incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy faces three challengers, though his longtime political rivalry with mayoral hopeful City Councilman Steve Fulop grabs most of the headlines.

And Jerry Walker, who announced his bid for the mayoralty in January, earns attention because of his status as a former hoops star for St. Anthony High School, and thanks to his popular afterschool program, Team Walker.

And then there?s Abdul Malik.

Malik, 54, has less name recognition than the other three candidates, hasn?t reported raising any money to compete with his opponents? millions of dollars and is such a long-shot to win on Tuesday, May 14 that even when he attacks his opponents in debates, they almost always ignore him.

Still, Malik insists he?s a contender. He pitches himself to voters as the outsider who can clean up City Hall.

?We are not bound to pick these career politicians,? he told The Jersey Journal recently.


A doctor in his native Pakistan, Malik has lived in Jersey City for nearly 25 years. Formerly in the pharmaceutical industry, Malik has been on permanent disability since a 1992 back injury. In a March sit-down with editors from The Jersey Journal, Malik cited his disability as the reason he hasn?t done much volunteer work.

Asked whether his disability would deter him from acting as mayor, Malik said it would not.

?If somebody asked me, ?We care going to plant some flowers around the block,? I?m sorry, I can?t do that ? (but) I can work and achieve,? he said.

Malik?s campaign almost wasn?t. Mayoral candidates are required to hand in petitions with signatures from 1,331 registered voters, and Malik handed in barely enough to qualify, while officials struggled to confirm many of the petitions, a city source said.

In the end, his candidacy was certified just minutes before the 4 p.m. deadline on May 11.

Malik claims that city officials were rude to him and purposely tried to keep him from running in the May 14 race.

On the campaign trail, Malik is light on details regarding how the city would operate under a Malik administration, but he uses populist rhetoric that can be crowd-pleasing: taxes are too high, City Hall is corrupt, politicians ?never do anything for us,? etc. He has promised to lower taxes.

He can be a sloppy debater. During the five debates he participated in, he had to be told frequently to stop speaking when he went over his allotted time. And while occasionally scoring points for attacking Healy and Fulop, his thick accent, coupled with a tendency to speak close to his microphone, leave some audience members scratching their heads, wondering what he?s saying.

Malik calls himself a ?man of principle? who believes ?in strong family values.?

?I am the one who understands the issues," he told The Jersey Journal.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... _mayoral_candidate_7.html

Editorial: Jersey Journal endorses Steven Fulop for mayor of Jersey City

By The Jersey Journal
May 08, 2013 at 8:10 AM

The Jersey Journal endorses Downtown Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop for mayor.

There are four people who are asking the voters to elect them to the city?s highest office. With Fulop, this newspaper believes the city has the best chance to use its superior inherent qualities ? its geography, people and resources ? to become one of the nation?s prominent municipalities.

Fulop has the leadership and sound decision-making abilities to select the right path for Jersey City?s journey through the 21st century. He has the vision and commitment to make this city a place that will sustain its residents and improve their lives and that of their children.

The smoke and mirrors employed by the current administration for the last eight and a half years have not allowed all of Jersey City to reach its potential. The city, and more important its people, deserve so much better.

Jersey City is a vital city in the New York metropolitan region with a dense but very diverse population of about 250,000 people. We are a transportation hub with a deep water port, rails, buses, light rail trains, ferries and many major roadways that intersect the Hudson County seat. Located across from the Big Apple, Jersey City is a major financial center with an ever-growing service industry.

Usually, this is how the city is described. There should be much more.

There?s untapped potential in city landmarks like the Landmark Loew?s Jersey Theatre and the Sixth Street Embankment ? places that, with proper planning, could be destinations. Artists have always been attracted to the city, and its institutions of higher learning ? St. Peter?s University, New Jersey City University and Hudson County Community College ? are growing in capital improvements, curriculum and student populations.

Since being elected to the City Council in 2005, Fulop has been the major voice of reason in local government.

In his first term, he was the lone council member to challenge an administration that lacked transparency and imagination but controlled the legislative body. Labeled a reformer, Fulop managed to bring together a council coalition interested in better serving their constituents. Since November, with the election of Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman, Fulop?s power on the City Council has grown. The coalition he helped create has been able to block administration efforts that were wrong for Jersey City.

One of his prominent accomplishments is adoption of a strict pay-to-play ordinance designed to ban vendors from using campaign donations to secure contracts with the city. The councilman backed an effort to have city government employees put in 25 years of service before being entitled to lifetime benefits. He co-sponsored a living-wage ordinance to improve pay for workers of companies that have contracts with the city.

FULOP GOT THINGS DONE

In a city facing annual financial problems, despite decades of waterfront development, Fulop helped end costly health benefits for board members of the city Municipal Utilities and Incinerator authorities. Among his other accomplishments, the administration agreed to place government-identifying decals on a dozen city-owned cars used by selected individuals ? a watered-down version of Fulop?s request for decals on all vehicles, except those used by public safety. He also calls for more rational use of tax abatements to stimulate development in the older sections of the city.

Fulop ... has the vision and commitment to make this city a place that will sustain its residents and improve their lives.

It should be noted that this election is also a referendum on the present administration headed by a mayor whose time in office took on a surreal quality this week when a controversial issue from his 2004 run for mayor resurfaced.

While being interviewed by a Star-Ledger columnist, incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy decided to clarify how a photograph of him, naked and sitting on the steps of his front porch, became public on the Internet during the 2004 special election campaign. The mayor felt he had to explain that "three Hispanic girls," whom he?d never mentioned before, were to blame for the incident. At the time, his campaign portrayed him as a victim of a political dirty trick.

In fact, in Healy?s eyes nothing during his years in office has been his fault. This includes a 2006 scuffle with Bradley Beach police that led to a disorderly conduct conviction that the mayor appealed and lost. The mayor never apologized for his behavior.

The worst was yet to come.

In 2009, Operation Bid Rig III, a federal investigation into dishonest government in New Jersey, led to massive arrests. Those who were indicted and convicted of or pleaded guilty to corruption included members of Healy?s administration, such as then-deputy mayor Leona Beldini, then-council president Mariano Vega, then-council member Philip Kenny, and then-city Housing Authority commissioner Edward Cheatam. Beldini was also Healy?s reelection campaign treasurer that year.

The mayor was never charged and says he did nothing wrong.

He also never strongly denounced, or apologized for, these corrupt officials. His administration also helped stonewall Vega?s resignation. The councilman didn?t step down until it was too late to hold a special election to replace him, allowing Healy?s majority on the council to hand pick a successor.

On Feb. 5, 2010, The Jersey Journal wrote an editorial: "Healy must resign as mayor of Jersey City." Healy was described as being disengaged from reality and as posing as a caring public official. An excerpt of that editorial:

"As in his Bradley Beach conviction, Healy does not believe he did anything wrong in his meetings with purported developer Solomon Dwek, an FBI informant and cooperating witness. This mayor even sees the videos in the Beldini trial as vindicating him.

"What the hidden camera lens caught was a mayor who is willing to talk development and campaign contributions over a dish of potato salad. Is this how business gets done in Jersey City?"

Remember, the mayor is a lawyer and former municipal judge, an officer of the court who should be held to a high ethical standard.

CRIME A MAJOR ISSUE

Ironically, a major issue in the current election is crime.

Healy has always run on a public safety platform. He joined a group of East Coast mayors who demand stricter gun control laws. The city has also initiated gun buyback efforts. Yet, when residents have complained about what they see as high crime, the mayor has repeatedly said he has statistics that show that crime is down. His reaction seems more political than sympathetic.

The mayor solicited and received a number of political endorsements, including those from President Obama and Mayors Cory Booker of Newark, Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Thomas Menino of Boston. While Obama does not know this city and is paying back Healy for his early support of his own first campaign, Menino is in his last term and helping out a gun control comrade.

It is easy to make the argument that Booker and Bloomberg made the endorsements for the same reason as Menino, but one could also argue that the heads of two rival municipalities wouldn?t mind seeing Healy remain as an ineffective chief executive.

INNER CITY IGNORED

Healy?s administration can be summed up by a stretch of Bergen Avenue, from Montgomery Street south. While one could argue that dealing with crime is difficult and the poor economy can be an impressive foe, there is no excuse for not providing basic services.

Taxpayers along this stretch have been clamoring for years for the city to pave the road and fix the curbs, only to be ignored. Potholes and bare patches are the norm along the forgotten avenue, a metaphor for older sections of the city. It is not the waterfront.

Besides Healy and Fulop, the mayoral candidates are Abdul Malik, a local activist who was a physician in his native Pakistan, and Jerry Walker, a former basketball star and co-founder of Team Walker, a nonprofit academic and recreation organization for city children.

Malik is passionate about his desire to represent local residents, criticizes the constant use of tax abatements for mostly waterfront development and chides politicians for making running for office a career. The Journal feels Malik does not have the administrative skills to handle the day-to-day grind of the second-largest city in New Jersey.

Walker is an intriguing prospect in that he is a convincing speaker ? no doubt a skill he has developed in seeking funds for the nonprofit he created ? and argues that he has learned administrative and budgeting skills working with his nonprofit. He seems very capable of bringing people together. The Journal believes he has yet to hone governmental and political statesmanship skills. Walker bears watching as a future city leader.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index ... steven_fulop_for_may.html

Jersey City cops break up candidate's 'haircuts for the homeless' event

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on May 07, 2013 at 2:22 PM

Jersey City mayoral hopeful Jerry Walker wanted to give away free haircuts to the homeless and poor in Journal Square today, but the unusual campaign event turned into a minor headache when he had to shut it down prematurely.

Turns out Walker, a former hoops star at St. Anthony High School, didn?t have a permit to host three barbers giving away free haircuts by the Journal Square 9/11 Memorial Fountain. Police officers told him he had to shut down the operation.

Walker said the officers? actions are precisely why his campaign?s slogan is ?People Before Politics.?

?We?re just trying to lend a helping hand, that?s it,? he said.

Walker's team set up the haircut stations at about noon today. Within minutes, police officers approached to say he needed a permit. By about 12:30, Walker agreed to shut it down.

Walker had some members of his City Council slate in attendance, including Adela Rohena, an activist who is running for the Ward C council seat. The team had taped campaign signs to the fountain and trees.

Walker is one of three men challenging Mayor Jerramiah Healy in the Tuesday, May 14 city election. Walker

?I wouldn?t blame it on the mayor,? Walker said. ?But it?s the police department, he?s the chief in charge, right??

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said park permits must be obtained to host events in that area of Journal Square.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... y_election_2013_cops.html

Jersey City election 2013: one more week until voters head to the polls

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 07, 2013 at 11:25 PM

In just seven days, Jersey City will head to the polls for the city?s quadrennial city election, when four men will compete to become the city's mayor and 33 candidates will vie for nine seats on the City Council.

The marquee race is for mayor, with longtime political nemeses Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop going head-to-head for the chance to govern the state?s second-largest city.

The two have raised over $2 million total to nab the city?s top job in a campaign that becomes nastier as each day passes.

Former St. Anthony High School hoops star Jerry Walker is also making a bid for mayor. Few expect him to win, but some observers contend he could win enough votes to trigger a run-off. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote plus one, the two leading contenders meet again on June 11.

Abdul Malik, a doctor in his native Pakistan, is also competing, with few expecting him to win more than about 1,000 votes.

Healy, a former municipal judge and councilman, is seeking a third full term. Voters first tapped him for mayor in a special November 2004 election after Glenn Cunningham?s death, and he won election the following May to his first full term. He won again handily in 2009.

The mayor's mantra this campaign season has been, "It it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Fulop first won election to the council in 2005 ? defeating a Healy man who has since endorsed Fulop ? and was re-elected in a 2009 landslide. Fulop, a U.S. Marine and former Goldman Sachs trader, is making his first bid to be the city?s top executive.

The councilman has argued that Jersey City under Healy's leadership is not what it could be.

Fulop was considered something of a shoo-in in the middle of last year, with Healy?s campaign making a slow start in the fundraising department. But some good numbers at the end of 2012, and a high-profile endorsement of Healy by none other than President Obama, put the race back into something of a toss-up.

There is no public polling, but internal polls suggest a very tight race, sources say.

The city election is set for Tuesday, May 14, 2013, with polls opening at 6 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m. A runoff will be held June 11 for any race in which no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote.

CITY COUNCIL

Both Healy and Fulop are running with a full slate of nine City Council candidates, while Walker is missing one at-large council hopeful and Malik is running solo.

The council races get little attention, with debates sparsely attended and most of the attention showered on the mayor's race. But if the winning mayoral candidate doesn't bring in at least six of his council hopefuls, he runs the risk of seeing his agenda falter amid opposition from the legislative body.

There are no incumbents running in Wards A, B, D and E.

AT-LARGE

The nine-member council comprises three at-large members, who represent the entire city, and six ward members, who represent different areas.

All three current at-large reps ? Peter Brennan, Rolando Lavarro and Viola Richardson ? are seeking re-election, Brennan and Richardson to their fourth terms and Lavarro to his first full term.

Brennan and Richardson have served on the council since 2001. Richardson is the former Ward F rep who was promoted to her at-large seat in a wild November 2011 special election that saw 17 candidates running for two spots.

Lavarro, who ran on a ticket with Richardson during that campaign, was the other winner of that election. He is running on Fulop?s ticket to remain an at-large councilman, while Brennan and Richardson are running with Healy.

Omar Perez, a former aide to Healy and corrupt former councilman Mariano Vega, is running on Healy?s ticket as an at-large candidate. Perez ran in the 2011 special election, coming in ninth out of 17 candidates.

On Fulop's slate, Daniel Rivera, a former president of the Roberto Clemente Little League of Jersey City, and the Rev. Joyce Watterman of the Continuous Flow Christian Center will run at-large. They are both new to Jersey City politics.

Running at-large with Walker are former city attorney Sean M. Connelly and city cop Ram?n ?Ray? Regalado.

There is a slight anomaly in the at-large race when it comes to a possible run-off: only one of the eight candidates has to win over 50 percent of the vote, not three. So if one candidate tops that threshold, the two candidates with the next highest vote totals win, too, even if they aren't on the same ticket as the winner and even if they don't top 50 percent.

WARD A

In Ward A, which encompasses Greenville, Councilman Michael Sottolano is not seeking a third term. Former schools superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. is running to replace him. A former assemblyman, this is his first bid for council, and he?s running on Healy?s ticket.

Epps will face Frank Gajewski, a former police chief, who is running on Fulop?s slate, and Rickey Johnson, a Hudson County Jail administrator running with Walker.

Independent candidate Jayson Burg is also running in Ward A. Burg was an also-ran in the last two school-board elections. Lori Hennessey is also running unaffiliated with a slate.

WARD B

Ward B Councilman David Donnelly, after previously announcing that he had joined Fulop?s slate, opted in January not to seek re-election.

Donnelly joined the council as a mayoral appointment in 2009, and then won a special election in 2010 to remain in the seat until this July.

Donnelly aide Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, a Hudson County Improvement Authority employee, will run on Fulop's ticket in Donnelly's place. Ramchal is an unpaid aide to Freeholder Bill O'Dea, who has endorsed Fulop's ticket. Ramchal was formerly a part-time worker for the Hudson County Sheriff?s Office, but resigned soon after announced his council bid, according to an HCSO spokesman.

Healy's pick for Ward B, which encompasses the West Side, is county employee and Dem activist Gerald Meyers, who formerly ran the Lincoln Park Little League.

Also hoping to win in Ward B are Chris Gadsden, a Lincoln High School vice principal who is running with Walker, and activist Esther Wintner, who ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in a 2010 special election. Wintner is unaffiliated with a slate.

WARD C

Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez is seeking re-election to her second full term. Lopez is a former Healy ally who now backs Fulop.

She will face JP Morgan analyst Janet Chevres. Chevres is running on Healy's ticket in Ward C, which Healy supporters have vowed to "take back" from Lopez.

Walker has enlisted Adela Rohena, a homeless activist and part-time teacher's aide with the public-school district, to run in Ward C on his ticket.

Meanwhile, former Jersey City cop Rich Boggiano, who made a strong showing in the 2011 at-large special election, will run in Ward C, which encompasses Journal Square. Boggiano, head of Journal Square?s Hilltop Neighborhood Association, is unaffiliated with a ticket.

WARD D

Central Avenue shop owner Michael Yun, who heads the Central Avenue Special Improvement District, is running to replace Ward D Councilman Bill Gaughan. Gaughan has been Ward D?s council rep for nearly two decades, and announced in early January that he doesn't plan to run for a sixth term.

Yun has raised an impressive $137,000 so far, according to his latest campaign filings (by comparison, Boggiano, another independent candidate who has a good shot at winning, has raised only about $20,000).

The Healy camp had hoped Assemblyman Sean Connors would run with them to succeed Gaughan, but Connors, who endorsed Healy in September 2012, retracted his endorsement two months later in a move that stunned and angered Healy loyalists and even some in Connors? camp. He then joined Fulop's slate as its candidate in Ward D, which encompasses The Heights.

Healy, meanwhile, tapped the Rev. Mario Gonzalez, who heads the The Hope Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, to run on his ticket in Ward D. Walker is running businesswoman Grace Giron in The Heights.

WARD E

Ward E ? the Downtown, Fulop?s base ? finds community activist Dan Levin running on Healy?s ticket, much to the surprise of some of his supporters.

Levin, who called on Healy to resign after the massive 2009 corruption sweep, came in fourth when he ran for mayor that year and came in seventh out of 17 candidates when he ran for an at-large council seat in the 2011 special election.

Fulop, meanwhile, has tapped activist Candice Osborne to run for his current seat, while Second Street man Fletcher Gensamer is running independent of any ticket.

WARD F

In Ward F, which includes the Bergen-Lafayette section and a portion of Downtown, Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman is running for re-election on Fulop's slate. Coleman, who runs Building an Empire, a nonprofit that connects needy residents with social services, won in a November 2012 special election for a term that ends June 30.

She defeated Michele Massey, who was appointed to the seat in December 2011 after Richardson became a councilwoman at large.

Jermaine Robinson, who runs the Light Rail Caf? on Randolph Avenue, is running on Healy?s ticket as a Ward F candidate.

Walker's Ward F candidate is Chantel Snow, a Dickinson High School English teacher.

Independent candidates in Ward F include minister Deborah King and small-business owner Kenny Reyes.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ty_election_2013_one.html

Fulop seeks to make Jersey City 'best mid-size city' in the nation

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 06, 2013 at 12:23 PM

The Jersey City mayoral race has four candidates, but political observers are only interested in two: incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop.

The two men have been adversaries ever since Fulop, a U.S. Marine and one of the youngest individuals ever elected to the nine-member council, first joined the body in 2005 after defeating one of Healy?s running mates.

Since then, Fulop, 36, has built up considerable local celebrity, especially (opponents say only) in the city?s Downtown by casting himself as a political reformer bent on destroying the city?s entrenched political establishment. The incumbent he defeated in 2005 has since endorsed him for mayor.

He has long wanted Healy?s job.

In recent public appearances, Fulop has said the city is at a ?crossroads.?

?Our goal is not to be a better Jersey City than the Jersey City of Mayor Healy,? he said during a sit-down with editors of The Jersey Journal last month, repeating verbatim a line he has used frequently elsewhere. ?There is a route for Jersey City to be the best mid-size city in the United States of America.?

Fulop grew up in Edison, the grandson of Holocaust survivors. His parents own and operate a Newark bodega.

He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton who went on to receive a master?s degree in public administration from Columbia and a master?s in business administration from New York University before becoming a Wall Street trader.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Fulop enlisted in the U.S. Marines, becoming part of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion. He was deployed in 2004 and was honorably discharged about three years ago.

His military service features prominently in his campaign literature, with fliers containing photos of the councilman in full military gear.

An Essex Street resident, Fulop once headed the Historic Paulus Hook Association. In 2004, and with the backing of the late former mayor Glenn D. Cunningham, he made a Quixotic bid to unseat then-Rep. Bob Menendez. Fulop won 14 percent of the vote that year.

He was more successful in 2005, running for the Ward E council seat against Healy ally E. Junior Maldonado. Fulop stunned Jersey City by defeating Maldonado, who was one of only two Healy running mates to lose that year. Maldonado is now a Fulop supporter.

The councilman spent much of his initial years on the council as the lone opponent to Healy administration initiatives. Meanwhile, Fulop championed ethics issues that the council responded to with hostility.

At least one council member around this time changed her seat on the council dais to stay away from him. The council adopted an ordinance intended to keep Fulop from continually introducing measures embarrassing to the administration (only Fulop voted ?no? on that ordinance).

He flirted with running for mayor in the 2009 race, but opted out and ran for re-election to his council seat instead. In a five-candidate race, he trounced the opposition, winning 63 percent of the vote. The runner-up went to prison two months later, one of dozens of pols arrested in the massive corruption sweep that ensnared numerous Healy allies.

Fulop, who four years earlier had expressed hope about working with Healy, crowed after his 2009 landslide: "It speaks to the fact that people responded to a reasonable voice on the council for open government on the council.?

Since 2011, Fulop has earned enough allies on the council to give him a majority, winning the support of two recent additions to the body and two former Healy loyalists. Ethics measures that went down in flames when he first joined the council have been approved, some unanimously, while he has the power to block administrative initiatives if he so wishes.

But as the councilman?s power over city government has increased, so have the attacks on his views and his character. Healy allies say Fulop is a hypocrite who espouses the virtue of ?pay to play? bans while using the Board of Education ? Fulop helped eight of the nine members get elected ? to enrich his donors and friends.

The Board of Education has been Fulop?s Achilles heel of this election season. He is intensely involved in the public-school district ? hundreds of emails the Healy campaign had hoped would prove he steered school contracts to his allies instead showed Fulop intervening on issues as mundane as adults loitering on school property.

Fulop also backed an effort to oust former schools superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. in favor of former Delaware superintendent Marcia V. Lyles, who became Jersey City?s schools chief last year. The move, especially the BOE?s decision to hire from outside the district instead of promoting a popular associate superintendent, cost Fulop some support. At times, the utterance of his name at a BOE meeting is enough to result in a cascade of boos from the crowd.

?I have probably paid the price politically for it,? Fulop said recently to The Jersey Journal of his dealings with the school district. ?But I?m proud of what I did because I did the right thing by residents.?

The Healy campaign has used Fulop?s involvement in the school district as the lynchpin for its campaign against the councilman. A television commercial featuring ominous music and campaign fliers with unflattering photos of Fulop warn voters about Fulop?s plans for the schools.

The local teachers union, which has backed Healy, has told its members that if Fulop is election, public schools will be privatized. Fulop says this is untrue, while noting that Healy?s policy on charter schools is the same as Fulop?s (they both support charter schools).

Healy?s campaign lobs negative attacks at Fulop because the mayor has ?no record to run on,? the councilman said.

?On taxes, (he?s) a failure,? he said. ?On education, he?s been non-involved ? on corruption, he?s been a failure.?

The campaign Fulop has waged against Healy has been the most aggressive the mayor has faced since 2004, perhaps ever. Last year, political observers thought Fulop was a shoo-in, but Healy?s initially sleepy campaign hit the gas pedal in the last quarter of 2012.

In March Healy?s allies believed they turned things around completely when President Obama waded into the race and endorsed Healy, an early Obama supporter. As the campaign heads into its final week, it?s difficult to find Healy campaign literature that doesn?t feature Obama?s picture.

The president?s endorsement led to panic among Fulop supporters, and Fulop himself conceded in April that Obama?s nod had had a negative impact on his fundraising.

The councilman?s supporters have since regained a bit more optimism, and Fulop?s decision to shift some focus to the 2009 corruption swept has helped. Healy was never charged in the sting, but his deputy mayor, two council allies and other members of city government were, and Healy himself was caught on tape meeting with disgraced developer Solomon Dwek, the confidential information who helped the feds nab corrupt pols throughout the state.

When speaking to The Jersey Journal in early April, Fulop said he ?hoped? his campaign wouldn?t address the corruption sweep, but soon after Healy?s campaign mailed out a flier going negative on Fulop, a television commercial using footage of Healy?s meeting with Dwek went on the air, followed by another commercial and several campaign fliers.

Fulop?s campaign insists the focus on corruption has hurt Healy?s poll numbers, and at a May 2 debate at School 4, Fulop defended going negative by noting that Healy was the first to release negative campaign literature.

?Not even one mailer that has come from the mayor?s office has one thing about my vision for Jersey City,? Fulop said. ?Each has my image distorted and a picture of President Obama on the other side.?

The election is Tuesday, May 14.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... fulo_13.html#incart_river

New footbridge from Downtown Jersey City to Liberty State Park aims for June completion

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
May 06, 2013 at 10:29 AM

Six months ago Hurricane Sandy washed away the footbridge connecting Jersey Avenue in Downtown Jersey City to Liberty State Park but construction of a new bridge is set to begin, officials said.

"We know how important this piece of infrastructure is to our residents, and that is why we worked quickly with our (Office of Emergency Management) officials and our engineering staff to find a way to expedite the replacement of the Jersey Avenue footbridge," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said in a statement. "I am pleased that we will be able to open this bridge for use in the summer months."

A press conference to kick off the construction project was held Thursday at the foot of Jersey Avenue.

The new bridge, which will provide access in and out of the park for pedestrians and cyclists, will cost roughly $750,000, city officials said.

Jersey City has applied to the Federal Emergency Management Administration for reimbursement, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

The bridge is expected to be completed by early June.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... m_downt.html#incart_river

Jersey City mayor: I 'wasn't thinking that well' when asked about nude photo

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 06, 2013 at 8:07 PM

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, under fire for comments he made to The Star-Ledger regarding an infamous nude photo of him taken nearly 10 years ago, said today he ?wasn?t thinking that well? when he answered questions about the snapshot.

?The question came out of the blue,? Healy told The Jersey Journal today from his office in City Hall. ?Foolishly I commented on it.?

Healy?s statements this afternoon immediately followed a press conference held by supporters of Healy rival City Councilman Steve Fulop, who is mounting an aggressive challenge to Healy?s re-election campaign.

Fulop?s allies used the press conference to criticize Healy for telling The Star-Ledger, in a Tom Moran column published yesterday, that ?three Hispanic girls? were partly responsible for the infamous photo showing Healy slumped over naked in front of his Ferry Street home.

The girls had woken Healy up that night so he went outside in a towel, which the girls ripped off him just in time for a political opponent to snap the embarrassing photo of him, the mayor told Moran. Healy's new story differs from his previous statements about the photo.

FLASHBACK: Political Insider: Photo worth 1,000 nasty words by rival Jersey City campaigns

Fulop?s allies today said Healy should apologize to the Latino community for blaming the photo incident on ?three Hispanic girls.? But Healy said he?s not discussing the photo any more, and he blasted Fulop?s allies for ?capitalizing? on the controversy.

?I?m done talking about something that happened nine years ago,? he said. ?I?m focusing on the issues facing the city.?

Healy also touted his commitment to the Latino community, noting that he appointed the first Latina municipal judge and tapped a Latino to head the city Department of Health and Human Services.

Healy added that his campaign has received the endorsement of President Obama, who Healy noted received near-record support from the Latino community in his 2012 bid for re-election.

Healy?s campaign, meanwhile, issued a statement from Healy?s three Latino council candidates criticizing the Fulop campaign for continuing to discuss Healy?s comments to The Star-Ledger.

?This latest Fulop distraction from the real issues highlights the fact that their message and record are not resonating with the voters in the final week of the campaign,? reads the statement from at-large candidate Omar Perez, Ward C candidate Janet Chevres and Ward D candidate the Rev. Mario Gonzalez.

?For the past four years, Fulop and Lopez have ignored the Latino community,? the statement continues. ?Now that we?re in the final days of an election they?re trying to fabricate an issue and pretending to care about our community.?

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... snt_thinking_that_we.html

High-stakes Jersey City mayoral race gets ugly

By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger
May 05, 2013 at 2:58 PM

In nine days, Jersey City voters take to the polls.

While those outside the state?s second largest city may not be paying much attention, for residents the May 14 election for mayor and council is impossible to ignore.

Voters have been inundated with television ads and glossy mailers. From stoop to stoop, competing campaign signs tell the story of a city divided over its future mayor.

Incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy is fighting for a third full term, touting reductions in crime, outsized economic development and an influx of affluent young families to the city?s downtown.

Nipping at his heels is a longtime foil, Councilman Steven Fulop, who has climbed the Jersey City hierarchy during his two terms as a city councilman. He is promising transparency and responsive government.

As Election Day approaches, the Healy and Fulop propaganda machines are running full blast. For all of the city?s new restaurants and shops, pristine parks and gentrified brownstones, when it comes to elections, Jersey City can feel like the same old nasty, blustery, melodramatic town it?s always been.

"On some level it surprises me, the level of negativity that this race has provided," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University. "You have a really entrenched incumbent and a challenger with a reform agenda ? neither lends itself to negative campaigning."

Much of the intensity comes from the high stakes. The race could end the political career of the loser and secure the winner a place atop the Hudson County mountain.

"Jersey City is like the Paris of Hudson politics," said Jim McQueeny, former state director for Democratic U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and a veteran Hudson County reporter. "If you control Paris, you have the rest of France by the throat."

Healy?s past is colorful, to put it mildly.

A former city lawyer, municipal judge and city councilman, the son of Irish immigrants was first elected mayor in 2004 to fill the vacant term of Mayor Glenn Cunningham, who died in office. He was re-elected in 2005 and again in 2009.

Healy has never hidden his ties to the Hudson County Democratic Organization, which he once chaired. He has been a lightning rod for controversy and has weathered some storms that could have ended the career of another politician.

In 2004, when he ran in a special election to replace Cunningham, a picture of Healy surfaced showing him naked and passed out on the porch of his Jersey City home.

Then there was the infamous 2006 tussle with police in Bradley Beach, when Healy was charged with resisting arrest outside a local bar. Healy was convicted of obstruction of justice and disorderly person charges related to the incident.

In 2009, the FBI partnered with disgraced real estate investor Solomon Dwek to ensnare more than a dozen Hudson County politicians and operatives in a wide-reaching bribery scheme. The takedown included at least six members of Healy?s administration, including Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, many of whom served time or are still in jail.

It?s against this backdrop that Fulop has tried to paint a clear line between his new brand of politics and Healy?s old-school style. Former Fulop supporters and Healy operatives are not making it easy.

Fulop, 36, is also the son of immigrants. His parents came from Hungary and ran a deli in Newark when he was growing up. He worked his way through school and left his job at Goldman Sachs shortly after the attacks on 9/11 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Since returning from the Iraq War, Fulop has climbed the political ladder in Jersey City, creating a reputation as someone who is more in touch than Healy with the needs of a changing city.

"You deserve a city that works for you," Fulop said in a recent ad, promising to modernize the police force, make budgets more transparent, and end no-bid contracts.

Fulop has not been shy about reminding voters of the Dwek scandal. Residents receive mailers almost daily, many of them showing grainy photos from the FBI tape. "This is Mayor Jerry Healy making a $30,000 secret deal with an undercover developer," reads one of the ads.

Healy was never charged in the sting and never agreed on the video to a deal with Dwek.

Not to be outdone, Healy supporters have a tape of their own.

A supporter of the mayor provided The Star-Ledger with a videotape of downtown developer Robert Lehrer claiming that he gave Fulop undeclared free office space in his downtown warehouse for two years between 2005 and 2008 ? a value of roughly $12,000.

"I used to see him every single day because every single day he?d come into the office," Lehrer said referring to Fulop. He added that he was never compensated.

Fulop?s campaign denied the accusations, saying they came from Healy backers.

"In fact, the Fulop campaign never had an office at that location," campaign manager John Thieroff said in an e-mail, adding that Lehrer and Fulop are documented opponents.

According to campaign records, Fulop had a "campaign HQ" at Lehrer?s warehouse for six months in 2007, paying a total of $4,300 in rent. When The Star-Ledger pointed out the discrepancy, the Fulop campaign admitted he used the warehouse for "storage" for six months, but not for the two years that Lehrer alleged.

Thieroff said the allegations "make no sense because Lehrer opposed Fulop politically and Fulop consistently voted against Lehrer?s financial interests."

Thieroff said the money was paid to a consulting firm run by Tom Bertoli, Fulop?s longtime advisor, as a "sublease."

Lehrer declined to comment. Bertoli said he was doing construction in the warehouse and therefore never had a lease with Lehrer.

With little more than a week left, observers and insiders say Healy and Fulop are in a dead heat.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Ward E Councilman and mayoral candidate Steven Fulop participate in a one-on-one April debate at The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre in Journal Square. Candidate Jerry Walker was set to appear but didn't do to an illness; fourth candidate Abdul Malik was not invited. This is the second mayoral debate. Alyssa Ki/The Jersey Journal

The election is nonpartisan. Either Healy, Fulop or one of the two lesser known mayoral candidates ? Jerry Walker and Abdul Malik ? has to win 50 percent of the vote plus one vote to win in May. If that doesn?t happen, the race goes to a June runoff between the two top vote-getters.

Healy has won the endorsements of President Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker as well as support from some of the state?s biggest labor unions.

"To continue moving America forward, we need more leaders like my friend, Jerry Healy," Obama said in a rare local endorsement. "He?s made Jersey City a vital engine for economic growth, innovation and opportunity."

Fulop has won fewer key endorsements, but supporters say he is better organized.

"I think Fulop is going to win because he has a better ground operation," said Rahaman Muhammad, president of the Service Employees International Union, Local 617, which represents mostly blue-collar workers.

"I think Mayor Healy is underestimating his get-out-the-vote operation and the grassroots movement he has built," Muhammad said.

Harrison said the tight battle could spell trouble for Healy.

"This race is going to be about turnout and who has the best organization," she said. "If Healy had a lock on this, he wouldn?t be pulling out all the stops the way he is."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013 ... ud_in_c.html#incart_river

Jersey City Mayor Healy tells Star-Ledger 'three Hispanic girls' lured him out of house for naked pix

By Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2013 at 4:15 PM

So you think you've heard all Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy had to say about the naked pictures of himself, slumped on the stoop of his Ferry Street home, that surfaced shortly before the November 2004 special election? Well, think again.

Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran reports today that Healy has offered new details about the photos that comes, in Moran's words, "with a bizarre sexual twist."

According to the version offered to Moran, Healy said three young women woke him up by banging trash cans outside his house, so he rose from bed, wrapped a towel around himself, and went to investigate.

?Three Hispanic girls, young kids,? Healy is quoted as saying. ?So I go out on the porch and they pulled the towel off me. Now I start laughing, and then they started doing other stuff. I said, ?I?m old enough to be your grandfather.???

?It was filthy,? he says. ?I chased them away, and I just sat down.?

Healy said that was when a political enemy snapped the photograph.

In October, 2004, The Jersey Journal ran a story quoting then-Healy spokeswoman Maria Pignataro saying Healy had returned home after having several drinks at a party and was about to go to bed around 3 a.m. when he heard a commotion outside his house. He went to investigate and the the photo was snapped, there was no mention of "three Hispanic girls."

One of Healy's neighbors said he took the photos after he spotted Healy sitting on his front porch in his birthday suit, The Jersey Journal reported. .

Earlier in October 2004, Healy couldn't quite explain what happened to the New York Times. ''I wish I recall how I got back out there ... but I don't," he told the Times, which also reported that Healy acknowledged he had consumed six to eight beers the night of the incident over a three-hour period.

While Moran said that he has no idea why Healy offered these new details, he speculates the new explanation is evidence the mayor is losing his touch under pressure from ?Whiz kid? Councilman Steven Fulop, 36, the mayor's main contender in the upcoming May 14 election..

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... h_he_15.html#incart_river

Police overtime mushrooms as Jersey City mayoral election draws near

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2013 at 10:22 PM

In a four-month period leading up to Jersey City's May 14 municipal election, city officials spent 15 percent more in police overtime than they did in the same time period last year, shelling out $350,928 more to police employees, city payroll records show.

The records show that 532 Police Department workers received more in overtime between December 2012 and March 2013 than they did in the same months one year prior, compared to 300 employees who made the same amount of overtime or less. Of the officers who received more in overtime, 21 are Healy donors.

The extra amounts, given mostly to officers and sergeants, range from $1.08 more for Officer Candice Maschucci, who boosted her overtime to $959.66 in the later four-month time period, to $15,898 extra for Sgt. Joseph Olszewiski, who earned $18,847 in overtime in that four months, the records show.

The Jersey Journal last month filed a request for a list of all Police Department employees, their base salaries and the overtime they received from December 2011 through March 2012 and from December 2012 through March 2013.

In total, Jersey City spent $2,680,894 in police overtime in the most recent four -month span, compared to $2,329,966 in the equivalent four months one year prior.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy is in the middle of a heated re-election campaign, fending off an aggressive challenge from City Councilman Steve Fulop.

On the campaign trail, Healy argues that crime is on the decrease in Jersey City, pointing to FBI figures that show the city in 2012 had the lowest homicide rate on record. But Fulop, as well as mayoral hopefuls Abdul Malik and Jerry Walker, have argued that the city is not safer under Healy's leadership.

City crime stats show no significant increase or decrease in the total number of crimes between December 2011 and March 2012 compared to the same four-month period one year later. But there were 31 fewer aggravated assaults, 73 fewer robberies and 245 fewer thefts in the most-recent four-month stretch, while there were about 50 additional burglaries, the stats show.

Healy this week said he's not in charge of the Police Department and does not "micromanage" it. He suggested the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy may have led to a boost in overtime payments in the months after the Oct 29. storm.

Assistant Business Administrator Robert J. Kakoleski, who is the city's acting police director, said there are numerous reasons police overtime increased over last year. Some officers have seen salary increases, while others have been appearing more frequently as witnesses in Hudson County Superior Court, for which each officer is paid a minimum of four hours, Kakoleski said.

The city has been awarded grant money that will reimburse the city for some of the overtime payments, and there will be "no impact on the taxpayer," he added.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ms_as_j.html#incart_river

Healy's opponents say his comments about nude photos insult Hispanics

By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2013 at 5:44 PM

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy's newly expanded version of how he came to be photographed naked on his stoop shortly before the November 2004 special election insults Hispanics, the mayor's political opponents say.

When the incident initially occurred, Healy told The New York Times that he had been drinking and couldn't remember how he ended up on his stoop naked. A spokeswoman for the mayor told The Jersey Journal at the time that Healy heard a commotion outside, went to investigate, and someone snapped a photo.

But in a Tom Moran that ran in today's Star-Ledger, Healy says he was lured outside by "three Hispanic girls, young kids" who were banging on trash cans.

The girls pulled the towel off of him and he "started laughing," Healy tells Moran.
But then the mayor adds that the girls "started doing other stuff."

"It was filthy," the mayor says. "I chased them away and I just sat down." That's when a political enemy supposedly snapped his photo.

Healy's main rival in the upcoming May 14 election, Councilman Steven Fulop, said the mayor's comments are embarrassing.

"It's another embarrassment in a statewide newspaper courtesy of Jerry Healy and it's sad that 10 years after the fact, he now decides to blame Hispanic women for his personal problems."

Nidia Lopez, who is running for reelection in Ward C on Fulop's ticket, said the mayor's comments made her "absolutely sick."

"I think the Hispanic community deserves an apology and I think our mayor needs psychological help ... For this mayor to degrade Hispanic women by creating this wild story eight years later ... three young kids molested him, he's laughing about it. How the hell did he know they were Hispanic?"

"When I ran in 2009, I asked him if that was really him on the stoop, and he said, 'I don't know baby. I was so drunk I don't remember.' Those were his exact words to me .... There is absolutely something wrong with this picture."

Contacted for a response, Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne reiterated an earlier statement saying voters don't care about these photos from eight years ago.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... html#incart_river_default

Spokesman for Jersey City Mayor Healy says voters don't care about naked photos from 8 years ago

By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2013 at 9:51 PM

Having opened the door to renewed questions about naked photos of himself that appeared shortly before the November 2004 special mayoral election in Jersey City, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy now wants to slam the door shut.

Back in October 2004, Healy told The Jersey Journal that he heard a commotion outside his Ferry Street home in the Heights and when he went to investigate someone snapped the photo of him slumped on his stoop wearing nothing but his birthday suit.

But in a Tom Moran column that ran in today's Star-Ledger, Healy expands on that original story.

Healy tells Moran that "three Hispanic girls, young kids" woke him up by banging trash cans outside his house, so he wrapped a towel around himself and went to investigate.
But then the narrative Healy gives Moran turns slightly bizarre.

"So I go out on the porch and they pulled the towel off me. Now I start laughing, and they started doing other stuff," the mayor relates.

"I said, 'I'm old enough to be your grandfather.'"

What other stuff?

"It was filthy," the mayor tells Moran. "I chased them away and I just sat down."
At that point, according to the mayor, a political enemy snaps his photo.

Asked this afternoon about his expanded version of the events that led up to him being photographed naked, the mayor declined to comment through one spokesperson, but the spokesman for the campaign, Joshua Henne, said this:

"Events from eight years ago aren't what matters to either Mayor Healy or the voters in this election. What matters is Mayor Healy hiring over 300 new cops, getting 1,500 illegal guns off the street at no taxpayer expense, creating the first five new parks in a century and stabilizing Jersey City finances as noted by Moody's."

Healy is running against Steven Fulop, former hoops star Jerry Walker, and Abdul Malik in the upcoming May 14 citywide elections.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... for_jersey_city_mayo.html

Political Insider: Who's got the energy vs. who's got threats? Just saying

By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal
May 04, 2013 at 12:23 AM

For an election where the talk is about how a low voter turnout could be a disaster, unless you are an incumbent, the campaign for the upcoming Jersey City municipal plebiscite has suddenly become one of the more interesting races in decades.

Discussion of the mayoral battle between the prime candidates has nearly reached a level of psychoanalysis. A few weeks ago, I wrote that the undecideds are making up their minds and now, based on some forays in neighborhoods, even those detached voters are starting to feel the anxiety and apprehension that comes with possible succession.

While Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise endorsed Mayor Jerramiah Healy's re-election bid, there are plenty of sources who say that county employees have been released from any bonds of "loyalty" and to act on their own.

Considering that Benjamin Lopez, director of Hudson County Family Services, and E. Junior Maldonado, deputy executive at the county Improvement Authority, are both working for mayoral hopeful and Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop's campaign, it's no surprise. Is there something Mayor Jerramiah Healy has to ask his "pals" at the County Plaza?

By the time this column is published there will be plenty of online reports about recent polls. One has Fulop up by a dozen points, and anything is possible. For those who believe it's a closer race, there's another poll that has the mayor ahead by 3 points -- which could be erased by an error margin of 3-4 points. No one is cheering among the incumbent mayor's inner circle. Even being ahead by 3 points is somewhat of a disgrace for an incumbent who at the time of the poll had more than two weeks to go before the election. Taking all the numbers into consideration, a conservative estimate is that Fulop is ahead by 6 points, but I believe only the last poll on Election Day is what counts.

These mystical numbers were conjured before the release of Fulop's new TV ads linking the mayor with FBI informant Solomon Dwek and the incarceration of key members of this administration on 2009 federal corruption charges in connection with "The Jersey Sting," officially known as Operation Bid Rig III.

The ads must have had the desired effect, because thrice now -- the latest at Thursday's mayoral debate at Downtown's School 4 -- Healy has threatened to bring a lawsuit against Fulop for defamation of character. At the debate, the mayor said he survived the FBI sting, saying he was thoroughly vetted and found clean. He later bristled during Fulop's rebuttal when the councilman said that there should be a higher standard than "I wasn't arrested."

As for the threat of a lawsuit, both men suggested that people look at the entire video at nj.com and make up their own minds.

I believe that instead of threatening to do something, you just do it. Obviously, the mayor is looking for the media to spread his rebuttal threat. It would be terrific if Healy did take legal action. Wouldn't you want to see the mayor on the witness stand and under oath answering questions about his meeting with Dwek, his campaign, and even his relationship with the eatery -- "late" payments for city food licenses, and more -- the mayor frequents and also where he met with the FBI's plant.

Not to goad anyone, but we all know there will be no legal filing.

And can you predict success by the amount of static electricity at each of their recent fundraisers?

Earlier in the week, the mayor had about 350 people at Casino in the Park. It was a quiet affair reminiscent of a book club session, but to be fair it was headlined as a gathering for good food and good friends. It sounds like a place where Astrud Gilberto would be singing or better yet Claudine Longet.

By contrast, Fulop's crowd of more than 400 at the Downtown Zeppelin Hall beer-orium created enough energy to fill the spaces between people -- the kind generated at a political party convention. And to musically confuse you further and please a niche, I'd equate the constant intensity of the gathering to the "Cowboy Bebop" jazz theme "Tank."

Another sign of possible trouble in the Healy kingdom is the endorsement the mayor did not get. Yes, Healy is splashing President Obama's picture on everything and telling everyone how the mayors of Newark, New York City and Boston say he's the greatest, but what gnaws at him and his camp is their failure to get a seal of approval from 31st District state Sen. Sandra Cunningham.

They believe Cunningham's blessing would go a long way in solidifying the city's black vote -- in some minds. Cunningham did come out and endorse a member of Healy's ticket, incumbent Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson, one of the senator's BFFs. Apparently, the senator prefers not to take sides -- more than likely because of the uncertainty of the race. A remarkable choice because while not a fan of Fulop she seems to be a very practical politician.

Another sign of that practicality is that the Urban Times newspaper, which is seen mostly during election seasons, has been accepting all political ads, including Fulop's -- and even on the vaunted back page.

Then there are Healy people who say that there's a good chance the election could be decided in a runoff. Any effort to justify survival seems like an excuse. The mayor could win on his own merits. These people should remember that no incumbent mayor has ever won a runoff.

POLITICAL INSIDER

INSIDER NOTES

-- This is the week the news media will start paying attention to the Jersey City election. After all, this is the second biggest -- should be biggest, if they could count right -- city in the state. And Haguesville is right across from the Big Apple.

Look for the Wall Street Journal, WNYC-TV, this newspaper's sister paper The Star-Ledger, and other news outlets to do their take and editorials on the Jersey City race. Hey, even after the election, you know we'll still be here.

-- Gov. Chris Christie showed up at a fund-raiser for Sen. Cunningham Monday at the Liberty House at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

The governor was rude when he refused to take a photo with political operative and Cunningham guru Joseph Cardwell and former councilman Philip J. Kenny, two -men convicted in the federal Operation Bid Rig III sting operation started by Christie during his days as New Jersey's U.S. attorney.

-- As for Kenny, today he is a totally free man because his probation ended yesterday at midnight. He had been found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to one year and one day with two years of probation. And to celebrate his freedom, St. Al's Church is holding a thanksgiving Mass at 3:30 p.m. today in his honor for all the good work he has done for the parish. God bless you all.

-- Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack is doing a not-so-slow burn over what he sees as the meddling of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer in the fight over the 33rd District Assembly candidacy that right now belongs to Mile Square City Housing Authority head Carmelo Garcia.

A group of friends and neighbors of Councilman Ravi Bhalla brought a lawsuit that succeeded in knocking the housing director off the ballot, until the ruling was overturned in state appellate court. The plaintiffs claimed Garcia was violating the federal Hatch Act, which prevents federally paid employees from seeking elected office. The appellate court decided Garcia's salary is not all from federal funds, so he's running under the Hudson Democratic Organization banner andin Stack's district.

Bhalla's plaintiffs are thinking about taking the case to the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Stack is giving serious thought to sending his large disciplined army of election workers down the cliff to work against Zimmer's re-election bid in November.

Current 33rd District Assemblyman Ruben Ramos is Zimmer's main rival.

Stack's response will depend on what new Hoboken straw may fall on the senator's back. The question is whether any action against Zimmer would be considered the Hudson County version of the 1914 assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria?

-- While looking at Tarot cards to divine the Jersey City election, I was reminded of the Rule of 32.

Let me note this is the 100th anniversary of when Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague was elected to the city's first commission in 1913 under the new Walsh Act. On his re-election in 1917, Hague was selected among the commissioners as the city's mayor.

Now every 32 years, a little more than a generation, there has been an upheaval -- a change in the ruling political machine. So, 32 years after Hague became mayor, the machine was torn asunder when Hague's second in command, John V. Kenny, defeated Hague's choice and nephew, Frank Hague Eggers

Another 32 years later, rebel and rascal Gerry McCann broke from the existing Democratic Party leadership to become mayor and wrest control of local leadership and quite possibly create more tribal leaders in the city

This city election is another 32 years later.

-- Gasp, I'm up for jury duty this week. I've got an election coming up. Can I get out of this?

I say hang 'em high!

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index ... got_the.html#incart_river

Jersey City man sentenced to life plus 40 years for rape, robbery of girl, mother

By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal
May 03, 2013 at 2:40 PM

Lamar Fields, a Jersey City man convicted in March of the rape and robbery of a 17-year-old girl and her 65-year-old mother, was sentenced to life in prison plus 40 years this afternoon in Hudson County Superior Court.

Fields, 42, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, child abuse, terroristic threats, burglary, robbery and weapons offenses relating to the early morning attack on Sept. 24, 2010.

Neither victim was present for Fields' sentencing, however, the mother sent in a written statement that was read by Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Najma Rana.

"Our lives have been turned inside out and upside down," the mother said in a statement. "We are both fearful... I cannot undo that morning, that day, that hour. Gone is the sense that all will be well. I awake at night frightened that evil lurks."

The mother added in a statement that her daughter still suffers nightmares and anxiety related to Fields' attacks.

On the morning of Sept. 24, 2010, Fields entered the victims' Bramhall Avenue home through the back door and brutally assaulted the daughter and her mother for roughly 30 minutes.

Defense attorney James Lisa fought against the life sentence, saying that the actions of his client "has no history of violence."

However, Rana countered, saying that the cases were "horrific" and that he caused "trauma, destruction and devastation worthy of a life sentence."

Rana added that Fields showed "no remorse" for his actions, and to prove her point she displayed a photo taken by a Jersey Journal photographer that shows Fields blowing a kiss to the camera.

Fields was given a life sentence and two consecutive 20-year sentences in the crime.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... to_life.html#incart_river

Jersey City election 2013: Healy calls foul on Fulop mail-in ballot applications

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 03, 2013 at 6:37 PM

The campaign of Jersey City mayoral hopeful Steve Fulop is under fire for sending out applications for mail-in ballots to voters with a Fulop P.O. Box as the return address.

The return address on such applications must be the Hudson County Clerk, the clerk's office says in a statement issued this afternoon. The campaign of incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Fulop's leading rival in the May 14 mayoral race, says Fulop's gambit could result in lost votes for Healy.

The mayor's campaign issued a robo-call last night from Freeholder Jeff Dublin warning voters about being "the victim of voter fraud" as a result of the applications from Fulop's campaign.

?Based on recent actions, once again it is painstakingly clear that Steve Fulop will say or do anything in order to win,? said Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne.

Fulop, the Downtown City Councilman, is one of three men seeking to unseat Healy on Tuesday, May 14.

Fulop spokesman Bruno Tedeschi said the campaign never handles mail-in ballots and time-stamps each application "so the Healy machine can't cheat." Tedeschi also called for the state Attorney General's Office to monitor the citywide race.

?The robo-call from the Healy campaign is just more evidence of the mayor?s desperation and willingness to employ fear tactics straight out of the Hudson County machine playbook to win this election,? he said. ?We won?t stand for it."

Tedeschi said the Fulop's campaign's understanding is that it is proper to use its own mailing address as a return address instead of the clerk's.
The statement from Hudson County Clerk Barbara Netchert's office says voters who wish to apply for mail-in ballots should submit an official application directly to the clerk on or before Tuesday, May 7. Netchert's office is opening for special hours tomorrow morning and is staying open late on Tuesday to handle the expected rush.

Applications can be obtained at Netchert's office in Hudson County Plaza, 257 Cornelison Ave., 4th floor, or online at hudsoncountyclerk.org. Completed mail-in ballots are due on May 14 by 8 p.m.

An application not submitted on official forms or in accordance with official directions may result in delayed processing and/or failure to receive a ballot prior to the May 14 election, the statement reads.

Tedeschi noted that Netchert is a Healy supporter -- her campaign fund gave Healy's campaign $2,000 in December. Her statement today is an example of Hudson County pols going to "great lengths to protect one of their own," he said.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... heal_11.html#incart_river

FINAL MAYOR DEBATE THURSDAY MAY 2; 7:00pm
MIDDLE SCHOOL 4 -
107 Bright Street

Jersey City election 2013: Mayoral candidates to debate for final time

By The Jersey Journal
on May 01, 2013 at 2:17 PM

The sixth and final Jersey City mayoral debate is scheduled for tomorrow night at School 4.

Incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy and City Councilman Steve Fulop, who are in a close race for the mayoralty, are set to appear, but former hoops star Jerry Walker said he will be absent because of a fundraiser he?s holding at the same time.

Fourth candidate Abdul Malik has not said whether he?ll attend, debate organizers say.

The four men have met previously at School 28, Lincoln High School, St. Peter's University and the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center. Healy and Fulop met for a one-on-one debate at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre.

The Jersey Journal?s own Terrence T. McDonald will help moderate the debate with E. Assata Wright of The Hudson Reporter.

The debate begins at 7 p.m. at School 4, 107 Bright St.

The election is Tuesday, May 14.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _mayo_4.html#incart_river

Behold the Mega Shredder: Jersey City recycling plant turns cars to confetti in seconds

By Ed Beeson/The Star-Ledger
April 28, 2013 at 8:31 AM

Once upon a time, someone stepped into the red sedan and felt pride when its engine turned for the first time.

Now, no longer. After likely tens of thousands of miles and many undesired repairs, the car was just another offering last week to the mega shredder of Jersey City.

Plucked by a material handler from a mountain of graying scrap, the vehicle was placed on a conveyor belt. It inched forward with the rest of the gnarled metal until, several stories up, it slid down into the mega shredder?s gully. Here, out of sight, an array of 1,100-pound hammers, turned by a 100-ton rotor, greeted it.

Ten violent seconds later, little more than fist-sized bits remained.

Such is the end for hundreds of vehicles each day at Claremont Terminal, and for countless other things of metal, from refrigerators to rebar.

The yard?s mega shredder can consume about 4,000 tons of assorted scrap a day, officials here say. But the goal isn?t simply to grind obsolete everyday objects into unrecognizable clumps. Rather, the aim is to feed something with a bigger appetite than a mega-shredder: the global commodities market.

A taste for zorba

Officials with Sims Metal Management, which owns Claremont Terminal and about 270 other scrap yards across the globe, proudly refer to their business as above-ground mining. Recycling is the core of what they do, and out of the 4,000 tons of scrap the mega-shredder consumes each day emerges some 2,800 to 3,000 tons of steel, aluminum, copper, brass and a mishmash they call zorba, according to Joe Payesko, general manager for Claremont Terminal and other regional facilities.

?It comes in as scrap, it leaves as a commodity,? said Dan Strechay, a Sims spokesman.

And when it leaves, it?s usually via deep-water vessels docking in the harbor that Claremont shares with an exclusive gated community called Port Liberte, and the even more exclusive Liberty National Golf Course.

The ships? destination: smelters overseas. About 90 percent of Claremont?s scrap is ocean-bound. Turkey is a big buyer, as is South Korea.

Strechay stresses the environmental side of what the scrap business does. It keeps reusable materials out of landfills and offsets some of the ecological damage of mining for iron ore. But the bottom line is scrap also makes money. The stuff nets between $370 to $390 a gross ton when it?s delivered domestically, Payesko said. Overseas buyers pay about the same.

And while there are significant challenges to the business ? Claremont managers have to be agile to respond to falling commodity prices ? all in all, scrap is recession-proof, they say. There simply is too much demand worldwide for new products, new buildings, new anything that needs metal.

An 83-acre kitchen

During a visit last week, workers in massive dump trucks were busy filling barges ? 20 tons at a time ? with a specially blended, low-copper mix. They had a few hours before a ship docked for a 27,000-ton meal, and then get underway for a mill in Mexico.

?Making steel is like cooking. Each steel maker has his own recipe,? Strechay said as he walked down a valley separating mountains of rust-colored chunks.

Part of what makes Claremont Terminal a crown jewel of Sims? global empire is the fact that it sits on 83 acres along the Hudson River. Clear days afford splendid views of the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan.

All of that land gives the yard ample space for its instruments of scrap destruction. Besides the material handlers, front-end loaders and mammoth-sized dump trucks, there is a guillotine shredder that sheers metal into long strips that some smelters prefer. There is a baler that makes tidy cubes out of mounds of tin cans.

And there is also the downstream processor, a massive mill that extracts more metal from materials such as insulated copper wiring that just a few years ago were destined for landfills. Payesko estimates that as a result of such processes, the yard loses just 1.5 to 3 percent of the metal inside objects that come to be scrapped; a decade ago, the loss amount was closer to 30 percent.

?The goal,? he said, ?is to have no loss.?

Peddler yard

Scrap comes to Claremont through a number of channels. One is through the 14 satellite scrap yards that Sims operates in the region, including in Newark. Another is the peddler yard, at the entrance of Claremont, where people pull up in beat-up trucks and vans and sell by the ton broken toasters and bum refrigerators they?ve scavenged from construction sites and trash pick-up routes.

Claremont also employs a commercial group to hunt up new scrap opportunities. One such deal was a contract with New York?s Metropolitan Transit Authority to shred decommissioned subway cars, Payesko said.

Sims generated about $9 billion in revenue for its 2012 fiscal year, which ended last June. While the company does not disclose profits of individual facilities, ?We know that this is (our) most productive facility in the world,? Strechay said of Claremont. ?This facility alone, if you broke it off, would be in the top 25 largest scrap companies in the United States.?

Much of this is thanks to the mega shredder. Installed in 2007, at the cost of about $18 million, the 9,000-horsepower machine is among the most powerful in operation. Of Claremont?s 275 workers, about 30 work on the mega shredder, during one of three shifts each day. The shredder runs largely overnight, when electricity is cheaper. Taking it offline during the day also allows for necessary maintenance. For every hour the shredder is in operation, it needs an hour of repairs, Strechay said.

But it?s no slouch. Hurricane Sandy caused about $4 million of damage to Claremont, Payesko said. But the shredder was back up and running the day after power was restored at the plant. It was later rewarded with a mighty meal. Claremont received about 150,000 to 200,000 tons of additional scrap because of the storm.

Fabled scraps

Bits of history often pass through Claremont. Payesko smiled with some pride as he recalled the 60,000 seats he shredded from Giants Stadium after it came down. Out the wreckage of Yankees Stadium that Sims handled, Payesko saved a ?no pepper games? sign.

Another fine moment was the shredding of ?The Gates,? an oft-ridiculed art installation that, for two weeks in 2005, covered Central Park in saffron-colored drapes.

After scrap passes through the hammer mill, like cheese through a hand-cranked grater, magnets pull off the ferrous material, or the stuff containing iron and steel. This later streams past pickers who pluck out little motors containing copper that steel mills cannot handle.

Meanwhile, the non-ferrous materials ? ranging from aluminum and brass to foam and rubber ? gets trucked off to the downstream processor for further refining.

Shredder pulpit

Watching over the entire process is the shredder pulpit.

A control room perched four stories above ground, it?s manned by a single worker.

Today it?s Jeff Colgan, a shift supervisor. He sits in a chair that Captain Kirk would call home, with 10 screens before him. Each displays a different view of the journey into, and out of, the mega shredder. He keeps watch on two gauges that tell him how hard the machine is running, and he uses a pair of joysticks to control the flow of scrap. Two other screens feed him data.

A mild cacophony fills the room, which trembles constantly under the roar of the mega shredder. Colgan says he can only take a half a shift in the pulpit. Past him, a wall of bulletproof glass offer a view of the mega shredder?s mouth. Billows of steam puff out continuously as hoses spray to keep the machine from overheating or spewing metallic dust.

So much metal disappears so quickly. Slipping by, almost unnoticed, the red sedan heads for reincarnation.

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/ ... _mega_shredder_jerse.html

Easing the citizenship pathway
Jersey City?s proposed immigration commission clears first hurdle

by E. Assata Wright - Reporter staff writer
Apr 14, 2013 | 1338

During the spate of summer-like days that recently graced the area, Susheela Baruch was busy buying decorations and party favors for her daughter?s upcoming second birthday celebration, which will be held May 4, even though the toddler?s official birthday has passed. The upcoming party, she said, has been postponed a few times because the family is still waiting for her husband, who is in India, to get a resident visa from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization.

?He missed her birthday last year. I was hoping he would be here for the second,? Baruch said last week. ?But we still don?t have [the] visa. She is asking for her party. But she is asking for her father, too. I want her to have both, but I don?t know.?

She knows she may eventually have to have the birthday party without her husband, again.

Baruch, who was brought to the United States as a teenager by her father, understands that it may take years for her husband, Amit, to be granted permission to live in the U.S. But she admits that the wait gets harder with time, and is especially tough on the couple?s young daughter. Aside from the help she has received from her family and friends, she said she has had little or no assistance from anyone else as she goes through this difficult stage in her life.

Later this month, the Jersey City City Council is expected to pass a law that will lead to the creation of a nine-member Immigrant Affairs Commission that will advise the mayor and council on the unique legal, education, health, and social concerns of the city?s immigrant community.

The commission members ? who will be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the City Council ? will also promote educational, economic, and legal resources that are available to the immigrant community and help immigrants maximize these resources and laws meant to assist them.

the Immigrant Affairs Commission was introduced unanimously by the council on April 10, and will come up for adoption next week. A public hearing on the creation of the proposed commission is currently scheduled for Wednesday, April 24 at 6 p.m., at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council. The City Council meets at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

Lavarro: The time for reform is now

?These are very interesting and exciting times, I think, with regards to the issue of immigration and immigrant affairs,? said Councilman At-large Rolando Lavarro Jr., who sponsored the ordinance to create the commission.

Thousands of New Jersey residents recently gathered in Liberty State Park in Jersey City to call for comprehensive immigration reform in Washington. A bipartisan group of eight U.S. Senators is currently working to draft immigration legislation that will create a clear path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants without compromising national security.

The Immigrant Affairs Commission, Lavarro said, could become the first of its kind in the state of New Jersey. ?In the United States of America, there are [approximately] 11 million undocumented immigrants. And in Jersey City, alone, nearly 100,000 of our residents are of immigrant background. We need to plan for what will ultimately be this comprehensive immigration reform?We need to plan, as a city, to work with private interests so that we can fulfill the needs that will be there for individuals to get the training, education, English language proficiency, and civics tests that [will likely be required under immigration reform].?

Lavarro, a Filipino-American who in 2011 became the City Council?s first elected Asian American, insisted that ?it is time for our Congress to introduce comprehensive immigration reform so we can have a humane, just, and fair immigration policy and a pathway to citizenship. We need this immigration reform to reduce the backlogs that are years, and possibly decades, in the making for lots of individuals who are waiting for the opportunity to apply for and to be granted citizenship.?

He added that immigration policies need to be streamlined so that families aren?t separated for years on end without a resolution.

Sharing a story that mirrors the current experience of Susheela Baruch and her family, Lavarro said it took his mother in law nearly 10 years to get all of her children to Jersey City, a time gap that had significant repercussions on familiar relationships.

?This commission is so critical for Jersey City, because there is an opportunity for Jersey City to lead the state of New Jersey on immigration matters,? Lavarro said.

This is the second immigrant-oriented measure Lavarro has introduced. In February he co-sponsored a resolution with Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez calling on legislators in Trenton to pass two bills that would enable undocumented youth who were raised in the U.S. the opportunity to receive financial aid and in-state tuition rates at New Jersey colleges and universities.

Two members of the public spoke in favor of the creation of the Immigrant Affairs Commission last week.

?A commission that will focus specifically on the needs and concerns of immigrants is, I think, something that the city needs,? said Bill Armbruster, a former board member of the International Institute of New Jersey. The institute, which filed for bankruptcy and folded, offered English as a Second Language training, citizenship classes, legal support, counseling, and job training for immigrants.

Catherine Tansey, former executive director of the International Institute of New Jersey, agreed.

?I hope this commission will, indeed, help to encourage the integration of immigrants into the community,? said Tansey.

When told of the city?s plans to an immigration commission, Baruch said that such an entity is needed.

?Yes, I think that sounds like it would be a good thing,? she stated. ?I think I would find that helpful, for me and my family. I hope it happens ? and soon.?

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You?ve got mail
Hundreds of Fulop-school board messages released; what was learned?

by E. Assata Wright - Reporter staff writer
Apr 28, 2013

In January, Ward F City Councilwoman Diane Coleman stood before a crowd of 250 or so supporters as Team Fulop opened its campaign headquarters at 2175 Kennedy Blvd.

?Anyone who knows Steve Fulop knows that if he is elected mayor, you can expect him to be involved,? Coleman told the crowd. ?And not just involved, hyper-involved.?

The jubilant crowd laughed and cheered, well aware that the Ward E Councilman and mayoral candidate who bills himself as a government reformer, could often be found banging out an e-mail or text on one electronic device or other.

At the time that Coleman made this remark, Fulop?s chief rival in the upcoming mayoral election, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, was trying to force the Board of Education to release hundreds of e-mails between Fulop and several school board trustees.

The Healy campaign, which at the time was still in its infancy and looking to gain some momentum, hoped the e-mails would uncover a pattern of misconduct in which Fulop used his relationship with school board members to help his friends and campaign supporters get contracts in the school district.

Team Healy waged a battle with the school board attorney, a Fulop friend who initially refused to give up the e-mails, despite numerous requests under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). Hundreds of e-mails were eventually turned over only after an attorney for Healy took the matter to court.

Several of the e-mails showed that Fulop introduced key board members to friends, fundraisers, or contributors who later received contracts ? but no e-mails show him specifically directing the board to award those contracts.

In the end, what, if anything, was learned from the inquiry and the mountains of correspondence that was released? Like almost everything else in this divisive mayoral race, it depends on who you ask.

Differing spin

With just two weeks left before the municipal election, both sides are eager to put their own spin on the months-long e-mail controversy.

For Fulop and his allies, the inquiry was a long, drawn-out, make believe scandal engineered to hurt him at the polls. The Fulop campaign argues that nothing of significance was learned as a result of the hundreds of e-mails that were ultimately released.

For the Healy camp, it was enough that Fulop introduced key board members to people who got contracts.

?This is a classic Hudson County Democratic Organization tactic that?s been used for years to keep a corrupt machine in power,? said Fulop spokesman Bruno Tedeschi. ?The tactic is to manufacture a story, push it on the press, get the headlines, then use those headlines in negative mailers. That?s exactly what Healy did as part of his political smear campaign to try to malign the only true reformer in this race, Steven Fulop.?

Hyper-involved

If there is one picture that emerges of Fulop through the e-mails that were released, it is one of ? to use Coleman?s term ? a hyper-involved elected official determined to set the course of a school board that he helped put in place. While some may applaud Fulop?s stewardship of the school board, others might wince at the councilman?s role.

E-mails that were eventually released due to Healy?s petition to the court, show Fulop expressing to school trustees his opinion on everything from whether they should use the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) to find a new superintendent,. to the budget.

In an October 9, 2011 e-mail to Sterling Waterman, who at the time was board president, Fulop wrote: ?I know you are all considering having the national school board association help with the search. I can?t tell you what a big mistake this is. There is one shot at this and only one shot. If these government bureaucracies did the right job then there would not be a need for these firms that specialize in this sort of thing for big cities. This is what Jersey City deserves.?

He added, ?Please don?t be penny wise and pound foolish. If you are not attracting big names, then you have failed. If you wait till March to find out what I am saying is accurate you will look horrible, with a bad impact to the city. Please think about it.?

At the time, the school board had hammered out a separation agreement with Dr. Charles Epps, the superintendent of schools, and knew they would need to conduct a search for his replacement.

A second e-mail, also sent from Fulop to Waterman, followed several weeks later on November 1, 2011. ?Are you hiring a firm to do the search? What is the status? Time is ticking, let me know if you need help.?

Later that day, Waterman responded with an e-mail in which he confirmed, ?Firm will be hired, no NJSBA.?

The school district ultimately hired two firms ? West Hudson Associates and Young, Attea, and Associates ? to assist with the superintendent search.

In a March 23, 2011 message that appears to have been posted online and circulated among Fulop?s Base Camp group ? a network of Fulop-allied activists in Jersey City ? he weighs in on a procedural move by longtime school board member Sue Mack.

Presumably addressing Bill LaRosa, Waterman?s predecessor as board president, Fulop wrote: ?I just want to comment on the motion to table by Sue?The motion to table is nonsense. She was the fifth vote for the budget and thus had all the leverage. She presented a choice to the rest of the BOE of either ?pass the budget? or ?table it.? Of course, the majority would side with pass the vote in that situation/choice. Had she presented the choice as ?table the vote? or she will vote ?no,? I promise you the majority would have tabled it and set the special meeting. This vote was wrong.?

He then goes on to give his own personal thoughts on the budget.

?This contract had zero concessions from the union, included teacher layoffs, a tax increase to the public, an Epps $270K salary, zero public input time, programs with increased management and personnel despite declining enrollment, etc., etc., etc. It is frustrating, to say the least. We put a committee in place and [Sue] was selected, as people thought her experience is an asset?As a side note, there is a lesson for us as a team. When this is done, we need to be more engaged in making sure we have a cohesive team there and not just leave it to be the assumption that all will work itself out.?

According to Waterman, school board presidents grew accustomed to working closely with Fulop and weighing his opinions on nearly every policy decision.

?I know that when I was the board president I was like a conduit. Steve would contact me, or sometimes me and Marvin [Adames], and we would be the ones to then carry that message back to the rest of the team,? said Waterman.

Since he thought everyone was working together for the same purpose and goals, Waterman said he did not mind this working relationship with Fulop initially. The two later had a falling out, however, when, according to Waterman, their views on how best to improve public education diverged.

A return to the ?secret meeting?

It was through a leaked e-mail that this newspaper was able to report last July on a confidential meeting between Fulop, school board members, Christopher Cerf, who at the time was the acting commissioner of education for New Jersey, school choice advocates, and education activists who were part of Fulop?s inner circle.

The e-mail, dated May 2, 2011, and titled ?Cerf Meeting,? was sent to Waterman; Carol Lester, vice-president at the time of the meeting; Carol Harrison-Arnold and Marvin Adames, who had been elected to the board just days earlier, on April 27, but had not been sworn in yet; Ellen Simon, founder of Parents for Progress; and Shelley Skinner, deputy director of Better Education for Kids, a school choice advocacy group. Fulop?s e-mail was also sent to Leda Duif Shumbris, Mohamed Akil, and Tine Pahl.

In the e-mail, sent from Fulop?s personal Gmail account, he wrote, ?Please keep in confidence as always. We are meeting at 274 Arlington Ave. tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. See you then.?

The timing of the e-mail and Arlington Avenue meeting are significant because they came just one week after Fulop-backed candidates won control of the Board of Education. These events also took place at a time when the Board of Education was gearing up to oust Dr. Epps as the superintendent of schools and conduct a national search for his successor.

School board members Suzanne Mack, Angel Valentin, and Sean Connors were not invited to the meeting.

This e-mail was not part of the larger inquiry that followed months later. But it again shows Fulop?s willingness to steer the board?s business.

?Close to the end of my first year on the board, Steve was setting the agenda for the board,? Waterman told the Reporter.

While the Arlington Avenue meeting was the only meeting that took place in person, Waterman said there were a few conference calls between himself, Fulop, Cerf, and Dave Hespe, Cerf?s chief of staff. At least one conference call included these same players and board members Adames and Harrison-Arnold.

Only one topic was discussed during these conference calls, Waterman said: ?How to get rid of Epps.?

No one outside Fulop?s close circle of intimates is included in the ongoing correspondence regarding policy matters that affect students throughout the school district.

A little help for his friends?

Healy?s inquiry may have failed to prove a pattern of blatant misconduct, since no smoking gun e-mail was uncovered in which Fulop directed board members to give contracts to his friends. Still, Fulop allies and supporters were introduced to Waterman and other trustees. A small handful of these companies were later given contracts.

One e-mail dated Feb. 29, 2012 in which Ryan Graham, a principal with Fairview Insurance, told Waterman to ?vote down? a contract to Princeton-based insurance firm G.R. Murray. School Board attorney Ramon Rivera was copied on this e-mail, which was leaked by an anonymous source to NJ.com.

Graham is a friend of Fulop?s who has helped raise money for Fulop?s mayoral campaign. Last spring Graham?s company was selected to serve as the insurance broker for the school district.

(Fulop is not the only local politician to receive funding from Graham. He also donated to Healy?s 2009 re-election campaign and has in the past given money to several Jersey City candidates to the City Council and School Board.)

In October 2011, the law firm of Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader received a one-year contract for $50,000, about 15 months after Fulop introduced Waterman to Lester E. Taylor, a partner at the firm. The contract was increased twice and topped out at $125,000

Paul Fader, a partner with Florio Perrucci, has helped Fulop raise money for his campaign.

In another e-mail to Waterman, dated Nov. 19, 2010, Fulop introduced the school board president to Linda Quentzel and her client Philip Johnston.

In that re-mail, Fulop writes: ?I wanted to introduce you to Philip Johnston of Johnston Communications. He has a large communication business on multiple fronts and has been a long time friend of Senator [Robert] Menendez. I think it will be an intro that is great for both of you. I have also CCed Linda Q from the [Hudson County Schools of Technology] and she has been a terrific resource for me navigating the mine fields. She is someone who introduced Phil and I ? worthwhile for you to make her acquaintance as well. Hope you can coordinate calendars.? In a separate e-mail to Waterman dated Feb. 7, 2011, Linda Quentzel wrote: ?A pleasure speaking with you Thursday about my strategy company. I would like to set up a meeting with my client Johnston Communications to discuss opportunities at the Jersey City school system. Let me know any days/times after 3:30 p.m. you are available to meet.?

Fulop and Johnston are copied on this e-mail.

Quentzel has contributed to Fulop?s campaign. And although Johnston Communications was on the school board?s list of approved vendors dating back to at least 2006, it appears the company did not start receiving contracts until after Fulop introduced Waterman to Quentzel and Johnston.

In March of 2011, the Board of Education paid Johnston $237 for telephone services. Later that that year, in August, the school board approved $22,350 for Johnston.

Fulop has said in the past that such introductions were rare and that most of the introductions he made to the board went nowhere and did not result in any business.

?The public now knows Fulop was flat-out lying when he said he didn?t interfere with BOE business, as the e-mails that came to light show Fulop not only involved up to his eyeballs, but also steering six-figure contracts into the pockets of his top campaign contributors, the very definition of pay-to-play,? said Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne.

The end... or just the end of the beginning?

While Fulop has taken some heat for the May 2011 meeting and for introducing his friends to key board members, perhaps little else is likely to come from this inquiry. Voters who have paid attention to the Fulop e-mail drama can draw different conclusions about the mayoral candidate based on the same information that was uncovered.

?Anyone who was actually following this story can see that after more than 1,000 emails released by the Board of Education, not a single one showed Steven ever attempted to influence any board member on any contract, as Healy?s smear campaign suggested,? said Tedeschi.

For their part, the Healy campaign is trying to use the worst of what was uncovered to gain traction in the election. Last week, the Healy campaign released an ad featuring school children frolicking in what the commercial calls ?Steve Fulop?s Pay to Playground.? The spot derides Fulop for allegedly using ?his influence to steer a school contract to one of his top campaign contributors, even though they weren?t the low bidder or best qualified?When it comes to pay to play, Steve Fulop think our schools are his playground.?

Yet, Fulop is not the only politician to get involved in school politics lately. Healy recently showed up at a Jersey City Education Association meeting and told the membership that, if elected mayor, Fulop would privatize public education in the city. Fulop said it was a false allegation meant to scare teachers into voting for Healy.

One Healy confidant suggested there could be information still to be uncovered, since school board attorney Ramon Rivera refused to release some e-mails between Fulop and school trustees on the grounds that they were outside the scope of Healy?s e-mail request.

On April 21, an attorney for the Healy campaign filed a new OPRA request with the school board seeking all e-mails and text messages between Fulop, Waterman, and Adames regarding Fairview Insurance, Ryan Graham, Florio Perucci, or Paul Fader.

?It?s clear that Healy will say or do anything to deflect from the continuing scandal that rocked his administration,? said Tedeschi, referring to the 2009 Operation Bid Rig sting that saw the arrests of 46 public officials and religious leaders.

While Healy was never arrested or indicted in the sting, several of his key allies ? including former Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, and political consultant Jack Shaw ? were. Healy has repeatedly defended his reputation, stating that he never did anything that was illegal and noting he was not arrested for any crime.

In the meantime, one activist is trying to use this episode to lobby for a stricter pay to play policy at the school board. In an e-mailed letter sent to school board members last week, Riaz Wahid wrote, ?[It] is very important that we close this loop hole in the board?s current pay to play policy. Without closing the loop hole, the Jersey City Public Schools has advertised for broker services, [applications for which are] due on April 30. There are firms that have given money to Jersey City mayoral and municipal council committees. I request you to put this bid on hold till the loophole has been closed.?

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NJ Attorney General: Goya tax deal okay
State backs Jersey City?s abatement to famous food brand

by E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer - Apr 21, 2013

The office of state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa has upheld Jersey City?s 20-year tax-abatement agreement with Goya Foods Inc. The attorney general?s office made its decision after considering a request by the Town of Secaucus to review the controversial deal that was approved in 2011.

In March, Secaucus asked the attorney general?s office and the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to determine whether Jersey City?s tax deal with Goya unfairly allowed the city to keep a $1.1 million payment from a Meadowlands regional tax sharing pool paid into by municipalities in the region, whose largest contributor is Secaucus.

Now that the attorney general has ruled in Jersey City?s favor, Secaucus has retained a law firm to advise the town about its options. While these options are still under review, Secaucus has not ruled out the possibility of challenging the Goya tax deal in court.

?We got the response from the state Attorney General?s Office that we expected to get, which is that [tax abatements] are legal under state law,? said Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli. ?So, we?ve now hired the law firm of Robinson and Cole from Connecticut. They are looking into the matter and will issue a report next month. When we get that report, we?ll see what our options are.?

AG?s Office: No violation of law

According to a memo filed by Secaucus? town attorney with the DCA, the 20-year tax abatement offered to Goya has allowed Jersey City to keep more than $1.1 million annually from a regional tax sharing pool, a pool to which Secaucus contributes more than $2.8 million annually.

Secaucus officials believe that had Goya Foods been forced to pay conventional taxes, Jersey City would have had to forfeit most of this $1.1 million payment and the Secaucus $2.8 million contribution to the tax sharing pool would have been reduced.

In a memo to the DCA dated March 12, Secaucus Town Attorney Anthony D?Elia wrote that, ?Jersey City made a conscious decision to grant a 20-year tax exemption to Goya based upon the understanding that, to do otherwise, would jeopardize a significant portion of the payments due to Jersey City under the?[Inter-Municipal Tax Sharing Plan]. In doing so, Jersey City, in essence, required the district?s paying municipalities to underwrite Jersey City?s generous tax exemption provided to Goya. Jersey City?recognized that it could utilize the payments received from the [Inter-Municipal Tax Sharing Plan] to provide the tax exemption.?

Regional tax-sharing among 14 New Jersey Meadowlands towns was established in the 1970s to compensate the municipalities that were barred by the state from developing environmentally sensitive parts of the area. District towns like Secaucus that were allowed to develop were required to contribute to a fund to compensate municipalities that were prohibited from development and thus deprived of potential tax ratables.

Today, there are seven municipalities, including Secaucus, that contribute to the regional tax-sharing pool, and six municipalities, including Jersey City, that receive money from the pool. There is one town that neither pays into the tax-sharing pool nor receives money from it: Teterboro. Secaucus is the biggest contributor. Kearny is the largest recipient.

?The [tax-sharing] law does not appear to have been violated by [Jersey City?s ordinance approving the Goya PILOT],? attorney Maurice Griffin, who works in the attorney general?s office, wrote to D?Elia on April 1. ?The use of PILOTS in the context of long-term tax exemption in urban renewal projects has long been established.?

Controversial from Day One

The tax abatement package Jersey City gave to Goya Foods has been controversial since it was approved in November 2011.

Developers often enter into a tax abatement agreement, or payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), to pay a separate fee to the city instead of paying fluctuating property taxes. This keeps their tax rate stable over a number of years. The amount they pay is sometimes equal to regular taxes, and can be based on a percentage of their profits. The money goes directly into the city budget but does not support local schools, although developers pay a nominal fee for county taxes.

The original intent of such deals was to draw developers to blighted areas.

The controversial tax abatement deal offered to Goya was approved by a divided Jersey City Council shortly after the state Economic Development Authority had given Goya a separate $81.9 million tax deal under the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program.

Goya ? which is currently headquartered in Secaucus, with another facility on Long Island ? is building a new 615,000-square-foot headquarters at 350 County Rd. in Jersey City. The new facility will include 577,000 square feet of warehouse space and 38,000 square feet of office space.

The 20-year tax abatement Jersey City approved for Goya will require the company to pay $806,400 annually for the first six years the company is in Jersey City. In years seven through 12 the company will pay $892,950 each year. In years 13 through 20, Goya will pay $979,500 each year.

Under the company?s agreement with Jersey City, Goya will pay an annual service charge that will be passed along to Hudson County for county taxes and will have to pay an annual administrative fee. Both of these fees will increase incrementally over the duration of the 20-year agreement with the city. Goya?s annual county tax fee will start out at $40,320, and the annual administrative fee will start out at $16,128.

Goya will not contribute tax support to the local school system.

When the company broke ground on its new facility last September, Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli hailed it as a win-win for Jersey City, Secaucus, and the Meadowlands region.

At the time, Gonnelli assumed the new facility would impact the Inter-Municipal Tax Sharing Plan and decrease the amount of money Secaucus taxpayers have to contribute to it. Because that has not happened, thanks to the approved abatement, Gonnelli and Secaucus asked the state attorney general to investigate.

A portion of Jersey City?s ordinance granting the abatement to Goya Foods reads: ?By the city?s analysis, the benefits of the [development] project outweigh the costs to Jersey City insofar as the project adds no additional burdens on schools and because the city will retain most of the payment due it from the [New Jersey Meadowlands Commission] under the Inter-Municipal Tax Sharing Plan.?

Secaucus officials said they only learned of this tax abatement this year and asked the DCA and attorney general?s office to investigate the fairness of the approved PILOT.

?Our hope is that the report that we get from Robinson and Cole will have enough meat in it that we can justify withholding our Meadowlands payment or maybe take this thing to court,? Gonnelli said.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - NJ Attorney General Goya tax deal okay State backs Jersey City?s abatement to famous food brand

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