Menendez-sponsored bill could have benefited donor's investment

By The Associated Press
March 04, 2013 at 12:02 PM

WASHINGTON ? Sen. Robert Menendez sponsored legislation with incentives for natural gas vehicle conversions that would benefit the biggest political donor to his re-election, the same eye doctor whose private jet Menendez used for two personal trips to the Dominican Republic, an Associated Press investigation found.

The disclosure reflects the latest intersection between the New Jersey Democrat who is the subject of an ethics inquiry on Capitol Hill and the Florida doctor involved in a federal criminal investigation.

Dr. Salomon Melgen invested in Gaseous Fuel Systems Corp. of Weston, Fla., and joined its board of directors in early 2010, according to the company's chief executive and a former company consultant. GFS, as the company is known, designs, manufactures and sells products to convert diesel-fuel fleets to natural gas. The amount of Melgen's investment is confidential under rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but a 2009 document filed with the SEC showed the company required a minimum individual investment at that time of $51,500.

At the same time, Menendez emerged as a principal supporter of a natural gas bill that would boost tax credits and grants to truck and heavy vehicle fleets that converted to alternative fuels. The bill stalled in the Senate Finance Committee, and after it was revived in 2012, the NAT GAS Act failed to win the needed 60 votes to pass.

While the bill was under consideration between 2009 and 2011, the former consultant for GFS spent $220,000 lobbying Menendez's staff and other congressional and federal officials on the act's provisions as well as other regulatory issues, according to interviews and Senate records.

There is no evidence that Menendez offered direct help or intervened on behalf of the company or Melgen. Instead, the connection between the two men's interests in natural gas is the latest example of the close symmetry between the senator ? who recently rose to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ? and his millionaire backer. It illustrates the way Menendez's political clout has at times overlapped with Melgen's financial investments.

In recent weeks, Menendez has acknowledged other dealings with Melgen. Menendez was compelled to reimburse $58,000 for two flights aboard Melgen's private jet that he had previously failed to report, prompting scrutiny by the Senate Ethics Committee. Menendez also acknowledged that his office had contacted U.S. health agencies in 2009 and 2012 to question their billing practices and policies amid a dispute between Melgen, an eye specialist, and federal health authorities. FBI agents in January searched Melgen's offices in Florida and seized files as part of a criminal investigation.

Menendez also raised concerns last year with State and Commerce Department officials about the Dominican Republic's reluctance to enforce a port security contract with a company that Melgen partly owns.

A spokeswoman for Menendez, Patricia Enright, told the AP that the senator supported the natural gas bill to help improve the environment. She said Menendez personally had no known discussions with either Melgen or others associated with GFS concerning the legislation or its impact on the company. She said it was unclear whether the senator will continue to support the bill he had sponsored.

Melgen's attorney in Miami, Kirk Ogrosky, told the AP in a statement that "Dr. Melgen has never discussed his involvement with Gaseous Fuel Systems Corp. with either Sen. Menendez or his staff."

An SEC document filed last week by GFS showed that Melgen remains on the company's board of directors. An earlier document filed by the firm in May 2011 was the first to show Melgen as a director. That SEC record showed a $6 million investment in the firm from two unnamed individuals.

The company's top executive, Ken Green, said Melgen is a key investor but has had no influence on the company's decision-making and has not attended any director's meetings since he joined the firm.

"Dr. Melgen hasn't ever been to our offices, not once," Green told the AP. "He's a passive investor."

Green said the Senate bill that Menendez supported would provide only limited help to his company because most of its provisions are aimed at heavy on-road vehicles like truck rigs and bus fleets. GFS has pioneered an engine conversion system that can be installed on diesel-fueled vehicles, but Green said it is marketed exclusively for off-road equipment, such as massive mining trucks. The tax credits proposed by the bill would do little to offset the cost to buyers of the off-road trucks, which can cost as much as $8 million, Green said.

"This bill won't do much of anything for us," he said.

But in 2010, when Melgen first invested in GFS, the firm was actively considering marketing its natural gas engine devices for on-road vehicles. The bill, both in its 2009 and 2012 versions, authorized changes to IRS rules allowing larger tax credits for on-road, natural gas-supplied trucks and vehicles as well as grants for research. The proposal also urged the Environmental Protection Agency to streamline rules covering the conversion of diesel and gas engines to natural gas and alternative fuels.

GFS said in October 2010 in a press release that its strategy "integrates four related areas of business development," including "on-road coal truck conversions." The release, written by the company's consultant and then-director of strategic projects, Elio Muller, also said that "a vast number of on-road 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks hauling coal" in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and West Virginia could be converted to combination diesel-natural gas engines with the GFS system.

Muller, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration involved in several Tampa businesses, said last week that he introduced Melgen to Green and other GFS officials in early 2010. Green also said Muller was instrumental in bringing the company to Melgen's attention. Muller said he has known Melgen from Florida's Democratic political circles dating back to the late 1990s. At one point, Muller drew up plans to start a business, Melgen & Muller Inc., but the men never followed through.

Melgen has made investments in health-related companies since the 1990s, according to SEC reports, but his GFS stake is his only evident natural gas-related investment. Green said he met several times with Melgen and found him to be an "intelligent investor" but could not explain his sudden interest in natural gas.

"I don't know how he found out about natural gas, but he liked what we were doing and thought it was innovative," Green said.

By early 2010, when Melgen formally joined GFS, Menendez had already taken on a key role in backing the natural gas bill, joining Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah as out-front sponsors.

The NAT GAS Act quickly drew energy and environmental battle lines. Oil and alternative energy magnate T. Boone Pickens led corporate natural gas industry backers of the bill, aided by the Obama administration and influential environmental groups. Arrayed against the bill were top oil and coal firms and even some green activists, joined by industrialists David and Charles Koch, whose political action group, Americans for Prosperity, harnessed opposition from conservative groups.

Green said he did not authorize or hire any lobbyists on behalf of GFS because he was skeptical about broadening into the markets for on-road trucks. But he did not block the activities of Muller, who in addition to his consulting role with GFS, had also started his own firm, Diesel 2 Gas. It aimed to license GFS technology and use the firm's parts to outfit on-road trucks.

In June 2010, representing both GFS and Diesel 2 Gas, Muller testified before an EPA panel in Ann Arbor, Mich., about what he called "cumbersome and unnecessary" rules that hurt GFS and other natural gas firms. The EPA agreed to alter its regulations in April 2011.

Between 2009 and 2011, Muller also ran an independent consulting firm, Muller Group Inc., which paid $220,000 to lobbyists from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP to lobby for the NAT GAS Act and related issues.

Muller said he accompanied the lobbyists in at least one meeting with Menendez' staff about the bill but could not recall details. Melgen and Muller joined Menendez at a signing ceremony in Miami in January 2010 for the senator's book, "Growing American Roots." And last June, they joined Menendez at the annual U.S.-Spain Council Annual Forum in Jersey City.

Muller said he did not discuss his lobbying activities with Melgen, even though they were both involved with GFS.

Both Muller and Melgen also have fundraising ties to Menendez. Muller gave $5,000 to Menendez' New Jersey Senate re-election campaign in 2011. Melgen has been a staunch supporter, giving more than $14,000 directly to Menendez since the late 1990s and, through his eye clinic, donating $700,000 last year to a "super" political committee that supported Democratic Senate candidates. The committee, in turn, spent $582,000 to back Menendez' campaign.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/ ... l_could.html#incart_river

Jersey City election 2013: one week left for candidates to file petitions

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
March 04, 2013 at 4:56 PM

The deadline for candidates in Jersey City?s quadrennial municipal election to file petitions with the City Clerk to have their candidacies certified is in one week, and as of Friday 51 would-be candidates have picked up petitions signaling an intention to run for mayor or City Council.

Only about 20 of those potential candidates have filed the requisite number of petitions, while 15 have been certified to run, including the entire council slate of Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop.

Fulop is the only mayoral candidate certified to run so far. The Downtown councilman since 2005, he is running against Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who is seeking a third full term, and former local basketball star Jerry Walker.

Some of the names of would-be candidates who have picked up petitions ? mayoral and at-large council candidates have to hand in 1,331 petitions, while ward candidates have to submit anywhere from 195 to 261, depending on the size of their ward ? may be familiar to voters in past city elections.

Dwayne K. Baskerville picked up petitions to run for mayor, as did frequent Jersey Journal letter writer Abdul Malik. Malik ran for an at-large seat in 2009 and won only about 2 percent of the vote.

City gadfly Jayson Burg, a consistent presence at council and school-board meetings, has picked up petitions to run in Ward A. Burg ran in the last two school-board races, and came in dead last both times.

Adela Rohena and Imtiaz Syed, who made failed attempts to win an at-large council seat during a November 2011 special election, have each picked up petitions to run in Ward C, as has Edward Mesa, a retired sheriff?s officer who was ejected from a Hudson County Freeholders meeting in 2008.

A complete list of individuals who have picked up petitions can be found on the city's website.

The election is set for May 14. Would-be candidates must file petitions by 4 p.m. on Monday, March 11.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... y_election_2013_51_w.html

Stable taxes, or election year gag?
Mayor, rival trade barbs over new $486M budget

by E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer - Mar 03, 2013 |

The $486 million municipal budget presented by the administration of Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy for 2013 currently does not include a tax increase. But the mayor?s critics say that he may still intend to raise taxes next year. They also note that many residents could see a tax hike this year thanks to a property revaluation that could significantly readjust the tax bills on thousands of homes and commercial spaces.

Property taxes and the revaluation are expected to be among the top issues of significance to voters in this year?s municipal elections, which will be held Tuesday, May 14.

In recent years, property taxes in Jersey City have spiked and have led to protests, a failed effort to recall Healy, and a movement led by Councilman Steve Fulop to defeat Healy at the polls.

The Healy administration unveiled the 2013 municipal budget on Feb. 27 at the City Council meeting, two days after the mayor gave a brief budget presentation to the council at its biweekly caucus meeting.

At the caucus briefing, Healy said his administration plans to keep taxes stable this year thanks to increased and unexpected revenue from various sources. The city, for example, expects to generate $7 million more in tax abatement payments this year than in 2012. (Abatements, also known as ?payments in lieu of taxes,? are payments from developments that have a separate tax agreement with the city rather than paying regular fluctuating taxes.) In addition, a recent audit of tax-abated developments found that some abated properties were paying the city less than they owed, and as a result, those developments will have to pay an extra $3 million this year.

The city also expects to get increased revenue from hotel and parking taxes, although Healy did not specify how much, and from the sale of municipal property and taxi medallions. A new vacant property registration program will add another $250,000 to the city?s coffers.

But Fulop, who is running against Healy, called the administration?s budget an election year ploy. Fulop noted that the property revaluation ? or ?reval? ? could have significant consequences for many property owners.

In a reval, all homes in the city are reassessed according to the current market value. Owners of older homes may be paying lower taxes than they should be, so after a reval, they often have to pay more. But in an economy that recently went downhill, owners of newer homes may be paying more than they should be, because they bought the property before its value dropped. Cities are supposed to hold revaluations every 10 years, although most delay them for as long as possible.

The City Council formally introduced the 2013 budget by a vote of 8-0-1, with Fulop abstaining.

Fulop: Beware

Healy and Fulop are the top two contenders running for mayor, although four other people have declared their candidacies: Jerry Walker, Dwayne Baskerville, Cynthia Chandler Johnson, and Abdul Malik.

Fulop said the Healy administration has a history of keeping taxes stable in election years ? then raising them in subsequent years. He points to FY2006 when property owners saw a 19 percent tax increase and FY2010 when a 22.3 percent increase was passed. (The Jersey City budget currently operates on a calendar year. In the years Fulop cites, the city was still operating on a fiscal year.)

The years 2005 and 2009 were election years when Healy ran for mayor.

?In the last two elections when he was running for mayor, Healy kept taxes flat, only to clobber residents with a massive increase after the election,? Fulop said. ?The last time Healy used this smokescreen, people nearly lost their homes. This is just another sad example of Healy putting his own interests ahead of the residents?.?

Fulop further argues that the reval will raise taxes on properties whose values are readjusted upwards.

As a rule of thumb, about a third of property owners will not see a tax increase as a result of the current reval, which was started in 2011. About a third of property owners will actually see their taxes drop slightly from the reval. But another third of property owners will see an increase ? and the increase could be significant.

However the revaluation turns out, the Healy administration has decided that it will not go into effect until the second half of this year ? a move Fulop said was politically motivated.

?The Healy revaluation that he postponed until after the election will kick in [later this year], resulting in even higher taxes,? Fulop said.

However, Healy responded that the City Council ? whose majority is now allied with Fulop ? tried to ?force? the administration to raise taxes.

?We have a $9 million liability for our retirees that goes back more than two decades. We had an opportunity to fund that over five years [through borrowing] with an interest rate of, I think, 1.2 percent, rather than hit the taxpayers with one bill this year,? said Healy. ?The City Council, with Steve Fulop leading the charge, said, ?No, we don?t want to pay this down in five years. You have to do it in three years.? We came back two weeks later with another plan that would have paid this off over the course of three years. Then they said, ?Oh, no, you have to pay it down this year.? The thrust of that whole initiative was to force me to raise taxes this year by adding $9 million to our city budget that we had no need to add.?

Fulop abstained from the budget introduction vote, arguing the council should be given up-to-date appraisal figures for city-owned property the Healy administration plans to sell.

Public hearing later this month

Before the budget is passed by the City Council, there will be a public hearing, which will give residents an opportunity to weigh in on the 2013 municipal spending plan. At present, the public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 13 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

The current budget, as last week, is likely to be amended several times before it is finally passed by the council. In previous years some budget amendments have included slight tax increases that were not included in the original budget that was introduced. If the budget is amended, residents will be given a second opportunity to speak out on the revised spending plan.

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/fu ... ndary_stories_left_column

Political Insider: Healy, Fulop produce visions of selves, city in videos

By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal
March 02, 2013 at 6:09 AM

Is anyone watching the campaign videos for the May Jersey City municipal election -- or more accurately, the mayoral race?

This is where the candidates, incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop, are spending wads of money and the product, although not Oscar worthy, says something about how badly these two want to win.

These featurettes have some unintentional humor because the candidates want to come across as caring leaders who have deep things to say. They are not to be confused with Sir Laurence Olivier, although in one clip, Fulop gives you his impression of scuba diving adventurer Mike Nelson in the old TV series "Sea Hunt."

At times, you get the feeling that this election is being held in Hoboken. For the mayor, it's all about us against them. Healy wants to show he's part of old Jersey City, one of the boys, someone you can have a beer with, and you probably have. Yet he's still very somber.

Fulop is an outsider who wants the title but not the job, to paraphrase the mayor. According to the mantra, the councilman is one of "those people" who moved into the city -- like all those new residents -- within the past decade. And those "interlopers," which is the popularized term now, has no clue what it means to be a citizen of Haguesville. At least this is the flavor of this year's City Hall contest.

Following the old Dem playbook, the Healy faction then expertly applies negative labels, including Republican, Romney, Wall Streeter, and "1 percenter." The labels are contrary to the fact that Fulop is a Democrat and that this is a nonpartisan race. Also, Fulop has been in Jersey City longer than some pols, like state Sen. Sandra Cunningham, which I like repeating.



Healy's first video is called "Since." This one is made of clips from an interview on CNN. The mayor speaks about the city gun buy back programs, claiming Jersey City has the lowest number of homicides "since records were kept."

Fulop's take on crime in the video "How Many" is somewhat clever in that he is seated before a group of young people and asks them about hearing gun shots. Seated next to the candidate is a uniformed police officer. Critics who support Healy point out that the cop is not real but an actor and that Fulop should have used a disclaimer.



Fulop's people do not deny that he's an actor but they say police officers are not allowed to take part in political campaign ads.



And yet, in 2009 election campaign ads, Healy is seen with what seems like an army of very real police officers who are ostensibly the reason why it was claimed, back then, crime was the lowest it has ever been.

The most unusual video has to go to Fulop for the clip "Hudson." With the councilman telling us how "some things aren't meant to be easy," we see the lawmaker in wetsuit and goggles diving off the end of a Jersey City pier. He swims across the Hudson River touching a bulkhead at Lower Manhattan and heads back toward the Gold Coast with the Goldman Sachs tower dominating the skyline.



My first thought -- while wondering whether this is Fulop's Michael Dukakis moment -- was that he really, really wants to be mayor and that Healy can top this by parachuting out of an airplane over Liberty State Park or skateboarding down the Lincoln Tunnel helix in Weehawken. I also wondered whether Fulop swallowed any of that water.

At Healy's fund-raiser at Casino in the Park, the mayor's faithful hounds were howling over the video trying to figure out what the councilman was trying to say. I'll be kind and just believe they were being obtuse.

You can take a look at some of the videos which can be seen on this column on the Internet at www.nj.com/hudson/voices where the vids are each about 30-plus seconds long.

INSIDER NOTES

-- How many (expletive deleted) times do we have to tell you that we had nothing to do with that fund-raiser, to paraphrase one of the mayor's hired guns. The one word answer we're dead certain about is the one we can't write.

The response was to questions about an invitation written for a Feb. 27 money-sucking gathering at the Cedar Grove home of Pepe Garcia, whose maintenance firm Maverick has a good number of contracts in Hudson County. He is the brother of lobbyist and former assemblyman and past Union City mayor Rudy Garcia, whom was a host, along with his brother and fellow lobbyist Paul Bontempo. Rudy is sometimes jokingly called Jersey City Councilman Bill Gaughan's "adopted son."

It seems the invitation to the $1,000-per-person event calls upon people to help finance Mayor Healy's campaign -- with the option of giving unlimited amounts of money to a political action committee (PAC).

On cue, Fulop has called on the state Election Law Enforcement Commission to investigate such a blatant breaking of the law. ELECT probably will take a look, although they said nothing about a probe, but they may do it and announce something long after the election is over. It will not change the results.

This is why Healy people are somewhat sensitive about queries. The response is to say Fulop likes to tell lies and that any money from that event would be returned. Or perhaps it can be given to charity -- like all those charities that benefited from FBI informant Solomon Dwek's donations to the mayor's 2009 campaign. We still don't know what charities.

Rudy Garcia made a number of explanations about the "error" with the invitation that I oversimplified down to a typo.

And to think that the Healy campaign has been trying for months to get everyone to write about Fulop getting funding help in Monmouth County from someone associated with the Republican Party. Ouch.

-- Kearny Mayor Al Santos has announced he is seeking re-election in November with a slate that includes Councilwomen Alexa Arce, 1st Ward, and Carol Jean Doyle, 3rd Ward, as well as 4th Ward Councilman Michael Landy. Town Zoning Board member Richard Konopka is seeking the 2nd Ward seat on the mayor's ticket. The 2nd Ward incumbent, Madeline Peyko, is retiring, Santos said.

Fellow Democrats say that no GOP opponent has surfaced but Santos still is concerned because the enemy is not local but rather Republican Gov. Chris Christie and his 74 percent approval rating.

Santos is aware of how GOP Gov. Tom Kean's victories in the 1980s provided long coattails for others in Kean's party. The Kearny mayor quietly worries that Christie could do the same in his town. After all, the governor came to East Newark to accept the endorsement of Harrison Mayor Ray McDonough, earlier this year. Kearny could be just another piece on Christie's checkerboard.

-- Has anyone talked to Jersey City mayoral hopeful Jerry Walker lately? The Jersey Journal has made calls to the candidate and they have not been returned. We were wondering if things are still kosher between Walker and his at-large council candidate Sterling Waterman, a former school board member. If either Jerry or Sterling could just check in, please do so.

-- It was a packed house at Thursday evening's Hudson County Board of Freeholder's meeting and tempers were a bit frayed over the security at the county administration annex building at 567 Pavonia Ave.

Jersey City Medical Center officials and 100 union members, both sides in contract negotiations, attended. Union members are unhappy and came to the county meeting to voice their displeasure about the pay talks. The freeholders asked both parties to "cool down" and get back to negotiations.

Just before the meeting there was some conflict when some visitors refused to show identification after passing through metal detectors.

At one point, Freeholder Chairman Anthony Romano and Freeholder Bill O'Dea raised their voices at each other. Romano demanded that the Sheriff's officers be allowed to do their jobs but O'Dea said it was pointless to request identification at an open public government meeting and that going through the metal detector and signing a log book would suffice. At one point O'Dea loudly suggested that he and some other freeholders would walk out of the meeting.

Eventually, the occupancy capacity of the freeholder chamber had been met and no one else was allowed to enter. I don't think this is the end of it.

-- One last thing -- who is coming up with this story about an alliance among Healy, Cunningham and Union City Mayor and Sen. Brian Stack? The script writing Oscar already went to Quentin Tarantino. Healy and Stack will never run in the same circles. As Healy backers say about Stack: "How can you trust someone who doesn't even drink wine?"

-- The newest Jersey City council candidates to be certified are Chris Gadsden of Union Street and Jesus Tosado of Kennedy Boulevard, both vying for Ward B. Grace Giron of South Street will run in Ward D.

I'm expecting Imtiaz Syed to run for a Ward C seat. Syed claims to have the signatures. He ran unsuccessfully for one of two at-large council seats in a November 2011 special election. He has the money, so why is he waiting?

-- You know there's an election because Robert Knapp is back praising elected officials in the JJ letters to the editor, me.

-- How's that recall going in West New York? Commissioner Count Wiley wants to dump former runningmates Mayor Felix Roque and Commissioners FiorD?Aliza Frias, Caridad Rodriguez and Ruben Vargas. So far Wiley has waterfront resident Doug Richardson and Rafael Sanchez, pastor of Worship Ministries on his ticket, should voters go along with the recall.

Now all Wiley needs are 5,200 petition signatures for each elected official he wants recall. There must be some North Bergen ex-DPW guys available to assist.

Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for some court activity involving Roque's federal conspiracy charges of hacking a recall website. But it seems at least one of the hacking victims, sometimes called WADO-man, has gone underground. I predict that should all this go to court, this will be one of the county's most entertaining political moments.

-- For you elected officials, I must remind you of an important date this month. It isn't St. Patrick's Day. Just beware that in this political season we're only 13 days from the Ides of March ;)

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

New regulations for Jersey City food trucks again delayed by City Council

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 27, 2013 at 8:06 PM

A measure to revamp Jersey City?s regulations regarding food trucks was postponed again tonight, in yet another setback for a measure that the City Council first introduced 16 months ago.

The ordinance, which was set for adoption tonight and has been in the works for two years, was tabled so city officials could review changes suggested by two food-truck owners who spoke to the council tonight and at its Monday caucus.

The measure would require that food trucks and other mobile food vendors move at least 150 feet every two hours. The current requirement is that vendors move every 20 minutes, though it is rarely enforced.

The ordinance would also prohibit the vendors from selling in parts of Journal Square and Newport.

Taco Truck owner Jason Scott on Monday told the council he objected to a portion of the ordinance that would have prohibited vendors from parking on private property even with the permission of the property owner. Another portion, Scott said, is worded in a way that would essentially forbid the vendors from parking anywhere in Jersey City.

City officials have been working on the new regulations for two years. The council was set to introduce it in April 2011, but postponed the vote when vendors said the proposal was too restrictive.

The council introduced the measure the following October, but adoption was delayed as the body tried to include language favorable to vendors, brick-and-mortar restaurants and city health officials.

City Clerk Robert Byrne said tonight the council will review the ordinance at its next caucus to ?dissect? it with health officials.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... y_cit_2.html#incart_river

10-year tax breaks approved for two proposed Downtown Jersey City towers

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 27, 2013 at 8:41 PM

Ten-year tax breaks for two Downtown Jersey City projects were given final approval by the City Council tonight, after union members paraded in front of the nine-member body to press it to OK the measures.

The two measures each received a 7-2 vote, with all members approving except Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro and Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop. Both voted ?no.?

The tax breaks will go to a proposed 50-story, 553-unit residential complex at 70 Columbus Drive, and a 39-story, 311-unit building at 401 Washington Blvd.

Instead of paying traditional property taxes, the owners will instead pay 10 percent of their gross annual revenue for the first 4 years of the tax deal, 12 percent for the subsequent 4 years and 14 percent for the final two years.

The projects will lead to a total of 750 construction jobs and 48 new, permanent jobs, according to city officials.

In addition, the developers of the two projects will contribute a total of $1.3 million to the city?s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is used to build affordable units throughout the city.

Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano, who sits on the city?s Tax Abatement Committee, praised the two deals.

?I?m delighted to see that jobs are being produced and the construction of real property is once again starting to come around to Jersey City,? Sottolano said.

Fulop, who generally votes against Downtown tax abatements, said jobs are important but that tax breaks aren't the way to go.

"My belief is that long term tax abatements for luxury Waterfront high-rise buildings are no longer necessary because they don't pay their fair share to schools," he said. "Until this is resolved I can't support it because everyone else in Jersey City has to foot the bill for these buildings"

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

Jersey City election 2013: NJCU teachers union backs Fulop

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 27, 2013 at 2:27 PM

Jersey City mayoral candidate Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop today received the endorsement of a union that represents about 900 teachers and staff at New Jersey City University.

?We look forward to establishing a strong partnership with Steven Fulop and the entire City Council to work towards the enhancement of academic excellence, community outreach, and a stronger more vibrant urban community,? said William Calathes, president of the American Federation of Teachers Local 1839, in a statement from Fulop?s campaign.

In recent weeks Fulop has received endorsements from other labor unions, including Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825. The three unions represent a total of about 162,000 laborers.

Fulop will face Mayor Jerramiah Healy in the May 14 mayoral race, when all nine council seats are up for grabs as well. Former high school and college basketball star Jerry Walker said he is also challenging Healy, who is gunning for a third full term.

?I am proud to be endorsed by a group people who have devoted their lives to ensure our residents are well educated and have the skills necessary to thrive in our economy,? Fulop said. ?As mayor, I look forward to working in partnership with this group of dedicated individuals and learning from their insights and expertise.?

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... 13_njcu.html#incart_river

Turns out Gotham City is in New Jersey

Entertainment Weekly - Feb 27, 2013
by Darren Franich

Over the last seven decades, Batman?s hometown of Gotham City has become a one-size-fits-all symbol for the absolute worst notions of the American urban environment. Essentially a stand-in for every mid-century American metropolis filtered through the darkest recess of H.P. Lovecraft?s brain, Gotham City has been played on film by New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and even Hong Kong. I always assumed that Gotham City, like the other bizarro-cities in the DC Universe, resided in a made-up American state ? Fakesota, say, or New South Delginia.

But in an intriguing throwaway bit of lore uncovered by Buzzfeed in the 1990 edition of ?The Atlas Of The DC Universe,? Gotham City apparently resides in New Jersey ? a revelation which, if nothing else, seems guaranteed to hinder Governor Chris Christie?s presidential campaign, what with the fact that the largest city in his state is a veritable haven for organized crime and criminals with clown fetishes. But enough about Newark! Doing a bit more digging over at the DC Comics Database, it would appear that Superman?s hometown of Metropolis is officially in New York ? which, if I understand my geography correctly, would mean that Metropolis sits right across the river from a city inhabited entirely by miserable people who occasionally get terrorized by overly muscular bald dudes wearing tank tops. But enough about Jersey City!

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/02/27/gotham-city-new-jersey-batman/

Steve Fulop, Jersey City Mayoral Candidate, Swims The Hudson River In New Ad

The Huffington Post | By John Celock 02/26/2013

A candidate for mayor of New Jersey's second-largest city has released a new campaign ad that shows him swimming the width of the Hudson River.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop (D) released the commercial Tuesday. In it, he can be seen swimming across the mile-wide river from Jersey City to Lower Manhattan and back, while talking about his life in a voiceover. Fulop's campaign said that the video was shot on Feb. 18, when the water temperature was just 33 degrees.

"Some things were not meant to be easy," Fulop says in the ad.

Fulop is challenging Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy (D) in the May nonpartisan election. During the ad, Fulop, 35, talks about his life, including his immigrant parents and his service in the Marines. Once a hedge fund specialist, Fulop has been a city councilman in Jersey City since 2005. He has long played up his life story of taking a leave from his job at Goldman Sachs to enlist in the Marine Corps after witnessing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was among the first troops in Iraq in 2003.

Fulop's campaign says that he did not use a body double for the ad and that the spot was inspired by his completion of the 2012 World Ironman Championship, which included a 2-and-a-half-mile swim in the Hudson River.

The ad was released the same day that Healy's campaign announced an endorsement from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) in the mayor's bid for a third term. Healy, a founding member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, also has been endorsed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in large part based on Healy's work on gun control and crime.

Fulop also released a commercial on Tuesday discussing his position on gun control.

UPDATE: 6:30 p.m. -- Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne slammed Fulop's swimming ad as self-centered in a statement released Tuesday evening.

"Just like everything else Steve Fulop does, this commercial is all about Steve Fulop and not about the people he wants to represent,? Henne said. ?Then again, perhaps Fulop put on a wet suit to dive down and look for the missing emails showing him steering Board of Ed contracts to his political contributors -- the very definition of play-to-play.?

Henne's statement referenced an ongoing dispute regarding questions of whether Fulop emailed his allies on the Jersey City Board of Education and urged them to grant contracts to one of his donors. A state judge ruled last week that the Board of Education has to explain a series of redactions in emails between Fulop and board members released in response to a records request from a Healy ally. Fulop has denied the allegation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02 ... ersey-city_n_2768469.html

Jersey City officials want NJ to make state schools affordable for illegal immigrants

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 26, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Jersey City elected officials plan tomorrow to press the state Legislature to pass two measures that would allow children of illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition rates and access to financial aid if they attend public colleges and universities.

The local measure, which the City Council will consider at its regular meeting tomorrow night, is sponsored by Councilman at large Rolando Lavarro and Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez.

The two said in a press release that the children of undocumented immigrants shouldn?t have to suffer because they were brought to the United States by their parents.

"Jersey City is a city of immigrants, and these are our children," said Lavarro. "They have worked hard, earned good grades, and dreamed big dreams. Many of them have known no other home.?

He added: All they want is the opportunity to continue their education, and give back to their state of New Jersey."

The state bills have been introduced in the Senate and Assembly and await consideration by education committees. State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham is a primary co-sponsor on both, while state Sen. Brian Stack, also the Union City mayor, has co-sponsored both.

If the state measures are signed into law, students would qualify for in-state tuition rates and financial aid if they attend high school in New Jersey for three or more years, graduate from a New Jersey high school or obtain a GED and file an affidavit with the college or university stating they have applied to legalize their immigration status.

"I am honored to help throw open the doors of higher education and allow our young people to better themselves and, in turn, better all of the people of Jersey City," Lopez said. "We must support our DREAMers."

?DREAMers? is the word used to describe undocumented residents who came to the United States at a young age, and it was coined after Congress in 2001 introduced legislation intended to provide them with some legal residency status.

Congress has never passed the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act. It came close in December 2010, but its passage was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy -- who is running in May's election against Lavarro's and Lopez's running mate, Councilman Steve Fulop -- said in a statement that he has for "years" supported making college affordable for illegal immigrants.

"Not educating our youngsters is not only hurting them and their families, but it is also hurting our city and our state," Healy said. "Having one set of students who pays a discount and another set that pays an exorbitant amount is not only unfair, but it is also un-American."

The Jersey City council meets tomorrow at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St.

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

Jersey City mayor presents budget with no tax hike; rival warns of 'massive increase' next year

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 25, 2013 at 8:08 PM

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy tonight presented the City Council with a nearly $486 million 2013 budget, one that comes with a $202 million tax levy that is virtually unchanged from last year.

The proposed spending plan budgets more than $165 million on public safety, which accounts for more than a third of the entire budget, and an additional $118 million for pension and insurance costs.

Healy made a brief appearance at the council?s caucus tonight to hand over the budget to the nine-member body, which must approve the plan before it is adopted. Healy noted that this is the third year in a row he?s proposed a budget that doesn?t increase property taxes.

?We continue to streamline operations both in city government and at various city agencies, working with fewer employees and reduced operation costs,? the mayor writes in a letter included with the 73-page budget.

The plan calls for single-digit increases for a host of city departments, with a 5 percent hike slated for the Department of Public Works and a seven percent hike in city funding for three city agencies: the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, the Jersey City Parking Authority and the Jersey City Free Public Library.

The $486 million budget is set to be introduced at the council?s regular meeting on Wednesday. The council will then meet with department heads to ask questions about their individual spending requests, while a final adoption of the budget may not happen until the summer.

The campaign of Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, who is challenging the mayor in the May 14 mayoral race, said residents can count on a ?massive tax hike? next year.

?In the last two elections when he was running for mayor, Healy kept taxes flat, only to clobber residents with a massive increase after the election,? Fulop said in a statement from his campaign. ?This is just another sad example of Healy putting his own interests ahead of the residents?.?

The tax rate spiked more than 20 percent in 2010, the year after Healy?s last election victory, and it rose roughly 20 percent the year after Healy?s 2005 election win, according to tax documents provided by the city.

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill accused Fulop of "cherry picking" years to prove a point, adding that in 2006 Healy was dealing with a "structural deficit he inherited" and in 2010 the city was faced with a $70 million loss in state aid.

"Despite the challenges the mayor has faced, including the global economic recession, he has kept the municipal tax rate stable the past three years," Morrill said, noting that the city has managed to avoid layoffs of police officers and firefighters despite "difficult financial times."

Healy, first elected mayor in a 2004 special election, is seeking his third full term on May 14, when the mayoralty and all nine council seats are up for grabs. In addition to Fulop, Healy may face former high school and college basketball star Jerry Walker, who has announced he is running for the city?s top job.

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

Out of flight?
Federal agency promises solution to noisy aircraft flying overhead, residents wonder when they?ll see relief

by E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer- Feb 24, 2013

Jersey City residents are guardedly optimistic that a recent decision by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will put an end to low flying helicopters that have been a nuisance and safety concern since last summer.

For months, residents in Jersey City Heights, Journal Square, and Greenville have been complaining about helicopters from a Kearny-based heliport that fly just above rooftops and trees in these communities. Noise from these aircraft has been a concern, as has the fear that in the event of an accident people in these residential areas could be seriously injured.

?These helicopters fly so low that you can actually see the numbers written on them,? said Heights resident David Sitler, who has started documenting the flights that pass over his home. Other residents in the Journal Square community have reported seeing helicopters flying so low that they can see certain details on passengers? clothing.

Sitler and other residents said they have seen helicopters flying as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 11:30 p.m. and even after midnight.

Last week, however, came word that the FAA will specifically instruct helicopter pilots to fly at their maximum allowed altitude of 1,000 feet whenever air traffic at Newark Liberty International Airport permits.

?Safety precautions??

Ward C City Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who represents the Journal Square area and a portion of the Heights, has seen these low flying helicopters herself and has called them ?scary and unacceptable.?

She said the problem began after the South Kearny-based HHI Heliport was approved and opened for business in 2011.

?The heliport in South Kearny obtained permission from Newark Liberty International Airport to fly at the maximum height of 1,000 feet, presumably in an effort to reduce noise to the communities over which they fly,? said Lopez.

The 1,000-foot maximum altitude also allows these helicopters to avoid airspace occupied by larger aircraft servicing Newark Liberty International Airport.

?You?d think that if there?s a maximum altitude at which they can fly there would also be a minimum altitude at which they can fly,? said Sitler. ?But that doesn?t seem to be the case.?

Last summer, Lopez began receiving letters and e-mails of complaint from constituents who said the helicopters had become a quality of life problem in their neighborhoods.

?What, if any, safety precautions are being observed?? asked Heights resident Tricia O?Cone who reached out to Lopez for help last year. ?The pilots fly precariously low, it?s not impossible to think that there could be severe safety issues.?

Like Sitler, O?Cone said she has seen flights starting as early as 6:30 a.m. and continuing ?well into the evening.?

Lopez reached out to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and various state elected leaders, none of whom, she said, responded to her concerns.

Solution in sight?

Residents in Bayonne, who have also been affected, also complained to their local and state representatives. They, in turn, took these complaints to U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (NJ-8th Dist.), a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which has some jurisdiction over the FAA.

Sires may have extracted a promise from the agency to force the helicopters to fly closer to their maximum allowed altitude of 1,000 feet.

In a letter sent to Sires? office from Carmine Gallo, an FAA administrator for this region, the agency vowed to have air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport ?authorize higher altitudes for helicopters when air traffic permits.?

Jersey City residents are wondering, however, when these new guidelines will be implemented.

Sitler said that as late as Feb. 21 he was still seeing low-flying helicopters over his home ? and he worries the problem will get worse when the warm weather arrives.

?It was worse last summer than it has been this winter, which makes me think we could be in for the same thing this spring and summer,? he said. ?And we?ve heard about these new restrictions, but we really don?t know what this will mean for Jersey City yet. I was home for large portion of the day today and I can tell you there were a bunch of these helicopters that flew right over my house, just like they always do. So, I think we?re still waiting to see if there are really going to be any changes.?

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_s ... ce=lead_story_left_column

State Assembly Transportation Committee to hold special hearing on planned Pulaski Skyway closure; move comes after petition drive

Feb 24, 2013
Hudson Reporter

HUDSON COUNTY ? The Assembly Transportation Committee will hold a special hearing on Thursday, Feb. 28 in Union City to discuss state Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to close the northbound lanes of the Pulaski Skyway for two years beginning in 2014 while the roadway is reconstructed.

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Hudson County Community College, North Hudson Higher Education Center, 4800 Kennedy Boulevard, Union City.

The committee has invited the DOT commissioner and other experts on transportation matters in the state to testify regarding the repair and rehabilitation of the Pulaski Skyway and other issues concerning the DOT. The committee will also hear from members of the public who wish to testify on the issue.

?For commuters in my district and the surrounding areas, this will undoubtedly create major headaches,? said Assembly Transportation Committee member Ruben J. Ramos Jr. (D-Hudson). ?It?s imperative that the state lay out a clear plan for alternate options for commuters and what impact this will have on those alternate routes as well.? Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop welcomed the news that the Assembly Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing in Hudson County. Fulop organized an online petition drive that garnered approximately 1,400 signatures from residents who expressed concern that the closure of the Skyway will create major traffic problems on the streets of Jersey City.

?I want to thank the 1,400 Jersey City residents who signed our petition demanded to have Legislative hearings in Jersey City on the closure of the Pulaski Skyway,? Fulop said. ?I look forward to testifying and hearing from other residents about how the closure will impact their lives and their businesses.?

Fulop said he understands the need to repair the aging elevated roadway so that it meets today?s safety standards, but believes a better solution can be found than the one proposed by the DOT.

?I am confident we can come up with a way to minimize impact to Jersey City while repairing the Pulaski Skyway,? Fulop added.

Opened in 1932, the Pulaski Skyway that carries Route 1 and 9 traffic over the Hackensack and Passaic rivers between Jersey City and Newark. The bridge handles nearly 70,000 crossings per day.

Read more: Hudson Reporter - State Assembly Transportation Committee to hold special hearing on planned Pulaski Skyway closure move comes after petition drive

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_s ... e=up_to_the_minute_jersey

Political Insider: As W would say, you're doing a heck of a job, Healy

By Agustin C. Torres/The Jersey Journal
February 23, 2013 at 6:07 AM

Warning: This snarky column is for mature political minds. It contains questionable material taken from Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's big campaign speech, sometimes referred to as a State of the City address.

This is what you have come to expect from the Political Insider, who long ago announced his displeasure with this administration. These local Democratic royals believe they have a mandate to rule, not from a low-voter victory in 2009 but rather some divine right. They could easily be diagnosed as passive-aggressive -- functionally passive and aggressively political.

In the past six months, aware that defeat could be a reality, the Healy administration has returned to the old campaign playbook, a two-pronged attack. The first is to make this as negative a campaign as possible to make this election distasteful enough so residents will shun the voting booths, allowing the mayor's base of municipal workers/supporters and their families to carry him to another low-voter victory, or at least a runoff.

The second is to mix some truth with smoke and mirrors. City Hall is trying to convince residents that the mayor is transforming a dystopian metropolis into a model of New Urbanism with parks, walkable neighborhoods, "green" construction, affordable housing, and new businesses and many jobs. Except for the waterfront and some commercial districts, do you see his vision?

A State of the City speech from the bully pulpit can go a long way to helping the mayor's re-election bid. Healy admittedly comes off as a likable guy, which is his biggest strength. In my opinion, it has not made him an effective administrator over the past decade. The mayor's problem is the same as some past chief executives of the city. He has an administration full of directors who, with few exceptions, are more reactive than proactive -- except during the six months before every election, when they appear to come out of hibernation.

The mayor has given up on large venues like a college auditorium to give speeches for the smaller and cozy City Council chamber in City Hall, where the majority of seats are taken up by mayoral supporters, city workers and human props ("I'd like to recognize ... Please stand.")

Healy's speech writers provided the expected reference to Hurricane Sandy and his interpretation of what a great job his administration did during the disaster, as well as this year's political de rigueur of citing the Newtown school mass shootings and how he has long advocated better gun control legislation.

What about last year's string of promises?

Healy tells us that all those 2012 assurances that he made are never going to happen. There will be no streamlining of government because those great ideas, "after a comprehensive review," are not. I suspect the real problem with merging departments is the loss of patronage and fewer well-paid directors, thus the status quo. Hey, but don't believe me, I'm biased.

I call it a campaign speech because Healy continues to make the argument that the city's streets are the safest they've been in decades. This is the perpetual main plank of the Healy campaign platform -- public safety.

He said that last year saw the lowest number of homicides since 1969. Of course, the 13 killed in Jersey City represent 87 percent of all 2012 Hudson County murders, 15. This year there are five Hudson County killings, as of last week, and four of them are in Jersey City. Let's hope this rate doesn't continue during the warmer months.

"It isn't the mean old 1990s," said one city employee after the mayoral oratory. "And don't say what (Journal columnist) Earl Morgan always argues, that they are just bad shots."
No, the mayor said there is less thuggery thanks to the city gun buyback program and use of federal grants to hire more police. You "fearmongers" must see those officers all the time in your neighborhood and in key parts of the city ;) like Journal Square (inside the 7-Eleven).

As far as city crime, you know what they say: perception is reality.

There are so many wonderful things that the mayor says the city has accomplished that I would need at least another column of Insider Notes. Let's just say he mentioned some new parks, a bunch of affordable housing units, attacks on abandoned and vacant buildings, filling potholes and paving streets, and convincing Goya to move its operations from Secaucus to the county seat for an "in lieu in taxes" agreement. He claims there will be 500 permanent jobs at Goya. Either Goya is getting bigger or not many people want to go that extra mile to work. A state analytical memo concludes that there will be only nine new Goya jobs available.

I did notice that there were also many interesting phrases used in the address, including "in the process," "our plan," "by early spring," "by the end of the month," "currently finalizing," "the plan includes," "will be unveiled in the coming months," "when to best launch this initiative," "by next April," and "in late fall."

All these time-related words remind me of the "in a few months" comments in 2009 made about the ugly, bare Journal Square lot that is now fenced, displays an askew, falling artist's rendering of a skyscraper, and is home to a dumpster -- pretty much the state of what could be a great city.

INSIDER NOTES

-- Assemblyman Ruben Ramos says he is doing what the Insider said more than a year ago that the 33rd District state legislator would do -- because he had no other outlet -- run for mayor of Hoboken. Ramos has never been a favorite of the cliff-top king, 33rd District Sen. and Union City Mayor Brian Stack. Stack is cleaning out all the Assembly incumbents in the 33rd, including Jersey City's Sean Connors, who is now a Jersey City Heights council candidate. Ramos is seeking a higher municipal office.

Ramos' problem is that Zimmer is more popular these days thanks to her constant appearance in the media during Hurricane Sandy -- call it the Christie effect. She is seen as the reformers' dream, an eco-friendly closet car hater who can't have enough open spaces and parks in the Mile Square City. Although it would be nice if road, not just bike, lanes were freshly painted now and then.
Add to Ramos' problems is the inability of the anti-Zimmer forces to function without jealousy and a curse of too many "leaders."

-- A former Democrat turned Republican and now independent official, who favors the Spectra gas line, frowns on too much drinking -- soda, that is -- doesn't believe in term limits, once had a very rich clueless pal run a school district, compares a teachers union to the NRA, approves of NYPD spying on Muslims in Jersey City and other NJ burgs, and loves the commuter tax, has endorsed Healy.
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg backed his gun-control buddy in Jersey City and for this Healy was dubbed a "winner" on an Internet website. If the Big Apple little guy wants to help Healy out, he should have hosted a much needed fund-raiser for the Jersey City mayor like he did during Healy's 2009 run, when the campaign raised and spent more than $3 million. At the end of 2012, Healy had a touch over $300,000 on hand, while Fulop had more than $800,000.
Meanwhile, the Downtown folks are confused about just who is the mayor of Hagueville.

-- The question everyone is asking is who will replace Connors and Ramos as Stack's Assembly candidates? While Zimmer is hoping Councilman Ravi Bhalla gets a nod, I think Stack would prefer someone like Councilwoman Beth Mason because of her political attributes: female and rich. Then again, she may not want to ulitimately support Gov. Christie, Stack's good friend. The real question is who will be the candidate from, presumably, Jersey City? Tradition seems to dictate that one of the hopefuls will be a Hispanic.
More than likely, the senator has already received feelers from parties interested in any of the seats. My sources say Courtney Wicks, a former aide to 31st District Assemblyman Charles Mainor and past St. Peter's College basketball star, wants to enter the political waters. Although her background is Jersey City, Wicks has been living in Hoboken these days.

-- Speaking of Mainor, no one has seen him since Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel made fun of the state lawmaker from Jersey City for his Facebook "likes" that leaned toward sex and violence. I'm certain he wants equal time with the two TV personalities to give his re-butt-al.

-- Bayonne labor types -- ASCME, transit workers, iron workers, longshoremen and others -- had a fund-raiser for incumbent City Council members at the Chandelier Thursday evening. There were no city workers, cops or firefighters. But Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell did show up, say my spies. Some folks complained the food offerings weren't much for $125 a ticket.

I would have been surprised if any teachers showed up because a mob of angry educators attended that night's school board meeting to vent over the 800-member union not having a new contract since June 2010. If not resolved soon, this has the makings of a dangerous "situation" for the city administration.

-- I see that Groupon is offering a 52 percent discount on murder mystery dinner tickets at Terry Dehere's Sanai restaurant on Jersey City's Summit Avenue. I thought there already was a big mystery when two corrections officers were shot, one killed, outside the eatery, which was known in 2006 as the Blue Ribbon. My sources say the mystery was the identity of the corrections officer who left the scene of the murder and then quickly returned after realizing that he made a big mistake. Oh wait, was that ever reported?

-- Jersey City Ward C candidate Rich Boggiano is feeling the campaign magic. This week he put up 50 brand new campaign posters and the next morning they were all gone. Utility poles are being used but funny how the "official" posters were still up. Can you spell J-C-I-A?

-- Sad to see that attorney John Tomasin has died at age 88. Old timers in North Hudson remember John as a big critic of the late Anthony DeFino, mayor of West New York, but became a supporter near the end of DeFino's run. Tomasin was the Guttenberg town attorney for 25 years and held the same post in West New York for four years where he was also a municipal judge for nine years.

Tomasin was also president of the Hudson County Golfers Association. There was no golf course in the county and Tomasin made an unsuccesful pitch to have one built in the early days of Liberty State Park in Jersey City. Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise expects to tee off this year at the county's first public course in Lincon County Park. Too bad John will miss a tee time.

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

Healy fundraising calls to city workers labeled 'shakedown' by opponent

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 24, 2013 at 3:51 PM

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has been calling city workers and employees of city agencies asking them to donate to his political campaign, and his longtime political rival is using the term "shakedown" to refer to the solicitations.

Healy even put the squeeze on one worker who earns less than $20,000 annually, asking for "whatever little contribution you can make to the cause of the re-election," according to two voicemails obtained by The Jersey Journal.

In both calls, Healy asked the worker to bring a donation in person to Healy campaign treasurer Patricia Connors, a Kennedy Boulevard real-estate agent.

"You know we got this reporting deadline at the end of the year, so please do what you can to get it there," Healy says in one of the messages. "And have a great New Year's."

In another voicemail played for a Jersey Journal reporter, Healy urged a city agency worker to give $500 to his re-election bid. In the message, Healy referred to a Dec. 6 campaign fundraiser at Casino in the Park that his campaign has said brought in over $100,000. "We were hoping you'd write a check for $500," the mayor says in the voicemail.

Healy is running in May's city election for a third full term against Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop and former high school and college basketball star Jerry Walker.

Healy struggled to keep up with Fulop's blockbuster fundraising after the mayor announced last February that he would seek re-election. But by the end of 2012, things had turned around for his campaign.

In documents released last month, Healy's campaign reported raising about $233,000 to Fulop's $217,000 in the final quarter of 2012, though the Downtown councilman still has about $525,000 more cash on hand than the mayor.

About $41,000 of Healy's haul in that quarter came from about 180 city workers, the campaign documents show.

A city agency worker, who asked not to be identified, said voters should know about Healy's phone calls to city employees because, the worker said, they are inappropriate.

"I'm tired of the dirty-ness," said the worker, who acknowledges being a Fulop supporter.
Jersey City's Code of Ethics bars officers or employees from soliciting political contributions based upon an understanding that the contribution was given "for the purpose of influencing him or her, directly or indirectly."

But the code also specifies that the above provision does not apply to political contributions if the candidate "has no knowledge" of an intent to influence him.

Most of the workers who spoke to The Jersey Journal asked not to be identified. One, who payroll records show earns less than $20,000 a year, said he received multiple phone calls from the mayor.

"You call once, that's fine, but you call three times ... he needs that money that bad?" the worker said.

Police Sgt. Dave LaBruno, 48, said Healy called him in late December of last year asking for a donation.

"I told him, no, I'm not with any political candidate and I don't desire to be," LaBruno said. "He didn't pressure me, but I wasn't comfortable with the mayor calling me."

Healy's campaign shrugged when asked about the phone calls. Healy is reaching out to people throughout Jersey City, according to a campaign spokesman, though one Healy ally acknowledged that the mayor in past campaigns didn't make fundraising phone calls himself.

"Of course he's been reaching out to those folks who have been so essential in making Jersey City a safer, more affordable and more prosperous place," said Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne. "They've been a terrific team, and of course he's asking for their support to keep the progress going for working families, middle-class taxpayers and small businesses."

Fulop, whose campaign is calling the Healy phone calls a "shakedown," said the mayor's solicitations are "not right."

"This is very sad and I feel bad for the workers who in some fashion feel pressured," Fulop said in a statement from his campaign. "There should never be a phone call from the mayor to a guy pushing a broom strongly suggesting a donation."

John Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, said it's definitely illegal to use a governmental office to solicit campaign donations. But Healy calling from, say, his campaign office, is likely not against the law, Weingart said.

"At a minimum, that would be a heavy-handed approach and could be certainly seen as coercive," he said. "It certainly has the appearance of being improper."

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

Exclusive video raises questions about officer's death Friday, February 22, 2013 Jeff Pegues Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness News JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- The widow of a Jersey City Police officer killed in hail of gunfire is asking disturbing questions about her husband's death. Marc DiNardo was shot in 2009 after he and other cops stormed the apartment of a robbery suspect. He and an accomplice came out blazing. It was chaos on July 16th, 2009. Jersey City's emergency service unit raids an apartment building on Reed Street. They were trying once and for all to capture two armed suspects. They'd been caught on surveillance video unleashing a barrage of bullets in the direction of undercover cops. By the time it was all over, five officers had been shot. One officer was killed, Marc Anthony DiNardo, Mary's husband. Almost four years later, she wants to know if department commanders made mistakes that day that cost Marc his life. "I want to know. I have a right to know why my husband was killed. I have the right to know what happened. And I don't know why nobody wants to tell me," Mary DiNardo said. There is surveillance video of the moments leading up to the deadly shootout. The suspects were being closely monitored by surveillance cameras. The video shows them moving their car, going into a building, and then the beginning of the shootout. The exclusive video also shows cops setting up a perimeter, monitoring the rear of the building where the suspects were hold up, until the ESU team moves in. The ambulance comes next after the shootout is over. "The department has got to look at this in a couple of ways. Was the training adequate? What can we learn from this?" said Joe Giacalone, professor at John Jay College. Since the shooting, Jersey City Police have not revealed information about lessons learned. But privately, members of the tactical team tell Eyewitness News that they "lacked training", information about the location of the suspects, and they say it led to "flawed decision making". Chief Tom Comey released a statement denying all that saying, "It was a methodical search of the building. All officers involved, were qualified and competent to make the entry. The response was appropriate given the situation and the manner in which it unfolded." But Mary DiNardo still has questions about how it all unfolded, as did Marc's dad, Paul. He is a former Jersey City Police officer who said about the department, "They still won't come clean." He died on Christmas Day still wondering when Mary and Marc's children would get the answers they want. "I want to know the truth and maybe I can make a difference for those guys down there. So it won't happen to anyone else. So nobody else is not going to grow up without a father and lose their husband or their wife," Mary DiNardo said. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?sec ... cal/new_jersey&id=9003457

Jersey City's Mayor Healy admits some past promises haven't been fulfilled

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 21, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Included among the promises in last night?s State of the City address were acknowledgments of prior promises that were broken.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy last night noted that in 2012 he said he would merge the Jersey City Incinerator Authority and create a new Public Safety Department as cost-saving measures.

The latter proposal barely if ever got off the ground, while Healy?s allies on the City Council fought Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop?s efforts to merge the JCIA and DPW.

Asked last night whether voters should believe this year?s promises like his pledge to add 50 more cops to the beat when some of last year?s went unfulfilled, Healy said the city did its best.

?Those things last year didn?t work out,? he said, citing ?legal? problems that would have resulted from the proposals. ?We did our best to fulfill our promises and we?re going to continue to do that.?

The campaign of Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop, who is challenging the mayor in the May 14 city election, pounced on the ?broken promises,? citing others, including a pledge in the 2011 State of the City address to have the historic Apple Tree House open by the end of last year. It remains closed to the public.

?The mayor has a history of making promises at these speeches that he has failed to deliver, from Journal Square still being vacant to empty promises on cost cutting that have caused property taxes to skyrocket over his term as mayor,? said Fulop campaign spokesman Bruno Tedeschi.

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

Judge orders Jersey City BOE to explain why they redacted emails

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
February 20, 2013 at 2:11 PM

This morning a judge ordered four Jersey City Board of Education members and a former member to explain why emails they provided for a public-records request were redacted and to document their efforts to provide all relevant emails.

The emails are the focus of a lawsuit between the BOE and Adam Herbsman, a political operative for the re-election campaign of Mayor Jerramiah Healy. The suit is a battle by proxy between Healy and his longtime rival, Ward E City Councilman Steve Fulop.

This morning the judge also ordered BOE attorneys to justify their claim that some emails are exempt from Herbsman's Open Public Records Act request. The Jersey Journal reported yesterday that it has at least three emails involving Fulop and BOE members that were not part of the 234-page package of emails released last week.

"The law says if you want to redact the document or claim exemption, you have to prove why," Herbsman's attorney, Thomas Jardim, said this morning after the hearing. "Frankly, I think they redacted because they were embarrassing to the school board ... I'm doubtful they will comply completely because of what I saw in The Jersey Journal this morning."

Both camps claimed victory today, with Fulop?s spokesman saying he ?couldn?t be happier? with the judge?s decision and Healy?s camp saying the hearing "validated? the Healy campaign?s view of Fulop.

The two men will face each other in the May 14 city election. Healy is seeking a third full term.

Herbsman claims in his suit that the school district stonewalled when asked to release emails between Fulop and BOE members, documents that he requested in November. Hundreds of emails, many of them heavily redacted, were finally released last week.

Fulop's opponents say he used his influence on the nine-member BOE to convince the board to approve contracts for his donors. Fulop has denied the allegation.

BOE attorney Ramon Rivera said earlier this week that the redacted emails contain information about former schools superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr., who resigned in December 2012. Epps was forced out after Fulop-backed BOE members won a majority on the nine-member board.

Epps signed a legal agreement with the district that precludes the district from releasing any information regarding his retirement, according to Rivera.

Fulop campaign spokesman Bruno Tedeschi said today that the Fulop "campaign couldn't be happier with the judge's ruling because it finally ends the smoke screen that the Healy campaign has been using to distract residents from his poor record of raising taxes and allowing crime to fester throughout the city."

Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne, meanwhile, said today's hearing "validated what we've been saying all along."

?The people have a right to know the role Steve Fulop and his allies played in guiding Board of Ed contracts to his political contributors at taxpayer expense," Henne said.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Maron has given BOE lawyers two weeks to comply.

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Jersey City safer and more fiscally sound, mayor says in annual address

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
on February 20, 2013 at 7:37 PM, updated February 20, 2013 at 8:37 PM

Jersey City is getting safer, becoming more fiscally sound and making real progress, Mayor Jerramiah Healy said tonight in his sixth State of the City address.

Healy, who will ask voters on May 14 to grant him a third full term, pledged to hire 50 more police officers in 2013, keep taxes ?stable? and continue the city?s ?aggressive pothole and street paving program.?

?When I look and see the progress we are making, I see a better city not just for my grandchildren but for all of the children in our city,? he said at the conclusion of the 45-minute speech. ?I always put Jersey City first and I am committed to working every day to advance our city for all of us.?

Healy addressed more than 250 residents and county and local officials inside the council chambers at City Hall, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation at the start of the speech. He spent the bulk of the address discussing public safety and Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the region on Oct. 29 and caused as much as $100 million in damage to Jersey City.

The city last year hired 35 additional police officers, giving the Police Department a total of 802 sworn officers, Healy said. He pledged tonight to find grant funding for 50 additional officers by the end of 2013.

Discussing a $1.9 million federal grant that allowed the city to hire 15 of those officers, Healy specifically thanked community activists Esther Wintner and Riaz Wahid, who assisted the city in obtaining the grant.

Both worked to recall Healy in 2010. City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the mayor's shout-out to his former adversaries shows he "brings people together."

The mayor praised the city?s efforts to recover from Hurricane Sandy, and while he acknowledged the severe devastation city residents suffered, he said he was heartened to see ?neighbors stepping up to help other neighbors.?

?During the storm, I visited every neighborhood in our city and heard from so many of you, and want everyone to know how truly inspired I am by the will and humanity of our people,? he said.

Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, Healy?s longtime political rival and his chief adversary in the May 14 city election, panned tonight?s address. Fulop said it?s ?disturbing? that Healy didn?t address the upcoming citywide property revaluation.

The mayor requested state officials allow the reval in 2011 but it has been delayed until at least after the election.

?It?s going to have a massive impact on who can afford to live here,? the councilman said.

An earlier version of this article misstated how many new cops Healy said the city has hired.

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Jersey City election 2013: Fulop unveils jobs program as councilwoman defends joke again

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 15, 2013 at 6:32 PM


Jersey City Ward F City Councilwoman Diane Coleman today gave a fiery speech defending a controversial joke she made at Monday?s council caucus, a joke Coleman said today she would not apologize for.

?I take a licking and keep on ticking, and I?m going to keep on ticking,? Coleman said today in her Martin Luther King Drive campaign headquarters.

Coleman appeared with mayoral hopeful Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop and at-large council candidate the Rev. Joyce Watterman as Fulop unveiled a program he said would help former inmates find employment. Both women are running with Fulop in the May 14 city election.

Coleman on Monday joked that ?everyone? in Ward F has a criminal record, which set off a firestorm of criticism from the mayoral campaigns of Mayor Jerramiah Healy and former high school and college basketball star Jerry Walker.

Fulop?s campaign refused to apologize for Coleman?s comment, which the councilwoman today said was ?sarcasm? intended to reflect disappointment with the Healy administration?s record on employment.

The Fulop campaign used the flap to present an initiative it said Fulop would launch within 12 months of being elected mayor that would help ex-offenders find jobs.

The initiative would create a ?unified network? of social service providers, start a registry of jobs available to ex-offenders and publish a re-entry resource guide. The program would initially cost as high as $300,000, and Fulop?s campaign said it would be funded with a mixture of city, state and federal funds.

Fulop and Coleman today slammed Healy for presiding over a Ward F that struggles with high crime and unemployment.

?I?m not going to apologize for fighting for the residents of Ward F,? Coleman said. ?The mayor should apologize that he let this mess stay like this.?

Caf? owner Jermaine Robinson, who is Healy?s Ward F council candidate, said in a statement from the Healy campaign that Coleman?s Monday joke belittles Ward F residents.

"Mayor Healy and I believe in Ward F and all the people who live here,? Robinson said. ?When some suggested I relocate my business out of Ward F, instead I doubled down by investing my energy into making things even better for my neighbors."

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Rejected Jersey City judicial appointee blasts City Council on Facebook

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 15, 2013

The former Jersey City councilman whose judicial appointment was blocked this week by a divided City Council has taken to Facebook to threaten his opponents with a lawsuit.

Ray Velazquez, who sat on the council for about a year and is a former Hudson County Freeholder, was set to become a full-time municipal judge this week, until five council members aligned with Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop rejected his appointment, calling him a ?crony? of Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

?Shame on all of them for attempting to destroy me and my reputation for not going along with their program,? Velazquez wrote on his Facebook page today. ?See you all in court.?

In the post, Velazquez writes that Fulop ?courted? him for his endorsement after Velazquez abruptly resigned as deputy mayor in December.

?When the vacancy on the municipal court came up, I called him for his support,? he writes. ?He told me to wait until he was mayor. I told him that I would not do that.?

Velazquez was set to replace Judge Carlo Abad, whom Healy appointed to become chief municipal judge. But the council rejected Abad?s appointment, too, saying Healy shouldn?t make any long-term appointments so close to May?s election.

Hudson County Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso today appointed Abad as acting chief municipal judge until the mayor and council settle the matter, and attorney Kenneth Lindenfelser to take the position Healy wanted Velazquez to have.

Asked to comment, Fulop said Velazquez?s Facebook post is filled with ?lies.? Velazquez reached out to him, Fulop said, and they never discussed a vacancy on the municipal court.

?I never met him on it,? he said.

The two men sparred a bit on Facebook after Velazquez posted his initial thoughts:

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Jersey City council introduces law that says food vendors have to relocate every two hours

By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal
February 13, 2013 at 6:44 PM

JERSEY CITY- New regulations to force food vendors to stay away from licensed brick-and-mortar eateries took another step forward this evening when the city council unanimously introduced the ordinance.

The vote on the ordinance's first reading passed 9-0 with all members of the council present for tonight's meeting.

City officials have spent years debating changes to the vendor ordinance. The new regulations would force vendors to stay at least 300 feet away from any licensed brick-and-mortar eatery. The vendors would also have to move at least 150 feet every two hours.

The only exemption to the proposed rule would be in the area New Jersey City University, where food truck owners have said that they shouldn't be forced to move because they don't compete with any restaurants.

"There's nothing around here," said food truck owner Gus Papathanasis, 58, of Jersey City told The Jersey Journal. "No delis, no restaurants."

The council was set to approve changes to the regulation in April 2011, but the vote was delayed after the vendors said they were too restrictive.

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Jersey City council denies Filipino Chief Judge post

By Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal
February 13, 2013

A chance to appoint the first Filipino Chief Judge in the state of New Jersey fell short of the required number of votes at the Jersey City City Council meeting tonight.

In a highly debated vote, a resolution that would have appointed Carlo Abad the Chief Judge in the city Municipal Court failed to receive the required five votes, losing 4-5. A separate resolution to appoint Radames Velazquez a full-time municipal court judge was defeated in a 4-5 vote.

Council members David Donnelly, Nidia Lopez, Steve Fulop, Diane Coleman, and Rolando Lavarro voted against both resolution, while Council members Michael Sottolano, William Gaughan, Viola Richardson, and Peter Brennan supported the administration appointments.

"This is a mind-blower for me," Richardson said to the crowd after the votes.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy voiced his own disappointment in a statement saying, "The Council's rejection...is an ugly illustration of how politics has overtaken certain members of our City Council."

Healy added that the vote not only deprived the community of two "tremendous" public servants, but denied the Asian community a history-making moment.
The votes divided along political lines, with allies of Fulop, who is running for mayor, voting against the appointments, and allies of Healy voting in the affirmative.

Lavarro said tonight that his "no" vote had nothing to do with the credentials of Abad or Velazquez, a former councilman, but reflected the problem he had with the process that went into appointing them.

"We (council members) talked about (appointments) three weeks ago at the previous meeting and we said we're not doing long-term appointments until after the election is done," said Lavarro, referring to the upcoming municipal elections in May.

Lavarro said he doesn't believe that any mayor should be allowed to make long-term appointments this close to a municipal election because of the temptation to trade an appointment for political support.

Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis told the voting majority that their defeat of the appointments would "create a major problem."

"The chief judge of the county wants to see these (appointments) done swiftly," he added.

Had the resolution passed, Abad, a municipal court judge since 2008, would have become the chief judge of the Jersey City Municipal Court, the first Filipino to hold that post.

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Jersey City woman convicted in murders of engaged couple to be sentenced tomorrow

By Ron Zeitlinger/The Jersey Journal
February 07, 2013 at 3:46 PM

A Jersey City woman convicted in June in the murder of a Jersey City couple slain execution-style in the street as they returned home from their engagement party is to be sentenced tomorrow, authorities said.

Latonia Bellamy, found guilty of felony murder, carjacking and robbery, was the first of three people to be tried for the murders of Nia Haqq, 25, and Michael Muchioki, 27, on April 4, 2010, in front of their Randolph Avenue home.

Darmelia Lawrence and Bellamy?s cousin, Shiquan Bellamy, also 21, were also charged. In August Lawrence pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with the murders.

Latonia Bellamy faces 30 years to life for each felony murder when sentenced tomorrow by Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale. It is expected that prosecutors will ask that the terms be served consecutively.

The jury deliberated less than a full day before finding Bellamy guilty. Shiquan Bellamy is charged with killing five people over a 2-month period.

Authorities say that besides the fatal shootings of Haqq and Muchioki, Shiquan Bellamy killed Lamonte Wright, 20, Mileak Richardson, 17, and Lester Thompson, 26.

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

Challenger to Jersey City mayor announces anti-crime plan

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 06, 2013 at 10:00 PM

The mayoral campaign of Jersey City City Councilman Steve Fulop today revealed its plans to combat crime in New Jersey's second largest city.

Increasing community policing, emplying more civilians to fill administrative roles and boosting communincation between police officers and community groups are among the items Fulop's camp believes will lower crime.

Fulop told The Jersey Journal that he feels he would be able to implement his plans without raising taxes significantly.

"Community policing doesn't require extra money. It requires a commitment," said Frank Gajewski, a former Jersey City police chief and Fulop's council candidate in Ward A.

Campaign polling has shown crime is the top concern for city residents, Fulop said. And residents feel that crime is getting worse despite statistics showing a decrease in crime in recent years.

"There's a huge difference between safety in some neighborhoods and safety in other neighborhoods," Fulop said.

Fulop is challening Mayor Jerramiah Healy in the May 14 city race. Former high school and college basketball star Jerry Walker has also announced he plans to run for the city's top job.

The Fulop campaign's seven-page anti-crime platform includes increased street patrols; the creation of a force comprising officers who will have police powers but will be either retired cops or trainees in the police academy; and a change in the boundaries of the police districts.

The campaign said it also intends to require police leadership to live in Jersey City. State statute forbids a ban on police officers who live elsewhere, but Fulop said he can require it of police brass who have appointed positions.

Fulop praised the Police Department, saying it does "an effective job," adding that "you can always strive to be better."

Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne, asked to comment, said the mayor has helped bring the city's homicide rate down to historic lows, without laying off cops. Henne added that police officials already meet with community groups.

"Mayor Healy wants to keep the progress going, and that's why his administration is constantly seeking input from the public and is committed to doing everything possible to continue making Jersey City a safer place," he said.

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Jersey City kid donates more than $3K to Red Cross' Sandy-relief effort

By Ana Ferrer/The Jersey Journal
on February 05, 2013 at 7:20 PM

UNION CITY -- After Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of New Jersey and New York, 10-year-old Peter Coar of Jersey City decided he couldn't just sit back and not help.

With the help of his mother, Jill Coar, the fourth-grader at St. Francis Academy in Union City launched the "Petey's Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund" on Facebook.

Through the site, he sold some 600 red and white silicone bracelets he purchased with allowance money.

Today, in front of his classmates, Peter presented a $3,335 check to the American Red Cross. The check represented not only what he raised through his bracelet sales, but also $200 in "mission money" from students at the school.

"We may be small, but we can make a big difference," Peter said in a short speech. "I'm proud that I got to achieve my goal."

Jocelyn Gilman, community chapter executive of Amercian Red Cross of Northern New Jersey, accepted the donation.

"Each one of you is special and you'll be able to touch and change so many lives one day," she said to about 60 students.

Principal Deborah Savage explained that "mission money" is donated everyday by students and each classroom has a collection jar. The money goes toward helping others, Savage said.

Peter has received numerous cards and letters from people who purchased bracelets and even received letters from President Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Christie. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy presented him with a proclamation in December.

"I wasn't expecting to get (a letter) from the President," said Peter, who plans on mailing the leader of the free world a bracelet.

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18 charged in Jersey City-based credit card fraud ring that stole $200 million: feds

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
February 05, 2013 at 12:55 PM

NEWARK -- A sophisticated international credit card fraud ring based in Jersey City stole more than $200 million, federal authorities said today in announcing the arrest of 18 people, who face up to 30 years in prison.

"This type of fraud increases the cost of doing business for every American consumer, every day," United State Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman said of the allegations that resulted in the arrest of Nasreen Aktar, 37, of Jersey City, and 17 others. Fishman announced the unsealing of the indictment at a news conference in Newark this morning.

The scheme spanned 28 states and eight countries, officials said, adding that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible. When asked if the ring was headquartered in Jersey City, Fishman said "I think that's fair to say."

Fishman said Ashu Jewels, Tanishq Jewels and Raja Jewels, all on the same block of Newark Avenue in Jersey City, participated in the ring. All three jewelry stores have been closed by federal authorities and a large amount of inventory has been seized. In April 2011, feds and Jersey City police raided the stores.

The ring allegedly made 25,000 fake credit cards by using roughly 7,000 false identities and hundreds of fake drivers' licenses to open the accounts. The ring would then build up the credit rating and the borrowing limit of the cardholder by using various fraudulent methods before maxing out the cards and leaving the credit card companies with the unpaid balances.

There were 13 arrests made and search warrants were executed today, Fishman said, adding that four defendants were arrested previously and three of those have already pleaded guilty.

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Jersey City mayoral candidate Walker adds school board member, ex-official and cop to ticket

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
February 05, 2013 at 11:48 AM

Jersey City mayoral candidate Jerry Walker announced yesterday that three City Council candidates have joined his ticket for May?s city election, including the sitting vice president of the Board of Education.
Sterling Waterman, elected to the school board in 2010 and formerly the board?s president, will run at large, along with lawyer and former city attorney Sean M. Connelly and city police officer Ram?n ?Ray? Regalado.

?I am very excited to announce these honorable citizens as part of my team,? Walker said in a statement from his campaign.

?They all agree to work and focus on my four-point plan: to educate our youth, to bring down crime, to hold real estate interests accountable and to give average city residents more economic opportunity.?

Waterman is a former ally of Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, who is also running for mayor on May 14.

Regalado has previously said that he planned to run for mayor.

In the statement, Walker?s trio of at-large candidates blasted the city?s ?unbearable taxes? and ?demeaning quality of life? and pledged to make ?positive changes.?

Walker, a former basketball star at St. Anthony High School and Seton Hall University, hopped into the mayoral race last month, saying education is his top priority. He heads Team Walker, a nonprofit that runs an after-school program in Jersey City offering educational and recreational components.

Walker will face Fulop and Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who is running for a third term.

The mayoralty and all nine council seats are up for grabs on Tuesday, May 14.

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