Manzo denies being behind stickers; faces ex-aide's suit

Monday, October 13, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

White-and-blue "Manzo Mayor" stickers are popping up in Journal Square, and former Assemblyman Louis Manzo says he knows nothing about it.

"It's probably some supporter who wants to encourage me to run," Manzo said last week. "I haven't declared a candidacy yet."

But as he contemplates a run for City Hall next May-and as he continues his legal attempt to remove Mayor Jerramiah Healy for misusing his public office-Manzo has a bit of outstanding business from his last campaign, an unsuccessful bid for the state Senate in 2007.

Dannielle Leigh, a fundraising consultant on that campaign and a former aide to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in July alleging that Manzo refused to pay her $19,272 he owed her.

In the suit, Leigh said she signed an agreement with Manzo that entitled her to 12 percent of whatever she raised for the campaign between April 2006 and June 2007.

Manzo said that he never had any such agreement with Leigh and her company, Bright Side Consultants LLC, and that he has not been served with the lawsuit.

"This is news to me," he said, adding that he thought he had resolved all payment issues with Leigh. Campaign finance reports indicate that Manzo paid Leigh $5,500 during three months in 2007.

Leigh could not be reached to comment, and her Hackensack attorney, Peter A. Tucci-who also worked on the campaign, according to Manzo - did not return phone calls.

Manzo has filed a lawsuit in Monmouth County seeking to force Healy out of his job, arguing that the mayor tried to use his position to get out of trouble when he was arrested by cops in June 2006 following a late-night dispute outside a Bradley Beach bar.

A motion by Healy to dismiss that suit will be heard later this month.