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PBW wrote:
I'm not a huge fan of Healy's, but I don't think this case will get very far. I think they probably know that, but did it anyway cause it gets that incident back in the news. The Politics game is on!!

Judge rules: Healy stays on ballot

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City at-large council candidate Joseph Cassidy failed yesterday to block Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy from the May 12 ballot.

At an emergency hearing before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli, Cassidy's attorney, W. Timothy Howes, argued that Healy shouldn't be allowed to take part in yesterday afternoon's ballot drawing because of his 2007 conviction for resisting arrest and obstruction of administrative law, which stemmed from an incident the previous year in Bradley Beach.

More specifically, Howes alleged that while Healy was being arrested he dropped names and tried to throw his political weight around to get preferential treatment - a violation the state's Faulkner Act.

Furthermore, Howes said, to allow Healy ballot access would cause Cassidy "irreparable damage" since voters might be swayed to vote for candidates running with Healy instead of Cassidy, who is running on a slate with former Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Lou Manzo.

Gallipoli disagreed, saying that Healy's name could be removed from the ballot at a later time if necessary and that Cassidy's chances for office were not dependent on Healy.

"It's not a choice between Mr. Cassidy and Mayor Healy. It's a choice between Mayor Healy and Manzo," Gallipoli said. "You don't have to vote for everybody in the same line, do you?"

Voters can vote for one mayor candidate, up to three at-large council candidates, and one candidate for their ward council seat.

Howes said he's appealing Gallipoli's ruling to the state's appellate court, where papers are due today at 1 p.m.

Richard Gantner, one of Healy's lawyers, was confident after the ruling. "Mayor Healy has won again. We won last time, and we're going to win the election."

Manzo brought a similar case against Healy in Monmouth County last fall. A judge ruled then that Manzo didn't have legal standing to bring the case. An appeal of Manzo's suit is also waiting to be heard by an appellate court. Howes also represents Manzo.

I'm not a huge fan of Healy's, but I don't think this case will get very far. I think they probably know that, but did it anyway cause it gets that incident back in the news. The Politics game is on!!

I object as well but it is for all the other stuff.

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So true -- the more you watch it happen the more horrible it becomes!

This issue has been adjuticated already in Monmouth County. Cassidy and the Manzo campaign are wasting everybody's time. But at least they are providing copy for Augie Torres.

What happened to Patty McCarthy being on Healys team now that he got arrested, thats a criminal charge!!!
I guess Healy dont have him "going places" anymore.

What is happening to that horse in that picture,my gosh it looks horrible?

Maybe the horse is drunk?

Maybe they just want to see if the horse wants to play baseball with them,yeah that is probably the answer.

The Jersey Journal
Political Insider
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
By Agustin C. Torres



Once more into the breach Healy himself opened
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
H ere we go again!

Will Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's "Beach Blanket Bingo" with Bradley Beach police officers eventually come back to bite him or will he manage to reverse his public relations image and convince voters that he is the victim?

Yesterday, at-large council candidate Joseph Cassidy, a former Hudson County sheriff, filed an objection to Healy's petition for candidacy with City Clerk Robert Byrne, who turned the matter over to the city Legal Department

Cassidy, a member of former Assemblyman Lou Manzo's ticket, notes in his objection: "My objection pertains not to the number or validity of signatures, but to the fact that Mr. Healy is ineligible to hold the Office of Mayor of Jersey City." The at-large council candidate argues that Healy is barred from holding office because of Healy's 2007 disorderly persons conviction, including interfering with police officers, stemming from a June 2006 altercation outside his sister's bar in Bradley Beach.

Specifically, Cassidy is saying that Healy's conviction "of obstruction of justice" makes his offense one of moral turpitude under the Faulkner Act.

"After reading the police reports, it's clear to me that (Healy) tried to influence the arresting officer and tried to use his official authority to get away with a crime," Cassidy said yesterday. "I'm running for office and I don't think he should be allowed to."

The city administration responded to the latest strafing.

"It is totally without merit," City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis, who read the two-page objection, said yesterday, "and the New Jersey courts recently ruled on this issue."

Cassidy is relying on the same arguments that Manzo used that led to a lawsuit in Monmouth County last fall. Then, Monmouth County Assignment Judge Lawrence Lawson threw out Manzo's attempt to remove Healy from office, ruling that the former legislator and Healy nemesis did not have legal standing in the case.

Lawson ruled that only a county prosecutor, the state attorney general or a "public employer" could seek forfeiture, and that if they do not, a court cannot compel them to do so.

The Monmouth County judge noted that Manzo had the option of a recall election, but according to state law, a recall cannot be brought in the first or last year of a term of office. The judge also noted that had Manzo or anyone filing the suit had been a candidate in a municipal election, there might have been further discussion.

Does anyone doubt that Cassidy's objection will be rejected in City Hall? The issue is expected to wind up in Hudson County's state Superior Court in Jersey City, where Cassidy will claim to have standing.

Try analyzing the filing through the prism of politics. Should Cassidy lose, the issue of the mayor as a champion of law and order still takes a hit as voters are reminded of the Bradley Beach scuffle.

Expect a rehashing of Monmouth Prosecutor Luis Valentin's arguments against Healy and his wife, Maureen, who in 2007 sued the Shore town and two of its police officers, saying the officers used excessive force and knocked her to the ground while subduing the mayor. The Healys lost the suit.

At the trial, Valentin said that Healy acted as a political bully, trying to intimidate police officers who had arrested him for interfering and resisting arrest. The prosecutor even released some grand jury testimony by the officers, who said Healy, after he was put in handcuffs, had asked for the incident to be "swept under the rug."

In the meantime, the Healy Team will shout about how Manzo's camp is afraid to face them at the ballot box and wants to win the race in the court room.

Actually, beating an opponent before voters get a chance to cast ballots is a tradition.

In his first Illinois Senate seat race in 1996, President Barack Obama kicked three challengers off the ballot, including an incumbent, and ran unopposed. There are plenty of examples in Hudson County.

INSIDER NOTE: The Jersey City mayoral debate by Comcast at the Loew's Theater is actually on April Fool's Day at 1 p.m. All those city workers can go to the theater today.

The Jersey Journal
Political Insider
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
By Agustin C. Torres
www.nj.com/hudsoncountynow