What's in a name? Jersey City council candidate says everyone knows him as 'Chico'

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
March 19, 2013 at 9:04 PM

A Jersey City man running for City Council in Ward B should not be allowed to use his nickname on the ballot, says the re-election campaign of Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, an aide to Ward B Councilman David Donnelly, is seeking to succeed Donnelly on the nine-member council. City Clerk Robert Byrne had previously allowed Ramchal to use his nickname on the ballot, but Healy's campaign is asking Byrne to reverse his decision.

Ramchal, 37, said the Healy campaign's move shows it is worried about his chances in Ward B, which encompasses the West Side.

"It just shows me how scared they are," Ramchal said. "So they'll try to nitpick on any little thing that they get."

The Healy campaign, in its March 17 letter to Byrne, cited a 2001 state Appellate Court decision that ruled two candidates in a local Salem County election could not use "Dr." before their names on a ballot because the titles aren't part of their names.

Healy campaign spokesman Joshua Henne noted that Healy is using his own full name on the May 14 ballot.

"Mayor Healy's neighbors know him as Jerry, but he is following the rules and will be on the ballot as 'Jerramiah,'" Henne said. "Why is it that time and again, Fulop and his candidates can't follow the rules?"

There is a history of nicknames appearing on Jersey City ballots. Former assemblyman L. Harvey Smith appeared on the ballot without his first name, Leonard, as did former councilman E. Junior Maldonado, whose first name is Eleuterio.

Ramchal said everyone knows him as "Chico," a nickname his father gave him when he was a baby growing up in Guyana. Ramchal said when his family would go to the grocery store, he would always stick his hand in a jar filled with Chico-brand gum.

If his nickname is excluded from the ballot, Ramchal said, his turnout may suffer.

"Everybody knows me by 'Chico,'" he said. "You could literally call my house, ask my father,
'Is Chico home?' or you could walk West Side Avenue and say, 'Who's Chico?' -- everybody's going to tell you."

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