I thought this was funny:

"Is he reflexively secretive? Or is he just an amateur when it comes to damage control?"

Both, actually.

Reputation definitely not already troubled

more on this from the Star Ledger editorial board -

"The bottom line is this: If he did nothing wrong, what does he have to hide?"

Will Bridgegate spawn a Fulop scandal? | Editorial

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2 ... #incart_river_mobile_home

The Bridgegate trial opens in just three weeks, and Chris Christie's political fate isn't the only question on our minds. Here's another: Is Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a man aspiring to be governor, also going to be one of its casualties?

Fulop is not charged in the case, but he has been asked to testify, likely regarding the attempts by the governor's office to win his endorsement. The problem for the mayor is this: E-mails released during the pre-trial maneuvering suggest that the governor's office tried to buy Fulop's endorsement by doing favors for a private firm the mayor represented.

In the end, Fulop did not endorse Christie. The question is whether he engaged in those slippery discussions, and how far they got. If he made a deal, and later reneged, even that could be a crime. It would most certainly be a stain on his already troubled reputation.

Separately, Fulop's previously undisclosed work as a lobbyist for a private client may have violated local ethics rules.

Fulop himself is fueling these concerns by refusing to answer legitimate questions about them. When exactly did he work for the private firm, and how much was he paid? Did he discuss his client's business privately with David Wildstein, the governor's henchman at the bistate agency and a plotter behind the Fort Lee lane closures?

Why would Fulop refuse to answer those questions? Is he hiding damaging information? Is he reflexively secretive? Or is he just an amateur when it comes to damage control?

Read More

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2 ... #incart_river_mobile_home

the usual suspects have been pretty silent on this issue.

so, before being elected instead of the mayor quitting to campaign full time, he did not. he started working for FAPS and per the disclosure, also continued working for his prior employer.

so what happened? does it matter? what exactly was he doing for FAPS that he is resistant to disclose?

I often wondered how he was living after he left the NYC finance position. I am not sure of the timing, but I recall that at one point, he was donating his city council salary to the York St Project. Jut figured he had a few bucks put away.

more on this -

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

Fulop's 2012 job with Port Authority tenant draws scrutiny

A legal brief filed last week in the ongoing Bridgegate scandal is leading to increased scrutiny over a job Mayor Steve Fulop once had with a car company that works out of Port Newark.

Fulop's job with FAPS, Foreign Automotive Preparation Service, wasn't widely known until May 1, 2015, when a federal indictment against two key Bridgegate included a reference to Fulop having "represented FAPS."

The detail led to some raised eyebrows in Jersey City. FAPS modifies foreign cars to add accessories like navigation systems and backup cameras on a 119-acre site owned by Port Authority in Newark. Fulop was a Wall Street trader for most of his eight years on the City Council. What was he doing at FAPS?

The Aug. 10, 2016 legal brief ? filed by attorneys for Bill Baroni, the former Port Authority deputy executive director facing charges of conspiracy and fraud in the Bridgegate case ? offered a few more details about the mayor's FAPS gig, but much remains unknown about Fulop's work for the company.

Requests for comment from FAPS were not returned.

Fulop said last week that he worked in FAPS' finance department and was not a lobbyist. He subsequently declined to answer any questions, including when he started working at FAPS, how long he worked there, what his duties were, how much he earned and how he got the job.

Read more - http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _tenant_draws_scruti.html

You'll find out soon enough when he testifies.

so much for being forthright and truthful, what exactly is he hiding?

Fulop administration silent on mayor's former job
By Matt Friedman
08/11/16 05:05 PM EDT

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop will not answer any more questions about his work for a company that was in a lease dispute with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, partly because the U.S. Attorney?s office advised him not to, his administration said Thursday.

?We have been advised by counsel and the U.S. Attorney that it is inappropriate to have any comments about a case pending for trial,? Fulop spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said. She was responding to several questions from POLITICO New Jersey about the job after Fulop and his administration gave only limited answers about his role with the company, FAPS, Inc., on Wednesday.

But Morrill's answer doesn?t square with what a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney?s office said after POLITICO New Jersey asked if the office told Fulop not to talk about his work with the company.

?I can?t speak to what his counsel advised. Our office did not so advise him,? said the spokesman, Matt Reilly.

In March 2012, when he was a Jersey City councilman, Fulop was quoted in a Bloomberg article saying that he was quitting his job in finance to run for mayor full-time. The election was scheduled for May, 2013. But some time after the article was published, he took a job with FAPS ? a car import-related business that rents space from the Port Authority.

Read more - http://www.politico.com/states/new-je ... stions-on-faps-job-104678


and of course there is more -

Documents reveal political intrigue by Christie allies behind port authority deal - http://www.philly.com/philly/news/bre ... ority_deal.html?mobi=true

Sanford Bernstein?s Fulop Quits for Jersey City Mayoral Bid - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/article ... r-jersey-city-mayoral-bid

Emails shed light on Christie effort to get Fulop support in 2013 - http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... t.html#incart_river_index