Half million dollars in Fulop's campaign chest is a little overstated... he has about $360,000 right now of which $100,000 is his own money that he loaned to his campaign. That's from his most recent election report from 10/18/2011. It's got $560,000 in total contributions before $200,000 in expenses are listed, leaving him a balance of $360,000.

Also interesting to see that one of his expenditures in Schedule D was a donation to Senator Menendez for Reelection campaign fund. The good senator doesn't strike me as a role model for transparent government, so it's interesting to see Fulop supporting him.

Here's the link to the report:
http://www.elec.state.nj.us/ELECRepor ... spx?Page=1&LastName=fulop

Behind the scenes battle for mayor in Jersey City

by Al Sullivan
Oct 23, 2011
Hudson Reporter

Even before voters get to choose two new council-at-large candidates in this November?s special election in Jersey City, infighting is apparently underway behind the scenes in anticipation of the 2013 election for mayor.

Apparently there is a serious push to get state Sen. Sandra Cunningham to commit to a mayoral run, and a power struggle in her camp to determine who will replace her chief of staff Joe Cardwell, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 7 for his role in Bid Rig II (the 2009 federal sting operation into political corruption).

Report suggest that Elnardo Webster, attorney for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and state Sen. Ray Lesniak (a close ally of Cunningham) are trying to muscle out Cardwell as Cunningham?s chief advisor. Most believe that Cardwell will be serving some jail time.

With Booker apparently planning to run for the U.S. Senate, Lesniak and company may be seeking to keep control of one of the major urban centers.

Lesniak, who barely won reelection to the state Senate, owed Booker for his endorsement, and the payback appears to be a contract to Webster?s firm for legal work involving the sale of the Hoboken University Medical Center. Booker and Lesniak seem to be counting on the support of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Cunningham in Booker?s bid for U.S. Senate.

In a recent poll pitting Councilman Steven Fulop, Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and Cunningham against each other for Jersey City mayor (and in a separate poll, Council President Peter Brennan Fulop appears to have an early lead over Cunningham, possibly by as much as 8 percent, with Healy reported as a distant third.

Healy?s advantage in the past was his ability to raise more money than his opponents, something that may not be true in this campaign, since Fulop reportedly has already raised a half million dollars towards the 2013 election.

Doria cleared by feds

It?s lucky for Joseph Doria that Gov. Christopher Christie decided not to run for president ? otherwise Doria might have had to wait another two years before he could clear his good name.

Doria was caught up in Christie?s political campaign road show that the feds like to call Bid Rig II, which, combined with suspects in Brooklyn busted for selling human body parts and other atrocities, netted in the first sweep about 44 people, many of whom were Hudson County political figures accused of accepting bribes from cooperating federal witness Solomon Dwek.

For the most part, those arrested were minor political figures in the Democratic political machine, with the exception of Deputy Jersey City Mayor Leona Beldini, who was later found guilty; Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who was found not guilty; Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, whose conviction on one of three charges is currently under appeal, and of course, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, whom the feds had to wait until he actually took office to arrest, and is due for release from jail shortly.

Doria would have been the big fish in this catch since he was then Commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, arguably the second most powerful position in state government after the governor, at a time when Christie was running against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

Tagging Doria ? who was never charged, although FBI agents allegedly removed boxes of documents from his house (which later reports claim were empty boxes) ? connected the scandal to the State House, and more or less guaranteed a Christie victory over Corzine the following November.

For two years, Doria lingered in this strange legal limbo that was finally resolved last week when the feds publicly sent a letter saying he was no longer the subject of an investigation.

Christie takes care of his friends

Although propelled into office partly by the impact of Bid Rig II, Christie?s fame as a federal prosecutor was secured with the arrests and convictions on corruption charges at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2006.

Christie gave a $3 million no-bid contract to his former mentor Judge Herbert J. Stern to serve as monitor in the aftermath of the investigation. Then, according to published reports, he later arranged for Stern?s son to get a job at the U.S. Attorney?s office.

Convicted in this investigation was Laxmipathi Garipalli, thanks to the efforts of whistleblower James Lawler, who worked for Garipalli at the time according to several sources. Lawler was later brought to Bayonne by the Committee to Save Bayonne Medical Center, a group of concerned citizens and workers who were critical of the old owners of the facility.

?We wanted him because we knew he was a whistleblower and he did a report on the hospital for us,? said one member of the committee.

As the transition team came on board at the hospital, they brought on former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli and his chief aide Sean Jackson. Jackson had also worked with Lawler for Garipalli at UMDNJ, and so ironically, the two found themselves on opposite sides. Jackson is said to be Torricelli?s go-to man.

As the old Bayonne Medical Center teetered towards bankruptcy in 2007, Lawler desperately attempted to put together a group to purchase the hospital. When this effort fell through, Lawler hooked up with Vivek Garipalli, the son of the man he helped convict, and both became partners in the ownership group of Bayonne Medical center and HUMC Holdco, the group buying the Hoboken hospital.

This ironic situation took place under the monitoring of Judge Stern and presumably with the blessing of Christie. The elder Garipalli, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement but has yet to be sentenced, reportedly has become a cooperating witness in the UMDNJ investigation.

?Lawler is Mr. Clean,? said one member of the former transition team at Bayonne Medical Center. ?The new owners rolled him out to show that everything is on the up and up. James doesn?t even have an office at the hospital.?

Christie, of course, has since gone out of his way to make sure that HUMC Holdco will be able to purchase the hospital in Hoboken.

Medical Properties Trust, which is most likely purchasing the Hoboken hospital land, is a prominent Republican contributor, including providing support to a national governor?s conference which Christie heads.

HUMC Holdco has also contributed to a Christie political action committee and other groups.

So you have to think that supporting the sale of Hoboken hospital is Christie?s way of saying thanks to those that helped him in his investigations at UMDNJ and supported him politically.


Read more: Hudson Reporter - Behind the scenes battle for mayor in Jersey City