Jersey City ballot initiative battle not over

One of Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop's two ballot initiatives suffered a severe blow earlier this week by a prominent city official, but Fulop said the move has energized his base.

"Yesterday I sent out that email letting people know about it. We got 60 new donors, 25 new volunteers and we're just starting," he said.

A move by Jersey City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis on Tuesday sparked outrage in an already politically charged atmosphere. Fulop had just turned in 1,800 signatures for two ballot initiatives: one which would enact new anti pay-to-play rules, and another that would bar council members from receiving more than one public salary (six of the nine council members have more than one taxpayer funded salary).

Through talks with Municipal Clerk Robert Byrne and two employees from the corporation counsel's office, Fulop said he was led to believe he only needed to turn in 1,506 signatures, basing the number on the 10% of the voters who turned out in last year's general election.

Fulop collected about 3,000 signatures for each initiative, but held off turning in extra so as not to trigger a special election, which would cost $250,000. It would also make passing the initiatives more difficult, since it would be a low-turnout special election where HCDO could easily mobilize its supporters, as opposed to a general election with presidential candidates on top of the ticket.

On Tuesday, as Fulop was replacing illegible and invalid signatures in order to get the initiatives on the ballot, Matsikoudis told Byrne that the Faulkner Act doesn't apply to ordinances involving salaries. Rather, he said, the number of signatures collected should be 10% of all the city's registered voters, meaning Fulop would have to collect 12,227.

"I will tell you that we were willfully misled, and we have documentation on it, by the corporation counsel's office," said Fulop. "They told us how many signatures we needed countless times... Whether it was the petitions, the format of the petitions, the dates we needed to turn it in by in order to qualify for what and not cost the taxpayers money. We followed that exactly. And in the 11th hour and 59th minute all of a sudden to spring this on us."

The politics of the dispute lurk barely beneath the surface. Matsikoudis works for Healy, who Fulop intends to challenge in next year's mayoral election. Healy, along with the rest of the city council, is dead set against the reforms, which Fulop, 31, admits also serve as a way to build his name identification and reputation outside of his downtown base.

If Municipal Clerk Robert Byrne rules against Fulop, expect a court challenge.

"Our hope is that it gets certified and we don't need to go to court," said Fulop. "Is Matsikoudis going to try to sue? I don't know."
Matsikoudis said that while Fulop did talk to officials in his office, he only discussed the anti-pay to play initiative - not the one at issue.

"Whatever occurred, apparently other people simply weren't aware that this statute covered it," he said. "We can't help but follow it once it was discovered."

Fulop's side will make its case shortly in a written brief to Byrne. James Carroll, a police officer and attorney who plans to run on a slate with Fulop next year, said that, misleading information notwithstanding, the number of signatures on a petition is, for the most part, a formality. Having 3,000 signatures clearly demonstrates that enough people are concerned with the issue to make it worthy of a public vote.

in the past have reinforced that notion, said Carroll. When State Sen. Sandra Cunningham used the wrong petition forms in the run-up to her last year's primary against Lou Manzo, a judge ruled that election laws should be interpreted liberally so as not to "deprive voters of their franchise." Former City Councilwoman Melissa Holloway, who passed away last month, eventually won a state superior court decision to allow her to run against Healy in 2005, despite being short of the required number of signatures.

"If they do this, it sends the exact opposite message to get people involved in the legal process," said Carroll. "Generally that's going to be our argument."

Matsikoudis wouldn't speculate on what will happen if Byrne rules in Fulop's favor.

"There are a number of ways things could end up I court," he said. "There could be a lawsuit from a citizen. Who knows?"