Fulop loses first round of ballot initiative battle

In the battle of the ballot initiatives, Jersey City Municipal Clerk Robert Byrne ruled against Councilman Steve Fulop today, deciding that a petition for an ordinance he wanted to put before voters in November that would bar council members from accepting more than one public salary did not have enough signatures to get on the ballot.

Fulop said today that he intends to challenge the decision in front of a judge.

“We’re going to fight. We think we have a strong standing on this, and we’re going to go to court,” he said.

Byrne ruled that Fulop’s other ballot initiative, which bans contributions to elected officials from contractors with business before the city, will be on the ballot.

Although Byrne initially advised Fulop that he needed signatures from a number of voters equal to 10% of those who voted in the last general election, Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis filed an opinion late last month stating that state statute actually required Fulop to get signatures from 10% of all registered voters in Jersey City.

That meant that, instead of the 1,506 signatures that Fulop initially was required to turn in, he would need slightly more than 12,000.

Jimmy Carroll, an attorney and police officer who is one of Fulop’s closest political allies, said that the next step would likely by Hudson County Superior Court.

“I think it’s a bad call on Robert’s part.”

Byrne, meanwhile, finds himself stuck in a political fight between Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Fulop, who hopes to run for mayor next year. The ballot initiatives act as a kind of jumping off point for Fulop’s mayoral campaign, possibly providing him with better name recognition across the city.

 Byrne responded to a press release from Fulop that insinuated he was under pressure from the mayor’s office.

"I’m not superman, but certainly tenure cloaks me with a certain protection. And I certainly don’t need to please anybody at this point in my career. This is a decision I made on my own with the help of people who don’t’ have a horse in the race.”

Fulop said he did not mean to imply that Byrne had any ulterior motives -- only that he was misled by the mayor's office, who he accuses of pulling a last minute switcharoo.

“I do not blame Robert Byrne. He’s among the best clerks in the state, but the Mayor and Matsikoudis totally threw the guy under the bus.  A guy who’s prided himself on being apolitical," said Fulop. 

Among Fulop’s charges have been that the officials led him to believe he would only need 1,506 signatures and changed the requirement at the last minute. Reached for comment, Mayor Healy said that it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.

“The real truth is here that if the councilman had known this six months ago, he still would not have gotten approximately 12,000 signatures actually required,” he said.