Manzo explains his lawsuit

Responding to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s charge that he’s a lawsuit-mad political opportunist, former Assemblyman and potential mayoral candidate Lou Manzo today defended his decision to file a lawsuit seeking to oust Healy from public office.

Healy was convicted over a 2006 disorderly conduct charge stemming from an incident outside of his sister’s Bradley Beach restaurant, which he’s currently appealing in state Supreme Court.  After former Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone was ordered to forfeit her office after her own disorderly conduct conviction, Manzo sought to apply the same standard to Healy.

Healy claims that he never invoked his office to the arresting police officers, as Rone did while trying to get her nephew out of a parking ticket.  The Rone incident, however, was captured on videotape.  Healy’s incident was not, but in grand jury testimony, several police officers involved claimed that Healy mentioned his office several times, along with his friendship with the Bradley Beach chief of police in order to “sweep this under the rug.” 

Below is Manzo’s full statement. 

“Yesterday, much news was generated as a result of my filing a lawsuit that seeks to remove Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy from office for his conviction of obstruction of justice.  While my opponents will claim that I have done this for political gain, it is important to remember that I have used litigation to address a multitude of civic issues, aimed at creating a higher quality of life for local residents.  Furthermore, we are fortunate to live in a nation in which courts of law dispense justice—I am seeking such justice for the residents of Jersey City who continue to be embarrassed by the shenanigans of Mayor Healy.  Mayor Healy’s actions and the resulting convictions cast a serious doubt over his ability to give Jersey City the service it deserves from its mayor. Mayor Healy’s defense of his antics continues to take away immeasurable time and energy from governing our precious City.  Even worse, he continues to waste tax dollars by using the courts to unsuccessfully seek exoneration despite the fact that two prosecutors, eight judges, four police officers and one grand jury contradict Mr. Healy’s account of the incident for which he was convicted. 

“I have both trust and confidence that the judicial system will handle this case with fairness, disregarding the numerous political ramifications associated with this scenario.  I hope that the courts take into account the severity of Mr. Healy’s actions, just as they so diligently sought justice in the case of Newark Councilwoman Rone.”