Healy declines Jersey City mayoral debate

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has declined an invitation to participate in a major televised mayoral debate.  

Local political commentator Pat O’Melia, who organized the event and scheduled it for April 1, said that Healy Campaign Manager Bud Demellier wrote him a letter turning down his invitation because “the Mayor will give first priority to attending debates that are sponsored by respected, fair and unbiased organizations that reach a broad audience.”

All four of the city’s other mayoral candidates will participate in the debate at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre, which will be televised multiple times on Comcast.  It is going to be hosted by O’Melia and moderated by the Jersey Journal’s Agustin Torres and Earl Morgan, and the Jersey City Reporter’s Ricardo Kaulessar.  

O’Melia, who hosts a leased access television show called “The Weekly Show” as well as a radio show, said that he wants to know which of the moderators the Mayor considers unfair, biased and not respected.  

“We need to find out who gets the badge of honor, who Healy hates the most. Is it me, Augie or Earl?  We know it’s not Ricardo. Everybody loves Ricardo,” he said.  

Demellier preferred not to get specific.

“They don’t fit that definition,” he said.    

Healy is running for his second full term against former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who has run for mayor four times before; Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, who used to be City Council President and ran against Healy in 2004; Dan Levin, a community activist; and Phil Webb, a former detective.

Healy participated in the same debate for the 2004 special election and 2005 full-term election, but has had a tense relationship with the local daily paper throughout his incumbency.  O'Melia said that he goes back 30 years with Healy and considers him a friend, although he has been especially critical of him on his television show over the past year (his Web site links to Manzo's campaign Web site).  

Demellier said that the Mayor has agreed to participate in three debates, all put on by community organizations -- a local chapter of the AARP, The Heights Coalition and the Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations -- and that he may agree to more, schedule permitting.   

“We get numerous requests for debates. If we went to every one, we’d be out almost every night and weekend," said DeMellier.  “It’s big, but big doesn’t mean anything... We’re interested in people who are interested in the issues and not the personalities."  

DeMellier said that the Mayor does not want to take part in a corporate-sponsored debate (O’Melia runs a company called Hudson Media Group, LLC).  

“It is being sponsored by a company.  It’s a limited partnership,” said Demellier.  

Manzo, for his part, said that the mayor is “cheating the people of Jersey City” because none of the other debates are televised.  

“If he wants to defend his administration, he has that obligation,” he said.  “This is the one debate that most residents who can’t get out to a town hall debate can watch on TV.  So I hope he reconsiders.”  

O'Melia said that the debate will go on with or without Healy, and that if Healy does not change his mind there will be an empty dais with his name on it.