Dana Rone

Bret Schundler is mulling another bid for Mayor of Jersey City, his job from 1992 to 2001.
Count former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler as one ally of former Assemblyman Lou Manzo in his quest to force Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy to forfeit his office.

“If what the officer said happened actually happened, then I think Healy should be removed,” he said.

After grand jury testimony surfaced from a police officer alleging that Healy tried to use his political status to “sweep” his 2006 disorderly conduct arrest in Bradley Beach “under the rug,” Manzo filed a lawsuit asking the Monmouth County Prosecutor to look into the matter.

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. 

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo, a potential mayoral candidate in Jersey City next year, filed a petition with Monmouth County Superior Court to ask them to weigh whether Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s conduct during his 2006 Bradley Beach arrest should trigger him to forfeit his office.

No hearing date is set yet, and Manzo can’t release details until all parties have been served.

Healy was convicted of disorderly conduct in Bradley Beach last year, and has sought unsuccessfully to reverse the decision several times. He’s currently appealing it in the state Supreme Court.

But after an Essex County judge ruled that former Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone must forfeit her office earlier this summer, Manzo started digging and hired legal counsel to see whether the same standard should apply to Healy. Healy and Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said it shouldn’t, since Healy never invoked his office during his arrest.

It’s no surprise, given his public comments the last few weeks regarding a possible replacement for former Central Ward Councilwoman Dana Rone.

But any doubt regarding where North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato stands in the special elections for her replacement on Nov. 4th evaporated on Saturday when Adubato prodded Charles Bell into a picture with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and local elected officials at the Flamboyan.

Running as part of Team Booker, Rone defeated incumbent Councilman Bell in the 2006 mayoral election. Citing Rone’s use of her public office to obstruct justice in December of 2007, an assignment judge this summer relieved Rone of her council seat and barred her from public office.

Newark Council President Mildred Crump with Brendan Gill, campaign manager for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park): Politicker photo 

DENVER - The Rone drama drones on even though it’s Denver and not Newark.

Mayor Cory Booker, who today is scheduled to speak at the Black Caucus Town Hall at the convention center, says he would prefer a woman representative in the Central Ward.

His first choice is ousted Councilwoman Dana Rone, whom an assignment judge released from her elected duties last month after concluding that the councilwoman’s punishment for using her office to obstruct justice merited being barred for life from public office.

Rone remains in appeals mode. Meanwhile, support for former Central Ward Councilman Charles Bell - vanquished by the Booker Team in 2006 - grows, according to Newark sources.

NEWARK - Former Councilman Charles Bell is generating considerable support in the Central Ward as Newarkers continue to jockey for position in the event that former Councilwoman Dana Rone loses her appeals and does not return to the governing body.

"I did pick up the petitions and I had more than enough as of last night's gathering," Bell told PolitickerNJ.com. "I am running, yes, but at the same time, I'm hoping Miss. Rone is successful in her appeals. That would solve my problems, but if she is not successful I am prepared."

In the community room of the New Hope Baptist Church on Tuesday night, Bell received the blessing of Central Ward Democratic Committee Chairman Dwight Brown.

At-large Councilman Luis Quintana: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - Coming off a press conference in which he stood with former Councilwoman Dana Rone, veteran Councilman Luis Quintana said he favors keeping Rone’s Central Ward council seat vacant until the public votes in a Nov. 4th special election.

"I’d be willing to introduce a resolution saying leave it alone," Quintana told PolitickerNJ.com.

Keeping the seat unoccupied makes sense from several vantage points, argued Quintana, an at-large representative who lives in the city’s North Ward.

Former Councilwoman Dana Rone greets well-wishers in City Hall Rotunda on Tuesday.: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - Former Councilwoman Dana Rone stood in the rotunda of City Hall today with her colleagues and in front of cheering supporters, apparently happy to be reunited with the Newark City Council.

"I'm grateful for the support of my colleagues," said Rone in a brief statement.

How far the council would go to support her was not clear on Tuesday.

The lower courts have rendered their verdicts, said West Ward Councilman Ronald Rice, but the Council intends to support the former Councilwoman as she continues to pursue the process at the appellate level and in the state Supreme Court.

Flanked by Rone, and fellow council people, who this morning in council chambers helped Rice pass a resolution in favor of standing beside the former Central Ward councilwoman, Rice said the penalty in Rone's case is too severe.

She's called a special meeting, but will Council President Mildred Crump and the council take substantive action tomorrow?: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - They could end up coming out of their offices tomorrow and standing unified behind their fallen colleague with a statement of support, but a prospective City Council vote on whether or not to replace embattled former Councilwoman Dana Rone summons an inevitable question.

Who would vote to replace Rone, and who would replace her?

The fact that Council President Mildred Crump called a special meeting tomorrow at a time when East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador is on vacation may indicate that Mayor Cory Booker - an ally of Crump’s - wants the council to move on the vote as quickly as possible.

Some Newark sources say Crump - not Booker - has more of a stake in would-be replacement Nikea White; and that is was Crump acting alone, not the mayor, who pushed for tomorrow’s vote.

Newark City Council President Mildred Crump has called for a special meeting of the City Council to consider what to do with the council's vacant seat in the Central Ward.

Convicted of using her office to obstruct justice, Dana Rone last week lost her Central Ward seat after an assignment judge ruled against a state-recommendation of leniency.

Rone is lobbying the council to delay any vote on a replacement until after she has exhausted her appeals process.  

An appellate judge late last week upheld the assignment judge's earlier ruling, leaving Rone in pursuit of a reversal from the state Supreme Court.