Lou Manzo

Former Assemblyman and five-time Jersey City mayoral candidate Lou Manzo, who was arrested last month on corruption allegations, owes a former campaign fundraiser about $23,000, an arbitrator ruled today.

Danielle Transue Leigh, who fundraised for Manzo’s 2007 state senate campaign, was suing for $40,000 – a figure that included damages and legal fees. She said today she was awarded the original amount she billed Manzo for. 

Manzo has 30 days to appeal the arbitrator’s decision, at which point the case will wind up in civil court.  Manzo attorney Libero Marotta yesterday told PolitickerNJ.com that Manzo would likely appeal any decision against him.   

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood)

Republicans waging a longshot challenge in Legislative District 22 seized on Assemblywoman Linda Stender's 7th Congressional District campaign finances, which include contributions made by three men stung in last week's federal corruption probe. 

Martin Marks and Bo Vastine want Stender to return campaign contributions she received last year from Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, former Assemblyman Lou Manzo and his brother Ronald Manzo, a suggestion the Stender camp calls ridiculous since the account is already closed.

“I spent 9 years as the Mayor of Scotch Plains and the thought of any elected official accepting a bribe makes me sick," said Marks. "Linda Stender should immediately return the almost $4,000 in campaign contributions she received from Mayor Peter Cammarano and the Manzo brothers. These men are alleged to have accepted cash bribes in an attempt to peddle their political influence, and that should have no place here in the 22nd District."

Jersey City good government activist Dan Levin, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in May, wants Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy to resign and the municipal government to install a host of reform measures in the wake of this week's corruption bust that gutted the city's political scene.  

“Given Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s confirmation that he is indeed the “JC Official 4” cited in FBI criminal complaints, we call for his immediate resignation, as well as that of Council President Mariano Vega.  The implication that both men have engaged in activities that compromise their ethical responsibilities to their constituents warrants their immediate removal from office,” said Levin.  

Healy was not arrested, but is mentioned frequently in the federal government’s complaint against Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, city official Ed Cheatam and political consultant Jack Shaw, who allegedly solicited money from a federal informant to funnel into Healy’s reelection fund.

JERSEY CITY – Mayor Jerramiah Healy wants his constituents to know that he has a friend in Barack Obama.  

“As most of you know I was the first elected official in the State of New Jersey to endorse [Obama]. He hasn’t forgotten that,” said Healy in his opening statement at tonight’s mayoral debate.  “We’ve been awarded over $20 million in economic stimulus.”

For the first time, all five men who want to run New Jersey’s second largest city met to debate at an elementary school in the city’s Heights neighborhood tonight.   It was the second debate of the campaign season, but the first that Healy attended.  He refused to participate at yesterday’s forum at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre on the grounds that some of the moderators were biased against him.  This was the second appearance for the four other candidates: good government activist Dan Levin, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith and police detective Phil Webb.  

During the forum, which was sponsored by The Heights Coalition, Healy frequently burnished his relationship with elected officials, from the city council all the way up to the President, arguing that they had helped him secure funds and other types of outside government support for the city.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop lashed out at Mayor Jerramiah Healy today for using city vehicles as campaign props.

Fulop, who is running for reelection to his Ward E council seat, said that the Healy camp draped a rented incinerator authority truck with campaign banners during the local St. Patrick’s Day parade.  While technically legal, Fulop doubted that city vehicles would be made available for anyone else to rent for campaign purposes.  

“While it has been clarified that this is a long practice in Jersey City and the Mayor’s campaign acted within city policy set years ago, the renting of city vehicles in the future needs to stop immediately. Renting of city property is not only in bad taste but it sets a bad precedent” Fulop said in a statement. “Can anyone rent city vehicles to use for advertising or for fun? Would the Mayor support any and all candidates running for any office the opportunity to rent city vehicles for campaign purposes?”

After turning down multiple overtures to join a mayoral ticket, Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop will run for reelection to his Ward E seat independently.  

“I had the opportunity to go on the (Mayor Jerramiah) Healy, (Former Assemblyman Lou) Manzo, (Assemblyman L. Harvey) Smith ticket, and at the end of the day, based on who else is on the ticket and the landscape, I thought this was the best route for me,” said Fulop.  

Shelley Skinner, a community and education activist who flirted with a run in Ward E while Fulop was considering a mayoral bid, will be Fulop’s campaign manager. 

Then-31st District state Senate candidate Lou Manzo makes his pitch on the campaign trail in 1997.

Jersey City Mayoral candidate Lou Manzo issued a release today unveiling the first three of nine city council candidates committed to running on his slate.

Those candidates are attorney/cop Jim Carroll in Ward D; civic association leader Jimmy King in Ward C; and Public Schools Principal Account Clerk Lori Serrano for an at-large seat.

“These three candidates represent samplings of our diverse city,” said Manzo, a former assemblyman who ran for the state senate in 1997 and lost to state Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson). “Clearly, this ticket will be composed of leaders who are not afraid to fight for Jersey City. I am proud to stand alongside these three individuals, as we move forward to make Jersey City a better place to live, work and raise families."  

Jersey City mayoral candidate Lou Manzo has filled in most of his council slate and plans to start rolling out names next week.

“We will have the majority of the known candidates that are seeking office. It is so tough to find people who want to run, and out of the people who want to run I think I’m going to get the lion’s share of them,” said Manzo, a former assemblyman who’s embarking on his fifth try for the office on Grove Street.

Manzo said that finding quality council candidates has been especially difficult this year. He’s still working on recruiting Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, who has entertained a number of offers from mayoral candidates to join their slate.

“Everybody’s still fishing for Fulop. He hasn’t made a decision yet. We’re in that race too,” said Manzo.

Bret Schundler, who served as Mayor of Jersey City from 1992 to 2001, is mulling a comeback bid next May.

While the Jersey City mayoral race is starting to gain momentum, former mayor Bret Schundler, who has not formally kicked off his campaign but has already said that he intends to run, has been relatively quiet. 

That has led to speculation that Schundler has had trouble raising money and filling out a full council slate and that he has begun to rethink whether he can pull off the same kind of upset in 2008 as he did in 1992.  Some say Schundler’s feet are beginning to get cold.

Reached for comment today, Schundler said he would like to hold off on interviews until January 15th.  Asked if he would rebut or clarify rumors about having a tough time campaigning, he said “I don’t want to clarify anything.”

But attorney Sean Connelly, a close Schundler ally who ran all three of his mayoral campaigns and served as Jersey City Corporation Counsel during his administration, dismissed the rumors.

“The last time I spoke to Bret was last Monday, and of course we send emails all the time. But nothing gave me any kind of concern,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the fundraising.”

Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith declared his candidacy for Jersey City mayor to the Jersey Journal’s “Political Insider” column over the weekend.

"This should be a great city and I think I can help make it happen," he told the paper.

Smith, the former city council president, served as Acting Mayor for about six months in 2004, after the sudden death of Mayor Glenn Cunningham, and served a few months as a state senator. He lost the following special election to fill the remainder of Cunningham's term.