Louis Manzo

Steve Fulop won't run for Mayor of Jersey City next year. Instead, he'll seek re-election to the City Council.

Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop has decided against a bid for Mayor of Jersey City in 2009, according to sources close to the reform Democrat.  Louis Manzo, a former Assemblyman and Hudson County Freeholder who has made four unsuccessful bids for Mayor, is expected to enter the race to unseat Jerramiah Healy.  The incumbent, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman and an early supporter of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, is viewed as the favorite to win re-election in the May non-partisan municipal race.

Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-Jersey City) and his brother, Ronald, pleaded not guilty to corruption charges today.

The Jersey Journal covered the arraignment.  

The two are accused of taking $27,500 in bribes from FBI informant Solomon Dwek during Louis Manzo’s mayoral campaign earlier this year.  They are also accused of promising Dwek that they would promote former Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Director Maher Khalil to a higher position in city government.  

Khalil, who set up meetings between Dwek and several other officials charged in the massive July corruption sting, pleaded guilty last month to taking $72,500 in bribes from Dwek.  

Louis Manzo, who ran for Mayor of Jersey City five times, was indicted today on federal corruption charges

Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-Jersey City), who was arrested on July 23 as part of Operation Bid Rig, was indicted today on charges that he took a $27,500 bribe from a government witness - believed to be Solomon Dwek - in exchange for help on a development matter after he became Mayor.  Manzo lost his bid to unseat incumbent Jerramiah Healy last spring by a wide margin.

Manzo's brother, insurance executive Ronald Manzo, was also indicted.

The Manzo's are accused of conspiring with two then-Jersey City officials, Edward Cheatam and Maher Khalil, and with a "now-deceased political consultant" - believed to be Jack Shaw.  Cheatam and Khalil have already pleaded guilty.

The two accepted envelopes with cash outside a Staten Island restaurant, according to the indictment.

From the  U.S. Attorney's press release:

Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-Jersey City), who was arrested last month for allegedly taking bribes from an FBI informant, still faces a civil suit from a former fundraiser who says he owes her $40,000 for his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic State Senate nomination in 2007.

Dannielle Transue Leigh says that Manzo paid her $2,000 per month but skipped out on the 12% sum of total money raised he agreed to pay her once the campaign was over.

The two sides are set to meet for arbitration in Superior Court tomorrow morning, but it is unlikely to resolve the dispute.  Both plan to appeal if the arbitrator rules against them, continuing a case that has dragged on since shortly after state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Jersey City) defeated Manzo in the June, 2007 Democratic primary.

Monthly payments to Transue Leigh appear in Manzo's ELEC reports, but Manzo in an affidavit denied that he entered into a contract for fundraising services with her.

"He's under criminal investigation and he's perjured himself.  It just boggles the mind," said Transue Leigh, who originally sued for $15,000 in small claims court because she wanted to get the case over with quickly but said that, after repeated delays, she decided to go to trial for the larger sum that more accurately reflects her losses.

District 22 GOP Assembly candidate Martin Marks this afternoon doubled down on his criticism of Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) for accepting campaign contributions from three men charged last Thursday with corruption.

During her failed District 7 Congressional run last year, Stender received money from Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, former Assemblyman Lou Manzo, and Manzo's brother, Ronald, all of whom were charged in federal court last week with taking cash bribes related to their own 2009 campaign bids.

"Linda Stender cites technicalities in explaining why she should not
return nearly $4000 in dirty money donated to her by three machine Democrats now under indictment," fumed Marks.

Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne)

BAYONNE - Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) confirmed that he's the state assemblyman identified in the federal complaint against Lou and Ronald Manzo who JC Official #1 describes inadvertently running into as he and Ronald Manzo met confidential witness Solomon Dwek in the parking lot of the Lighthouse Restaurant. 

According to the Manzo complaint, "On or about April 23, 2009, at approximately 4:26 a.m., FBI agents intercepted an incoming call to the consultant's cellphone from JC Official #1. During that call, JC Official #1 said, 'Hey, you now after we left the Bayonne meeting, me, me, Ronald Manzo and the CW was in the uh, uh, parking lot... guess who we run into?'"

The complaint puts the words "state assemblyman" in brackets.

"I didn't want nothing to do with the guy," JC Official #1 says, according to the feds. "I didn't even want him to see me."