Louis Manzo

Jerramiah Healy is headed toward a landslide re-election as Mayor of Jersey City, if his own campaign polling is accurate.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has a 41-point lead over former Assemblyman Louis Manzo in his bid for re-election to a third term, according to an internal poll conducted for the Healy campaign and obtained by PolitickerNJ.com.  The Benenson Strategy Group poll has Healy leading Manzo 55%-14%, with 12% for Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith and 5% for a fourth candidate, Dan Levin.

In a two-way race with Manzo, Healy leads 62%-22%.

The poll shows Healy with favorable of 74%-20%; Manzo’s favorable are at 48%-20%.  Nearly six out of ten Jersey City voters (57%) say the city is headed in the right direction, and 77% say Jersey City “is a city on the move.”

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. 

Lynn Schundler, the wife of former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, is reportedly considering a bid for the Jersey City Council.

Former Jersey City First Lady Lynn Schundler has decided against running for the City Council in Ward E after speaking to supporters of Mayor Jerramiah Healy.  Her possible candidacy came just a few weeks after her husband, former Mayor Bret Schundler, dropped his own comeback bid as a challenger to Healy.

Ward E, which is predominantly made up of the city's downtown, is currently represented by Councilman Steven Fulop - one of Healy's most outspoken critics.  Fulop also backed off a mayoral bid and attended Healy's campaign kickoff, but he has declined to run on the Healy slate and will seek re-election on his own.

If Schundler ran, Fulop would likely have forged an alignment with former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who is making his sixth bid for Mayor. Manzo, sources say, has also courted Schundler as a possible running mate.

Lynn Schundler, an attorney and former Senate Republican staffer, has already met with Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, a Healy supporter who was a Schundler ally when he served as the Jersey City Council President.  When Bret Schundler gave up his seat to run for Governor in 2001, he backed DeGise for Mayor in his unsuccessful bid against Glenn Cunningham.

Two sources close to Healy say they were optimistic that she would run, but noted that she has not fully committed.  She did not meet with Healy, as expected, but instead informed members of his political team that she would not become a canddiate.

State Sen. Brian Stack, the Mayor of Union City, is upset that political enemy Rudy Garcia was invited to Jerramiah Healy's campaign kickoff.

Sources say that Union City Mayor Brian Stack is off the charts livid that two of his political rivals, former Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny and former Union City Mayor Rudy Garcia were invited to stand on the stage when Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy announced his re-election bid last week, and that the feud is getting so out of hand that a Stack endorsement of former Assemblyman Louis Manzo for Mayor is now a possibility.  Their best hope to avoid a Second World War between the two Hudson County Democrats may be to convince U.S. Senator Bob Menendez to mediate.

The two went at it two years ago when Healy, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman, backed West New York Mayor Sal Vega for Kenny's Senate seat.  Stack beat Vega in the primary by a 4-1 margin.  Garcia, who was tossed as Mayor and as an Assemblyman (Stack took his seat) after a public feud with Menendez, remains on the outs with the Union City powerbrokers.

Former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a candidate for Mayor of Jersey City, today announced three City Council candidates who will run on his slate in the May municipal election: former Jersey City Housing Authority Chair Lori Serrano will run At-Large, retired Jersey City Police Sergeant Jim Carroll will seek the Ward D seat against incumbent William Gaughan, and former Hudson County Undersheriff Jimmy King will challenge incumbent Steve Lipski in Ward C.

Manzo is making his sixth bid for Mayor.  He lost races in 1992, 1993, 2001, 2004, and 2005.

Sources familiar with Jersey City politics say that an interesting alliance is in the works: if Sandra Cunningham runs for Mayor in 2009, then Louis Manzo  will drop his plan to run for Mayor and support her – with the implied promise that she would support him for her State Senate seat.  And if City Councilman Steven Fulop joins the Cunningham camp – instead of running for Mayor – he would be rewarded with Cunningham’s endorsement for the Democratic nomination for Congress against Albio Sires in the 2010 primary.   Manzo, sources say, has not ruled out a bid for Councilman-At-Large on the Cunningham ticket, although he could not serve as Councilman and Senator at the same time.

FOUR-BILL PACKAGE TO REDUCE GUN CRIME RECEIVES FINAL LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL

Measures Would Create New Penalties for Gun Running, Smuggling & Purchasing

(TRENTON) - A package of bills Assemblymen Neil M. Cohen, Gordon M. Johnson, Louis M. Manzo, and Bob Gordon sponsored to reduce illegal gun trafficking in the state by creating new penalties and updating existing laws received final legislative approval today in the General Assembly.

PORTION OF WATSON COLEMAN ANTI-STREET GANG PACKAGE SIGNED INTO LAW

Measure Would Help Combat Gang Violence, Protect Children

(TRENTON) - A portion of a sweeping "Fighting Gangs, Protecting Our Youth" legislative initiative Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman championed to provide municipalities, schools, and law enforcement authorities with new tools to combat the growing menace of street gangs in New Jersey was signed into law today by Governor Jon S. Corzine.

THREE-BILL PACKAGE TO REDUCE FIREARM TRAFFICKING CLEARS ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Measures Would Create New Penalties for Gun Running, Smuggling & Purchasing

(TRENTON) - A package of bills Assemblymen Neil M. Cohen, Gordon M. Johnson, Louis M. Manzo, and Bob Gordon sponsored to reduce illegal gun trafficking in the state by creating new penalties and updating existing laws was released today by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SENATE PANEL CLEARS MANZO/JOHNSON BILL REQUIRING IMMEDIATE REPORTING OF HANDGUN THEFT

Measure Would Encourage Prompt Reporting of Gun Loss, Theft

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assemblymen Louis Manzo and Gordon M. Johnson sponsored to require handgun owners to immediately report the loss or theft of a firearm to authorities was released today by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee after a 3 to 2 vote.