Peter Brennan

Today’s guilty plea by Jersey City Councilman Phil Kenny caught local politicos off guard, but the story was all too familiar.    

An almost identical one has been replayed several times in the corruption complaints that came out of the massive federal corruption bust in July, which ensnared Kenny’s colleague, Council President Mariano Vega, among many other Jersey City officials and political candidates.  

Vega today resigned his council presidency “temporarily” – a move he had hoped to avoid earlier by supporting Councilman Peter Brennan as president pro tem.  He did not resign his seat altogether.

“For the betterment of the City of Jersey City, the Municipal Council and under the current circumstances, I am temporarily stepping down, effective Friday, October 9, 2009 as of 4:00p.m., as City Council President until such time as I am completely exonerated,” wrote Vega, who is accused of taking $30,000 in bribes.  

Twice in March, Kenny, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term in the council in April and elected to his first full term in May, met at a Jersey City restaurant with Solomon Dwek, an FBI informant posing as a crooked developer.  They were introduced by an unnamed Jersey City official.

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Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, who was arrested on corruption charges last month, said today that he has no plans to relinquish leadership of the council.

“No, I haven’t gotten to that point yet.  I think it’s premature.  I think that the idea was that I wanted to kind of temporarily step aside so Peter Brennan could chair it as president pro-tem,” said Vega in a phone interview.

Although Brennan was voted council president pro-tem, the position didn’t work out the way Vega, Brennan and most of the council hoped.  The legislation, it turned out, only allowed Brennan to take control of the meetings when Vega was absent, instead of giving him control of the body while Vega dealt with the federal case against him.   

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Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega, who was arrested last month for allegedly taking $30,000 in bribes from a federal informant, will be in charge of the next council meeting -- if he remains council president.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy has put pressure on Vega to resign from his top post, though nobody expects him to quit his at-large seat altogether.  

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill acknowledged that Healy has met with Vega several times since his arrest, but did not disclose details about their conversations.  

“The nature of it is on how to move the city forward governmentally. And that’s really the extent of what we’ll be commenting on,” she said.

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Jersey City Councilman Peter Brennan was elected president pro-tem of the council on Wednesday, but Council President Mariano Vega – who was arrested last week for allegedly taking bribes – will preside over the next meeting. 

Brennan was diagnosed with prostate cancer about two months ago, and he heads to the hospital for surgery on August 6.  Brennan’s prognosis is good, but he plans to take two or three weeks off to recover from the procedure, meaning that he will miss the council’s August 12 meeting -- the only one scheduled for that month. 

Vega will then be back in his usual role running the meeting.

But there is some confusion about the role of the president pro-tem, a position that was just created on Wednesday, and which was written before last week’s corruption busts rocked Jersey City. 

As long as Vega still attends the meetings, he is still in charge.  When Vega is absent – as he may often while deals with his corruption case – the law makes Brennan the acting council president.

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JERSEY CITY --  The City Council just voted at-large Councilman Peter Brennan the body's president pro-tem when Council President Mariano Vega fights corruption charges.

The council created the position of "President Pro-Tem" today, which has been under consideration since their first reorganization on July 1.  

Seven council members voted aye on Bernnan, but Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop abstained.  His objection was that the council wavedthe normal 20 day wait period between the passage of the legislation and the mayor signing it.  Fulop said that it was hypocritical for the council to act like there's no sense of urgency on other matters relating to the corruption bust, but that there is for this one.  

Vega has proclaimed his innocence and vowed not to resign.  The council rejected Fulop's resolution of no confidence in Vega just before voting to elevate Brennan president pro-tem.

Brennan challenged Vega for the council presidency earlier this month, but could not muster enough support to take it over.

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JERSEY CITY – Mariano Vega has held on to the city Jersey City council presidency for another term.

Councilman-at-large Peter Brennan had waged a behind-the-scenes campaign for the spot, and despite Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s declared support for Vega, he had the support of almost half the council.

At about 12:50pm, Councilwoman Willie Flood – who was the deciding vote -- told PolitickerNJ.com that she had still not made up her mind.  But she apparently later said that she had given Mayor Jerremiah Healy "my word," and would support Vega.

By the time the reorganization council meeting convened this afternoon, the race was over.  The council, including Brennan, voted unanimously for Vega.  Read More >

The race for Jersey City council president is going down to the wire.

Standing on stage at New Jersey City University just before being sworn in to another term, Councilman-at-Large Peter Brennan said that he’s still making a go for the position currently held by Mariano Vega, who hopes to hold onto it.  

The decision will be made at the first meeting of the new city council at 1pm today.  While some expect the matter to be settled before it comes up for a formal vote, as of right now the council is split, according to Brennan.  Brennan counts four votes for himself, four votes for Vega and one undecided: at-large Councilwoman Willie Flood.

“It’s been friendly.  Everybody’s working together,” said Brennan.

Vega has the support of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who is being sworn in to his second full term today.  

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*Updated

After almost completely dominating Jersey City’s May municipal election and last night’s runoff, members of Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s team are engaging in an internal contest. 

Council President Mariano Vega wants to hold on to his position at the head of the governing body.  But at-large councilman Peter Brennan, who made a play for the position four years ago, is trying again. 

Reached by phone, Vega acknowledged that Brennan is challenging him for the post. 

“I have heard about it, but I’ve been focusing on this reelection more than anything else,” he said. “I’m going to be focusing in on this issue now.”

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The announcement last week that Assemblyman Harvey Smith will run for Mayor of Jersey City means there will be an open State Assembly seat in Hudson County’s 31st district, which includes part of Jersey City and all of Bayonne.  The two key players in deciding who represents this district in the State Assembly are Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy (the Hudson County Democratic Chairman) and State Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham.  If Healy and Cunningham get together – which would mean Healy would be seeking re-election with the endorsement of his predecessor’s widow – than the endorsement of the Hudson County Democratic Organization may be tantamount to election this year.

Also at stake is the seat of Anthony Chiappone, a two-term Assemblyman (2004-06 and 2008-date) from Bayonne.  Chiappone is at odds with the newly-elected Mayor Bayonne, Mark Smith, a Healy ally.  But Cunningham likes Chiappone, who ran with her late husband in 2003 and with her in 2007.  If a deal for Cunningham to endorse Healy in the mayoral race includes keeping Chiappone in the Assembly, then Chiappone will likely return to Trenton.

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Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop turned in enough signatures yesterday to put a pair of ethics reform referendums on the ballot in November, a move that may be seen as the opening salvo in his potential 2009 mayoral campaign.

If the signatures are confirmed by the City Clerk and the initiatives are passed by the voters, Jersey City - which for over a century has been infamous for political corruption, backroom deals and cronyism-- would have some of the strictest ethics measures in the state. 

Seriously. 

One of the initiatives would ban City Council members from accepting more than one public salary or pension.  The other would bar officials from giving out no-bid contracts to vendors who made campaign contributions within a year of the contract's start date.

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