Sandra B. Cunningham

After federal agents arrested dozens of New Jersey politicos last month, some readers of the criminal complaints against them took solace in knowing that there was at least one public official who “could not be owned.” 

That person was briefly mentioned in the complaint against Jersey City veteran political consultant Joseph Cardwell who, discussing corrupt officials to hook an FBI informant up with, mentioned there was a “particular state government official who could not be owned.”  

In today’s Politifax, editor Nick Acocella writes he has “excellent reason to believe” that the official is state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Jersey City).

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.

PolitickerNJ.com

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo

Lou Manzo stepped on familiar ground today by announcing his candidacy for Jersey City mayor.

Manzo, 53, has done this four times before, starting in the wake of former Mayor Gerry McCann’s indictment on fraud charges in 1992 -- a crowded and brutal race that included his brother, which forced Manzo to air a cable advertisement of his mother calling him “the real Manzo.” He expects to hear references to his four previous losses repeated by his opponents throughout the campaign – especially by Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

Manzo said he doesn’t mind hearing about that. In fact, he believes it testifies to his dogged persistence as a public servant, even when he does not hold a public office. In other words, nobody can call Manzo a quitter.

“Those are the naysayers and those are the spinners. Those are the sound bytes they’ve been handed by the political architects of Healy’s organization,” he said. “Those are the same naysayers that can join the long list of people who criticized Lincoln, Edison and others who understand that you’re never beaten until you quit.”

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo made his candidacy for mayor of the state’s second largest city official today, saying that the upcoming election will likely be the most important one in Jersey City’s storied history.

“This is going to be the most crucial election probably in the city’s history, not only because of the conditions in the city but because of the present national economic crisis and how it’s going to impact cities like Jersey City,” said Manzo. “I believe that the present leadership – not only the mayor but his apparatus – have demonstrated clearly that they have failed the leadership test and are ill-prepared to serve in what are probably going to be crisis times.”

Manzo plans to run on a platform that highlights economic development, job creation, reform in tax abatement policy and alleviating the city’s crime program through unorthodox methods.

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Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop’s announcement that he will not run for mayor breathes new life into a race that has been dormant for months.

Since summer, the field of prospective candidates has remained in stasis, with state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham’s pending decision on whether or not to run holding up former Assemblyman Lou Manzo’s own candidacy. Former Mayor Bret Schundler has said that he’s going to run, but has yet to make a formal announcement, while Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith has yet to make a decision. Downtown community activist Dan Levin is running as well.

Fulop said that the lack of campaign activity only benefited incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who he frequently butts heads with.

“It’s to the benefit of the Jersey City residents that it’s going to start the campaign. It has kind of been not moving forward, which doesn’t benefit the dialogue – probably just Jerry Healy,” said Fulop.

State Sen. Frederick Madden (D-Washington Twp.) will be the new Chairman of the Senate Labor Committee.

Senate President Dick Codey (D-West Orange) has tapped state Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington Township) to chair the Labor Committee.

State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham (D-Jersey City) has been named vice-chair.

The chairmanship opened up after former Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) was named to replace state Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) as chair of the judiciary committee. Adler was elected last month to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Fred Madden is a natural fit to helm the Senate Labor Committee,” said Codey in a statement. “Clearly he has the experience, having already served as Vice Chair. He also has a demonstrated commitment to laws that protect workers’ rights and foster job growth, the bedrock of a healthy workforce.”

Over the course of the last month, the Hudson County rumor mill has been rife with talk that Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who’s facing a lawsuit that seeks to remove him from office, is preparing to resign.  

Last night, Healy sought to squelch that talk.   

“I’m not resigning.  Not only am I not resigning, but no way in hell am I resigning because Lou Manzo has brought an absurd application addressed to the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office to remove an elected Hudson county official,” said Healy in a phone interview with PolitickerNJ.  “I’m not only not resigning, I am running for mayor again in seven months.”

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop just saw his own municipal pay-to-play ordinance signed into law by the city council on Tuesday.  The next day, Gov. Corzine outlined a sweeping ethics reform package that, if passed, Fulop thinks will strengthen the one that Jersey City just enacted. 

The Governor’s plan covers banning contributions to municipal officials from redevelopers.  That, Fulop said, was part of his original plan, but he was advised that it wouldn’t pass muster in a legal challenge because of state laws favoring redevelopers– so he dropped it. 

“For us in Jersey City, I think the Governor’s would certainly be stricter because it would affect redevelopment, which would give us more stringent pay-to-play laws,” said Fulop.