Shelley Skinner

Fulop on the steps of Jersey City Hall

JERSEY CITY -- In a city where public corruption is considered commonplace, an estimated 250 residents turned out to say it should not be.

Protestors gathered in front of City Hall tonight to put a new spin on the National Night Out, focusing on political crime as opposed to street crime in a city where eight public officials and several other political insiders were arrested in last month’s massive corruption bust.  All of the arrests involved taking bribes from an FBI informant posing as a developer interested in doing business in the city.  
    
It was the second protest in the nearly two weeks since the sting.  At last week’s protest, which was organized by One Jersey City – the political arm of the reform group CivicJC – about 80 protestors called for the resignations of City Council President Mariano Vega, who was among the arrested officials;  Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who was not arrested but met with the FBI informant and shows up in a criminal complaint as “JC Official 4”; and Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, who is facing a separate controversy over her residency status.  Tonight, the protestors only called on Vega to resign, though they did not spare Healy from criticism. 

Brooms were distributed to chants about sweeping out corrupt officials.  Some protestors wore shirts that read "Get drunk, get naked, get elected" -- a reference to a photograph of a nude, passed out Healy that surfaced during his 2004 run for mayor.  Many residents held small signs made up of an image of a January, 2007 front page of the Jersey Journal picturing the event’s organizer, Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, behind the headline “City not for sale.”  

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. 

With Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop set on seeking reelection to his Ward E seat instead of running for mayor, his ally Shelley Skinner today officially dropped her own candidacy. 

"I have made the decision not to seek a position on the Jersey City Council in 2009 and instead support Councilman Fulop's re-election,” said Skinner, a local community activist.  “While I still have an interest in running for public office one day, I realize that this year is not the best time.” 

Shelley Skinner, a downtown Jersey City community activist who planned to run for city council in Ward E, isn’t sure what she’s going to do now that incumbent councilman Steve Fulop has decided not to run for mayor

“I think obviously Steve’s decision does change things somewhat. I think time is really on my side,” she said.  “There are options on the table, and I’m going to take my time to figure out which suits me best.”

Facebook

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.