Steve Fulop

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop giving interviews at today's council meeting

JERSEY CITY -- Councilman Steven Fulop today distanced himself from other anti-political establishment activists who have called for Mayor Jerramiah Healy to resign.

Although Fulop, a constant thorn in the side of Healy and his allies, has called on arrested City council President Mariano to resign and will introduce a resolution of no confidence in him within minutes, he stressed that he has not called on Healy to resign.

“I sincerely feel it’s not fair, it’s not reasonable, it’s not just,” said Fulop during today's council meeting.  ‘The fair thing is to respect the authorities who have more information than we have and have chosen not to arrest him.”

Fulop said that nobody had more to gain than him politically for calling on Healy to resign, but concluded his remarks by saying “we shouldn’t’ be painting people with an entirely painted brush about what happens next week.”

Vega, he said, is presumed innocent, but “the reality though is that while the assumption of innocence is the standard in our personal lives, the same standard does not apply to a role that is in the public trust.”

Community activist and former at-large council candidate Andrew Hubsch protests in front of City Hall

JERSEY CITY – The city council is going about business as usual with a regularly scheduled meeting that convened at 10:30am, about half an hour after its scheduled start.  

But a quick glance at the chamber reveals that thisis a particularly well-attended meeting, with at least 200 people watching, and dozens of reporters and cameramen -- many from New York City television news outlets that don't normally cover the workings of Jersey City government. 

The reason for the interest is obvious.  The city last week saw the worst of its political culture exposed, once again, to the nation after an FBI corruption bust netted a cast of Jersey City politicians, unelected officials and insiders.  Adding a dark aspect to the controversy was the death yesterday of one of those politicos who were charged -- political consultant Jack Shaw -- whose body was found in his apartment next to so-far unidentified cases of pills.

Councilman Steve Fulop plans to introduce a resolution of no confidence in Council President Mariano Vega, who was arrested last week and charged with taking bribes.   With Vega in attendance, it adds another element of drama. 

There are about 200 people in the gallery, a few holding signs with slogans like “crooks and thieves must go” and “ethics, not bribes.”

In response to a resignation demand from good government activist and former mayoral candidate Dan Levin, and accused of “tacit acceptance” of corruption -- if not worse -- by Councilman Steven Fulop, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy today once again proclaimed his innocence.  

“As I said previously, I have done nothing wrong and have a duty to serve the people of Jersey City who elected me to this office. I want to reassure the people of this city that I have immediately suspended without pay those city employees who have been charged in this investigation,” he said.  “We have also sought instruction from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on how to best secure the offices and records of those employees. Our focus, however, is on governing the city and doing so with the same mission we have had for the past five years, which is to continue to do what is in the best interest of the people of Jersey City.”

The statement was basically a rehash of the one Healy put out on Friday acknowledging that he is “JC Official 4,” who was not arrested in Thursday’s huge corruption bust but turns up prominently in the federal complaint against Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini; affirmative action officer and Housing Authority member Ed Cheatam and political consultant Jack Shaw.  

City Council President Mariano Vega, who was arrested Thursday and charged with taking $10,000 in bribes, attended today’s caucus meeting.  He said he was innocent and that he would not resign. 

JERSEY CITY -- Four days after his perp walk was splashed across newsprint and tri-state area television screens, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega showed up to this morning’s City Council caucus meeting and took his place at the head of the table.  

Vega started the meeting with a statement.

‘The events of this past Thursday were as shocking to me as they were to everyone else,” he said. “I am not guilty of the allegations.  In our system of justice we are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  I do not intend to resign as council president, nor as a councilman." 

Vega said the council is developing an ordinance – to be voted on at its meeting on Wednesday – to create of president pro-temp.  Whoever gets that title will take over Vega’s role while he deals with his criminal case.  He also relinquished his chairmanship of the Tax Enhancement Committee.  

“Public service is the profession I have chosen, and I am proud of my service ot he people of my beloved Jersey City.  I am thankful that I have the support of my wife, children and most importantly, I have the support of the facts.  I look forward to putting this all behind us as quickly as possible," he said.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy – whose town had far more public officials busted today than anywhere else– said all of those arrested have been suspended without pay.

“Today’s arrests of several Jersey City public officials are shocking and dismaying. We are saddened by the negative light this has cast on our city and want to assure the public we have always conducted honest and open government,” said Healy in a statement.  “We have had only one criterion when making policy decisions and that is – what is best for the city? We are immediately suspending without pay those city employees who were charged today pending the outcome of this case.”

Councilman Steve Fulop went a step further, calling on Council President Mariano Vega and Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini – both of whom were arrested for allegedly taking bribes -- to resign.  

“This is truly a dark day for Jersey City. Yet again, we are disgraced by the conduct of our city’s leadership and the far-reaching embarrassment their actions bring to the city. While the individuals named in today’s indictments deserve their day in court, the sheer scale and widespread nature of the allegations is an outrage to the people of our city,” said Fulop.  “I am calling on Mayor Jerramiah Healy to suspend all city employees involved in this investigation, including Deputy Mayor Beldini, immediately and without pay.  Further, I call on City Council President Mariano Vega, who is named in a complaint and arrested this morning, to resign his office immediately. Councilman Vega’s office has been compromised and he can no longer adequately represent the people of Jersey City underneath a cloud of suspicion and corruption.”

There was one exception to the overwhelming victory of Mayor Jerramiah Healy and his slate in Jersey City last Tuesday. 

For all but one council seat, candidates from Team Healy either won outright or were the top vote getters but still have to face a runoff next month.  Only in Ward E did Healy’s candidate suffer a blow.  With 63% of the vote, independent incumbent Councilman Steve Fulop, who has spent most of the last four years at odds with Healy, won reelection with a larger plurality than any other candidate in the city – including the Mayor himself. 

Some Fulop supporters are already talking about Fulop running for mayor in 2013 as if it’s a done deal.  Fulop, of course, won’t make that commitment yet, but he noted that he will be starting off his next term in a good position.

“We will grow from here,” he said during a conversation over Instant Messenger, adding that he has $175,000 left in his campaign coffers – about half of the total he raised for this election cycle. 

2nd Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason

HOBOKEN – Councilwoman Beth Mason’s just left her campaign headquarters, and if anyone ever needed evidence that big money moves in and out of this narrow front door, in her absence, the candidate’s mobile face on a flat screen TV speaks to passersby on Washington Avenue. 

She’s on cable TV, too, and a Brian P. Stack-sized banner hangs on the side of campaign headquarters. Overlooking Washington Avenue in fullblown Diego Rivera glory stand Mason and her three crusading running mates. 

Circulating on these same streets, meanwhile, a Mason mailer shows Councilman Peter Cammarano’s head with rabbit ears popping in less than auspicious fashion out of a hat held by exuberant magic man Mayor David Roberts.

The implication is that Cammarano represents an elongation of the now gasping Roberts era. But the larger campaign implication is just as telling from this and a constant barrage of counterpunching mailers targeting Cammarano and not Mason’s other chief competitor in a six-person field:  if there must be a runoff, the Mason campaign wants to eliminate Cammarano now and deal one-on-one with Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer later.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop lashed out at Mayor Jerramiah Healy today for using city vehicles as campaign props.

Fulop, who is running for reelection to his Ward E council seat, said that the Healy camp draped a rented incinerator authority truck with campaign banners during the local St. Patrick’s Day parade.  While technically legal, Fulop doubted that city vehicles would be made available for anyone else to rent for campaign purposes.  

“While it has been clarified that this is a long practice in Jersey City and the Mayor’s campaign acted within city policy set years ago, the renting of city vehicles in the future needs to stop immediately. Renting of city property is not only in bad taste but it sets a bad precedent” Fulop said in a statement. “Can anyone rent city vehicles to use for advertising or for fun? Would the Mayor support any and all candidates running for any office the opportunity to rent city vehicles for campaign purposes?”

Is Steve Fulop, above, making nice with Jerry Healy?

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy doesn’t have the official endorsement of one of his biggest critics, City Councilman Steven Fulop, but in the rough and tumble of the municipal election season, the two seem to be getting along quite nicely.  Fulop attended Healy’s announcement.  Healy is running a seemingly weak candidate for Councilman against Fulop in Ward E – perennial candidate Guy “the Squab” Catrillo.  And now he told the Hudson Reporter: “I think he did a real nice job.  I think he has a lot to be proud of, and he highlighted a lot of the positive things that are happening in the city.”

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.