Steve Fulop

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.” 

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.”

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.”

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.”

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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.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, long considered a potential mayoral candidate next year, announced today that he will seek reelection to the city council instead of running for higher office.

“For me, politics has never been about status, titles or public position, but about purpose. I believe that public service is important whether through a community group, in professional life, or in government. My view has never wavered regardless of the opportunities presented for bigger titles or positions,” wrote Fulop in an email to supporters. “While humbled by an outpouring of support to run for higher office, I have decided to seek re-election in the community that has given me the opportunity and privilege of representing them on the Council. In knowing what my goals were when I set out into public service I think this is the right thing to do in being true to my initial core beliefs on the reasons I entered government, as well as my responsibilities to the people I have represented on completing properly the issues that I have started as a councilman.”

Fulop is the first potential candidate so far to take his name out of the running. Mayor Jerramiah Healy is expected to seek reelection, while former Mayor Bret Schundler and community activist Dan Levin have already announced intentions to run. Other candidates expected to make announcements soon are former Assemblyman and four-time mayoral candidate Lou Manzo, Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, and state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham.

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.

Bret Schundler is mulling another bid for Mayor of Jersey City, his job from 1992 to 2001.
Count former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler as one ally of former Assemblyman Lou Manzo in his quest to force Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy to forfeit his office.

“If what the officer said happened actually happened, then I think Healy should be removed,” he said.

After grand jury testimony surfaced from a police officer alleging that Healy tried to use his political status to “sweep” his 2006 disorderly conduct arrest in Bradley Beach “under the rug,” Manzo filed a lawsuit asking the Monmouth County Prosecutor to look into the matter.