Steven Fulop

Steve Fulop won't run for Mayor of Jersey City next year. Instead, he'll seek re-election to the City Council.

Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop has decided against a bid for Mayor of Jersey City in 2009, according to sources close to the reform Democrat.  Louis Manzo, a former Assemblyman and Hudson County Freeholder who has made four unsuccessful bids for Mayor, is expected to enter the race to unseat Jerramiah Healy.  The incumbent, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman and an early supporter of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, is viewed as the favorite to win re-election in the May non-partisan municipal race.

The race for Mayor of Jersey City is four year away, but someone is already in the field with a poll. In a computer automated poll, voters are asked how they would vote for mayor "in light of the recent corruption arrests."  Four potential candidates were named: Sean Connors, Sandra Cunningham, Steven Fulop, and incumbent Jerramiah Healy.  Additional choices included other and undecided.

The most sought after endorsement of the 2009 gubernatorial campaign might be Brian Stack, a Democratic State Senator and the Mayor of Union City, who says he remains undecided in the contest between Jon Corzine and Christopher Christie.  Both candidates showed up in Union City last night to kiss the ring of a local party boss who can deliver 70% of the vote to the candidate of his choice.  Christie came bearing a gift: a strong suggestion that Stack is not the target of any federal investigation.  Clearly Stack was appreciative of the personal endorsement, although it is possible that he won't reciprocate in November. Stack has told people he will make up his mind soon, but he's more likely to extend the courtship, and see where the race is going in October.

It is unlikely that Christie would be so effusive in his praise if he thought Stack was going to get busted.  If that happened, the Corzine campaign would have his comment on YouTube within minutes.  But Christie has an insurance policy: if Stack was in trouble, it makes claims of politically motivated federal prosecutions less credible.  This is a win-win for the former United States Attorney.

Frank "I Am the Law" Hague ruled Jersey City from 1917 to 1947

When Douglas Salters started as an aide to Jersey City Councilman James McLaughlin in 1993, the first thing his fellow City Hall staffers showed him was a desk. Not just any desk, but the one that belonged to the legendary Frank Hague.

Hague was mayor from 1917 to 1947 and word is he profited richly from it, becoming a millionaire despite never making a salary of more than $8,500 a year.  His iron grip on local politics, though never matched, became the symbol of Jersey City's notorious political culture.  His famous desk, which is still in City Hall, has a special drawer that Hague would push out, allowing guests to surreptitiously and conveniently deposit bribes.

"They said ‘This is Jersey City'... I was one day in office when I was shown that, and I realized that this was a rare kind of place," said Salters, who ran for council earlier this year in Ward B on the reform "One Jersey City" slate.

Yesterday, Salters was part of a group of about 80 who were protesting in front of City Hall, where the city council was about to have its first session since Thursday's corruption bust that took down two of Hudson County's mayors, an Assemblyman, the Jersey City Council president, a Jersey City Deputy Mayor and several city employees and political operatives.  It remains to be seen whether the feds will press on against Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who turns up as "JC Official 4" in one of the criminal complaints.

If nothing else, Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega is a man of tremendous self-confidence.  A no-confidence vote aimed at Vega, who was arrested last week on federal corruption charges, was defeated 7-1.  Vega voted against resolution.  Only reformer Steven Fulop voted yes.  Since Vega had a personal financial stake in the vote -- the Council President earns an additional $2,000-a-year - should he have abstained?  It wouldn't have affected the final vote.

Among those voting to show confidence in Vega: newly-elected Councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez (D-Orlando).
 

If Jersey City Councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez (D-Orlando) resigns or is forced out before early September, Ward C voters would elect a replacement in a November 2009 special election to fill the remaining 44 months of her term.  If Lopez holds off until mid-September, the special election will not be held until May 2010.  Either way, the City Council would appoint someone to fill the vacancy until a special election is held.

Update: Lopez, who attended a Council meeting last night, is in Orlando today. 

Jerramiah Healy has won three campaigns for Mayor of Jersey City in five years without ever being forced into a runoff election - the first Mayor to do that since the legendary Frank Hague won his last election in 1945. The Healy slate also won six of the seven Council seats decided in yesterday's vote, with the chance to pick up two more when Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano and Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson run in a June 9 runoff election. 

Healy won 53% of the vote in a five-candidate field, besting two well-known challengers: Louis Manzo, a former Assemblyman and Hudson County Freeholder who was making his fifth bid for Mayor; and Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, a former Acting Mayor, State Senator, and City Council President. 

But one frequent critic of the Mayor remains in office: Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop won a massive 63% of the vote against four opponents, including Guy "Squab" Catrillo, who ran on Healy' slate.  The Healy campaign, sensing Fulop's strength, essentially pulled out of the Ward E race a few weeks ago.

Guy Catrillo, a Jersey City Republican who has found his way onto Mayor Jerramiah Healy's 2009 ticket, is probably hoping he turns out to be a better candidate than he was as an advance man.   

Catrillo was the organizer of Jersey City's 9/11 Memorial Committee back in 2002, when he planned a ceremony on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.  The New York Times' Richard Lenzin Jones explained it best:

Lynn Schundler, the wife of former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, is reportedly considering a bid for the Jersey City Council.

Former Jersey City First Lady Lynn Schundler has decided against running for the City Council in Ward E after speaking to supporters of Mayor Jerramiah Healy.  Her possible candidacy came just a few weeks after her husband, former Mayor Bret Schundler, dropped his own comeback bid as a challenger to Healy.

Ward E, which is predominantly made up of the city's downtown, is currently represented by Councilman Steven Fulop - one of Healy's most outspoken critics.  Fulop also backed off a mayoral bid and attended Healy's campaign kickoff, but he has declined to run on the Healy slate and will seek re-election on his own.

If Schundler ran, Fulop would likely have forged an alignment with former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, who is making his sixth bid for Mayor. Manzo, sources say, has also courted Schundler as a possible running mate.

Lynn Schundler, an attorney and former Senate Republican staffer, has already met with Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise, a Healy supporter who was a Schundler ally when he served as the Jersey City Council President.  When Bret Schundler gave up his seat to run for Governor in 2001, he backed DeGise for Mayor in his unsuccessful bid against Glenn Cunningham.

Two sources close to Healy say they were optimistic that she would run, but noted that she has not fully committed.  She did not meet with Healy, as expected, but instead informed members of his political team that she would not become a canddiate.

One of Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop's two ballot initiatives suffered a severe blow earlier this week by a prominent city official, but Fulop said the move has energized his base.

"Yesterday I sent out that email letting people know about it. We got 60 new donors, 25 new volunteers and we're just starting," he said.

A move by Jersey City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis on Tuesday sparked outrage in an already politically charged atmosphere. Fulop had just turned in 1,800 signatures for two ballot initiatives: one which would enact new anti pay-to-play rules, and another that would bar council members from receiving more than one public salary (six of the nine council members have more than one taxpayer funded salary).