Jersey City mayoral hopefuls

[MCA™]

Healy hears praise, touts agenda for new term
Thursday, July 02, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Before a packed auditorium and dozens of well-wishing politicians, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy yesterday promised 10 percent budget cuts in every department, a continuation of his freeze on overtime and hiring for non-uniform staff and a "voluntary furlough system" as he was sworn in for a new term at a ceremony at New Jersey City University's Margaret Williams Theatre.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg praised Healy's persistence in getting the one-handgun-a-month legislation through the Legislature and Sen. Robert Menendez sang a remarkably in-tune Irish ballad that drew hearty applause.

Gov. Jon Corzine praised Healy for his dedication.

"Healy uses that cell phone more than any other mayor in the state of New Jersey. No one is a more active advocate of his city than Jerry Healy," he said, adding: "He won (re-election) because people know he cares. This is a really good man."

During his 30-minute address, Healy touted past accomplishments such as the recent chromium-cleanup settlement with PPG Industries, the city's Project Labor Agreement requiring tax-abated developments to give at least 20 percent of their construction jobs to Jersey City residents, and the new Westin and future Hilton hotels, and also made promises for his second full term.

He also backed off on his "Journal Square Vision Plan," which died after opposition from community members and developers alike, saying: "We will not embark upon determining the entire future of Journal Square all at once."

Healy promised renovations and expansion of Pershing Field and Leonard Gordon, Muhammad Ali, Mary Benson, Arlington, Pavonia Marion, Van Vorst and Sgt. Anthony parks, and touted plans for parks at the AMB Warehouse site and a 13.5-acre Berry Lane Park in Ward F.

On public safety, Healy promised installation of at least 40 more closed-circuit TV cameras in addition to the 68 already in place.

Healy also threw in a few unplanned jokes, such as when his wife offered him a bottle of water and he said, "Water? I don't drink water. Don't you read the Jersey Journal?" referring to his reputation of being a drinker.

Later, Councilman at large Mariano Vega was unanimously voted to continue as president of the City Council despite an earlier challenge from Councilman at large Peter Brennan.

[mouse]

Healy mentioned "soccer" four times during his inaugural speech ("new soccer fields,"  "new parks," etc)....  I will hold him to it.

Also, when his wife placed a water bottle on the dais during his speech, he quipped, "I don't drink water."

-M

[bdlaw]

[MCA™]

Healy, council are taking oaths at NJCU ceremony this morning
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Gov. Jon Corzine will help usher in a second full term for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy at his inauguration at 10 this morning.

U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg will also attend the star-studded event, which will include a 20-minute speech by Healy and the swearing in of the city's new council.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who with Corzine is attending Hoboken's inauguration later in the day, will not be attending Healy's swearing-in, but does plan to join the mayor at a private $150-a-head "inauguration celebration" at the Downtown Jersey City restaurant Michael Anthony's later in the evening, a Booker spokeswoman said.

The inauguration, which is free and open to the public, will take place at New Jersey City University's Margaret Williams Theatre, 2039 Kennedy Blvd., and will be followed by a reception on the Hepburn Patio featuring jazz by Muhammad Bilal's Black Bow Jazz Trio.

Healy won re-election on May 12 with 53 percent of the vote. He was first elected in a special election in November 2004 to replace Mayor Glenn Cunningham, who died in office. Healy was re-elected the following spring.

[MCA™]

Hyman denies making anti-Healy newspaper
by Amy Sara Clark/The Jersey Journal
Friday May 22, 2009, 9:37 AM

Jersey City developer Steve Hyman came to Wednesday night's City Council meeting with one message: I didn't do it.

He was talking about a faux anti-Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy newspaper labeled, "The Jersey City Informer," that surfaced in Ward F just before last week's municipal election.

"I want you all to know that I had no part of this. I didn't finance this. Nobody I know did," he said to the council.

Hyman launched a $150,000 anyone-but-Healy campaign just before the election, flooding Ward F with fliers with cartoons asserting that Healy is "no friend" of black residents.

He told the council he freely admits financing the fliers, but not the newspaper.

"On my children's lives, on my life, I didn't do it," Hyman said.

But Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson, who ran on Healy's slate, wasn't convinced.

"Mr. Hyman are you actually standing here saying you weren't responsible for all this?" Richardson said. As Hyman reiterated he wasn't, Richardson stormed out of the meeting, but returned several minutes later.

After the meeting, Richardson said she had no proof that Hyman financed the newspaper, but strongly believes he was behind it. The publication asserted that Richardson, at-large Councilwoman Willie Flood, who also ran with Healy, and Deputy Mayor Kabili Tayari worked on Healy's "plantation."

"What I saw was race-baiting," Richardson said. "This is the year 2009, this is not 1945. I'm insulted by that kind of 'massa-slave' orientation."

[MCA™]

Jersey City may consider partisan municipal elections
By Wally Edge

Jersey City is expected to consider a change to their form of government that would move from May non-partisan elections to partisan elections, with a June primary and a November general, according to sources close to the Hudson County Democratic leadership.  Democrats were slightly alarmed earlier this year when former Mayor Bret Schundler, a conservative Republican, was emerging as the strongest potential challenger to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, the Hudson County Democratic Chairman.  A partisan election would make only the Democratic primary relevant.

Sources say that the idea to switch from non-partisan to partisan was initially offered to Healy by George Norcross, the South Jersey Democratic leader. 

[...]

One option for Jersey City would be to move mayoral elections to the mid-term of the Governor, so that mayoral elections aren't held in a gubernatorial year.  That would allow future Mayors to run for Governor without giving up their seat.  The statewide campaigns of Mayors Paul Jordan (1973) and Thomas F.X. Smith (1981) collapsed when political rivals won election as Mayor a month before the gubernatorial primary.

[MCA™]

JJ:


Healy was a runaway winner in every ward
Thursday, May 14, 2009
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Mayor Jerramiah Healy swept every ward in Jersey City by a large margin in his dominant Election Day victory Tuesday, a breakdown of the voting revealed yesterday.

In a preliminary count of votes by ward, Healy secured about 53 percent of the vote in a field of five candidates, enough to win the election on the first ballot. Healy had 16,736 votes, more than double the amount of votes of his nearest challenger, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo. The other candidates were Assemblyman Harvey Smith, Dan Levin and Phil Webb.

Buddy Demellier, Healy's campaign manager, said the margin of victory didn't come as a surprise. "He did well in (Ward) A and very well in (wards) B, C and D," he said. "The mayor's base is spread pretty evenly throughout the city."

A look at the vote totals and interviews with residents seemed to confirm Healy's widespread support. The race was closest in wards E and F, where Healy still beat Manzo and Smith by at least 20 percent.

Walter Daniels, 61, said he voted for Healy because he was happy with the way the mayor governed in his first four years. "My taxes have stayed the same. I see more cops on the street. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said.

Mark Anthony, a Rutgers Avenue resident, agreed. "I see more of a police presence in the ward. It's my personal opinion he can get the job done," said Anthony, 42.

Many critics have hounded Healy for the 2007 incident in Bradley Beach, where he got into a scuffle with police. The voters, by and large, said the incident didn't weigh in their decision to vote for him.

"He's a man just like everybody else. He's not the only one who's ever made a mistake," said Anthony Nickrasz, a Thorne Street resident.

While Healy's supporters are glad to see him remain in office, they still want to tackle important issues facing the city.

"I'd like to see the taxes lowered, and more city jobs open up," Nickrasz said. "Instead of putting family in there, open it up to the public."

[MCA™]

Results from http://www.hudsoncountyclerk.org/cgi-bin/election.pl

Jersey City Mayor
182/182   100.00%

	Vote Count	Percent
L. Harvey Smith	3,958	12.91%
Phillip G. Webb	680	2.22%
Louis M. Manzo	8,059	26.29%
Jerramiah Healy	16,231	52.94%
Daniel B. Levin	1,704	5.56%
Personal Choice	25	0.08%
Total	30,657	100.00%

[MCA™]

Interesting analysis of today's race from PolitickerNJ. Some tidbits:


Conventional wisdom dictates that the best chance someone has to upset Healy is to force him into a runoff by keeping him from getting a majority of the vote.  But Manzo, making his fifth bid for mayor, sees an upset in the making, one so large that it will overshadow John Kenny's 1949 defeat of Frank Hague Eggers, which ended the influence of Jersey City's three-decade mayor and powerful political boss, Frank Hague. 

"Based on what we've seen in our polling in the last week, the undecideds stay high and the other guys in the race were not drawing a significant amount of votes," said Manzo,  who got the front-page endorsement of the Jersey Journal this weekend.   "If the undecideds break one way or the other, this could be a first ballot win for us."

Of course, Healy has done his own polling.  In March, a poll obtained by PolitickerNJ showed Healy more than 40 points over Manzo.  But Healy rivals contended that the poll's 74% favorability rating for Healy was impossibly high, which cast doubt on the results of the results. 

Manzo does have a pattern on his side.  Jersey City voters have, in recent decades, tended to vote incumbents out more often than not.

"It's a throw out mentality in Jersey City, and when the mayor himself has such a terrible record on crime and taxes, and embarrassing Jersey City with his personal behavior, it all adds up," he said, referring to Healy's 2006 arrest in Bradley Beach and subsequent conviction for obstruction of justice after intervening in a lovers' quarrel. 

And if he does force a runoff against Healy, Manzo said, then Healy is "doomed." 

But Nick Acocella, who lives in neighboring Hoboken and writes the weekly insider newsletter Politifax, said that Healy is the hands-down favorite to win the race, whether it is in the first-ballot or a run off.

"He's the frontrunner no matter what happens," he said. "He's the incumbent, and an incumbent with all the money.  There may be people mad at him.. but it's not going to make all that much difference."

Acocella said that he thinks Smith -- not Manzo -- has the best shot at forcing Healy into a runoff because he can depend on a solid bloc of votes from the city's African-American community.

[...]

Unlike Manzo, Dan Levin's goal is to come in second to force Healy into a runoff, and he has a very specific goal with which to achieve it: 10,000 votes.  Much of his base resides in Ward E, which is dominated by the city's gentrifying downtown, and he believes that many of his voters will be people who did not bother to vote in municipal elections before.

"Our success will have a lot to do with people who passed but have been inspired by a real alternative to candidates as usual," he said.

[MCA™]

Candidates aim to maximize vote in last-minute frenzy
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

While most of the candidates for mayor of Jersey City spent yesterday in a last-minute frenzy of hand-shaking and speechmaking, mayoral candidate Philip G. Webb went in a different direction.

"I decided to make this a day of meditation, fasting and prayer," said Webb, a 60-year-old police detective studying to be a minister. "A lot of times the plans of man fail because they don't call God into the mix."

The other contenders in today's five-man contest - Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, former Assemblyman Louis Manzo, Assemblyman Harvey Smith, and Dan Levin - were all out pounding the pavement and plan to do the same today.

"I'm knocking on doors. I'm shaking hands. I'm talking to people," Smith said. "I've gone from the south part of Jersey City all the way up to the Union City line. Me and my team have been every place I can think of and some places I can't even think of."

Manzo promised "nonstop campaigning" until the polls close, with blitzes at supermarkets, PATH stops, senior centers and shopping strips.

Today, his campaign will deploy about 1,100 paid and volunteer campaign workers for phone calling, poll watching and door knocking.

And they'll have a bus in every ward to drive voters to the polls, he said.

[Soshin]

Will Manzo/Levin split the anti-Healy vote, making it easier for thirsty Jerry to get another term?

I don't think so because Healy still has get past 51% of the vote to avoid a run-off and under those circumstances it doesn't really matter how the rest of the votes split.  When/if a run-off happens then that's where the numbers will start to get interesting...

[skwirrlking]

Will Manzo/Levin split the anti-Healy vote, making it easier for thirsty Jerry to get another term?

[Hurtle]

I didn't get a Hyman flyer but i did get one of those pre-recorded phone messages from him.

[MCA™]

JJ's picks:


Journal endorses Louis Manzo for Jersey City mayor
Saturday, May 09, 2009

On the ward's side streets, people are taking care of their homes, making repairs, landscaping as they would in any neighborhood. The problem is that the commercial districts and main streets have been in a state of disrepair for decades. Criminal gangs have been allowed to control some parks and street corners.

After a recent fatal shooting at Triangle Park, the city's response was to remove the park benches. Angry local residents were in disbelief. It speaks volumes about how the administration "solves" its problems.

Even in the more affluent Downtown there is disappointment. The Powerhouse Arts District changed from a planned neighborhood of low-to mid-rise structures into one of tall glass and steel towers that will bring more profit returns to developers.

These are just some of the many reasons that this newspaper agrees with President Barack Obama's call for a change - and endorses Manzo.

Manzo received The Journal's endorsement the last time he ran for mayor, in 2004 to fill the remaining months of the late Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham's term. It was his fourth unsuccessful shot at the office, and he lost to Healy. Voters have a chance to correct that mistake.

While every mayoral candidate, including Downtown resident and CivicJC founder Daniel Levin, Assemblyman Harvey Smith, and police Detective Phillip Webb, agree that crime is a major issue, Healy stubbornly insists city residents are wrong for being afraid to walk city streets. The mayor keeps quoting a statistic that crime is down 24 percent, which he credits to his gun buy-back program and other public safety policies.

Manzo and neighborhood organizations have urged the city to use a state-recognized program called Operation Ceasefire, which has reduced crime in several other urban municipalities. At a public session in Christ the King Church, on Ocean Avenue, Healy admitted using only "parts" of the program, and then promised to implement it all.

More community policing, recreational opportunities for children and young people, and jobs, are goals that Manzo says should be priorities. Other mayoral candidates made the same proposals, but Manzo further said he would go after all those firms who obtained lucrative tax abatements and promised to hire local residents.

It should be noted that the other three mayoral candidates seeking to oust Healy are worthy gentlemen whose passion for the city was evident during a forum held by The Jersey Journal. Besides crime, they are for stable taxes, clean streets and a transparent government.

Levin is a community-driven individual, a preservationist who wants city government to be more accountable to its citizens.

Smith is a respected veteran elected official who counts crime, affordable housing and more social programs, like restoring Ready Willing and Able, among his priorities.

Webb's focus is adding youth recreation programs and sensitivity training and a fitness program for police.

After the election, they can make good partners with Manzo in improving the city's quality of life.

The bottom line is that Manzo is a workaholic, a trait he once displayed as a Hudson County freeholder, chief of the city's health division, and as a state legislator. It is that energy, passion and know-how the people of what may be the biggest city in the state by 2010 need in their mayor.

[bdlaw]

"It took us over two years to get in front of the Historic Preservation Board," Hyman fumed, adding that his wife "couldn't live without trying to unseat him (Healy)."]/b]

Guess who hasn't had any nookie since 2005.

You?

[Soshin]

"It took us over two years to get in front of the Historic Preservation Board," Hyman fumed, adding that his wife "couldn't live without trying to unseat him (Healy)."]/b]

Guess who hasn't had any nookie since 2005.

[jwhiten]

boy, it sure is a good thing the Journal reads JCI ...

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2009/05/05/steve-hyman-enters-the-mayoral-fray-with-anti-healy-flyer/

[MCA™]

ANTI-HEALY VOTE SOUGHT
Hyman targets mayor he sees as block to his Embankment plans
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Fed up with city officials who are stopping him from building housing on the Sixth Street Embankment in Jersey City, real estate businessman Steve Hyman has launched a $150,000 anyone-but-Jerramiah T. Healy-for-mayor campaign.

The first salvo: 30,000 fliers distributed in Wards C and F that among other things, rake Healy over the coals for allowing Greenville Hospital and the Lafayette Post Office to close and several bus lines in African American neighborhoods to be eliminated under his watch.

Hyman has been trying to build housing on the defunct railroad turnaround since his wife Victoria purchased the elevated six-block stretch from Conrail for $3 million in 2005. But the Healy administration has stymied him at every turn, Hyman said yesterday.

"It took us over two years to get in front of the Historic Preservation Board," Hyman fumed, adding that his wife "couldn't live without trying to unseat him (Healy)."

The first wave of fliers, Hyman said, cost him $50,000. Between now and next Tuesday's election, he said, he plans to spend another $100,000 for more fliers and anti-Healy robo-calls. And if there is a runoff election, he's prepared to spend another $100,000, he said.

The fliers, placed on porches and windshields on Saturday, picture a smiling Healy with "no friend" stamped across his forehead. The flier reads: "African Americans suffer, he laughs! Healy's no friend. Don't plead. Don't pout. Vote Healy out!"

Hyman said he's focusing on minority voters because he thinks they've been "treated shabbily" for too long.

"I'm not totally altruistic in this," he said. "But I figured as long as we're spending the money, the minorities could be the long-term beneficiaries. If it becomes known that their vote influenced the election, maybe people will take note and treat them better."

The Healy campaign shrugged off the fliers, which are technically paid for by 415 Brunswick Street, L.L.C., a corporation owned by the Hymans.

"He doesn't like how hard the administration has fought to save the embankment," said Bud Demellier, a campaign spokesman. Voters, he said, will see the "personal motivation" behind the attack and "not fall prey to this type of negative advertising."

He added, "It's very interesting how a person who doesn't live in Jersey City, arguably doesn't live in New Jersey, can put himself in an exalted position and pretend to tell a community how to vote."

The administration has been negotiating with Hyman to include a park, bicycle/hiking path and Light Rail line in his plans for the Embankment.

[MCA™]

Healy gets an endorsement:


Bob backs Healy, slate in election
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
By AMY SARA CLARK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Amid a couple dozen construction workers, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez endorsed Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and his City Council slate for election yesterday.

The setting for the news conference was next door to the Journal Square Transportation Center where a $500 million mixed-use development is slated to rise on the now leveled site.

[...]

The former Union City mayor - now in charge of electing Democratic senators nationally - ticked off several other items he gives Healy credit for, including hiring additional police officers, establishing an anti-gang task force, and working with other mayors to crack down on illegal guns.

Menendez also put in a plug for Healy's council running mates, especially for Ward C candidate Nidia R. Lopez, who, if elected, would be the city's first Hispanic councilwoman.

[MCA™]

Mayoral election gets the NYT treatment:


Mayor Dogged by Rivals and Fiscal Downturn
By STEVE STRUNSKY
Published: May 1, 2009

JERSEY CITY - When Jerramiah T. Healy was elected as mayor here, this former railroad town had been transformed into an extension of Lower Manhattan’s financial district, with skyscrapers along the waterfront housing major financial firms that employed tens of thousands in white-collar jobs.

In November 2004, Mr. Healy, a former city councilman and municipal court judge, handily won a special election to fill the unfinished term of Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham, who had died after a heart attack. Mr. Healy just as easily won a full term the following May, with 75 percent of the vote.

But now, Wall Street’s woes have come to roost in Jersey City. The city’s unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent in February, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 5.5 percent in April 2008. Many of the job losses were in the lucrative financial sector that had created a demand for new housing and supported a lively dining and entertainment industry in the city’s downtown.

It is in this context that the mayor is seeking a second four-year term in the city’s elections on May 12.

Mr. Healy is facing a large field of opponents for the job, among them Louis M. Manzo, a former state assemblyman making his fifth bid for mayor, and Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith. Others include Dan Levin, a civic activist, and Phil Webb, a former city police detective. The city’s steep job losses have made Mr. Healy, 58, a better target for his rivals, but he is not acting like he’s worried about winning re-election.

“We’re not expecting to get those kinds of numbers this time around,” Mr. Healy said about his winning margin with 75 percent of the vote last time around. “Hopefully, the voters and the citizens will think we’ve done a good enough job to merit another four years.”

With much more name recognition than the other candidates and his campaign signs outnumbering theirs several times over, Mr. Healy did not even bother to show up for two debates last month attended by the other four candidates, where taxes and crime were topics of discussion. (more)

[duke_of_earl]

I have not looked at all of his reports, but quick glance this "three million" is the total for Healy for Mayor since the account was created back in 2004. This would include the money raised and spent on the 2004 special election, the 2005 regular election and now the 2009 election.

+ Each new report cycle shows the money transferred from prior campaign (required by law). This is why you see these words on the far right hand column "Cumulative to date".

Pinky:

Perhaps we are looking at different reports.  According to the ELOC reports online, your accumulation hypothesis is not true.  Check the April 14th, 2006 R-1 filing where the "cumulative to date" is equal to the "this report" field.

On that statement (the direct link doesn't work), the first for the 2009 Mayoral run it shows the first deposit of $619,864.84 as a transfer from a prior campaign.  The rest of the money accumulates after that time.

Thus, all of the money is for use in this campaign and was not spent in the 2005 and 2005 elections as you wrote.  Accumulating across elections would be an odd, byzantine,    and irrelevant way to do the accounting.

duke

[Pinky]

+
Each new report cycle shows the money transferred from prior campaign (required by law). This is why you see these words on the far right hand column "Cumulative to date".

[Pinky]

I have not looked at all of his reports, but quick glance this "three million" is the total for Healy for Mayor since the account was created back in 2004. This would include the money raised and spent on the 2004 special election, the 2005 regular election and now the 2009 election.

Pinky, you are mistaken.  It's the first time I've read these reports, but the money was raised by the Healy for Mayor 2009 committee and accumulates after 2005.

I don't think it's shocking that a sitting Mayor of Jersey city raises 3 million over a 5 year period. Glenn Cunningham raised and spent about 2.4 million just for his one election and he wasn't even a sitting Mayor.

I don't find the argument that another-mayor-did-it-so-it's-okay very compelling.  I'm just highlighting what someone else on the board labeled the "incumbent political machine".  In my ideal world, an incumbent would have built up enough goodwill during their term to be able to spend *less* money.  Being realistic, they should use their resources to their advantage....but 8x the total amount of all the other candidates combined??

With spending this lopsided, there really shouldn't even be an election.

duke

Duke, I went through the reports this evening and what I posted earlier is accurate..

I am not making arguments for anyone on "if he did it so could I". I was just showing you a recent example and that wasn't even a sitting mayor.

[bdlaw]

To dovetail Duke's comments on goodwill- since the mayor doesn't seem to feel a need to show up at debates, why does he need to spend all this money?

[duke_of_earl]

I have not looked at all of his reports, but quick glance this "three million" is the total for Healy for Mayor since the account was created back in 2004. This would include the money raised and spent on the 2004 special election, the 2005 regular election and now the 2009 election.

Pinky, you are mistaken.  It's the first time I've read these reports, but the money was raised by the Healy for Mayor 2009 committee and accumulates after 2005.

I don't think it's shocking that a sitting Mayor of Jersey city raises 3 million over a 5 year period. Glenn Cunningham raised and spent about 2.4 million just for his one election and he wasn't even a sitting Mayor.

I don't find the argument that another-mayor-did-it-so-it's-okay very compelling.  I'm just highlighting what someone else on the board labeled the "incumbent political machine".  In my ideal world, an incumbent would have built up enough goodwill during their term to be able to spend *less* money.  Being realistic, they should use their resources to their advantage....but 8x the total amount of all the other candidates combined??

With spending this lopsided, there really shouldn't even be an election.

duke