Bret Schundler

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.”

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.

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo, a potential mayoral candidate in Jersey City next year, filed a petition with Monmouth County Superior Court to ask them to weigh whether Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s conduct during his 2006 Bradley Beach arrest should trigger him to forfeit his office.

No hearing date is set yet, and Manzo can’t release details until all parties have been served.

Healy was convicted of disorderly conduct in Bradley Beach last year, and has sought unsuccessfully to reverse the decision several times. He’s currently appealing it in the state Supreme Court.

But after an Essex County judge ruled that former Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone must forfeit her office earlier this summer, Manzo started digging and hired legal counsel to see whether the same standard should apply to Healy. Healy and Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said it shouldn’t, since Healy never invoked his office during his arrest.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Chicago-based political consultant Bill Pascoe, who ran Bret Schundler’s 2001 and 2005 gubernatorial bids, said that had it not been for the need to feed the media beast, Schundler could have easily won his first gubernatorial bid.

And today, eight years after leaving office as Jersey City mayor, Pascoe believes that not only does Schundler have a good chance to reclaim that seat, but that he’s one of the leading contenders.

Sitting at yesterday's New Jersey delegation breakfast at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport, Pascoe flashed back to early 2001. He was managing Schundler’s fledgling campaign for governor, and couldn’t gain any traction with the media. A top statehouse reporter, he said, told him that reporters wouldn’t cover Schundler’s campaign because they were convinced that he was merely positioning himself for his mayoral re-election in May of the same year. So to prove his sincerity, Schundler didn’t file to run for re-election.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Jersey City’s two delegates at the Republican National Convention are not sold on Bret Schundler for mayor.

Schundler, who was mayor between 1992 and 2001, ran for Governor twice as a Republican.  But the May, 2009 municipal elections in Jersey City are non-partisan, and ideology doesn’t necessarily mean much there. 

“At this juncture I haven’t made up my mind yet. As funny as it sounds, it is non-partisan, and I don’t think the whole field has been flushed out,” said delegate Joseph Turula after the delegation breakfast.   “Certainly he’s a fine, smart and honest man, but I haven’t made the decision, and our county chairman said recently that he has to evaluate it.”

Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango supported Bret Schundler in his past gubernatorial bids, but whether he’ll support the former Mayor’s bid to return to Grove Street is an open question.

“I have to go to the Jersey City Republican Party and ask them what they want to do,” said Arango during a phone interview.

The mayoral elections in Jersey City are non-partisan, which made it possible for a Republican like Schundler to win in a crowded field in 1992. Now, with Schundler looking to run again, Arango finds himself with a tough decision. He’s the city’s Director of Economic Development, and has given significant campaign contributions to Mayor Jerramiah Healy, a Democrat.

But he’s also found Schundler to be a loyal ally in the past.

“Schundler always supported me, and I always supported him. I have to do what’s right for the people,” he said.

DENVER -- Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City) is candid about her feelings on the upcoming Jersey City mayoral race.

She’s with Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Not that it’s unusual, considering he’s chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO). She wasn’t in 2004, however, when he ran to replace the late Glen Cunningham.

“He was a dark horse at that point and I didn’t know him well,” she said. And while his status as the head of the powerful Democratic organization could certainly win him friends, Quigley said that’s not the reason.

“I learned to like him a lot better before that happened.”

Daniel Levin, founder and past president of Civic JC, a citywide good government organization, announced today that he is a candidate for Jersey City mayor.

"I am running for mayor of Jersey City as a clear and distinct alternative to both the past administration and current candidates," said Levin, who is challenging Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

"I will bring the public back into the decision-making processes of Jersey City government, lead a more open, transparent, responsible government accountable to constituents, reduce conflicts of interest through campaign finance and ethical code reforms, advance an alternative economic vision for the city that will provide needed jobs for our inner-city residents, and make Jersey City a better employer through sound management practices," Levin added.

He said in the coming months, he intends to build a coalition of reform-minded council candidates and run with a full council slate.

Prospective mayoral candidate Bret Schundler’s conservative record was raised last night in one of the first attacks of the developing Jersey City mayoral race.

At a rally touting the establishment of a task force to fight crime against Jersey City’s LGBT community last night, Walt Boraczek, founder of the Hudson Diversity Action Council and an ally of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, ripped into Schundler’s record on gay rights, both as mayor and as a gubernatorial candidate, calling him “homophobic.”

Schundler, who was mayor from 1992 until 2001, is considering running for mayor again. The city holds non-partisan elections, and Schundler was initially narrowly elected in a crowded field of candidates. He went on to form alliances with key Democrats on the council to hold the seat. Last night’s rally was a clear indication that Schundler’s rivals will use his conservative record against him in this Democrat dominated city, should he choose to run again.

Things appear to be getting a little prickly between Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop and former Mayor Bret Schundler – two prospective candidates in next year’s mayoral election who share the same base of voters downtown.

At issue are the two ballot initiatives Fulop plans to put on the ballot in November – one which enacts a pay-to-play ban and another that bars city council members from accepting more than one public salary.

The initiatives also work as an organizing tool for Fulop, who’s used dozens of volunteers in the effort and hopes that it will increase his name recognition outside of his own Ward E.

After Fulop turned in enough signatures to get the initiatives on the ballot, Schundler came out wholeheartedly in support of them, and mentioned that he’d be willing to hold a joint press conference with Fulop in support of them.

Fulop, however, shot down that idea.