Lou Manzo

If former Assemblyman Lou Manzo wants to throw Jerramiah Healy out of office, it looks like he might have to run against him next year.

Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson today said that Manzo had no standing to challenge the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s decision not to seek Healy’s forfeiture from office following his 2006 conviction for disorderly conduct in Bradley Beach.

“I am pleased that Judge Lawson dismissed Lou Manzo's frivolous case, which was clearly filed for political purposes," said Healy in a statement.

A judge still hasn’t ruled on whether Lou Manzo’s lawsuit that seeks to throw Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy out of office will go forward.

“We’re still patiently and anxiously waiting,” said Manzo.

Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson heard arguments on Friday, with Manzo’s side arguing against both the assistant Monmouth County prosecutor and Mayor Healy’s counsel.  Healy and Prosecutor Luis Valentin contend that Manzo does not have standing to raise the complaint. 

U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett’s (R-Wantage) campaign today demanded that Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman return $167,000 in donations from a contributor they consider to be a “radical extremist.”

The donor, according to a tongue-in-cheek press release from Garrett : Dennis Shulman.

“Shulman has cashed in on his support for extremist policies, and recent fundraising data proves how out of touch Shulman is with the constituents he claims to want to represent,” read the release.”

Will former Assemblyman and possible Jersey City mayoral hopeful Lou Manzo’s lawsuit to throw Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy out of office proceed?

We’ll have to wait to see.

Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lawson heard three parties’ arguments today about whether Manzo has standing to challenge the Monmouth County prosecutor’s decision not force Healy to forfeit his office in light of his 2006 Bradley Beach arrest, but said he will issue a ruling in writing at a later, undisclosed date, according to Manzo.

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.

Responding to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s charge that he’s a lawsuit-mad political opportunist, former Assemblyman and potential mayoral candidate Lou Manzo today defended his decision to file a lawsuit seeking to oust Healy from public office.

Healy was convicted over a 2006 disorderly conduct charge stemming from an incident outside of his sister’s Bradley Beach restaurant, which he’s currently appealing in state Supreme Court.  After former Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone was ordered to forfeit her office after her own disorderly conduct conviction, Manzo sought to apply the same standard to Healy.

Healy claims that he never invoked his office to the arresting police officers, as Rone did while trying to get her nephew out of a parking ticket.  The Rone incident, however, was captured on videotape.  Healy’s incident was not, but in grand jury testimony, several police officers involved claimed that Healy mentioned his office several times, along with his friendship with the Bradley Beach chief of police in order to “sweep this under the rug.” 

Below is Manzo’s full statement. 

Angered by former Assemblyman Lou Manzo’s legal action to try to get Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy removed from office, Healy chief of staff Dominick Pandolfo issued a scathing response, characterizing Manzo as a lawsuit-mad wannabe mayor.

“Four time loser Louis Manzo is an embittered and disgruntled individual who spends his time filing frivolous lawsuits," said Pandolfo (Manzo has sought the mayor's office four times in the past, and narrowly lost to Healy in a 2004 runoff). "He is angered that the mayor did not endorse him in his recent run for the Senate, which he lost by an overwhelming margin to our candidate, Sen. Sandra Cunningham. He is also upset that the mayor refused to re-hire his close friend who had been terminated by a prior administration due to unexplained and excessive absenteeism.”

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.

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.”