Zack Fink has a story about Lou Manzo, who has announced he will hold a press conference next week to accuse federal prosecutors of misconduct in building a case against him.
Toward the end of Fink's story, which he titled "Jack Shaw's last words," he has this exchange that occured after Manzo and Jersey City Political consultant were waiting in jail:
When asked about the nature of the interrogation Manzo says Shaw told him "Guantanamo's got nothin' on these guys." Shaw died a week later,...an apparent drug overdose which Manzo believes was not intentional.
According to Fink, Shaw told Manzo he had been interrogated for "several hours" the night before at a hotel room in Secaucus trying to get him to implicate Joe Doria, who still hasn't been charged. Even if you believe what Manzo is saying, I don't know how he will ever prove what he's saying because Shaw isn't around to corroborate the story. And it's not like Manzo will be able to clear his name in the court of public opinion, past a correction on the inside pages of a paper.
Since 2004, four men have served the 31st district in the State Assembly. Three of them—Lou Manzo, Anthony Chiappone, and L. Harvey Smith—have been arrested on corruption-related charges this summer. The fourth? Charlie Epps, the slimy superintendent of Jersey City schools who has been criticized for pension-padding, shady hiring practices, and taking an expensive junket to London on the taxpayer's dime.
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, state Assemblyman President L. Harvey Smith and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt were among those arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ridgefield Mayor Suarez, who is also an attorney, is charged with agreeing to accept an illegal $10,000 cash payment for his legal defense fund.
What began as a federal investigation into money laundering by Syrian Jewish community leaders in New Jersey and New York a decade ago spawned into a broad web of political corruption that enveloped two N.J. assemblymen and three mayors.
Selling Body Parts and Money Laundering: Many of the Rabbi's were charged with money laundering millions of dollars through charities. Additionally disturbing is the fact that one Rabbi reportedly called himself a matchmaker trying to arrange for the sale of a kidney for $160,000.
People are still trying to wrap their arms around all of this news. The scope of the news today is what seems to be catching the attention of people. Some of the stories almost seem to be out of a movie script or novel. What do you think of what happened today and looking forward we can discuss what it means for the state, the Legislature and the Governor's race.
A former state legislator has no legal standing to seek the ouster of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy over a scuffle in Bradley Beach, a Superior Court judge in Monmouth County has said in dismissing the lawsuit.
So Lou Manzo isn't a three-time loser anymore. He's now a FOUR-time loser.
But the reasoning leaves me a bit put-off. Everyone understands that Manzo is only doing this to try and jump into office himself. But that should be immaterial to the legal reasoning. No one has said that Manzo is not a resident of Jersey City, and if a resident of a city cannot seek to remove their mayor from office through legal means, then who would have standing to do so? Would a citizen of Bradley Beach have better standing?
Or is the judge simply saying that only those in the backroom of the legal system can determine if and when an official can be removed from office?
Lou Manzo's new career as "Public Advocate" - which, as I have noted previously, is suspiciously limited to efforts at getting him into elected office - is running into a snag. Namely, his life as a deadbeat candidate:
Dannielle Leigh, a fundraising consultant on that campaign and a former aide to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in July alleging that Manzo refused to pay her $19,272 he owed her.
In the suit, Leigh said she signed an agreement with Manzo that entitled her to 12 percent of whatever she raised for the campaign between April 2006 and June 2007.
Her lawyer is Peter Tucci - who also worked for the Manzo campaign. Egads, I smell bad blood!
Manzo hasn't formally announced he's running, but when he does that will give us the choice of two deadbeat candidates and a drunken fool of an ex-judge whose judgment on matters of law is questionable.
There's an interesting column in the Jersey Journal today that makes it look to me like Jerramiah Healy may regret making such a huge issue of his legal problems. For those who haven't paid attention, Jersey City's Mayor was arrested in Bradley Beach some time ago and convicted of obstructing justice. In response to Healy's charges against the BB police, grand jury testimony was released that showed Healy tried to intimidate the arresting officers into releasing him. When that didn't work, he begged. Even as his appeals have run out at the state level, he has pursued charges in federal court, claiming that his right of free speech was infringed upon by the police.
Lou Manzo, preparing to run for the Mayor's job next year, has now opened a "public advocate" office - and apparently the only interest the public needs advocacy on is removing Jerramiah Healy from office, because I haven't heard of him working on anything else. But here's the part that is going to save Jerramiah Healy, no matter what:
Whether the county prosecutor's office screens the municipal court cases or the municipal prosecutor directly handles charges filed in the municipal court, the decision to waive forfeiture must be made before adjudication of the case .
I'm not a lawyer, but it appears to me that for a decision of forfeiture NOT to be put before a judge, a waiver has to be filed. If no waiver was filed - and it seems odd that the Mayor would not have pranced around with it if it were available - then the forfeiture hearing MUST procede. That doesn't mean that Healy will automatically lose his seat, but it does mean that he'll be called on - most likely - to explain why he told officers to call their boss and to sweep everything under the rug.
I just wonder when Lou Manzo is going to use his "public advocate" position to speak up on something else - like maybe bullets flying around residential areas. You wouldn't want any voters to get hurt, would you, Lou?
Jennifer Morrill, a spokeswoman for Healy, responded to Manzo's letter to DeFazio in the usual Jersey City way:
"These are the rantings of a disgruntled four-time loser who has come up with a frivolous argument to get into the Mayor's Office through the back door knowing the people of Jersey City will never elect him. Mr. Manzo is also frustrated because Mayor Healy would not support him as the candidate for the state Senate and that when Mr. Manzo pleaded with the mayor to keep his personal friend on the city payroll, despite his excessive absenteeism, the mayor would not do so."
What does Manzo have to zing back with?
Manzo said Morrill must mean three-time loser because she worked for him in his 2004 mayoral bid.
Might as well said, "I'm rubber and she's glue. It bounces off of me and sticks to her once less time than she says it sticks to me."
Everyone remember Lou Manzo? The ex-assemblyman who runs for mayor of Jersey City every four years - Well apparently Mr. Manzo wasn't satisfied with his primary loss for the state senate last year - he's planning on making a 4th run for mayor next year except he's not too interested in issues, just looking for an easy way out...
Assemblyman Lou Manzo thinks the crime problem is so bad that he's drafting legislation to urge Corzine to deploy the New Jersey Army National Guard and Air National Guard to help fight gangs in our cities:
"In certain areas, even in Jersey City, gangs have taken over areas," Manzo said. "They (the National Guard) are going to come in with heavy infantry and they are going to take the scum off the streets and put them in jail cells where they belong.
Almost everyone agrees that the gang problem in our cities, and spreading into the burbs, is bad. But we don't need C-130 gunships or M-16s to clean it up. The National Guard has suffered enough abuse through repeat tours in Iraq.
If you have a crime problem, one thing you can do is put more cops - not troops - on the streets. Yes, it will further burden our already broken budget, and the small government conservatives may scream that it's a waste of taxpayer dollars to try to save our cities. But if there is a problem - and everyone admits there is - it's irresponsible not to do anything about it.
(I've received multiple inquiries about the lack of coverage of some of these primary races. Considering how trashy they've been, I'm surprised people are surprised we have little interest in them. Read below for a taste. - promoted by jmelli)
I almost made the title "No One Gives a Rat's Ass About the Primary". It fits.
This weekend's Jersey Journalcalls the Hudson primaries for Brian Stack and his team in the 33rd and Nick Sacco and his team in the 32nd. The only race that is undecided is the 31st where Sandra "I Only Debate When I Want" Cunningham is trying to knock off Lou "At Least I Didn't Hire a Child Molestor" Manzo.
I don't live in the 31st, so I'm only going to the polls to write myself in. It's the best protest vote I know of and, if I happen to win because no one else in the county shows up to vote, I'll be happy. I'll be overjoyed if Cunningham gets totally hammered as well. If she wins, I'll wish her well and hope she does a good job. From her campaign, I'd say she has a lot more growing to do before she's ready to fill her husband's shoes.
I know what I'm about to say probably isn't a very popular sentiment, but I don't want that to be mistaken for justifying the unjustifiable.
I don't have a dog in the 31st district Senate race between Sandra Bolden Cunningham and Lou Manzo, but the so-called "sex offender scandal" has gotten way out of control. Sandra Cunningham has a convicted sex offender volunteering on her campaign and PoliticsNJ.com apparently finds this incredibly newsworthy.
PoliticsNJ first wrote about it on May 18, the same day as a Jersey Journal article. Three days later, a piece by Max Pizarro included a captioned photo of Cunningham with the campaign volunteer in an otherwise unrelated post. That same day, Pizarro wrote a short piece about someone having no comment on the situation. Today, their editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe made this the topic of this week's cartoon.
It doesn't need to be said that these crimes are horrific, but our society has judged - rightly or wrongly - that this man has done his time and paid his due to society. He served four years in jail, is now on parole and "as required by the law, has reported to the office every year." The prosecutor's office found that he was not a "compulsive sexual offender" and he's also gone through Jersey City's "Second Chance Program."
Other than the one Jersey Journal article, which itself was not newsworthy, the dead tree media has been surprisingly quiet on this. The overreaction has come largely from PoliticsNJ, which is disappointing. They get deep in the weeds of politics, which is great, but I've never seen them be this gratuitous about what I think should be a non-issue. But it paid off - today they got their scalp. The volunteer quit.
I really am not justifying this man's crimes, but doesn't this set a bad standard about who can and can't participate in civics and politics? Do we expect everyone with a crime in their past to become hermits or do we accept them back into society once they have paid for their crimes? This is purely a hypothetical, but based on the blurry line that's been drawn to separate the acceptable from unacceptable, is it reasonable now to expect that someone will investigate Lou Manzo's campaign to see if any of his volunteers have ever been convicted of a DUI?
Hard to tell if this is a joke, but Assemblyman Lou Manzo is suggesting that New Jersey sue New York City for serving as their literal and figurative dumping ground for so long.
"Maybe New York should be called the Rotten Apple instead of the Big Apple. Maybe New York officials should be reminded of the old maxim: 'Ye who smelt it, dealt it.'"
36 years ago today, President Nixon announced another round of troop withdrawals from South Vietnam. Despite already losing the war, Bush bravely insists on keeping others' sons and daughters in Iraq without a plan until they're all killed, or until he leaves office - whichever comes first.
And now back to your regularly scheduled news:
The latest Quinnipiac University poll has Menendez ahead 49%-45%, a 7 point swing since September when Kean Jr led 48%-45%. A Rasmussen poll will show Menendez ahead 44%-40%.
Not surprisingly, members of the Black Ministers Council endorsed Bob Menendez yesterday saying Kean Jr has offered nothing but unsubstantiated negative attacks. They also "voiced concern over Kean's 2002 vote in Trenton opposing racial profiling legislation." Kean Jr's spokeswoman says he actually did vote for it in the Senate after he voted against it in the Assembly.
Hamilton mayor Glen Gilmore has donated more than $12,000 he received from John Lynch, who recently pleaded guilty to corruption. "Gilmore had originally declined to give up the money, but changed his mind this week." Mercer County Republicans are calling the Mercer Democratics to return over $32,000 they've received from Lynch. Democrats say Republicans are hypocrites and should return $36,000 from Harry Parkin and others - all of whom pleaded or were found guilty as well.
There's not much love for Sen Karcher's bill to ban trans fats from restaurant food. Assemblyman Lou Manzo said "I just don't like the taste of this bill."
Third district legislators, Sen Stephen Sweeney and Assemblymen John Burzichelli and Doug Fisher, visited with students at Woodstown. One eighth grader said: "I never realized what they could actually do...It's nice to finally be able to see how they can affect us on a daily basis." Another added: "They made me really want to learn more about politics...They inspired me to maybe one day become a politician."
Assemblyman Joe Roberts has proposed creating 21 "super" county school superintendents as a way to cut property taxes, but Assemblyman Senator Bob Smith wants to go a step further and create 21 "administrative" county school districts, where purchasing, HR, transportation and other work is consolidated, eliminating an estimated 600 local administrators and staffers.
I received this from BlueJersey podcaster Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-31) yesterday...
Office of Assemblyman Manzo Contact: Mark Albiez
October 10, 2006 (201) 309-0770
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Assemblyman Manzo To Present SMART Homestead Rebate Act Proposal Before Joint Legislative Committee On Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention
TRENTON, NJ—On Thursday, October 12 at 1:00 PM in Committee Room 11 in the Statehouse, Assemblyman Louis M. Manzo will offer his presentation of the SMART Homestead Rebate Act before the Joint Legislative Committee On Constitutional Reform and Citizens Property Tax Constitutional Convention.
If enacted, the SMART Bill will provide the largest property tax reduction in New Jersey’s history.
The SMART Bill is seriously being considered as a viable solution to New Jersey’s property tax crisis.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora was on assignment for Blue Jersey. During all the madness in the State House, he found time to briefly interview Assemblymen Lou Manzo, Fred Scalera and Paul Moriarty earlier today. We've spliced together the three short interviews into one convenient 5 minute podcast. Reed asks the hard-hitting questions the Star Ledger is too afraid to ask, including "what is the best rock band of all time?" Click below to listen, and don't forget to subscribe to the Blue Jersey podcast to automatically get these podcasts in iTunes as we release them.
Lou Manzo is proving that it takes more than defeating his Cunningham-era partner, Anthony Chiappone, to make him toe the line in Hudson County politics. The Jersey Journalreports:
Charles T. Epps Jr. should return some or all of the money he received as reimbursement for his expenses during his 2004 trip to England, said fellow 31st District Assemblyman Louis Manzo of Jersey City.
Epps, an Assemblyman as well as the state-appointed superintendent for Jersey City Public Schools, violated the district's policies regarding travel expenses and overnight stays that were in effect when he went to London and Oxford, and therefore should return the money, Manzo said.
"In light of the fact that he broke his own policy, he should do the right thing and give the money back," Manzo said.
Unfortunately, "doing the right thing" is something of a rarity in Hudson County. Kudos to Assymn Manzo for pushing the issue when he so obviously doesn't have to:
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Union City Mayor and Assemblyman Brian Stack, West New York Mayor and Assemblyman Albio Sires, state Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco and state Sen. Bernard Kenny of Hoboken all did not return phone calls for comment.
Yeah, that's more like it. Now things feel normal again.
