The gathering in front of City Hall in Jersey City on Tuesday resembled the usual National Night Out against Crime event – except for the residents holding up signs reading “CORRUPT” and “SHAME.”
While children ran around toting balloons, and McGruff the Crime Dog made a cameo appearance to take a bite out of crime, a special rally was convened by Councilman Steve Fulop in response to the arrests on July 23 of 44 political and religious leaders in New Jersey and New York.
Along with the adults, kids waved brooms advocating a clean sweep of allegedly corrupt officials.
Among those arrested were 16 people involved in Jersey City politics, including City Council President Mariano Vega, who was charged with allegedly accepting $30,000 from federal “cooperating witness” Solomon Dwek. Vega was one of the targets of the ire of the attendees, who called for his resignation.
The other major target of the crowd’s disapproval was Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who was referred to in criminal complaints as “Jersey City Public Official No. 4.” However, Healy was not accused of any crimes. Some of those arrested said they were taking money for Healy’s campaign.
Fulop, who organized the rally, told the crowd of 300 people that this rally was not about him or any future political ambitions. Instead, the rally was about a “corruption tax” levied upon the public.
“Every single time an envelope is taken, that is a tax you pay at the end of the day.” – Steven Fulop
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He received rousing applause.
Fulop called on Gov. Jon Corzine to take on a bigger presence in Jersey City because of the number of officials arrested, and to put pressure on Mayor Healy to force Vega to resign. Corzine had already pressured other officials in nearby towns to resign.
Healy himself has suspended the Jersey City non-elected officials who were arrested.
Fulop also announced he will put on the agenda for the council meeting this coming Wednesday a redeveloper pay-to-play ordinance that he introduced in 2007, which would ban political contributions from developers who wish to do redevelopment within Jersey City.
The council had voted down the ordinance 7-2 in January 2007.
Reverend vs. corruption, 19 murders
Privately, other city officials said they were “upset” at Fulop for holding the rally in front of City Hall, especially on National Night Out. Some even called it “grandstanding” and an “insult” because five Jersey City police officers who were wounded in a shootout on Reed Street last month, including the late Marc DiNardo, were being honored by Mayor Healy at a National Night Out event a few blocks away.
The rally itself started with a silent prayer led by Rev. Willard Ashley of the Abundant Joy Community Church in Jersey City for the five police officers, their families, and for the 19 homicide victims in Jersey City so far this year.
Ashley then led a prayer calling for the cleanup of corruption in his hometown.
“We seek a city whereby we can once again have trust in our elected and appointed officials,” Ashley said. “We seek a city whereby greed is not the order of the day.”
Other angry members of the public spoke out. Local businessman Bruce Alston was one of them.
“Tonight is one of those nights, one of the moments in history that 20 years from now, our children need to look on this day and say, ‘My mother, my grandparents took back their city from corruption,’ ” Alston said.
After the rally, various residents stressed its significance as well as the issue of the corruption arrests. Phillip Rivo is a Downtown Jersey City resident, real estate agent and a local Democratic Party worker.
“Hopefully, the apathetic Jersey City voter will register to vote and be proactive and take an interest in our city and vote for capable people like Mr. Fulop,” Rivo said, alluding to the 25 percent voter turnout in the May municipal election that returned Healy to office.
Keita Young is a Downtown Jersey City business owner who brought her three young children to the rally.
“I don’t think I have ever felt such a sense of a community mobilizing to bring about change, and it is wonderful,” Young said.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.