JERSEY CITY – City Council at-large candidates Suzanne “Sue” Mack and Omar Perez have asked the Office of the Hudson County Clerk to bracket their names together for the upcoming Nov. 8 election.
Mack, currently a member of the Jersey City Board of Education, and Perez, an elected Democratic Committeeman in Ward E District 7, are among 13 candidates competing for two at-large council seats.
Mack and Perez are running on the Making a Difference for Jersey City slate.
The request that their names be bracketed is clearly meant to mitigate any advantages that might be given to candidates Kalimah Ahmad and Radames “Ray” Velazquez, allies of Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy who are also running together as a slate.
Voters will go to the polls on November 8 to fill two seats vacated by former council members Willie Flood and Mariano Vega, whose terms expire in 2013.
Flood resigned from the City Council in February due to health reasons. Vega – one of 46 public and religious officials arrested in the infamous 2009 FBI corruption sting – resigned last September after pleading guilty to federal charges.
Healy appointed Velasquez to fill Vega’s seat. Attorney Kalimah Ahmad was selected by the mayor to fill the seat vacated by Flood.
In addition to Mack, Perez, Ahmad, and Velazquez, the field of candidates also includes current Ward F City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, Dan Levin, Rolando Lavarro, Adela Rohena, Brian Lane, Melissa Clark, Nabil Youssef, Imtiaz Sayed, and Albert Walker Jr. – E. Assata Wright