Although it has been known since he opened a campaign account last July that he would run for mayor of Jersey City next year, Bill Matsikoudis made it official last week, declaring his intention to run via a video posted to his website.
At the end of the week, just before press time, former Assemblyman Charles Mainor also announced his intention to run for mayor as well. (Watch for more next week.)
Matsikoudis, Mainor and Mayor Steven Fulop are the only declared candidates so far. Matsikoudis said he has raised more than $100,000 in campaign contributions.
Mainor, a retired police detective, formerly worked for Mayor Glenn Cunningham before being elected to the state Assembly in 2009. He was dumped from the ticket in a Democratic power play in 2015, and still planned to run without the party endorsement, but ultimately dropped out of the race.
Matsikoudis comes out of the past
Matsikoudis is the founding partner of Matsikoudis and Fanciullo, a law firm specializing in Environmental Litigation and Urban Redevelopment. Matsikoudis served as corporation counsel for the city under Mayor Jerramiah Healy between November 2004 and June 2013, and has won praise even from some of his political enemies for his abilities as a legal counsel.
While the campaign will likely attract more candidates before the November election,
Matsikoudis said he would seek policies to reign in what he called out of control spending in the city and wants to increase affordable housing in Jersey City.
Close associates of Fulop, however, argue that many of the economic problems the city faces result from policies established under the Healy administration. Officials argue that the city has experienced significant economic growth under Fulop as well as a concerted effort to increase affordable housing.
The political shooting starts right away
Matsikoudis’s kickoff set the tone for what will likely be a very lively campaign, since he brings to the election a number of issues he has already unveiled as a critic of the Fulop administration.
An opponent of a referendum that moved the election from May to November next year, Matsikoudis has close ties to Civic Jersey City, an organization that has raised a number of concerns regarding Fulop’s agenda and is generally seen as an anti-Fulop think tank for issues likely to be raised in the upcoming campaign.
Fulop and Matsikoudis will face off in an election that will not only pick the mayor but also the nine-member City Council.
Matsikoudis said over the upcoming months he will hold discussions to build a slate of council running mates.
In a hotly-contested election in 2013, Fulop beat Healy, and some see the upcoming fight as a rematch.
Matsikoudis claims the city has had an upsurge in violent crimes since Fulop took office, but statistics show in general crime is down – except in some serious areas, such as murder and shootings.
Matsikoudis says the city government is “bloated with patronage,” and has neglected parts of the city. The Fulop administration denies these charges, pointing to the fact that a number of prominent city officials were implicated in Bid Rig III, a federal sting that snared a number of people close to Healy in 2009.
“This is scary, as it is all about Matsikoudis trying to get back to when he was in City Hall and Jersey City was making national news for having the most people arrested on corruption charges in the history of New Jersey,” said city spokesperson Jennifer Morrill. “Who would want to relive that nightmare for Jersey City?”
Ironically, Morrill also served as Healy’s spokesperson at the time.
Matsikoudis was not one of the people accused of wrongdoing, but has frequently claimed that Fulop pulled “a Bridgegate”-like event in Jersey City when he ordered inspections of trucks coming out of a Port Authority run-facility, tying up traffic for hours – a charge authorities did not seem to find credible when investigating the larger Bridgegate case.
The case, which recently concluded with the conviction of two close associates of Gov. Christopher Christie, involved the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge as political retaliation against the mayor of Fort Lee for failing to endorse the governor’s reelection bid. Fulop, who also declined to endorse Christie, said Jersey City also suffered retaliation, but did not testify in the trial.
“Under Healy/Matsikoudis Jersey City led the state of New Jersey in one category only,” Morrill said. “That category sadly was the number of public officials arrested for corruption. Who would want that nightmare back?”
Some disputed issues
Matsikoudis claims that the city under Fulop has had a hodgepodge approach to development of affordable housing,
“I don’t see a comprehensive plan,” he said. “Recently, Fulop announced temporary affordable housing downtown, but that was a result from a state subsidy, not city policy. We need a multi-prong approach that would mandate in the hottest development areas the building of middle and low income housing. We need to provide incentives to build housing for lower and working class people.”
He said he will be revealing concepts and ideas shortly, including housing that might allow cops and firefighters to live again in Jersey City.”
City officials dispute this, saying the Fulop administration set criteria for an affordable housing trust fund that did not exist prior to his taking office. This included a check list of requirements to be met prior to receiving a real estate tax abatement, an almost routine demand from large developers. City officials claim also that Fulop expanded affordable housing development to the waterfront and Jersey City Heights, while prior to this, the Healy administration largely developed affordable housing to Ward F and Ward A, two of the poorest parts of the city.
“We have created more affordable housing in three years than Healy/Matsikoudis did in 10 years of their term, including the first 80/20 projects in 30 years,” Morrill said.
City officials said Fulop changed the policies on affordable housing after he took office in 2013, and conducted a study in 2014 in conjunction with New York University and Columbia University in regards to what should be done.
Budget increases
Matsikoudis said the city budget has increased by $85 million since Fulop took office in 2013.
“He has been hiring all kinds of people and giving contracts to firms and companies helping him to become mayor and become govern. This is millions of dollars to political supporters. This is outrageous abuse of city funds which could be used to hire police officers or give back to the taxpayers,” Matsikoudis said.
Morrill, however, disputed this claim of patronage.
“Impossible,” she said. “Jersey City has the strictest pay to play in New Jersey and not one donor to our campaign has violated that law which Bill Matsikoudis opposed under Healy.”
“I want to let people know who I am and what I want to do.” – Bill Matsikoudis
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“We have not had a tax increase for three straight years. Under Healy and Matsikoudis taxes were increased 95 percent over his term of 10 years,” Morrill said.
Out on the streets to meet people
Matsikoudis said as mayor he would run the city with restraint, seek property tax relief for home owners, and would seek to implement “true community policing,” not just foot patrols. He said he will petition the state to change abatement laws to allow schools to be funded.
In kicking off his campaign, Matsikoudis said he would seek to connect with people of the city, holding meet and greets in the homes of residents or other venues.
“I want to let people know who I am and what I want to do,” he said. “More importantly, I want to hear their concerns and get their ideas for solving some of the city’s problems.”
He said he will be walking the streets of the city, knocking on doors to meet with people.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.