There are eleven candidates in the upcoming election for the Jersey City mayor’s office: Dwayne Baskerville, Willie Flood, Isaiah Gadsden, Jerramiah Healy, Steve Lipski, Hosam Mansour, Louis Manzo, Hilario Nunez Jr., Alfred Marc Pine, L. Harvey Smith, and Thomas Short.
This article is the first of a two-part report that will profile each contender in the mayoral race. The first six are featured in this week’s issue of the Jersey City Reporter and the next five are featured in the Oct. 24 issue.Dwayne Baskerville – “Yes Lord!”
Dwayne Baskerville is a 45-year-old native of Jersey City. When contacted a few weeks ago for an interview by the Jersey City Reporter, he said that he could not do so as was waiting for an “answer from God.” He is running with the slogan “Yes Lord!” which is not a gimmick but the very reason he is running for mayor.
“I was at the late mayor’s funeral, standing right near the Jersey City Armory. I looked down Montgomery Street at the funeral and it looked like a scene in the movie The Ten Commandments when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt,” said Baskerville, referring to the June 1 funeral of the late Jersey City mayor Glenn D. Cunningham. “Suddenly I heard a voice inside my head saying, ‘Who’s going to pray for them now?’ That’s when I realized it was the Lord.”
Baskerville then explained how this unusual relationship with God led him to take the steps toward running for mayor of Jersey City.
“[God] led me to a meeting at a church on Oak Street where they talked about the late mayor and how they were praying that someone would rise up to complete the mission that Glenn was on before his death,” said Baskerville.
Baskerville said that after the meeting, he went to other community meetings as guided by God, who then led a reluctant Baskerville to run for mayor.
“I never registered to vote before in my life and don’t like politics,” said Baskerville. “I really don’t want to run but if God calls, you then you have to do it.”
Baskerville then went out and got 135 signatures on a petition, but that had to be discarded due to the fact that he was not registered to vote. Once he registered to vote, Baskerville went back out and collected over 290 signatures by his own estimate.
However, Baskerville is not comfortable with his new status as a mayoral candidate as he continues to be hounded by what he calls “spiritual warfare.”
“I’m in a battle with God but God has been winning,” said Baskerville. Baskerville said that he will announce his candidacy seven days before the election. At the present time, he does not have any active campaign and does not have a platform. In fact, Baskerville would not offer a photo for this article because, as he put it, “This is not about me but about God.”
Baskerville is a graduate of Public School 9 and attended Ferris High School in Jersey City but finished his studies in Buffalo, N.Y. He worked in the construction business after high school in Buffalo and continued in that field until moving to Jersey City 11 years ago where he started in the foreclosure business, helping realtors in the foreclosure of homes. He currently resides with his mother, a niece and a nephew. Willie Flood – “The Cunningham Team”
It may be a testament to the good will that Willie Flood has been able to engender amongst her friends and foes alike that she has been able to avoid most of the nasty political rumors that have circulated about some of the other major candidates in the mayoral race.
Flood has said that if she is elected, she would work towards ending the ‘bitterness” in city government that has existed before and after the death of Cunningham.
Flood, 64, is a native of Mobile, Alabama. She graduated with a B.S. degree from Alabama State University. After graduation in 1963, Flood moved to Jersey City where she started teaching at Public School 22.
She taught there for 16 years until she was appointed by the superintendent of the Jersey City Public Schools to become a desegregation coordinator for the school system, responsible for helping to integrate schools that had predominately white, African-American, or Hispanic student populations. Flood held that position until 1980.
In 1981, Flood was elected as city councilwoman at-large and served until 1989.
She then went back to working in the Jersey City school system until she ran for mayor in 1992, the famous multi-candidate election that saw Bret Schundler win with just 18 percent of the vote.
After that mayoral election, she was appointed to the Hudson County Office on Aging where from 1992 to 1995 she administered food and medical programs for senior citizens. Then in 1995, she was appointed as the director of Consumer Affairs for Hudson County, a position she held until 2003 when she said she was fired by county executive Tom DeGise.
In April 2003, Flood found herself working in City Hall as an aide to longtime friend Cunningham until after his death when Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith decided not to retain Flood.
Flood is looking to return to City Hall this November, this time as the mayor. Recently she received the endorsement of her friend and the widow of the late mayor, Sandra Bolden Cunningham.
“I believe that this city needs a person who is sensitive and caring for everyone. I believe that we need a person to listen to every group. I believe that I am that person and I would also like to carry on the legacy of Glenn D. Cunningham,” said Flood. One of the first issues that Flood would address, if elected as mayor, is the rising crime in the city, especially the increase in gang activity.
“One thing I plan to do is form a group comprised of people from every part of the city, to sit down with me about the gang and crime activity that we have in the city,” said Flood. “This will also be with the police and other city agencies and young people will be involved.”
Flood also plans to work with the Board of Education to open up all city schools in the afternoon for those kids to either participate in sports, the arts, or entrepreneurship. Isaiah Gadsden – “Change Is Near”
Isaiah Gadsden is not a happy man. While he should have reason to be happy since he is one of the 11 candidates running for the mayor’s seat in Jersey City, recent events have soured him during this campaign.
“There were people tearing down my signs that were put on private property on Fulton Avenue,” said Gadsden. “My people were telling me that it was Manzo people and Smith people. In fact, I was told that one of the people tearing down signs was someone who I knew from college.”
Gadsden then went on to say that “politics is supposed about democracy but Hudson County has been all dirty politics.” Gadsden is a 27-year-old native of Jersey City who attended P.S. 24.
He moved and attended high school in South Carolina before returning to Jersey City, where he enrolled at Hudson County Community College.
He is currently a student at Jersey City University when he is a criminal justice major.
He also works in management for the vending company ARAMARK, which is based at Giants Stadium, Continental Arena, and the Meadowlands Racetrack.
Gadsden said in his press release that “I have a dream to reform Jersey City into an environment where it truly represents the heart of the community, ‘the people.’ I will change the concept of politics as usual into community first as usual, and represent individuals – not institutions! It’s time for a change in Jersey City.” Jerramiah Healy – “Fighting Corruption”
Jerramiah Healy has said that he was running for mayor to combat corruption and crime in Jersey City, and hopes to unify the city so that Jersey City can get its fair share of financial aid to be able to implement improvements to the city.
“We have to get more cops on the streets, especially as we are at an all-time low,” said Healy. “My idea is that there are cops who have desk jobs. We should get those cops back on the streets and hire civilians to do those jobs, which would save a lot of money.”
Healy said that if he became mayor he would work toward increasing the police force, and also start a program that would teach young children not to litter.
Born in December of 1950, Jerramiah Healy is the fourth of five children. His parents, Daniel and Catherine, were Irish Immigrants who met, married, and settled in Jersey City. Healy and his siblings were raised by his mother as a single parent after his father passed away when Healy was five years old. Healy attended Catholic elementary and high school before enrolling in Villanova University in Philadelphia. He graduated from Villanova in 1972, and then attended Seton Hall University School of Law. Healy supported himself by tending bar in Jersey City and working as an ironworker at Local 45.
After graduating Seton Hall, Healy became an assistant prosecutor for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in 1977, where he remained until October 1981. From 1981 to 1991, he engaged in the private practice of law as a sole practitioner handling a variety of cases including criminal defense, real estate, personal injury, and landlord/tenant matters. Also during this time, he worked as an assistant corporation counsel defending various lawsuits filed against the City of Jersey City.
In 1991, Healy was appointed chief judge in the Jersey City Municipal Court by former Mayor Gerald McCann, and was reappointed by Schundler to a second term in 1995. As chief judge, Healy not only presided over various hearings and cases, but also supervised nine other municipal court judges.
In November of 1996, Healy ended his tenure as chief judge when he decided to make a maverick bid to unseat Schundler in the 1997 election. That resulted in a run-off election between Healy and Schundler in which Schundler prevailed in June 1997. In the past seven years, Healy resumed a private legal practice and was elected to the City Council in 2001.
Healy resides in the Jersey City Heights with his wife Maureen, a Jersey City native and a registered nurse at Jersey City P.S. 12. The couple has four children: Jeremiah, Susanne, Catherine, and Patrick, all of whom were born, raised, and educated in Jersey City. Steve Lipski – “Reform Government Now”
Steve Lipski has been excited about many things in his mayoral campaign, from meeting residents all over Jersey City while traveling in the customized $20,000 RV or “Reform Vehicle”, that he rented for this election, to his recent endorsement of former Jersey City Mayor and current candidate for NJ governor Bret Schundler’s initiative known as Return the Money Amendments. But for him what counts is making his views known on how intends to run the city government of his birthplace.
“I’m the only candidate in this race who’s talking about accountability and generating revenue,” said Lipski. “Every other candidate is promising additional resources without telling you where the revenue is coming from.”
Lipski is adamant about tax abatements (payments paid by developers directly to a municipality instead of conventional taxation) being a positive rather than a negative by citing the $67M in revenues that Jersey City received in the previous budget year, which he said helped fill any budget gaps that existed.
“It doesn’t take Einstein if you look at a light bulb on this side. A one hundred watt light bulb generates a lot more juice. That’s a tax abatement to our municipality, we get one hundred percent of that payment in lieu of taxes but we still pay conventional tax on pre-existing improvements as well as the land use itself.”
Lipski also is looking forward to immediately implementing the COMSTAT program – a computer analysis of crime statistics that would record where crimes occur and how often they occurred – created by former New York City Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Maple. Lipski said that COMSTAT would be installed within seven to 12 months of his inauguration to be used to monitor every city department in order to improve “accountability.”
Lipski was born on Dec. 31, 1963 in Jersey City (which he cites as a “trifecta” day since it is also the day of his wedding to wife Yraida in 1993 and New Year’s Eve). Raised by his mother from an early age when his father passed away, Lipski describes himself as a “troublemaker” when growing up but who would receive a Congressional recommendation from former US Congressman Frank Guarini to attend West Point Academy when he graduated from Dickinson High School in 1981.
After a failed stint in military prep school, Lipski enrolled in Seton Hall University where he earned bachelors degrees in English literature and philosophy and a master’s degree in English literature and education. He also attended Teachers College at Columbia University, from which he said he is a few courses short of graduating.
Lipski would go on to a ten-year career teaching in the New York City schools system, moving from teaching to union representative. He would utilize his educational background to open a charter school, CREATE Charter School, on the site of the old St. Paul’s Elementary School in the Greenville section of the city.
In 2001, Lipski ran for a seat in the City Council and won a four-year term. Lipski also is currently the co-chairman of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency. He currently lives in the Journal Square section of the city with his wife. They have no children. Hosam Mansour – “Your Average Citizen”
Twenty-year-old Hosam Mansour is the youngest candidate on the ballot for the Jersey City mayoral election on Nov. 2. Mansour has said that while he has been able to connect with undecided voters and newly registered voters, he is disappointed by what he encounters while campaigning.
“I get a lot of people who meet me and when I tell them that I am running for mayor, they say ‘Oh sure, we’ll vote for you.” I get some who challenge me and ask ‘What makes you think you’re qualified to be mayor,’ ” said Mansour. “Those people who take the time to question me I appreciate a lot more because at least they’re interested.”
Mansour also said that he usually gives this answer when people ask him what makes him think that he is qualified.
“I tell them that I am not qualified but I also say that if they want to continue voting for professional politicians that have done a bad job serving this city, then give them your vote. But if you want to elect an average citizen, then vote for me.”
Mansour said that if he was elected mayor of Jersey City, he would work towards stopping tax abatements from being given to developers and pushing for electoral reform that would limit donations to political candidates to $50. He would advocate for a program that he calls “local protectionism.”
“I believe that in order for this city to generate revenue as well as foster civic pride, I would as mayor encourage manufacturers to come to this city who would create products to be used or consumed by the local population,” said Mansour. “I would also encourage residents to shop and eat in Jersey City rather than take their money out of town.”
Mansour, whose parents emigrated from Egypt, is a graduate of Public School 27 and McNair Academic High School. He also graduated from Rutgers University-Newark with a degree in history.