A heavy downpour couldn’t stop about 200 people from showing up Tuesday to support City Councilman at Large Jerremiah Healy as he announced his run for the Jersey City mayor’s office.
Healy will have to work long hours, as he faces the task of running against at least two prominent candidates who have declared their intention to run in the special election in November – Assemblyman Louis Manzo and Acting Mayor L. Harvey Smith.
At a press conference held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center in Pershing Field, Healy, 53, told the crowd that he would be leaving his law practice temporarily to campaign for a second time for the mayor’s seat. In his initial foray into running for elected office in 1997, he ran against former mayor Bret Schundler in a runoff.”One of the accusations that had been leveled at me eight years ago was that I didn’t have governmental experience,” said Healy, who was a municipal court judge in 1997. “But I have learned a lot in these past three years.” He referred to his serving as councilman-at-large, a seat he won in 2001.
Healy also spoke of his pride in his knowledge of the city, and how his four children were all born, raised and educated in Jersey City. Those four children – Jerremiah, Jr., Susanne, Katherine and Patrick – along with his wife of 28 years, Maureen, were standing at his side.
Healy in his speech said that the main issues he would tackle if he became mayor would be improving the quality-of-life in Jersey City and inducing more business and construction through the reasonable use of tax abatements for certain developments.
“Abatements are a tool the city can use, but it has to use wisely,” said Healy.
Interestingly, there were people present in the audience who are connected with the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), a powerful group whose backing a mayoral candidate certainly would want. This might be bad news for other candidates like Smith.
Some of those present included Tom Fricchione, a former city councilman; Jim Kennelly, spokesman for Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, and Harold “Buddy” Demellier, Healy’s campaign manager and longtime political strategist affiliated with the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).
DeGise, Councilman Bill Gaughan, and other representatives from the HCDO were not in attendance.
After his speech, Demellier was asked how much money was needed for a campaign. He did not give a figure. But political insiders believe that anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 would be needed to run this short-term campaign to fill the remainder of the term of the late Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham (who passed away on May 25).
An indication of how soon funds would be needed for campaigning was the scheduling last week of a Healy fundraiser at Laico’s at the Summit House restaurant in the Jersey City Heights.
Who is Jerremiah Healy? Jerremiah Healy is a lifelong Jersey City resident raised by widowed mother. Healy attended the now-defunct St. Michael’s Grammar School located in the Jersey City Heights, Xavier High School in Manhattan, Villanova University in Philadelphia and Seton Hall Law School in Newark.
Healy joined the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in 1977 and for the next four years was an assistant prosecutor and investigator. He then spent time in private practice before being appointed by then-Mayor Gerald McCann to become a chief judge of the Jersey City Municipal Court.
He then announced in 1996 that he would run for mayor against the incumbent Bret Schundler. Healy forced Schundler into a runoff in the mayoral election in June 1997, as both did not receive 50 percent plus one vote to win outright.
Healy eventually lost in the runoff election by several thousand votes.
In 2001, Healy ran for the councilman-at-large seat on the City Council and won, defeating two-term councilman Rev. Fernando L. Colon. At the time, Healy ran on Tom DeGise’s ticket when DeGise ran for mayor, which he eventually lost to the late Glenn D. Cunningham.
No Hesitation When Healy was asked if he hesitated at getting involved in an another mayoral race, Healy said that he was looking to cover those issues that he felt had not been addressed to some degree in the last couple of years and wanted to start this effort as soon as possible.
Asked what he would do differently from the last time he ran for mayor, Healy remarked that he hoped to have more funding this time around and also delegate his time better.
“I would have my hands in everything, working from seven in the morning to two in the morning,” said Healy.