The Jersey City Independent "

- Mayor Jerramiah Healy says that he’s donating to charity any political contributions he’s received that were tainted by the FBI corruption sting. Right now, the mayor is lowballing the figure at $17,600 but he acknowledges that if money funneled through the Jersey City Democratic Committee that the sting targets said would go the mayor’s campaign ends up looking dirty, he will add it to the charity list.

- Meanwhile, a rarely heard from panel of state legislators called the Assembly Republican Policy Committee says it will hold a number of hearings on public corruption around the state. The first hearing will be in Trenton, and subsequent hearings have not yet been scheduled.

- Michael P. Riccards of the Hall Institute of Public Policy pens an op-ed in the Record on New Jersey’s culture of corruption, and what we can do about it. “Everybody seems up for sale in New Jersey,” he writes. “There is no evidence that the corrupters ran into a wall blocked by honest opposition, so we will have to rethink our strategy for keeping this state honest.”

- On today’s City Council agenda are a redevelopment pay-to-play reform ordinance and a salary freeze for directors of city agencies. The pay-to-play ordinance is similar to one defeated in 2007, was developed in part by Civic JC and is being sponsored by Ward E councilman Steven Fulop. The freeze ordinance was introduced by Mayor Healy, and calls for the automatic cost of living increase that directors and certain other high-level employees see each year (it can be up to 3.5 percent) to come to a temporary halt. Affected by the freeze would be the city’s eight department directors; the City Clerk and two Deputy City Clerks; the Tax Collector; the Chief Financial Officer; and the Tax Assessor and two Deputy Tax Assessors. The council meeting begins at 10 am.

- Gull’s Cove developer Dean S. Geibel has thus far signed up a child-care provider (the Early Learning Academy) and a Sawa Steakhouse & Sushi Bar for the retail space in his building. He tells the New York Times he’s close to signing four more contracts and has been seeking “gym, fitness, hair salon, doctors who specialize — the same tenants everybody is clamoring after.”

- Jersey City is among the New Jersey municipalities and counties that filed proposals for federal Department of Energy grants under the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Program before a Monday deadline.

- History buffs, check this out: Cynthia Harris and Leon Yost have collaborated on a book — Changing Jersey City: A History in Sequential Photographs — which is set to be released in September.

- Jersey City natives Kool & The Gang were in town yesterday to unveil a massive billboard at the downtown Boys & Girls Club, as part of the club’s statewide “Be Great” campaign.

In statewide news:

- Bush political strategy guru Karl Rove has confirmed that he spoke with Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie about running for governor while Christie was U.S. Attorney. Democrats have long raised questions about whether any future plans to run for office affected Christie’s actions as attorney. The Christie campaign responded to the Rove revelations by saying they were “not surprising.”

- The New York inspector general has issued a report saying the bi-state agency formed to combat corruption within the New York and New Jersey ports — the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor — has been riddled with abuse. The report says the commission misused federal Homeland Security funding, hired unqualified cops and allowed convicted felons to get jobs. Gov. Corzine has already fired the New Jersey Commissioner, former State PBA President Michael Madonna.

- The NJ chapter of the Sierra Club is demanding that the Republican Governors Association stop using its logo emblem in a TV ad attacking Gov. Corzine’s environmental record. However, the group also says it agrees with the criticism of Corzine’s record by the GOP group.

- The state comptroller says New Jersey overpaid 10 contractors who help care for the developmentally disabled in fiscal 2008, to the tune of at least $1.4 million.

- On the other end of the state spending spectrum, state officials expect to save $108 million a year from a new prescription drug contract for 800,000 active and retired government employees and others who receive pharmacy benefits through New Jersey.

- Gov. Corzine is asking the federal Agriculture Secretary to issue a natural disaster designation for Burlington, Camden, Mercer, Ocean, Sussex and Warren Counties for damage to farms incurred this growing season due to severe storms and a tornado.

- Inmates at the Union County jail in Elizabeth were placed on lockdown after two large fights broke out over the weekend. Large fights and subsequent lockdowns have become fairly routine in prisons and jails around the country as a result of overcrowding.

- The number of bankruptcies in New Jersey surged by more than 40 percent over the last year as recession-battered consumers struggled with debts and job losses while businesses suffered shrinking revenue.

- AirTran Airways plans to stop flying in and out of Newark Liberty International Airpoprt and will give its takeoff and landing slots to Continental Airlines.

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