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Photo: Steve Gold

At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* is back in the news after his indictment last week on a slew of federal corruption charges that he was first arrested for back in July, as well as the new charge of lying to federal investigators. (Vega* reportedly told the investigators that he’d never seen FBI informant Solomon Dwek just one day before being hauled off in handcuffs.)

We said it in July. We said it again in October. And the risk of sounding like a broken record, we’ll say it one more time: Vega* should leave his position on the City Council immediately.

Will the third time be the charm? We’ll have to wait and see, but there are reasons for us to hope in these waning days of 2009.

Now that Vega* is no longer the leader of the City Council, council leadership is able to make noise about doing the right thing. In comments to the Journal late last week, Council President Peter Brennan began to show some leadership, pointing out that if city employees were forced out of their jobs when they were arrested on corruption charges, perhaps the embattled councilman should meet the same fate. Vega* has already been suspended from his county job, but he still retains a salary of $35,436 as a councilman.

While Brennan’s comments aren’t as forceful as Ward E councilman Steven Fulop’s words have been, they are loaded with more meaning. We have (gratefully) come to expect Fulop to speak up for what’s right on sticky political situations; Brennan, not so much. He’s a loyal Team Healy guy, after all, so to have him step out on this issue is a big step in the right direction.

But again, it is just a step. The next step should come from the mayor himself. While it is clear Healy is backing off of his once-strong support for Vega*, his public comments are rather milquetoast — “a matter to be considered over the next few days by Mariano, his family, his lawyer, myself and his colleagues on the council” just isn’t going to cut it anymore. Healy needs to show leadership on this issue, and try to clean up the council so this city can start to move on. He needs to publicly and directly ask Vega* to step down.

Life for Healy can’t get much worse right now. He’s lost the faith of many Jersey City voters as he’s failed to show strong leadership post-corruption sweep. He’s even lost the support of insiders, and is reportedly facing an early ouster from his leadership position at the Hudson County Democratic Organization. Meanwhile, we continue to see his name tossed around in corruption indictments, and will likely hear much more about Healy’s role in all of this when his former deputy mayor and campaign treasurer Leona Beldini goes to trial next month.

All of this is our little way of saying: Mr. Mayor, you don’t have much to lose here; in fact, you only have the respect of many citizens to gain. So do the right thing: step up and speak out. Join us, councilman Fulop, and the Jersey Journal, and ask Vega* to leave the City Council.