The Jersey City Independent "

Calling the decision to strip Council President Peter Brennan of his presidency “illegal” and “arbitrary,” Mayor Jerramiah Healy has announced that he will be vetoing the newly approved law.

“The City Council’s action is illegal and as stated in two opinions rendered by the Corporation Council violates the rights of Council President Brennan,” says Mayor Healy. “This ordinance was arbitrary and capricious, serves no purpose, and was created solely for political motives. It does nothing to better the lives of the residents of Jersey City and only serves to expose the taxpayers to the costs of a lawsuit. For all of those reasons, I will veto this ordinance.”

With the City Council’s 5-4 vote at last night’s council meeting, the new majority faction on the council appears to be one vote short of overriding the mayor and enacting the legislation introduced by Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez. At-Large Councilwoman Viola Richardson, At-Large Councilman Rolando Lavarro, Ward B Councilman David Donnelly, and Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop also voted in favor of the measure.

Following the vote – and ostensibly before he knew of Healy’s intention to veto – Brennan made it clear that he would be following through with his promise to sue the city, saying the law tramples on his Constitutional rights. To allay voter fears that they would be stuck footing the bill, however, Brennan said he would cover his own legal expenses.

The Council President found support from both Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano and Ward D Councilman Bill Gaughan. More surprising for some was the support he received from newly-appointed Ward F Councilwoman Michele Massey, who said she could not vote for the measure since she had not been provided with “documentation” showing “just cause” for why Brennan should be ousted.

“On behalf of the taxpayers,” said Massey, referring to the potential cost of Brennan’s threatened lawsuit, “and without documentation, I have to vote no.”

Lavarro, on the other hand, did not require similar documentation and said his vote aimed to better reflect the will of the voters. Noting that there are three new council members and Richardson has moved to an at-large post since the organization meeting where Brennan was elected president, “as far as I’m concerned, it’s a new council” and a new president would be appropriate, he said.

“The people of Jersey City spoke on election day, and they made a very loud and clear message that the city should move in another direction,” Lavarro added.

The vote went ahead despite a legal memo written by Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis, which maintained the ordinance would likely be rejected in court as “illegal,” an opinion the unconvinced majority on the council rejected as “convenient.”

“We lose focus that for all nine of us sitting up here, it’s not a god-given right, it’s a privilege,” said Fulop. “Policies change, perspectives change.”

Before voting no, Ward A Michael Sottolano said ousting Brennan “is totally without merit and without cause. It reeks of [being] self-serving and of political machinations at their worst.”

The “self-serving” argument resonated with resident Esther Wintner, a council mainstay who frequently criticizes the Healy Administration, but who in this case maintained that politicians who change the law for their own benefit are far more dangerous than “bad decisions” by those in charge.

“If members of the council are frustrated and unhappy with the rules that govern their body, there is an organizational meeting to fix it,” she said of the meeting where a council president is elected at the start of each four-year council cycle. “While I understand this is an extraordinarily unusual [council] term given the change of council members, stepping outside the rules to change the law, either out of frustration, expedience, or personal aggrandizement, sends the message that you think the law should be bent to your will, not you to the law’s.”

Still, the majority of speakers were far more enthusiastic at the prospect of new leadership on the council, such as Police Officer Benevolent Association representative Mark Razzoli, who noted the city’s double standard when it comes to contracts. Razzoli likened changing the council president’s terms of office to the city’s decision to change health benefits of retirees despite the existence of a written contract, a move Brennan had supported.

Perhaps articulating the frustration best, Imtiaz Syed, a Jersey City doctor and one-time At-Large Council candidate, said the need for leadership change was due in large part to what he described as spiraling crime in the city, of which he has been a victim twice. First his office was broken into, he said, and more recently the wheels of his daughter’s car were stolen. The Healy Administration’s response, he says, was pathetic.

“If I knew the state of affairs was going to be like this in Jersey City, would I have asked [my children] to come back to Jersey City?” Syed asked. “What kind of message are we sending to professionals, that they should leave Jersey City?”

Photo of Peter Brennan by Eric Schkrutz

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