Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey explained

Post:Mayor
Body:the City of Jersey City
Insignia:Flag of Jersey City.png
Insigniasize:200px
Insigniacaption:Flag of Jersey City
Incumbent:Steven Fulop
Incumbentsince:July 1, 2013
Type:Mayor–council
Status:Active
Termlength:Four years
First:Dudley S. Gregory
Deputy:Vivian Brady-Phillips
Marcos Vigil

The Mayor of the City of Jersey City is the head of the executive branch of the government of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint deputy mayors, department heads, and aides; and approve or veto ordinances passed by the City Council. The mayor is popularly elected in a nonpartisan general election. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits, although the current term is a four-and-a-half-year term, due to a change in election dates.

Forty-four individuals have held the office of mayor since the City of Jersey City was chartered on February 22, 1838. Dudley S. Gregory was the inaugural mayor of the city, and served on three separate occasions for a total of five years. The current mayor is Steven Fulop. He defeated former mayor Jerramiah Healy in the May 2013 election and assumed office on July 1, 2013.

Due to a change in election law approved by Jersey City voters at the end of 2016, mayoral elections now take place in November instead of May.[1] Although the mayorship has historically been a four-year term in Jersey City, and law prescribes the mayorship as being a four-year term in the future, due to the calendar change in elections, one mayorship was a four-and-a-half-year term, beginning July 2013 and ending at the end of 2017.

Duties and powers

The City of Jersey City is organized as a mayor–council form of government under the Faulkner Act (Optional Municipal Charter Law). This provides for a citywide elected mayor serving in an executive role, as well as a city council serving in a legislative role. All of these offices are selected in a nonpartisan municipal election and all terms are four years. Like all mayors under the [2] Under state law, the mayor has the duty to enforce the charter and ordinances of the city, and all applicable state laws; report annually to the council and the public on the state of the city; supervise and control all departments of the government; prepare and submit to the council annual operating and capital budgets; supervise all city property, institutions and agencies; sign all contracts and bonds requiring the approval of the city; negotiate all contracts; and serve as a member, either voting or ex-officio, of all appointive bodies.[3]

Like all mayors under the Faulkner Act's mayor-council provision, Jersey City's mayors vested with very broad executive power. He has the power to appoint department heads with the approval of the City Council; to remove department heads subject to a two-thirds disapproval by the City Council; approve or veto ordinances subject to an override vote of two-thirds of the council; and appoint deputy mayors. The mayor is permitted to attend and participate in meetings of the City Council, without a vote, except in the case of a tie on the question to fill a council vacancy.[3]

Elections

See also: Jersey City mayoral election, 2001, Jersey City mayoral special election, 2004, Jersey City mayoral election, 2005 and Jersey City mayoral election, 2009.

Under the original 1838 charter, mayors were elected citywide for a term of one year. In 1868 the State Legislature extended the term of office to two years. In 1892, the Legislature again changed the term of office, extending it to five years.[4] The city adopted a commission form of government under the Walsh Act in 1913.[5] This form provided for a five-member commission with both executive and legislative powers elected for four years. The Commissioners elected one of their number as mayor. Under this system, the mayor's only specific power was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was first among equals, with no powers over and above his fellow commissioners. Jersey City adopted its current mayor-council form of government under the Faulkner Act on May 7, 1961.[6]

Under the non-partisan form of municipal government, elections for mayor are held every four years on the second Tuesday in May.[7] If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a runoff election is held on the fourth Tuesday following the general election.[8] The term of office commences on July 1.[9] The next Jersey City mayoral election is scheduled to be held in 2025.[10]

Succession

In the event of an absence, disability, or other cause preventing the mayor from performing his duties, the mayor may designate the business administrator or any other department head as acting mayor for up to 60 days.[3] In the event of a vacancy in the office, the President of the City Council becomes acting mayor, and the council has 30 days to name an interim mayor.[11] If no interim mayor is named, the Council President continues as acting mayor until a successor is elected, or the council reorganizes and selects a new President.[11] Prior to 1971, there was no automatic succession law.[12] The office was left vacant for 47 days in 1963 when the City Council failed to reach a decision on appointing an interim mayor.[13]

Mayors

MayorTerm startTerm endPartyNotes
1bgcolor=WhigThis was his first term. Dudley Sanford Gregory was the first mayor of Jersey City. Originally a Whig, Gregory switched to the Republican party in the 1850s.[14]
2bgcolor=Unknown No source has been found to verify a party affiliation.
3bgcolor=WhigThis was his second term.
4bgcolor=Unknown No source has been found to verify a party affiliation.
5bgcolor=Democratic
6bgcolor=Whig
7bgcolor=Whig
8bgcolor=Whig
9bgcolor=Whig
10bgcolor=Democratic
11bgcolor=RepublicanThis was his third term.
12bgcolor=Democratic
13bgcolor=Democratic
14bgcolor=Democratic
15bgcolor=Republican
16bgcolor=DemocraticIn 1868, the New Jersey State Legislature passed an act changing the term of office from one to two years. Having been elected a few days before that act was passed, O'Neill refused to serve longer than the term to which he was elected and resigned after one year. Clarke was appointed interim mayor by the City Council.[15]
17bgcolor=DemocraticClarke was appointed interim mayor by the City Council when O'Neill refused to extend his term under the new terms of office.
18bgcolor=Democratic
19bgcolor=Democratic
20bgcolor=Republican
21bgcolor=Democratic
22bgcolor=DemocraticTaussig was the first Jewish Mayor of Jersey City.[16] His rock candy company, Taussig & Hammerschlag, went out of business during his term. In September, Taussig and his partner Moritz Hammerschlag were arrested and charged with fraud.[17] The Havemeyer Sugar Refining Company brought a lawsuit against them claiming they were induced to making a loan based on false financial statements made to Bradstreet's Mercantile Agency by Taussig in April 1883. Taussig and Hammerschlag lost the suit in December 1884.[18]
23bgcolor=Republican
24bgcolor=Democratic
25bgcolor=Republican
26bgcolor=Democratic
27bgcolor=Republican
28bgcolor=Democratic
29bgcolor=Republican
30bgcolor=DemocraticHague is the longest-serving mayor of Jersey City. He served for . He retired during his eighth term and asked the City Council to appoint Frank H. Eggers, his nephew.[19] [20]
31bgcolor=DemocraticHe was the nephew of Frank Hague.
32bgcolor=DemocraticKenny resigned shortly after winning re-election, citing poor health.[21]
33bgcolor=Democratic
34bgcolor=DemocraticWitkowski was born in Jersey City, the son of Blanche and Joseph Witkowski, who were Polish immigrants. He was elected police commissioner in 1949, as part of the independent Freedom ticket that led to the election of John V. Kenny as mayor. Witkowski ran and lost in 1953 in his first bid for mayor, and won his single term in office in 1957.[22]
35bgcolor=DemocraticGangemi resigned from office when it was determined that he was not a United States citizen and was ineligible to serve. Following his resignation, Jersey City was without a mayor for 47 days while the city council failed to reach a consensus on a successor.[23]
36bgcolor=DemocraticWhelan was removed from office after being convicted of conspiracy and extortion.[24]
37bgcolor=DemocraticKrieger was appointed interim mayor by the City Council after Whelan was removed from office.[25] He was the second Jewish Mayor of Jersey City.
38bgcolor=DemocraticWhen elected in 1971, at age 30, Jordan became the youngest Mayor of Jersey City.[26] [27]
39bgcolor=DemocraticSmith resigned from office to seek the nomination for governor, finishing sixth in the gubernatorial Democratic primary.[28]
40bgcolor=DemocraticWhen elected in 1981, at age 31, McCann was the second-youngest Mayor of Jersey City.
41bgcolor=DemocraticCucci served on the City Council from 1977 to 1981, and was a member of the Jersey City Board of Education from 2000 until 2009.[29] [30]
42bgcolor=DemocraticMcCann was removed from office during his second term after being convicted of bank fraud.[31] [32]
43bgcolor=DemocraticAs City Council President, Roman became acting mayor, succeeding McCann after his removal from office. She was also the first female mayor of Jersey City.[33]
44bgcolor=DemocraticActing mayor. He held the office as a result of being President of the City Council at the time of a vacancy.
45bgcolor=RepublicanSchundler was the first Republican elected as Mayor of Jersey City since Fagan was elected in 1913.
46bgcolor=DemocraticCunningham was the first African American Mayor of Jersey City. He died in office of a heart attack on May 25, 2004.[34]
47bgcolor=DemocraticActing mayor. He held the office as a result of being President of the City Council at the time of a vacancy.
48bgcolor=DemocraticHealy entered public service as an assistant prosecutor for the Hudson County, New Jersey Prosecutor's Office in 1977. From 1981 to 1991, he maintained a private law practice in Jersey City. He was appointed Chief Judge in the Jersey City Municipal Court in 1991, and was reappointed in 1995.[35]
49Incumbentbgcolor=DemocraticFulop in the current mayor and the third Jewish mayor of Jersey City.

Higher offices held

The following is a list of higher public offices held by mayors, before or after their mayoral term(s).

MayorMayoral term(s)Other offices heldReferences
1838–1840, 1841–1842, 1858–1860U.S. House of Representatives (1847–1849)[36]
1857–1858New Jersey State Senator (1860–1862)[37]
1864–1867, 1886–1892U.S. House of Representatives (1869–1871)[38]
1892–1897New Jersey General Assemblyman (1882–1883)[39]
2001–2004New Jersey State Senator (2004)[40]
2004New Jersey State Senator (2003–2004)
New Jersey General Assemblyman (2008–2010)
[41]
[42]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://ballotpedia.org/Municipal_elections_in_Jersey_City,_New_Jersey_(2017{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }})
  2. Web site: Faulkner Act (OMCL) Mayor–Council . Types And Forms Of New Jersey Municipal Government . . November 15, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010258/http://www.njslom.org/types.html#Mayor-Council . September 27, 2007 .
  3. Web site: New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Division of Local Government Services . State of New Jersey . Optional Municipal Charter Law . 2003 . November 15, 2009 .
  4. News: . Some Legislative Jobs; The New Jersey Legislature at Work on Several of Them . March 2, 1892 . 3 . November 14, 2009 .
  5. News: The New York Times . April 16, 1916 . Commission Rule for Jersey City; Citizens Decide in Favor of New Government by Vote of 11,368 to 7,078 . 1 . November 15, 2009 .
  6. News: . Butler . Vincent . May 8, 1961 . Voters to Fill New Offices in Jersey City . B19.
  7. Web site: www.njelections.org . State of New Jersey Department of State . Frequently Asked Voter Questions . November 1, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091023064950/http://www.njelections.org/faq_voter_doe.html#a3 . October 23, 2009 .
  8. Web site: New Jersey State Legislature . New Jersey Statutes Annotated, 40:45-19 . January 27, 2010 .
  9. Web site: New Jersey State Legislature . New Jersey Statutes Annotated, 40:45-17 . January 27, 2010 .
  10. Web site: Jersey City mayoral race 2025: So far it’s a tale of two fund-raisers. January 17, 2024. NJ.com. Rosario. Joshua. West. Teri.
  11. News: The New York Times . Sullivan . Joseph . March 9, 1992 . Clock Ticking on Search For Mayor in Jersey City . November 15, 2009.
  12. Web site: New Jersey State Legislature . New Jersey Statutes Annotated, 40A:9-131 . January 27, 2010 .
  13. News: Haff . Joseph . The New York Times . Mayor is Named by Jersey City. Whelan Replaces Gangemi After 47-Day Delay; Jersey City's Council Appoints New Mayor After 47-Day Delay 3-Way Tie . November 13, 1963 . 1.
  14. News: The New York Times . April 16, 1859 . The Jersey City Election . January 26, 2010.
  15. Book: Winfield, Charles . 1874 . Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Co . New York, NY . History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: from its earliest settlement to the present time . 289.
  16. News: Fulop isn't Jersey City's first Jewish mayor – there was the infamous rock candy maker, and another. Hudson Reporter. May 19, 2013. 2018-01-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20180114073810/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/22640733/article-Fulop-isn-t-Jersey-City-s-first-Jewish-mayor---there-was-the-infamous-rock-candy-maker--and-another-?instance=menu. 2018-01-14. dead.
  17. News: Mayor Taussig and his Partner Charged With Fraud. Mayor Isaac W. Taussig, of Jersey City, and his partner, Moritz Hammerschlag, of the firm of Taussig Hammerschlag, rock candy manufacturers, of No. 50 Dey-street, who failed in September, were recently arrested and released on $9,000 bail on a warrant issued by Judge Barrett, of the Supreme Court, in a suit by the Havemeyer Sugar. . . 1883-10-24.
  18. News: Ex-Mayor Taussig's Testimony.. New York Times . December 13, 1884.
  19. When the Big Boy Goes... . https://web.archive.org/web/20081214103029/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,861807,00.html . dead . December 14, 2008 . . January 16, 1956 . November 15, 2009.
  20. News: Frank Hague Is Dead Here at 79. Long Boss of Jersey Democrats. Jersey City Mayor 32 Years Had National Influence. . . Frank Hague, former Democratic boss in New Jersey and Mayor of Jersey City for thirty two years, died at 5 P.M. yesterday in his apartment at 480 Park Avenue. . 1956-01-02 . 2007-08-21 .
  21. News: The New York Times . December 16, 1953 . Kenny Keeps His Word, Resigns as Mayor; Hague Foe, in Ill Health for a Year, Held Office Since '49 – Succeeded by Berry . 38.
  22. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE0D61038F930A35755C0A965958260 "C. S. Witkowski, 86, Jersey City Ex-Mayor"
  23. News: The New York Times . Mayor Gangemi Quits in Jersey. Resigns After U.S. Declares He is Not a Citizen . September 26, 1963 . 1.
  24. News: Strumm . Charles . The New York Times . Another Milepost on the Long Trail of Corruption in Hudson County . December 19, 1991.
  25. News: Jersey City's Interim Mayor, Charles Kiva Krieger . The New York Times . August 6, 1971 . 38.
  26. . July 15, 1974 . 200 Faces for the Future. https://web.archive.org/web/20080612213736/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879402-23,00.html . dead . June 12, 2008 .
  27. News: Jersey City Race Is Won By Jordan. May 9, 1973. The New York Times. 2017-03-01. 0362-4331.
  28. News: Goodnough . Abby . Thomas Smith, 68, Ex-Jersey City Mayor, Dies . The New York Times . June 5, 1996 . November 15, 2009.
  29. News: . Kaulessar . Ricardo . March 28, 2009 . Getting on board – 12 contenders vie for three seats in April 21 school election . February 9, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924031820/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/printer_friendly/2200830 . 2015-09-24 . dead .
  30. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2015/02/former_jersey_city_mayor_anthony_cucci_dies_at_92.html Former Jersey Mayor Anthony Cucci dies at 92
  31. News: Jonathan Miller . . May 27, 2007 . You Throw Mud, He'll Throw a Mountain . January 26, 2010.
  32. News: Evan Serpick. That Felon Inspecting Trash? He Used to Be Mayor . Mayor McCann had been removed from office in 1992, after being convicted of a savings-and-loan scam, and spent two years in federal prison. . . October 7, 2011 . 2011-10-08 .
  33. News: . The Mayor of Jersey City Is 'Acting' No More . Sullivan . Joseph F. . March 13, 1992 . August 10, 2008.
  34. News: The New York Times . Smothers . Ronald . June 2, 2004 . Before 5,000, Mayor of Jersey City Is Eulogized for a 'Life Well Lived' . November 15, 2009.
  35. Web site: www.cityofjerseycity.com . City of Jersey City . Jerramiah T. Healy biography . https://web.archive.org/web/20071205233304/http://cityofjerseycity.com/mayor.aspx?id=42 . dead . December 5, 2007 . November 17, 2009 .
  36. Web site: Gregory, Dudley Sanford – Biographical Information . . January 26, 2010.
  37. Winfield 1874, p. 342
  38. Web site: Cleveland, Orestes – Biographical Information . . January 26, 2010.
  39. News: Gen. Peter F. Wanser of Jersey City Dies. Former Mayor and Postmaster and Active in National Guard. Expires of Pneumonia at 68. New York Times . 1918-01-05 .
  40. News: The New York Times . Bayonne Mayor Is Selected As an Interim State Senator . Smothers . Ronald . June 10, 2004 . January 26, 2009.
  41. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/digest/20031124.htm New Jersey Legislative Digest
  42. http://www.nj.com/elections/index.ssf/2007/11/31st_dist_democrats_face_littl.html "31st Dist: Democrat victories for Cunningham, Smith, Chiappone"