Jersey City democracy is waiting on Fulop’s ambition

By Giancarlo Ghione | The Save Jersey Blog

Democracy: noun
government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

If anyone was wondering what an ideal democracy looks like, Save Jerseyans, look no further than Jersey City. This year, gubernatorial hopeful (emphasis on hopeful) Steven Full-of-it [Fulop] pushed for a referendum which moves their elections from May to November. Fulop claims he supports this measure because it will reduce government spending and increase voter turnout.

I’m not sure which of those reasons I find more amusing.

First of all, when did any Hudson County politician, especially those from Jersey City, become concerned with government spending? Thanks to Senator Mike Doherty, it was brought to our attention that Jersey City hasn’t had their land reassessed since 1988. Given the fact that I was born in 1992, I find this terribly disturbing.

If he was concerned with money, he wouldn’t have cancelled the 2013 reassessment the city had scheduled. I know, that means you will be forced to pay more in taxes for your nice new home. Let me know if this sounds familiar: it’s time to pay your fair share. Please, this election has NOTHING to do with money; they have plenty of it. Trust me, you’re paying for it.

I suppose it really is to boost voter turnout?

Because nothing says “We want the people to me more engaged” than putting a referendum on the ballot when next to nobody knew who was running for what! It makes me wonder if they would have still pushed for this referendum if Prieto was successful on getting the Casino on the ballot. That, we know, would have caught everyone’s attention for one reason or the other. But, I digress. Fulop endorsed this measure for a noble reason: he wants everyone to fulfill their civic duty of voting. That’s why the referendum generated 8% voter turnout.

Another possibility: perhaps he took a page out of Dawn Zimmer’s book and moved the elections so he could avoid a run-off. Of course not, he wouldn’t do something like that when recent approval ratings that HE had done show strong support. Word on the street in JC is that Steve isn’t as popular as he was. While he’s been ridiculing Governor Christie for being an absent governor, many of his constituents are feeling he is an absent mayor. Sure, he is still present in City Hall, but it’s questionable if his focus it, too. Don’t take my word for it. Take a trip to his city and ask the people yourself. You’ll get the same response from nearly everyone, until you get into downtown JC. You know, the gentrified little Manhattan.

So, Mr Fulop, are you going to stop chasing Drumthwacket and start moving the gentrification to the WHOLE city? Don’t forget, that includes the Greenville-Lafayette section.

The most likely reason is Drumthwacket, of course. If the city’s elections stay in May, Fulop needs to decide between running for re-election in May 2017 and the gubernatorial Democratic nomination in June 2017. He can’t do both. I guess we have the answer to our question.

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