If you're not a Game of Thrones watcher do stick around as these issues we're dealing with today are important. For fans, remember the scene where Arya and The Hound find the dying farmer, talk with him and The Hound gives the farmer a merciful end only to be jumped from behind and bitten by two guys trying to collect the bounty on him? After he snaps the first attacker's neck with his bare hands he turns to the other now well aware of his coming fate and tells him "This day's really not working out the way you'd planned..."
Mayor Steve Fulop is having one of those weeks that's surely not working out the way he planned. As noted here earlier the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association won a victory over a developer, LeFrak, and "City Planning" which if you're paying attention does what the mayor likes. More seriously however the mayor's SuperPAC is looking worse and worse when it comes to violating more pay-to-play laws championed and passed by Councilman Fulop. The administration seems pinned down by all the bad news coming out about it. Two new campaign finance watchdog groups are calling on the FEC to look into the mysterious SuperPAC that will mostly be supporting Mayor Fulop in his run for governor yet had over $1 million in a single donation less than 24 hours after the PAC paperwork was filed. Fulop won't say who is behind the donation (Johnny's got an idea, follow the casino munneyz) and it stinks to high heaven for someone who ran on a platform of being a champion of open government and good governance. It stinks to high heaven for someone who didn't run on a platform of being a champion of open government and good governance. But, seeing as how most of the big Fulop contributions have been from developers who either do business with Jersey City or get tax abatements from Jersey City, you can only guess who wants to give Mayor Fulop a million in secret cash.
Also not on the mayor's list this week Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz brought the Fulop Administration one step closer to a state-mandated reval whether Fulop likes it or not, and with yesterday's ruling certainly opens Jersey City up to a huge lawsuit by the company performing the reval that was 95% complete at he time Fulop stopped their work, (Fulop's admission) Realty Appraisal Co. Judge Schultz had this to say about the city's flimsy filings in why Realty Appraisal Co. shouldn't be allowed to finish the job:
But Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz this afternoon ruled that witness testimony did not back up the city's claims that O'Reilly had any significant role in the city's selection of Realty Appraisal in 2011. The testimony by city employees showed O'Reilly recused himself from any role in the selection process while he was still employed by the city, Schultz ruled today.
"There was no conflict," he said.
This was one baaaad week at 280 Grove St. kids. If Fulop is running for governor (he is) he's already compiling a lot of baggage on his own and giving Steve Sweeney and anyone else running in the Democratic primary plenty of mud to sling.
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