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: PoliticsNJ.com - New Jersey's Online Political Network 
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: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 

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:  Moving lips 

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: It's a corny old joke:  How do you know BOBBY JACKSON isn't telling the truth?  His lips are moving.

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: The sad thing is it's true.  Jackson has been a controversial and often disruptive fixture in Jersey City politics for years.  He has served as City Council President and as the city's Democratic Municipal Chairman.  In a county where people take their politics seriously, few personalities seem to generate as much intensity as discussion of Jackson.

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: Hudson County political observers from the two major factions of the Democratic Party say that Jackson is the one who has created a civil war-like atmosphere in Jersey City.  Jackson, many say, is among the most responsible for driving a wedge between Jersey City Mayor GLENN CUNNINGHAM and the Hudson County Democratic Organization.  Jackson seems to have a sort-of svengali effect on the Mayor, who is taking heat for the quality of the company he has chosen to keep.

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: Jackson's latest scam is the Urban Times News, a pseudo-weekly Jersey City-based newspaper that appears to be nothing more than a communications product for the Cunningham administration.  The editor is JOSEPH CARDWELL, a Cunningham advisor and Chief of Staff to former Hudson County Executive BERNARD HARTNETT, and the name of Deputy Mayor EUGENE DRAYTON had appeared on the masthead until Jersey Journal political reporter PETER WEISS wrote a story about it.  Local political players say that the Urban Times News receives advertising monies from the Jersey City municipal government.  The Cardwell publication has an extreme pro-Cunningham bent, and has vilified many Cunningham foes.

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: The favorable treatment Jackson has received appears to have resulted in some lucrative advertising deals.  Among the Urban Times News' advertisers are the Jersey City Incinerator Authority, the Jersey City Department of Public Works, the Jersey City Public Library, the Jersey City Housing Authority, the Jersey City Development Corporation, and the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation.

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: Lately, the newspaper has been throwing some fairly astonishing punches at L. HARVEY SMITH, the City Council President who is challenging Cunningham in the Democratic primary for State Senator in the 31st district.  Smith has led the fight to ban the city from using municipal revenues to advertise in this publication: the Jersey Journal estimated recently that the city spent about $71,000 on Urban Times News advertising in 2002.  The Jersey City Board of Education has already pulled their advertising from the paper, and Smith has pushed the autonomous Office of Employment and Training away from advertising as well.

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: For a brief time, the Urban Times News used the logo of the New Jersey Press Association on its masthead, even though it was not a member.  This logo was pulled after the association's attorneys contacted the newspaper.

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: One Jersey City resident recently asked the U.S. Attorney to investigate the use of tax dollars spent on Jackson's publication, alleging that the address listed for the Urban Times News on its masthead, 529 Bergen Avenue in Jersey City, is actually a grocery store that accepts mail on their behalf.  A recent Cunningham campaign mailing used 529 Bergen Avenue as a return address.

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: The General Manager of the newspaper is MARTIN JACKSON, the son of Bobby Jackson.  Martin Jackson's day job is as a staffer to Cunningham, where he runs websites for the city.  The domain name urbantimesnews.com is registered to Martin Jackson at the Miller Branch of the Jersey City Public Library.

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: ALEXANDER BOOTH, the Jersey City Corporation Counsel that Cunningham wants to fire, alleged that Jackson sought support for a illegal no-bid contract for purchasing eighty photocopiers for the city from a campaign donor. "Based upon my own observations, I had concluded that the mayor's closest advisers were using their relationship with him solely for the purpose of personal financial gain," Booth states in the court documents. "I believe this was putting the reputation and viability of the administration in jeopardy."  Jackson has denied Booth's charges.

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: Jackson sought to secure a piece of the Journal Square development project several years ago.  He and Cardwell wanted $130,000 contract to create and operate a minority contracting oversight system for the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.  After Governor JAMES E. MCGREEVEY took office in 2002, Jackson unsuccessfully sought party support for an appointment to the state Athletic Control Board.

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: Some Democrats allege that under Jackson's stewardship, the Jersey City Democratic Committee, did not file any campaign finance reports with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission from January, 2002 through June, 2002, when he was replaced as chairman.  Despite not filing any ELEC reports, Jackson and Cunningham continued to raise and expend during that time -- and there have been reports that some of those checks subsequently bounced.  Jackson also heads the "Reform Democratic Organization," which never registered or filed with ELEC, but which took out paid advertisements in newspapers and which served as the banner under which Cunningham's county executive nominee ran during the 2002 primary.

: Jackson's closest political ally is GERALD MCCANN, a former Mayor of Jersey City who was removed from office following a federal criminal conviction in 1992.  McCann, now out of prison, has re-emerged on the political scene as a member of Cunningham's inner circle. When McCann served as Hudson County Democratic Chairman more than a decade ago, Jackson, the Jersey City Democratic leader, was his local political lieutenant.  Jackson returned as party chairman after Cunningham won in 2001, but was unseated a year later when their candidate for County Executive, Hartnett, got swamped by the organization candidate, former Jersey City Council President and Cunningham mayoral rival THOMAS DEGISE.  He was replaced by City Councilman WILLIAM GAUGHAN, who is now the Chief of Staff to DeGise.  Jackson didn't even show up for the vote, after losing a large number of County Committee seats in the election.

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: During the 1985 general election, when Republican Governor THOMAS KEAN carried Jersey City, there were allegations that Jackson and McCann worked to suppress voter turnout among African Americans.

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: He also has ties to former Hudson County Executive ROBERT JANISZEWSI, who abruptly resigned his office in mid-2001 and later admitted to taking over $100,000 in bribes during his thirteen years in office; Janiszewski, cooperating with federal prosecutors as he awaits sentencing, is reportedly in a witness protection program.

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: But Jackson wasn't always a Cunningham fan: just before the 1989 mayoral runoff, when Cunningham and McCann were rivals, Jackson told the Jersey Journal that Cunningham is "basically the way he started.  He's still very insecure, petty and childish."

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