Above: Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. Google Images
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop owes the rookie Kearny police officer he shoved last night an apology, at the very least, Kearny Mayor Alberto G. Santos told The Observer earlier today.
This all stems from an incident Santos says occurred Tuesday night, June 12, at Kearny High School, at a contentious meeting of the Democratic County Committee to pick the party’s chairperson for the next term.
Santos says Fulop, an ally of Union City Mayor Brian Stack who was running for the top seat — Stack lost to County Executive Tom DeGise’s daughter, Amy DeGise — was trying to make his way into a room that had a voting machine in it for committee members to vote for either DeGise or Stack.
Thing is, only poll workers and those voting are allowed in that room, according to the bylaws of the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
When the Kearny police officer assigned to a door to that room wouldn’t let the Jersey City CEO in, that’s when Fulop reportedly shoved the cop to try to gain access.
While it’s possible Fulop could be charged with assault, Santos says he’d prefer to see Fulop issue an apology instead.
“It’s that simple,” a rather animated Santos said. “Tension were high last night. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he has to apologize to the young officer involved.”
The Observer is not releasing the name of the officer who was involved.
There were close to 1,000 people — many whom came by bus — at KHS last night. It was the first time the HCDO had a contested race for chairman since 1979, according to reports. Many Stack supporters, who weren’t voting in the election, gathered outside the high school with signs and whistles.
Santos says despite what could have been an unruly mob, the KPD officers assigned to the “convention” handled the large-sized crowd magnificently — and he gave credit to all the patrolmen and superior officers who were on hand. He also credited Chief George King for the way security was handled throughout the night.
We sent an email to Fulop early this morning, but as of 4:45 p.m., he didn’t respond to it. If he does, we’ll update you.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.