HOBOKEN -- In a wide-open Mile-Square mayoral race filled with charges of ethical and electoral abuses, one mayoral hopeful on the city council announced Tuesday morning that he had filed a state ethics complaint against a councilmen and mayoral rival involving redevelopment property owned by a client of his law firm.

Hours later, the councilman who filed the ethics complaint was hit with a complaint filed by a third council member, also involved in the mayoral race, charging that the councilman had accepted campaign contributions in excess of Hoboken's $500 contribution limit for local races.

And still later in the day, the councilman who had lodged the fist complaint fired off yet another set of accusations, against a different candidate.

The accusations began to fly on Tuesday morning, when Councilman Michael DeFusco announced he had filed a complaint with the New Jersey Local Finance Board, dated Oct. 16, charging that Councilman Ravi Bhalla had a conflict of interest dating back to 2014. It was then that Bhalla voted to approve a redevelopment plan for property at Hoboken's southern end known as Hoboken Yards, owned by NJ Transit, a client of Bhalla's law firm.

DeFusco produced copies of financial disclosure statements filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission by Bhalla's firm, Florio, Perrucci, Steinhart & Fader of Rochelle Park, indicating the firm had received $168,630 in payments from NJ Transit in 2014, the year Bhalla voted in favor of the redevelopment plan.

"Hoboken residents deserve to know that their elected officials are free of any conflicts and only have their best interests in mind when they make decisions," DeFusco stated in an announcement of the complaint.

A spokesman for the Bhalla campaign, Rob Horowitz, released a statement dismissing DeFusco's ELEC complaint as, "the latest desperate political stunt by Mike DeFusco, who is earning a well deserved reputation as the most negative campaigner in the history of Hoboken."

In August, DeFusco publicly questioned whether Bhalla had a conflict involving another client of his law firm, Suez Water, with which the administration of Mayor Dawn Zimmer was trying renegotiate the city's water supply and maintenance contract. Bhalla, who was endorsed by Zimmer to succeed her, later recused himself from the Suez contract issue.

Later on Tuesday, it was DeFusco who was the subject of a complaint, this one filed that day with the City Clerk's office by Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher. Fisher co-chairs the mayoral campaign of Council President Jennifer Giattino, though she said her complaint against DeFusco was unrelated to her role in the Giattino campaign.

Fisher charged that, according to DeFusco's own ELEC filings, the candidate had accepted 15 campaign contributions totaling $71,400 in the month of June, each in violation of the city's $500 limit on individual contributions to candidates for local office, a limit set by the City Council in 2011.

"The fact that a mayoral candidate has willingly violated these laws for his own advantage in this important election for Hoboken residents is shameful," Fisher stated.

A DeFusco campaign spokesman, Ryan Yacco, rejected the assertion, insisting that his team, "is in full compliance with all relevant election laws."

"This is nothing but an attempt to distract voters from the real issues at hand in this election and the need to move on from establishment politicians like Jen Giattino, who have not delivered what Hoboken needs," Yacco stated.

But Tuesday's accusations did not end there.

The DeFusco camp released an afternoon statement accusing Freeholder Anthony Romano, the fourth elected official in the mayoral race, of failing to file his 29-day pre-election report required by ELEC.

Romano's campaign manager, Pablo Fonseca, did not address the substance of DeFusco's accusation, which he derided as "ugly, divisive, destructive campaigning."

"We will continue to run a positive, issue-based campaign," Fonseca said. "And we will not get into the mudslinging."

The race also includes local restaurateur Karen Nason, who drew the top spot on the ballot, and cycling activist Ronald Bautista.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.