JERSEY CITY ― Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who is potentially on his way out as chief of Jersey City’s prisoner re-entry program, alleges he is the victim of retaliation by Mayor Steve Fulop and is threatening to file a lawsuit against Fulop if he is fired.

In a Jan. 3 letter to Fulop, McGreevey attorney Michael Critchley said any termination of McGreevey as executive director of the Jersey City Employment & Training Program would violate New Jersey’s whistleblower act. The “apparent basis” for Fulop punishing McGreevey, Critchley claims, is McGreevey’s termination of a Fulop operative from JCETP last year.

“Should you or others at your direction effectuate what we believe to be your purely personally motivated desire to terminate Executive Director McGreevey, we will immediately file a complaint against you and others seeking all available remedies for all wrongful actions taken against Executive Director McGreevey,” the letter reads.

The Fulop-McGreevey feud has been simmering for years but broke into public view late last year when Fulop began appointing his allies to the JCETP board, including most recently one of the mayor’s drivers. When Sudhan Thomas, the Jersey City school board president, took over as the board chair, McGreevey’s allies saw the change as a sign that McGreevey’s days were numbered.

The Critchley letter is a dramatic escalation of hostilities for two Democrats who were close political allies in 2013. That’s when Fulop, fresh off his initial mayoral victory, hired McGreevey to take over JCETP and widen the nonprofit’s duties to include prisoner re-entry services. Most political observers saw Fulop’s move as an effort to gain statewide influence as Fulop mulled a run for governor.

Sources say the relationship between the two men essentially ended after Fulop decided in 2016 not to seek the Democratic nomination for governor.

McGreevey declined to comment on the letter. Fulop spokeswoman Ashley Manz implied that the letter is a way for McGreevey to distract from his own misdeeds. Manz referred to allegations of a “misappropriation of funds” related to McGreevey’s JCETP work.

“This letter is merely his attempt to cover that up,” Manz said. “The mayor defers to the JCETP board.”

McGreevey called that allegation “beyond ludicrous” and a “classic Fulop deflection from the truth.”

Critchley’s letter also threatens Thomas with a lawsuit if McGreevey is fired.

Asked to respond, Thomas said, “We have received numerous questions and concerns from all around about the affairs of the JCETP including citizens and various departments across city, county and state. The board’s job is to ensure the charter of the JCETP to help the citizens of Jersey City. This is another quixotic attempt to draw a smokescreen on a clear ongoing attempt to usurp the JCETP.”

In March, JCETP fired Eugene McKnight, a Fulop political operative, who was accused of taking cash payments from JCETP clients McKnight helped find jobs for. At the time sources told The Jersey Journal the payments were characterized to the workers as “job protection.” Critchley’s letter accuses Fulop of taking unspecified measures to protect McKnight’s job.

Manz said Fulop never spoke to McGreevey or anyone about McKnight.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.