chico and phil kenny.jpg

Phil Kenny, right, is throwing a birthday bash for Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, on June 14. Both men, seen here in 2009, were Ward B councilmen who resigned over public corruption charges. Michael T Dempsey | The Jersey Journal

(Jersey Journal file photo)

JERSEY CITY -- The ex-Ward B councilman who stepped down in 2009 over public corruption charges is throwing a fundraiser for the ex-Ward B councilman who stepped down last month over public corruption charges.

Phil Kenny, who sat on the council for just 98 days before abruptly resigning following pleading guilty to taking a bribe in 2009, is inviting people to a belated birthday celebration for Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal, who resigned from the council on May 12 after agreeing to plead guilty to a theft charge related to an alleged "no show" job he had with a county agency.

The invitation asks for monetary gifts -- or, as the invite spells it, "monitary." It asks anyone who can't attend the party, at the Dante Alighieri Society of Jersey City on June 14, to send their gift to Kenny's home. Ramchal reportedly has a hefty legal tab to pay.

A request for comment from Kenny was not returned. Both men are Democrats.

An invitation circulating for a birthday party/fundraiser Phil Kenny is hosting for Khemraj "Chico" Ramchal.

Kenny was elected to the council in May 2009 to represent Ward B, which includes about 40,000 residents on the West Side and in portions of Greenville and McGinley Square. On Oct. 6 that year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, admitting he took $5,000 in cash from a government informer posing as a corrupt developer. Kenny, whose guilty plea was part of the wide-ranging Operation Bid Rig operation, spent about a year in federal prison.

In 2013, when Ramchal sought the Ward B council seat on the ticket of Mayor Steve Fulop, Kenny worked on the campaign even as Fulop allies were using Kenny's face on a flier tying Fulop rival Jerramiah Healy to the 2009 corruption busts.

Ramchal resigned his council seat last month as part of a plea agreement with county prosecutors, who charged him with assault by auto and theft by deception, and he is expected to plead guilty next month to a drunken driving charge from March 2015.

After Ramchal's arrest, The Jersey Journal reported that the city agency vehicle he had been using, which was outfitted with a GPS tracker, was often driving around the city or parked in front of Ramchal's home when timesheets for his day job at the Hudson County Improvement Authority indicated he was working at the agency's Newark facility. The HCIA subsequently fired Ramchal.

Ramchal, 41, is scheduled to be sentenced on all the charges next month.

Both he and Kenny are barred from holding public jobs for life.

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