Finally, the people of Jersey City have a chance to fire their mayor, a man who is ineffective, unethical and often downright embarrassing.

It is an act of chutzpah for Mayor Jerramiah Healy to place his name on the ballot after the bulk of his inner circle was convicted on corruption charges in the 2009 Operation Bid Rig case. Healy wants voters to believe he knew nothing, that his senior people were taking cash-stuffed envelopes behind his back.

To say that’s hard to believe is being kind. But if it is true, Healy was dangerously clueless about the culture of his own team. Either way, he owes an apology he never delivered. Time for voters say thank you by easing his passage into early retirement.

Healy's main challenger is Steven Fulop, 36, a councilman of rare energy and talent. He offers a menu of sensible reforms, such as closing the independent authorities that serve as unaccountable patronage mills, and absorbing their functions into the city government. He wants to ensure public schools get a share of the payments made by firms that get tax abatements. As a councilman, he won approval over Healy's objections of key ethics reforms, including a ban on political donations from city contractors.

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Yes, Fulop is young and unproven. Electing a rookie mayor always carries some risk.

But Fulop has already transformed the politics of a city that sorely needed it. He has built an army of volunteers hungry for better government and schools, and his supporters now control both the city council and the school committee. He crushed Healy in the debates with cogent plans to make change.

Healy is a charming man who says he likes to eat, drink, sing and dance, and that he makes no apologies for any of it. But there is a dark side to his oversized personality.

He was convicted in 2007 of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after a late-night scuffle with police outside his sister’s bar at the Shore. And his latest explanation for the infamous 2004 picture showing him naked on his front stoop is downright bizarre. He says now he was stripped by three young Hispanic women who lured him out of his house and tried to engage him in “filthy” sexual acts.

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The answer from Nidia Lopez, a council candidate on Fulop’s ticket, says it all: “I think the Hispanic community deserves an apology and I think our mayor needs psychological help.”

A final note: President Obama endorsed Healy, no doubt payback for Healy’s early help during Obama’s presidential nomination fight with Hillary Clinton. That was a cynical move that made the people of Jersey City a distant second concern. The same goes for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, whose endorsement of Healy is no doubt based on his own self-serving political calculus.

This one is not a close call. The Healy era should have ended in 2009 with his resignation. Time for voters to drive a stake through it on Tuesday.

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