Rutkowski endorses O’Donnell for mayor

Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis has lost the support of one of his predecessors.

Former Mayor Richard Rutkowski today endorsed Jason O’Donnell for mayor.  Four years ago, Rutkowski endorsed Davis in his race against incumbent Mark Smith.

“I am endorsing Jason O’Donnell today because he has proven his tremendous dedication to our community through the years and I know his only concern is Bayonne’s future,” said Rutkowski.  “His commitment to public service has included serving as a Captain in the Bayonne Fire Department, representing us in New Jersey’s General Assembly and becoming the first Director of Municipal Services in our city’s history, where he fought to consolidate three key city agencies into one department to save the taxpayers money.  Jason has never left our city and he and his wife, Kerry, are raising three children of their own in town.  Jason’s priorities have always centered around making sure tomorrow is better than today for all of our families and he has my full support in his campaign to restore character and commitment to Bayonne.”

O’Donnell, a former assemblyman, used the endorsement to slam Davis for moving out of Bayonne for a period of his life.

“While Jimmy Davis packed up and moved to Rahway for fifteen years before becoming mayor of our city, Richard Rutkowski was a hands-on mayor who loved Bayonne so much he never left,” said O’Donnell. “His leadership wasn’t just limited to City Hall it extended to all three wards of our city, and that is the type of mayor I intend to be if elected,” said O’Donnell. “I value Rutkowski’s support and over the next three weeks leading up to May 8th we will also be highlighting the fact that under Mayor Davis’s direction he and his team have given out 40 multi-million dollar tax breaks to their rich developer friends and left us all vulnerable to millions in legal fees because of his sexual harassment lawsuit. On Election Day, voters will have a very clear choice to make.”