When the iconic American company Colgate announced in 1985 that it was leaving the Jersey City waterfront and eliminating more than 1,000 local jobs, then-Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann didn’t mince words.
His comment, “I’m glad they’re leaving!” spurred a Colgate employees union to call him “the most self-centered and unfeeling person we have ever encountered.”
Those words were made in a conversation with reporters jotting his words into notebooks. Four decades McCann, who many credit for the transformation of Jersey City’s waterfront, would likely have made the comment on X, formerly Twitter, or some other social media platform.
McCann likely would have peppered the post with the same colorful, all-capped language he offers on X nowadays – calling people “DUMB,” “ID_OT” or “LOSER,” one tweet at a time.
McCann, now 73, has not retired from working for the city and says his daily routine includes “almost zero” time on X.
But he is garnering attention, a good portion of it negative, for a spirited social media account that attacks politically outspoken fellow city residents who rarely bother to respond.
Same old Jerry?
Internet-age McCann’s social media pastimes come as no surprise to those who have known him for decades but don’t spend time on X themselves, and his tweets consists of name-calling, “dunks” or political commentary that tends to lean right when it comes to matters of race.
Still, they are responsible for his current employment status with the city, according to the city spokeswoman, who said he is on paid administrative leave while the city investigates whether he violated its social media policy.
When asked whether he was concerned about his image because of his behavior online, McCann said, “No, because that’s not important what other people think. It’s just important what I think.”
“I’m not running for public office,” said McCann, who served as mayor 1981-85 and 1989-92, and was barred from every holding public office again after being convicted of bank fraud unrelated to the office of mayor.
McCann has always been a blunt, say-it-like-he-means-it person, making him a polarizing figure but rarely detracting from, and in fact often enhancing, his ability to get business done and impart his knowledge, said those who have known him for decades.
Both within and beyond his current city role as an internal auditor, McCann said he sees himself as a whistleblower when he catches government business that he considers questionable.
And though his manners of communicating can make interactions tense, city officials often do look into matters he raises and they seriously take heed of his opinions, said a city hall insider.
“He wants to see the city get better,” said former Mayor and Councilman Joseph Rakowski. “He doesn’t want to go back to the old ways. Jerry means well.”
Saying it as he sees it
McCann’s X profile has a simple handle, @JerryNJ3, no accompanying profile photo and the straightforward bio, “Former Mayor of Jersey City.”
It follows 516 accounts, has 224 followers and a quick visit offers an introduction to his attempts to dunk on, or make fun of, fellow Jersey City residents who also happen to have opinions on or connections to politics in the city.
“You do your best thinking on the toilet. Very Inspiring,” he tweeted at former city council candidate Kevin Bing in February in response to a joke Bing made about his own name.
Other replies come off as harsher.
“David, most of you are here because of me,” he tweeted at NJ Spotlight News journalist David Cruz. “You are just too DUMB to realize that. You are a NOBODY and when you die it will be on your tombstone. ANOTHER DUMB NOBODY. Your legacy.”
“Check your history, mayor,” Cruz responded. “I’m proudly here in spite of you.”
In an interview, McCann claimed he isn’t responsible for all the tweets on his page and that he wasn’t aware that he had chosen to follow hundreds of accounts, floating the possibility that he had been hacked.
He doesn’t really care about X, he said, but he often has the urge to set the record straight, and make sure the other person knows it, too.
“I have really no interest in it unless somebody says something dumb,” McCann said. “Then I tell them it’s dumb.”
McCann’s most recent stint as a municipal employee began in 2010 at the former Jersey City Incinerator Authority. Today, he is an internal auditor and civil service employee earning $45.19 hourly, according to the city’s payroll.
Among his tweets that do not engage in name-calling, some touch on matters of systemic racism.
For example, in July 2020 after months of global protests in reaction to the police killing of George Floyd, McCann tweeted, “Shouldn’t this be part of the protest. 12 murders in Jersey City and who did the killing? 8 black victims not killed by Police. One white cop was killed.”
The city received a complaint from a community group with allegations of McCann making racist comments, which it is investigating, said city spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione.
“This is not the first incident in which he will be reviewed for racist actions that other employees have documented over the last several years,” Wallace-Scalcione said.
Since March, three Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints have been filed against McCann on separate matters, she said.
In February, he was suspended “for harassing city employees following an EEOC complaint and subsequent investigation,” Wallace-Scalcione said. This past summer, McCann was subject to another internal review “for harassing other employees.”
Strong opinions, strong pushback
This past week McCann was served with his third EEOC complaint in less than a year, “so this is clearly a serious and escalating problem that is being addressed,” the spokeswoman said.
McCann claims the latest complaint is from a community group that doesn’t exist. It was filed by Jersey City Moms, which has a Facebook group with more than 17,000 members, and Lincoln Park Parents, which has more than 2,000 Instagram followers.
McCann got his start in Jersey City politics as a councilman in 1978 and within four years, at age 31, was mayor. He didn’t win reelection at first, but after a four-year break was elected mayor again in 1989.
He was blunt and adversarial well before social media was around.
“He was never shy of saying what he felt even if it was a little bit on the rough side, and certainly I can remember some examples that were definitely on the rough side,” said Hudson County District 2 Commissioner Bill O’Dea.
McCann’s nature meant “you knew where you stood with Jerry McCann,” Rakoswki said.
Rakoswki compared him to Former President Donald Trump because of just how blunt he can be.
“Jerry told you the truth,” he said. “Jerry basically said, ‘This is where it’s at.’ “
Among McCann’s current political crusades is the belief that current Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop will leave the city drowned in debt, an issue he says can be fixed by reassessing properties throughout the city.
McCann said he did his own review of 10 years of property records and says so many are underassessed that rectifying it would bring in $13 billion to Jersey City.
“I’ve blown my whistle for over a year, and people have ignored it,” McCann said.
Getting action and irritating people
Sometimes McCann’s findings are heeded, the city hall insider said, offering the recent Milad parade as an example. McCann “came out swinging on (Public Safety Director James) Shea,” asserting that the police department was overcharging the parade organizers for security, and the parade’s bill was ultimately reduced, the insider said.
“He’s always heard because he speaks his mind,” said former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who led the city from 2004 to 2013. “He talks a lot and he comments on the internet all the time and writes letters, so he’s heard.”
But his manner of asserting himself has caused frustration and irritation in the Fulop administration, and the recent disciplinary action is likely a reflection of that, the source said.
“Sometimes it’s led to internal strife within the administration, and the way he goes about raising issues is an issue,” the source said.
While blunt in his opinions about whomever and whatever he happens to be talking about, McCann is not shy about the pride he has about his time in office.
He is quick to cite a lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Protection accusing it of illegally dumping chromium-contaminated soil in Liberty State Park and he takes credit for the creation of Newport.
Once news broke about him being placed on leave, he did not respond to a follow-up call and email offering him the opportunity to comment on the matter. But a previous comment likely alludes to how he’s feeling.
“The city has initiated three different cases against me personally for what they claim were different violations,” the former mayor said. “I’ve won every one of them because it’s all, excuse my language, BS.”
