Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has been calling city workers and employees of city agencies asking them to donate to his political campaign, and his longtime political rival is using the term "shakedown" to refer to the solicitations.

Healy even put the squeeze on one worker who earns less than $20,000 annually, asking for "whatever little contribution you can make to the cause of the re-election," according to two voicemails obtained by The Jersey Journal.

In both calls, Healy asked the worker to bring a donation in person to Healy campaign treasurer Patricia Connors, a Kennedy Boulevard real-estate agent.

"You know we got this reporting deadline at the end of the year, so please do what you can to get it there," Healy says in one of the messages. "And have a great New Year's."

In another voicemail played for a Jersey Journal reporter, Healy urged a city agency worker to give $500 to his re-election bid. In the message, Healy referred to a Dec. 6 campaign fundraiser at Casino in the Park that his campaign has said brought in over $100,000. "We were hoping you'd write a check for $500," the mayor says in the voicemail.

Most of the workers who spoke to The Jersey Journal asked not to be identified. One, who payroll records show earns less than $20,000 a year, said he received multiple phone calls from the mayor.

"You call once, that's fine, but you call three times ... he needs that money that bad?" the worker said.