NEWS

Rancor escalates in Morris County freeholder race

Peggy Wright
@PeggyWrightDR

Rancor escalated Thursday between opposing groups seeking the Republican nomination for freeholder in next Tuesday’s primary election, with the team headed by incumbent John Cesaro calling for Board of Elections Chairman John Sette to recuse himself.

Sette, the longtime Morris County GOP chairman and gubernatorial appointee to the county Board of Elections, hotly responded that he will not recuse himself -- or absent himself the night of the June 2 primary from election duties.

There are three, three-year seats available this year on the freeholder board. Incumbents John Cesaro, David Scapicchio and John Krickus are running again. Cesaro is teamed with former East Hanover Councilman Angelo Tedesco and Mendham Twp. resident Christine Myers. Scapicchio and Krickus are running with Denville Councilwoman Deborah Smith.

A seventh candidate, Thomas Mulligan, a Rockaway Borough councilman, is running as a standalone candidate.

Up until Tuesday, Sette backed the incumbents for re-election in the primary. On Wednesday, Sette, along with state Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco and his father, state Sen. Anthony (Tony) Bucco, announced their endorsement of the Scapicchio team, which calls itself the Morris Conservative Team.

Sette said the endorsement arose from the Cesaro team’s acceptance of an abundance of contributions from “Democrat interests and shadow political groups that are skirting campaign finance laws to evade having to disclose who is funding waves of advertising supporting John Cesaro, Angelo Tedesco and Christine Myers.”

According to contribution reports on file with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, the Cesaro team has received, in part, $24,600 from the Operating Engineers Local 825 of Springfield, $24,600 from NJ State Laborers union of Monroe, and the entity Growing Economic Opportunities of Jamesburg has spent $22,072 in the past six weeks on mailing and telecommunications services for the team.

Anthony Bucco and Sette said there is no way for the public to identify the individuals behind the groups and said some of the contributors are clearly Democratic, including Forward Central Jersey, an organization that donated $8,400 directly to the Cesaro team.

“Why are some Democratic groups emptying their bank accounts to support the Cesaro team?” Bucco asked.

Cesaro said Thursday that his team -- which has picked up endorsements from Morris County Sheriff Edward Rochford, Parsippany Mayor James (Jamie) Barberio, Rockaway Twp. Mayor Michael Dachisen and state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio -- is proud of attracting contributions from multiple groups. Cesaro said that Sette betrayed a promise he made to him to support him.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to, from non-profit groups to tradesmen to constituents door-to-door, likes our message of ethics reform, economic growth and future planning. The only thing I can say is I can’t help it that people who care about Morris County are hearing our message,” Cesaro said.

He said the only “fishy” business in the race is lack of a platform by the opposing team. The Scapicchio team has identified as a few of its priorities upkeep of county roads and bridges and a zero percent increase in the county tax levy.

Cesaro said that Sette had supported him as an incumbent, knowing his team was attracting generous donations, but “Suddenly he snapped. What caused him to snap?”

In response to Sette’s endorsement of the Scapicchio-Krickus-Smith team, Cesaro team campaign coordinator King Penna called for Sette to recuse himself as chairman of the Board of Elections on primary night. The board is comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans -- one of which is Sette -- and they are responsible for making sure that absentee (mail-in) ballots are properly counted by machine.

The election board commissioners also handle disputes over the validity of absentee ballots that are called into question. Commissioner George Hanley, a Democrat and former county Democratic chairman, said that commissioners handle all issues with absentee ballots as a group, or with a minimum of two commissioners present, one from each political party.

Penna’s statement, as approved by the Cesaro team, said: “Given the fact that Mr. Sette has publicly stated he was backing ‘incumbents,' his recent change of heart has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he lacks the integrity necessary to handle mail-in ballots.

"As such, Sette should immediately recuse himself from the Board of Elections to allow for an untainted election.” Sette and Assemblyman Bucco both said they made their endorsements “personally” but the release said both should resign their positions with the GOP organization -- Sette as chairman and Bucco as the GOP Committee’s attorney.

Both Sette and Bucco said they have a First Amendment right to endorse candidates and won’t step down. Sette said the infusion of cash into the primary from “independent expenditure groups and Democratic PACs (Political Action Committees)” is suspect and led to his endorsement of the Scapicchio team, which has not garnered the level of contributions amassed by the Cesaro team.

“I hope nobody is selling Morris County,” Sette said.

Hanley, a Democrat on the Board of Elections along with Helen O’Connor, also said that Sette has a First Amendment right to endorse any candidates he chooses.

“I think the call for recusal exhibits a misunderstanding of the Board of Elections and that the board functions as a bipartisan one,” Hanley said. “And, I’ve worked with John Sette on the board for many years and he’s always been above reproach in his duties as a commissioner. Nobody gets to touch any ballots without a member of the other party being there, anyway.”

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.