MORRIS COUNTY

Smith, Myers, Cesaro win Morris GOP freeholder primary

Peggy Wright
@PeggyWrightDR

Denville Councilwoman Deborah Smith was the unofficial top vote-getter along with incumbent John Cesaro and newcomer Christine Myers in one of the most acrimonious races in recent years between GOP rivals for seats on the Morris County freeholder board.

Deborah Smith of Denville

The Republican primary election results seesawed throughout the night, with candidates gaining and losing leads but by 10 p.m. — with all 396 voting districts reporting, Smith, Myers and Cesaro had claimed victory with poll tallies of 10,006, 9,427 and 9,374 respectively.

Incumbent Freeholders John Krickus and David Scapicchio, who are ending their first terms, narrowly lost their seats on the board with tallies of 9,167 and 9,073 respectively. All the votes are unofficial until certified by Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi.

The opposing slates were composed of incumbent Freeholder Deputy Director John Cesaro of Parsippany, Christine Myers of Mendham Township and former East Hanover Councilman Angelo Tedesco. This slate called itself "Morris First Team."

Tedesco came in sixth, with 8,713 votes. Rockaway Borough Councilman Thomas Mulligan trailed with 4,064 votes.

The second slate, which dubbed itself the "Morris Conservative Team," included freeholder incumbents David Scapicchio of Mount Olive and John Krickus of Washington Township and 20-year Denville Councilwoman Deborah Smith.

Mulligan was a standalone candidate who said he avoided getting caught up in the accusations other candidates leveled at each other of improper acceptance of money from Democratic special interest groups.

"I took the high road. Certainly I wanted to stick with the issues and being a councilman I wanted to offer some of my leadership abilities to the county. Certainly I'll continue engaging with the freeholder board," Mulligan said early Tuesday, before the polls closed at 8 p.m.

About one month ago, the Scapicchio team started denigrating the Cesaro team for accepting hefty donations from Democratic interests and unions, saying the contributors would want a payback from the county, such as contracts.

The Cesaro team responded that they merely approached a multitude of groups who were interested in their message of increasing revenue growth and ethics reform.

Also incensed by the infusion of Democratic money into the Republican primary, Morris County GOP Chairman John Sette himself last week endorsed the Scapicchio team. So the friction doesn't increase, Sette said he extended an olive branch to Cesaro this week, asking that the Republicans forgive and forget the vitriolic primary and move forward.

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

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