Morris Freeholder Cesaro running for 26th District Assembly seat

Morris County Deputy Freeholder Director John Cesaro is the second freeholder to announce a campaign to unseat Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce in the June 6 Republican primary election for the term representing the 26th legislative district.

"I want to run because I want to be an assemblyman who is visible to the people. Unlike another Assembly person who is not visible, it would be very difficult to say that I've not been visible - from pancake breakfasts to Republican meetings to events with the public," Cesaro, 45, said Tuesday.

Cesaro's suggestion that DeCroce, 64, is not visible or accessible to constituents is "not true," said George Dredden, the assemblywoman's chief-of-staff.

"People can run if they choose. It definitely will make for an interesting election," Dredden said. "John can say what he likes. We're going to run a very, very aggressive campaign."

Freeholder William "Hank" Lyon, 29, announced last week that he won't seek re-election to the seven-member board but will specifically run against DeCroce, particularly because he disagreed with her vote in the Legislature last year to raise the gasoline tax by 23 cents a gallon.

DeCroce is part of a Republican legislative team that includes state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, who is running again for a four-year term, and Assemblyman Jay Webber. The Assembly terms are for two years; the 26th district encompasses 13 municipalities - eight in Morris County, four in Essex County and one in Passaic County.

Cesaro is a former Parsippany councilman whose second term as a freeholder expires in December 2018. An attorney, Cesaro is a municipal prosecutor in Parsippany and for the Essex Fells/North Caldwell Joint Municipal Court. He also is an assistant municipal prosecutor in Bloomfield and said he does not collect health benefits through those positions and is not enrolled in their pension programs.

Cesaro said he is close with Pennacchio but does not presume they would run together. Pennacchio has said he has a good relationship with both DeCroce and Webber but has not decided whether he will run alone for re-election or be partnered with running-mates.

"Joe is like a father figure, a mentor, to me," Cesaro said of Pennacchio.

Cesaro, who has been interested for years in an Assembly run, noted that he has been fiscally conservative on the freeholder board, delivering a county budget three years in a row - but not in 2016 - that had a zero percent increase in the tax levy. Cesaro was friendly with now-retired Morris County Sheriff Edward V. Rochford and abstained in 2015 when the rest of the board voted to take control of the county jail away from Rochford and have it overseen by county administration.

The freeholders in December voted to give control of the 528-bed correctional facility back to the sheriff, newly-elected James M. Gannon.

As of Tuesday morning, no Republicans had filed for the single available freeholder seat starting in January 2018. Democrat Rozella Clyde, who unsuccessfully ran for freeholder last year and continues to attend most freeholder board meetings, is running in the primary. Former Freeholder David Scapicchio of Mount Olive and Nicolas Platt, former mayor and now committeeman in Harding Township, have expressed interest in Lyon's seat.

Republican Mike Crispi, 24, of Cedar Knolls, said in a release that he also is considering a run for Lyon's seat. A former collegiate athlete at Elon University, Crispi currently is a member of the Morris County Young Republican Executive Board and works as regional manager of Allstate Benefits.

Lyon, meanwhile, is doing some of his campaigning via his Facebook page. He wrote that he spoke of his Assembly candidacy on a radio show, addressed the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization County Committee, and caught a presentation at the Montville Republican Club from a member of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

"In the Assembly, I will stand up for every citizen's right to keep and bear arms," Lyon wrote on Facebook.

BettyLou DeCroce was selected at a county GOP convention in 2012 to fill the 26th District seat that was left vacant when her husband, longtime Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, died on Jan. 9, 2012. BettyLou DeCroce then won re-election several times.

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