While the Democratic primary for Guttenberg Town Council was taking place last month, incumbent councilman Ramon de la Cruz, seeking election to a full term on the council after being appointed to the position earlier this year, said that he had not already taken a job as the state’s director of the Division of Election Law – even though the nomination of him was posted on the state’s website.
"I haven’t had anyone talk to me about the particulars concerning the job," de la Cruz said last month. "It’s a great position and I’m honored to be [nominated], but there’s nothing official to it. At this point, my goal is to get through the election, to win the election and see what happens."
Well, de la Cruz did win the Democratic nomination last month, along with runningmate Tom Barnes. That meant they would both run in November against Republicans for two open seats on the Guttenberg Town Council.
But sure enough, last Thursday, de la Cruz officially resigned as councilman to take a job in Gov. Jim McGreevey’s cabinet, just as it had been posted on the state’s website since May 10.
De la Cruz did not return repeated phone calls last week.
This allows the township 30 days to find a replacement to complete de la Cruz’ unexpired current term on the council, which runs through December. It’s more than likely that one of those under consideration will be Tom Barnes, who was part of Mayor Delle Donna’s winning primary ticket along with de la Cruz last month.
The township’s 12-member Democratic committee also will decide who gets to run on the Democratic ticket with Barnes for the two spots in November, to face Republican challengers Bond Blake and Joseph Aponte.
Ten of the 12 members of the committee have been elected as supporters of Mayor David Delle Donna, so anyone who gets placed on the ticket will definitely have the blessing of the mayor.
That idea angers Thomas Rizzi, who ran against de la Cruz in last month’s primary and lost.
"I feel it was a deceitful thing to run for an office he knew he was not going to hold," Rizzi said. "I believe this was all premeditated. He knew that this was going to happen and he still ran. I knew this was going to happen, that he was going to take this position, then jump ship. I know people are very upset by this. I think the whole idea was so [Delle Donna] could appoint someone in his place."
Last month, de la Cruz denied allegations that a vote for him was a "wasted vote."
"It’s not a wasted vote, because if I do leave, then they would have to fill the vacancy," de la Cruz said last month. "It’s not a good enough reason to vote for [Thomas] Rizzi or [fellow defeated candidate Mario] Falato, simply because there might be a chance that I might not be around. I’m sure that this will all take some time."
It didn’t take that long; just a little less than three weeks.
"We’ll follow the laws and let the public decide in November," Mayor Delle Donna had said.
Delle Donna, reached last week while on vacation, said that he didn’t believe that anything deceitful was done in this election process.
"We found out about this possibility a week before Election Day, that Ramon was offered the position," Delle Donna said. "But he did not accept the position until last week, when he resigned. I’m sorry to see him go. He wants to pursue this career, so life goes on. We’re faced with replacing him and we’ll deal with it."
The state’s website has stated since May 10 that "Ramon de la Cruz, who has over 10 years legal experience as a
litigation attorney and assistant prosecutor, will become the next Director of the Division of Elections."
In the same process that was used to select de la Cruz when he replaced Carlos Garcia earlier in the year, the township’s Democratic committee will pick three names for consideration for the now-open council position. Then, Delle Donna and the remainder of the Town Council will select a new councilman from the three possible candidates.
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