Claiming his name had been forged on a letter that went out to Democratic Committee people in Bayonne, Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone – who is running for re-election in the June 7 Democratic primary – has called for an investigation.
The April 2 letter – which Chiappone claims did not come from his office nor was authorized by him – commended committee people from their dedication and allegedly offered committee people the opportunity to run on the “Reform Democratic Organization of Hudson County.” The letter urged interested committee people to stop at Chiappone’s District Office on Broadway.
“For one thing, the name of my organization is the Democrats for Reform,” Chiappone said. “And for another, it would have been illegal for me to run a campaign out of my Assembly office. This was a setup.”
Chiappone is running for re-election to the Assembly along with former Jersey City mayoral Chief of Staff Bill Ayala. They are facing two candidates backed by the powerful Hudson County Democratic Organization, which is headed by Rep. Robert Menendez. The Democratic primary will be held in June.
They are facing Jersey City Schools Superintendent Charles Epps and incumbent Assemblyman Louis Manzo. Two years ago, Manzo and Chiappone had run against HCDO candidates and won, driving presumed politically invincible Assemblyman Joe Doria out of state-level elected office.
While the HDCO – after some tough negotiations to keep Manzo from running against Jerramiah Healy for mayor of Jersey City – embraced Manzo this time around, the Democrats flatly refused to support Chiappone. In effort to take the fight to the enemy, Chiappone ran for state Senate last November against Doria and lost, but won powerful friends and name recognition.
Phony letterhead
In addition to the wrong name, the letter also had phony Assemblyman letterhead which could have been printed on any computer, and did not at all resemble printed material used in his office, he said. While Chiappone’s signature was on the letter, it appears to have been scanned.
“It’s really rough,” Chiappone said. “As if it had been scanned from parchment paper, such as the kind I might have used for making an official proclamation.”
Chiappone became aware of the letter when contacted by Erica Daughtrey, who serves as municipal chair for the Bayonne Democratic Organization.
“Several members of the Bayonne Committee contacted me, irate,” Daughtrey said. “This was mailed to all 102 members, and I felt I needed to respond to the Assemblyman on the matter. Since it was signed by him, I responded to him. I did not say he had done anything wrong. But I did remind him that these were the same people he had insulted last year in another mailing. I included a copy of that first mailing with my letter to him.”
Aware of the illegality of running a campaign from the Assembly office, Daughtrey speculated that the mailing could have come from one of Chiappone’s staff members. She could not speculate, however, on whether or not any of the Democratic Committee people who received the letter will file a complaint with the state election authorities.
“I know several people were very angry at the letter,” she said. “But I’m not looking for a fight or an argument. I was simply addressing the issue.”
Daughtrey is part of an organization that had thrown its support behind Chiappone’s opponents in the primary election, as are nearly all (if not all) of the 102 committeepeople contacted.
Reported to police
After initially filing a formal police report with the Bayonne Police Department, Chiappone has asked the police to determine if the signature on the letter was scanned from public documents on file in City Hall.
“Forging a public official’s signature on fake and libelous letters is yet another example of the political corruption I have been fighting here in Hudson County for the last two years,” Chiappone said, noting that he has contacted the New Jersey Attorney General’s office and the office of the U.S. Attorney to look into possible mail fraud issues involved with the phony letters.
“I am counting on the attorney general and the U.S. attorney to apprehend the people who illegally represented themselves,” he said.