BAYONNE — Anthony Chiappone, candidate for mayor of Bayonne, took back his petition signatures from the Bayonne City Clerk last week after hearing that campaign workers from a candidate on the opposing ticket may have been attempting to sabotage 1st Ward independent candidate Tom Cotter.
Cotter, who returned to City Hall a day after he filed his petitions to run as an independent candidate in the 1st Ward, said he found a worker using a copy of his petition signatures to get the same people to sign a petition for Agnes Gillespie, running in the 1st Ward on the opposing ticket led by Mayor Mark Smith.
Under state law, if a person signs more than one nominating petition, the signatures for both candidates are disqualified.
Cotter said he believed this was an effort by the Smith campaign to try to disqualify enough of Cotter’s signatures so that Cotter would not have enough to run.
Jason O’Donnell, the campaign coordinator for the Smith campaign, said he didn’t know what Cotter was talking about, but that a worker was in the area seeking signatures.
Chiappone, who filed moments before Cotter came to City Hall to complain, immediately took back his petition signatures – as did his running mates Denis Wilbeck and Ramon Veloz, saying that they would return just before the 4 p.m. filing deadline Thursday.
“This will not allow our opponents to sabotage any of our signatures,” Chiappone said.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
