By May 2011, Mayor Nicholas Sacco will have served a full 20 years, or six terms, as the mayor of North Bergen, something he said he never expected would happen.
Sacco, originally of West New York, said that he first became interested in politics as a college student during the presidential election of 1968. Soon after graduating, he became a high school teacher and football coach at Cresskill High School, but began dabbling in politics.
In 1971, he was a campaign manager for one of the West New York tickets, and even when they didn’t win, he said that he found politics to be exciting. He then became a North Bergen district leader in 1974, but said that when the current administration left, he faded into the background.
Around this time, he had become a vice principal for Horace Mann School, but when the principal suddenly retired, he administered the school for two years before officially becoming the principal.
“When we took office, the town was virtually bankrupt.” – Nicholas Sacco
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“I was angry,” he said. “If they would have shaken my hand after the election and said, ‘you ran, you lost’ and didn’t go for the reprisals, I might have backed away and said, ‘ok, I ran, I lost, goodbye,’ but I was angry that they had done this and now it was going to be until the end, it was going to be me or them.”
Recall of 1985
Sacco said that after being taken off suspension, he became the principal of Lincoln School. During this time, he also began developing political allies with now Commissioner Frank Gargiulo, who at that time almost won a seat on the Board of the Chosen Freeholders, and then West New York Mayor Anthony DeFino, who successfully won a spot on the board.
Then Sacco, along with the other candidates on his ticket, led a recall of the current Mayor Peter Mocco on July 16, 1985. He said that Leo Gattoni, who went on to serve six years as mayor, won by 39 votes, while his margin was only by 200.
“When we took office, the town was virtually bankrupt,” said Sacco. “The state came in and took over the finances. There were actually only two operating police cars. Police were actually going to the areas of duty using buses, riding public transportation. Fire houses were closed.”
He said that the new library building was never finished because the administration had taken the funds and placed them into their general expense account for payroll. There was also no snow removal, street cleaning, or park services, Sacco said.
Slowly they fixed the library, mostly through voluntary work, and began to fix the town.
Originally planned for six years
Sacco said that although he wasn’t the mayor, he was the democratic leader at this time and dealt with the press and many of the governmental functions, not that the average person knew this. In 1991, Gattoni, who he said was a senior citizen, decided to step down, which was when Sacco, who is the only commissioner left from 1985, assumed the position of mayor.
“I wanted six years in office and I’ll tell you why; it was a partial term the first two years and I didn’t want to lose at that point because it would have been embarrassing,” he said.
Sacco and his other four commissioners won the May 2007 election unopposed; however, he said that other elections, like those in 1991 and 1995, were very contested and that they had opposition that was “well financed.”
“I believe our services are very good and I think people are responding to the fact that taxes have been stable,” said Sacco.
Answering criticism
Sacco said that he resents the criticism he has received for being a “triple-dipper,” in part because his teaching career has been his “chosen vocation” for 42 years. He became the assistant superintendent of schools in 1999, two years after the person in that position became the superintendent and left the position vacant.
In 1994, he ran for a seat on the state Senate in part because he felt senators were not giving North Bergen “respect,” but didn’t really want to be the senator at that time. He said that winning the seat was difficult since he was “unknown to the public.”
While Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill prohibiting public officials from holding dual offices, Sacco, who was grandfathered in and allowed to keep his positions, said that he believed it should be up to the voters.
“I regret the day when there are no mayors or elected officials on the local level sitting in this room [on the Senate] because many of you vote for things and you don’t have a concept of what they are doing to people and you’re sitting there while mayors are getting the blame for your actions,” said Sacco.
He said that as long as he can help, whether as a mayor, or to stop or pass legislation, he plans on continuing to do so.
No exit plan
Sacco said that although he plans to run for reelection next year, he does not have a plan for the future.
“I don’t have an exit plan,” he said. “I’ll decide [to step down], I think, at a certain point in time I’ll know. When I feel I’ve done as much as I can. When I’m satisfied, then it is time for me to leave. As long as I keep having new ideas and keep trying to improve the conditions of the township, then I’ll still remain valuable.”
As for running for reelection in the New Jersey Senate next year, Sacco said that it will depend on what district he is appointed to. If the “learning curve” is too great, he might decide not to run. He said his main focus is being the mayor.
“It’s just so much more hands on; being the executive, I can get so much more done,” he said. Still, he said that it was his “phenomenal staff” and commissioners that take much of the credit.
“Without that, I couldn’t function,” he said. “I’ve seen mayors try to do it and try to run their cities all on their own and it just isn’t healthy.”
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.