After he and his running mates handed their combined 53,645 petition signatures into Town Hall on Monday so they can run for re-election in May, longtime North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco remarked that their opposition was “…out there collecting signatures while we are talking.”
Sure enough, the opposing ticket “Citizens for Change” handed in 380 signatures for each of their candidates for the May 10 election, 80 more than the 300 required to qualify.
Thus, Mayor Sacco and his four Board of Commissioners candidates – who normally don’t face major opposition in their elections – finally have some vocal competition this year.
In North Bergen’s form of government, five commissioners run for office and then choose a mayor from among themselves. It’s generally known who among the five in each camp will be mayor.
“Things seem quite stable, the opposition, they’ll make their issues up.” – Nicholas Sacco
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However, NBCCG leader Michael Kreutzer will not be able to run due to him not being registered to vote in time to legally qualify as a candidate.
On Monday, Sacco said he was prepared to campaign, regardless of the opposition.
“Running unopposed is a lot easier to do, but it’s harder to motivate anybody when there is no opposition, to go out and do the kind of job you want during the campaign,” said Sacco.
Sacco running for seventh term
Petitions for Sacco’s slate “Stable Taxes – Stable Neighborhoods” took around three weeks to collect, said campaign manager Rishi Mehta.
Sacco is in his 25th year as mayor and said that if elected, it would be his seventh full term.
It would also be a seventh term for Commissioner Frank Gargiulo, who started off as Sacco’s campaign manager in 1987.
This term would be the fourth for Commissioners Theresa Ferraro and Hugo Cabrera, while it would be Allen Pascual’s third term.
Gragiulo said he saw the thousands of petitions for their slate as a judgment by citizens of a job well done.
“I’m looking forward to working with the mayor for a long time,” said Cabrera.
“As long as I feel that I have ideas that I want to turn into reality for the town of North Bergen, that I can make North Bergen a better place, then I’ll continue running,” said Sacco, after being asked if he had “gut checked” his decision to seek another term.
May have registered a day late
Kreutzer’s registration status became an issue, according to Township Attorney Herbert Klitzner, when Township Clerk Erin Barillas, as part of her job to verify petitions, checked that those who signed were registered voters. Kreutzer had signed several of his runningmates’ petitions but did not come up as a registered voter, a legal requirement for candidacy.
Klitzner said he was “troubled” about this, since residents signed petitions apparently believing Kreutzer was registered.
On Wednesday, Klitzner said he contacted the opposition’s attorney, Mario Blanch, who said that Kreutzer was in fact registered. After checking with Hudson County officials, Klitzner found this to be true, but also learned Kreutzer’s registration form was time-stamped 4:31 p.m. on Monday, 31 minutes past the deadline for handing in signed petitions at North Bergen Town Hall.
On Thursday township spokesperson Paul Swibinski said Kreutzer would not be allowed to run.
Citizens for Change spokesperson Thom Ammirato said he wasn’t sure, but he believed that Kreutzer filed his voter’s registration on Friday or Monday.
Anti- Sacco slate includes employee who sued
April L. Tricoli-Bussett, a former clerk and typist who sued the municipality in 2009 for emotional distress claiming officials had addressed her crudely, is an NBCCG candidate. Her lawsuit was dismissed last year, but the township’s insurance company settled with Tricolli-Bussett for $90,000 because the judge decided she suffered stress when she was moved from one office to another.
As a part of the settlement, both parties are not allowed to comment, and Tricoli-Bussett is not allowed to seek re-employment by North Bergen. Ammirato said this should not affect her ability to run for elected office.
“We are obviously aware of that situation,” said Kreutzer. “It has nothing to do with why April is involved with the campaign. She is a nice addition to the group, a member of the community, just as we are. She worked in the municipality in the past and has an understanding of 10 years of experience, insight that has nothing to do with what we consider to be a closed item at this time.”
They are joined by Adrian Cepero, a computer technology specialist, Maria Benitez-Mir, a public school teacher, and Ravanesh Varma, a local businessman.
What are the issues?
“Things seem quite stable, the opposition, they’ll make their issues up,” said Sacco.
He said that while polls show that taxes were a concern for residents, he felt there were no definitive issues.
Sacco said that the NBCCG has brought up traffic congestion on Tonnelle Avenue, worsened by a state project widening and improving the highway, but that since state construction took a hiatus, “traffic moves very nicely.” He said that construction would be returning shortly for the project, which would cause delays, but that will not be due to the mall the NBCCG is protesting.
“My wife travels a lot on 1&9 and she almost was killed one day,” said Varma. “She was hit under the truck and she almost died. Just recently we’ve been robbed two times in our house.”
Varma said he had reached out to his government to see if those problems could be solved and that nothing happened, so he felt it was a good time to try and do something for the community.
Sacco said that his administration had brought parking issues and crime, among others, to much lower levels than in the past.
Earlier in the week Kreutzer said that it would “take a long time” to talk about the major issues in North Bergen, but that when they did, they would also propose solutions.
‘I think we are going to win; we’re going to win 100 percent,” said Varma.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.