SECAUCUS – Former Secaucus Board of Education Trustee Susan Pirro has joined Mayor Michael Gonnelli’s Independent slate and will run for the 3rd Ward Town Council seat in November.
Pirro will run with current Independent Councilmen Gary Jeffas (1st Ward) and Jim Clancy (2nd Ward) on the ticket.
Jeffas, who was first elected in 2006, is running for his second term. Clancy was appointed as 2nd Ward councilman in January and is serving out the remainder of Mayor Gonnelli’s term, which ends on Dec. 31. Clancy is now running for a full term.
Jeffas, Clancy, and Pirro will face the winners of next month’s Secaucus Democratic Primary. The Secaucus Democratic Committee is backing a slate that includes Robert Zych (1st Ward), Nancy Mateo (2nd Ward), and Mark Bruscino (3rd Ward). Current school board trustee Michael Makarski is also running for the 3rd Ward, although he is not part of a slate.
There are no Republicans running in this year’s council primary.
Current 3rd Ward Town Councilman John Shinnick, a Democrat, decided not to run in the June party primary and has not said whether he will run as an Independent in November.
During her tenure on the Board of Education, Pirro served as board president and is currently a member of the Board of Health, Citizens Animal Care Committee, and March of Dimes. A former president of both the Secaucus High School and Middle School PTAs, Pirro has also been active in the annual Secaucus Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Gonnelli said Pirro was among five people the Independents considered for the campaign.
This is Pirro’s second run for the 3rd Ward. Last year she ran in the Democratic Primary as part of the Democrats for Change in Secaucus slate. The ticket included mayoral candidate Peter Weiner and Joe Morano, who ran for the 1st Ward. The ticket, which didn’t have a 2nd Ward candidate, lost to a slate headed by former Mayor Dennis Elwell in the Democratic Primary.
Gonnelli’s Independent slate later defeated the Elwell ticket in the 2009 November general election. – E. Assata Wright