Bonaccorso puts NJ GOP politics on a bad course

Maybe my memory’s off, but I recall that in the last few decades at least, a public official being caught on tape throwing around racial slurs and then being charged with corruption would make him politically radioactive, at least outside of his small power base.

That, apparently, is no longer the case. There’s no disputing that Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso went on racist rants, using the N-word and talking about lynching Black people, or disparaging female police officers. It’s all true, with no mitigating context.

“We f***ing hang the spooks up there,” Bonaccorso says in one of the recordings, first published by NJ Advance Media in 2022. (Last month, Bonaccorso called a Democratic candidate a slur for the developmentally disabled, according to a new report.)

There’s no disputing that the town council authorized a $400,000 settlement that sought to hush the whole thing up. Bonaccorso eventually apologized for the racist remarks, but only after they were leaked and published. In 2023, he was charged with corruption for allegedly using town resources for his tank removal business.

But Bonaccorso, the mayor for more than 20 years, didn’t face any challenge in the GOP primary in his Republican-heavy town. He won the endorsement of the Union County GOP and appears easily on his way to running reelection. His support was touted by the new county GOP Chair, Carlos Santos. And Republican gubernatorial candidate/radio host Bill Spadea has made a point of attending events with Bonaccorso well after his remarks became common knowledge.

I’m aware that some people are going to equate my pointing this out with cancel culture. Whatever. Do you really believe non-white people are going to get a fair shake in a local government whose leaders have these attitudes? And it appears most Republican politicians are generally either side-stepping questions about support for Bonaccorso or hoping that by embracing him, they’ll appeal to a certain type of voter.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Shirley Turner, Avi Schnall, Marleina Ubel. Thursday for Bob Auth, Anette Quijano, America, Ed Oatman, Matt Katz, Mike Assad, Geoffrey Borshof, Justin Rodriguez. Friday for Latham Tiver, Mark Mueller, Kabir Moss, Chris Trimarchi. Saturday for Tim Larsen. Sunday for Barry Albin, Michael Soliman, Fred Butler, Ben Giovine Kate McDonnell,

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “White drunk school board member.” — Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, allegedly, on former Atlantic City School Board President John Devlin, who has filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation and racial discrimination

WHERE’S MURPHY? — No public schedule

PROGRAMMING NOTE — New Jersey Playbook will not publish Thursday for the July 4th holiday or Friday, because I’ll need that day aside to nurse my inevitable fireworks injuries.

MENENDEZ CORRUPTION TRIAL


THE PLOT THAT HATCHED THE PLOT — “See how this plot of land in Edgewater is tied to corruption trial of Menendez, Daibes,” by The Record’s Kristie Cattafi: “As the largest plot of undeveloped land along the Hudson River’s Gold Coast, 615 River Road has sparked numerous lawsuits, a state investigation against local officials and was the catalyst that ended Sen. Bob Menendez’s 20-year friendship with Philip Sellinger, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. The 18.7-acre plot that was once filled with oil tanks and owned by Hess was indirectly mentioned during testimony last month in the Southern District of New York during the federal corruption trial against Menendez. Menendez faces federal bribery and corruption charges and was indicted along with his wife and three businessmen — one of them developer Fred Daibes, who is responsible for most of the high-rise buildings in Edgewater and the development boom in the area. It was Daibes’ alleged influence over this plot of land that spawned the lawsuit that created a conflict of interest for Sellinger. Allegedly Menendez pressed Sellinger to intervene on behalf of Daibe’s other federal banking indictment.”

WHAT TRENTON MADE


FURIOUS GEORGE — “Norcross takes leave of absence from insurance firm while he fights indictment,” by New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein: “George E. Norcross III will take a leave of absence from his position as executive chairman of Conner Strong & Buckelew, one of the 20 largest insurance brokerage firms in the nation, as he fights allegations related to development rights along the Camden waterfront, according to an email sent to the firm’s clients and obtained by the New Jersey Globe. “Mr. Norcross has publicly denied any wrongdoing and has taken a formal leave of absence from the company as he focuses on vigorously defending himself,” the email stated. “The allegations against Mr. Norcross, and his leave of absence, do not affect our business or current operations. The email notes that ‘Conner Strong & Buckelew has not been charged or accused of any wrongdoing, and the charges are completely unrelated to the company’s insurance brokerage operations.’”

THIS IS THE REAL NJ SCHOOL OF CONSERVATION — “Endangered N.J. school saved by state budget boost, educators say,” by NJ Advance Media’s Tina Kelley: “The New Jersey School of Conservation will be able to continue its environmental education programs and reach out more energetically to underserved schools thanks to an increase in state funding in the budget Gov. Phil Murphy signed on Friday. Murphy’s preliminary budget had included only $800,000 for the school, which had received $2 million in last year’s budget. The final amount of $2.8 million approved Friday was just shy of the $3 million the school had requested. … It would have had to have shut down its educational programs without the recent increase in state funding, school officials said.”

THE POLITICAL CLIMATE — State Sen. John McKeon and Assemblymember John Allen, both Democrats, last week introduced the “Climate Superfund Act” that would hold fossil fuel companies liable for damage to New Jersey and its residents caused “by the harmful effects of climate change.” The potentially wide-ranging bill is modeled after legislation that just became law in Vermont and has been proposed federally in several other nearby states. “The planet is on fire. We’ve got do do something,” McKeon said in a phone interview. The bill, NJ S3545, would establish a program in the DEP, according to its statement, “to collect compensatory payments from the fossil fuel companies and distribute them, in the form of grants, to climate change adaptation and resilience projects.” McKeon said he just introduced the bill, so he can’t say whether leadership will back it, but that he’s confident it will move through the Senate Environment and Energy Committee. I imagine the bill will meet with plenty of opposition if it does move, in which case we’’ll do more reporting on it.

SLAYNJ — @RasJBaraka: “StayNJ is inherently flawed and regressive. How does this policy contribute to equity or inequity in our state? It’s time to ask ourselves who it is our state is working for and who is being left behind. Looking forward to sharing our budget proposal to Reimagine New Jersey - coming next week.”

—“New Jersey domestic workers’ rights law takes effect”

—“A federal grant for new rail tunnels linking N.J. and N.Y.C. is approved, but construction will last years”

—“Lawmakers approve measure of protection from medical debt”

—“Group wants state probe of real estate companies over rent-fixing claims”

—“N.J. Republicans continue to outpace Dems on voter registration”

—“NJ Senate OKs bill to raise penalties for home burglaries, invasions. See the details”

—“NJ state trooper from Brick charged with trying to arrange sex with a minor”

BIDEN TIME


DEMAGEDDON — Democratic governors seek meeting with Biden on path forward after dismal debate, by POLITICO’s Elena Schneider: Democratic governors are setting up a meeting with Joe Biden that could come as soon as Wednesday, after more than two dozen of them gathered on a call Monday to vent fears and frustration over the president’s poor debate performance. The governors’ meeting with Biden — which is expected to be both in-person and virtual — follows a Monday afternoon call on which two dozen Democratic governors gathered to commiserate and share information, seeking to settle fears around the president’s disastrous debate performance, according to three people directly familiar with the call, all granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, convened Monday’s gathering, and he’s expected to fly in for the meeting with the president. “It was pretty unanimous that the debate was catastrophic and things are bad, but there are disagreements over what is a realistic alternative or how you change course,” said one of the people familiar with the contents of the call ... On the Monday call with governors, some expressed frustration that they had not heard more directly from Biden and the campaign in the immediate aftermath of the debate. But several governors’ staffers pushed back on the characterization in posts on X, including communications directors for Govs. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Kathy Hochul of New York. Murphy “was on the call yesterday and spent two hrs with @POTUS on Saturday night. They caught up privately and had dinner together, where they discussed topics ranging from the economy to Ukraine,” posted the governor’s communications director Mahen Gunaratna.

BREAKING WIND NEWS — Biden administration approves ninth offshore wind project, by POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino: The Interior Department announced the approval of commercial-scale offshore wind development off the coast of New Jersey on Tuesday, the ninth offshore wind power project to advance under President Joe Biden. The move brings the amount of offshore wind approved by the Biden administration to 13 gigawatts of capacity. It comes after the small but growing U.S. industry has faced significant economic challenges that caused some developers to cancel planned projects.

—Snowflack: “The Murphy-Biden mindset: Maddening to the rank and file”

—“Talk of reparations riles crowd at district 10 candidates forum in Newark”

—“Crowd packs candidates’ forum to replace late Congressman Payne”

LOCAL

POMP-ADIEU — “McGreevey lauds Pompidou losing NJEDA support, O’Dea says funds best for parks,” by Hudson County View’s John Heinis: “Former Gov. Jim McGreevey and Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), two rivals in next year’s Jersey City mayoral contest, are offering their views in light of the state pulling funding for the Centre Pompidou project. ‘I fully support the state’s decision to no longer financially support the Pompidou museum, and I call on the City of Jersey City to terminate the project immediately,’ McGreevey, who came out against the project last month after the NJEDA expressed concerns about the project, said in a statement … In the case of O’Dea, he said that the state should invest a significant portion of the millions of dollars previously allocated to the Pompidou to improving various city parks. “I am calling on the state to allocate the $24 million funds that were set aside for the Pompidou museum to be used for our city parks like Country Village, Pershing field and Caven point field and Pershing Field,” O’Dea said in a statement, indicating that upgrades are planned, but the funding hasn’t been secured yet.”

—“Au revoir to Jersey City’s ‘French museum’?”

—“NJ kills funding for Jersey City French art museum. Where will ARP funds go now?”

SUE AC — “Ousted Atlantic City school board member sues, alleging retaliation, racial discrimination,” by The Press of Atlantic City’s : “former school board president and political foe of Mayor Marty Small Sr. sued the Board of Education on Monday, alleging retaliation for calling for an independent board investigation of the Kayan Frazier child sexual abuse case. John Devlin also sued Small; La’Quetta Small, Small’s wife who is superintendent of city schools; Board of Education President Shay Steele and others. The school board voted in May 2023 to remove Devlin, who had served for almost two decades, saying he had missed three consecutive meetings without excuse. Devlin denies that allegation. The complaint, filed by attorney David Castellani, also alleges racial discrimination, saying the mayor has called him a “white drunk school board member,” and that the board has not removed non-Caucasian members for missing meetings.

TOM STALLING — “Atlantic City Housing Authority plans ignore court orders, force ‘emergency’ Stanley transfers,” by The Press of Atlantic City’s Michelle Brunetti Post: : “Atlantic City Housing Authority Executive Director Tom Sahlin testified last month in Superior Court that the authority was moving to install a new heating system in Stanley Holmes Village by Oct. 1, as repeatedly ordered by the court over the past year. But documents sent to the attorney for about 130 residents of Stanley Holmes suing over unsafe and unhealthy conditions there show the authority has done no such thing. In fact, it plans to forcibly move 126 households out of their apartments — mostly in Village 3 — and into other authority properties or into the Section 8 voucher program by Oct. 1. The moves would be made on an emergency basis, whether families want to move or not. The existing problematic heating system will be tweaked but not replaced.”

DOWN THE SHUL — “Toms River OKs first synagogue under rules brought about by federal government pressure,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Jean Mikle: “The first new Orthodox Jewish synagogue, or shul, in Toms River has been approved by the township’s Board of Adjustment, which voted last week to legitimize the operations of Khal Bnei Yisuschur in North Dover. This is the first shul to be approved in Toms River since the township, under pressure from the federal Department of Justice, lowered the number of acres needed for a house of worship from 10 to 2 in 2021.”

— “Bomb threat made just before a drag story hour at this N.J. library investigated as a bias crime, AG says”

—“Hoboken council narrowly OKs amendments for $147.5M budget with 4.6% tax hike”

—“Why did Ramapo Indian Hills school board rescind new super’s contract? No one’s saying”

—“Paterson police get extra $10M from state for second year. Is it working?”

—“Parsippany mayor endorses Spadea for governor”

EVERYTHING ELSE

GARDEN STATE PARKED WAY — “Garden State Parkway buckles in Toms River; resulting in 15-mile traffic jam to Wall,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Erik Larsen: “A portion of the Garden State Parkway has buckled, causing at least a 15-mile delay in the southbound lanes from about Exit 98 to Exit 82A on Tuesday evening, according to the state Department of Transportation website 511nj.org. “The pavement heaved in the right lane of the southbound Parkway at milepost 82.7,” said Tom Feeney, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. “The lane is closed. We’re assessing the damage now.” Feeney said emergency repairs would be made on Tuesday night and would be expected to take several hours to complete.”

THIS IS WHY THEY CURTAILED OPRA — “Which county in NJ has reported the most UFO sightings? By the numbers,’ by The Record’s Manahil Ahmad: “New Jersey has become a hotspot for UFO sightings, with significant activity reported across several counties. According to a map from Axios earlier this year, citing the National UFO Reporting Center, Ocean County leads with 294 sightings, followed by Monmouth County with 254, Middlesex County with 243 and Bergen County with 217. Other notable figures include 124 sightings in Morris County, 111 in Union County, and 128 in Cape May County. Atlantic County reported 136 sightings, while Hunterdon, Cumberland, and Salem counties recorded 71, 45, and 26 sightings, respectively.”

—“Affordable NJ mobile homes? Here’s what you need to know, but don’t expect bargains”

R.I.P. — “N.J.’s Renauld White, barrier-breaking model and ‘Guiding Light’ actor, dead at 80”

—“Movie theater with 270-degree panoramic screen coming to American Dream megamall”

—“Staples is ‘undergoing a transformation.’ How it could impact jobs in NJ”