By Matthew Gilson | The Save Jersey Blog
Monday’s filing deadline provided some interesting surprises for political watchers, Save Jerseyans, and more details are still emerging in the local race picture for battleground Bergen County.
While the filing deadline obviously has the most effect on the primary and general elections, in at least one town, the filing deadline changed control of the local council. In Rutherford, incumbent Councilman Frank Nunziato, elected as a Democrat in 2012, will seek re-election as a Republican and made the change official yesterday. The move comes as a surprise to almost no one as Nunziato has consistently voted with the Republicans on nearly every issue since being elected. The move means that the council is now split 3-3 officially with Mayor Joe DeSalvo the tie-breaking vote; it ends the brief Democratic control since January, and the fifth time council control has flipped since 2008!
In the fall, Nunziato will join newcomer Sean Walker on a ticket led by the incumbent mayor, Joe DeSalvo. DeSalvo will be challenged in the primary by Daphne Williams Fox (as earlier reported). Fox has stated her reasons for running include, but are not limited to anger over the image she believes the mayor has created in a police hiring scandal. However, she is not accompanied by council candidates.
There is a primary for council but not mayor on the Democratic side. For mayor, the Democrats will run Councilwoman Stephanie McGowan, the top vote-getter in 2014. It would be a tremendous bit of irony if McGowan, a former Republican who left the party to run as a Democrat, were able to defeat the mayor and his team after the switch. For council, McGowan has tapped two newcomers to run with her, Tom Mullahey and Mark Goldsack. Councilman Ray Tetro, elected with Nunziato in 2012, will be running off the line with former Councilman Jack Boyle.
It’s also being reported that former Councilman George Fecanin is in the race, but this would make little sense and my sources are telling me this is not the case. Either way, expect a nasty primary on both sides, and a general election that will be long, brutal, and expensive.
In other South Bergen news, Councilman Brian Fitzhenry will seek re-election in North Arlington and will be joined by Allison Sheedy and Mario Karcic on his ticket. The Democrats will run unpopular incumbents Al Granell and Tom Zammatore as well as an unknown and unqualified newcomer. After two straight landslide victories, North Arlington Republicans are favored to finish off what is left of the Democrats this year and bring the council to 6-0 barring a massive upset.
One more note of importance: long-time Carlstadt Mayor Will Roseman, who has been an elected official in town since his teenage years, will not seek re-election. Best of luck to the mayor in retirement!
Stay tuned as this interesting situation continues to unfold and we will have updates as they happen.
