Election Results:
Patricia Bartoli – 2,876
Luis Rabelo – 2,875
Sai Rao – 2,911
Personal Choice – 14
Tag: Politics
Larry Wainstein Files Lawsuit Against Sacco and Murphy to Stop North Bergen Power Plant
Mayoral hopeful Larry Wainstein filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court against North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Governor Phil Murphy for what Wainstein claims is “violating the equal rights of the people of North Bergen.”
Wainstein is asking the court to stop the construction of a power plant in North Bergen that will provide electricity to New York City.
The action cites Murphy’s Executive Order 23, which states that “low income communities and communities of color have been exposed to disproportionately high and unacceptably dangerous levels of air, water, and soil pollution, with the accompanying potential for increased public health impacts.”
“The health, safety, and welfare of residents must be the number one priority of elected officials,” Wainstein said, “Here in North Bergen, Sacco considers the lives of residents expendable. A huge out-of-state power company gets a 30-year tax abatement, while our community which is 80% Hispanic, like myself, gets more toxic pollution.”
The lawsuit notes that Murphy is a staunch ally of Sacco.
“Sacco is a bully and a coward. He abuses women who rebuff his sexual advances by leaving them threatening and obscene voicemails,” Wainstein continued, “Now he wants to build the power plant less than a mile from a new high school he is proposing. It’s disgusting.”
Wainstein called on Governor Murphy to answer the call of the people and join him in opposing the power plant.
“Executive Order 23 is Governor Murphy’s own words. He explains exactly why this power plant hurts communities like North Bergen. I hope that the Governor will do the right thing and join the vast majority of North Bergen residents in opposing this pollution spewing power plant,” Wainstein concluded.
Roger Quesada & Mahmoud Mahmoud Will Challenge Incumbents in 2019 NJ General Assembly Primary
Democratic primaries in North Bergen are usually quiet, however, Roger Quesada and Mahmoud Mahmoud announced their candidacy for the 2019 NJ General Assembly election for the 32nd Legislative District under the campaign slogan; “People. Transparency. Action.” #PTA2019
They will be challenging incumbents Angelica M. Jimenez, who has served since January 2012, and Pedro Mejia who assumed office on April 2018.
Roger Quesada is member of the Progressive Democrat coalition, and is a digital marketing professional in New York City. He started a community organization 2 years ago called NoHu Collective along with his partner of 12 years and close friends.
“Roger has worked with Hudson County over two years to start a community garden in Braddock Park and has organized several events through his organization to create community pride,” says their campaign spokesperson. “Roger believes that the district he seeks to represent needs to strive for social solidarity and a pursuit of greatness. His mission is to embolden the people of his district to believe in change by encouraging and inspiring civic participation.”
Mahmoud Mahmoud is a community organizer who is focused on “affordable housing and youth mentoring as well as resettling refugees and assisting immigrants in a transition to self-sustainability.”
Mahmoud gathered 3,658 votes in his unsuccessful run for the United States Congress against Congressman Albio Sires last year.
“His work with the United Nations and travel to 40 countries has given him a worldly perspective of events and human life,” says the Quesada-Mahmoud 2019 camp. “Mahmoud is running due to his early life experiences and his love for helping the community and giving hope to the hopeless.”
“The primary issues for our campaign will be Climate Change, Universal Healthcare & Affordable Housing.”
Mayor Sacco, Commissioners Introduce 2019 Municipal Budget
Mayor Nick Sacco and the Board of Commissioners introduced the township’s 2019 Calendar Year budget yesterday, which the township says “once again keeps property taxes stable while making many significant investments in services.”
“This year’s municipal budget continues our record of keeping property taxes stable, which helps make sure our community stays affordable for both homeowners and renters,” said Mayor Sacco. “This is a responsible budget that funds important priorities and services while staying within our means and protecting taxpayers. I’m proud of the work our finance team has done in putting this budget together and we look forward to passing the budget soon.”
The CY 2019 proposed budget of $98,267,655 is 2.6% greater than last year’s, with increases primarily attributed to rising costs for employee health benefits and pensions.
The township says despite this, “the proposed budget includes a tax increase of just 1.31%, which would only amount to an increase of $48 on a home assessed at the average value in the township. This continues the trend of the last five years of averaging below the rate of inflation.”
“Our finance team works hard every year to keep North Bergen affordable while making the investments our residents need, and this budget is another example of that,” said Revenue and Finance Commissioner Julio Marenco. “From our park improvements to our senior programs, from our new DPW Broom and Barrel program to our constantly expanding recreation offerings, we are continuing to improve all of our services for residents while budgeting responsibly.”
The township’s strong surplus and responsible budgeting lead to an increase in its bond rating from Moody’s to Aa2, one of the highest ratings available.
Mayoral Candidate Larry Wainstein Files Ethics Complaint Against North Bergen Superintendent
On March 6th, 2019 Larry Wainstein filed a complaint with the School Ethics Commission of New Jersey against North Bergen Superintendent of Schools George Solter.
The complaint alleges that Dr. George Solter, North Bergen Board of Education Superintendent, used district money to send out a political mailer throughout the township to disseminate false political attacks against Larry Wainstein. The Wainstein camp says Solter is in violation of the School Ethics Act.
Wainstein’s complaint argues that the language in the letter was “political” and “not informative.”
The following language was specified in the complaint:
“While we continue to work toward implementation of the project, the project has been delayed by two individuals, Larry Wainstein and Diana Ortiz. Mr. Wainstein and Ms. Ortiz seek to block the project from moving forward.”
“Solter used his position as Superintendent to carry Boss Sacco’s water,” Wainstein said,” The fact of the matter is I am not a plaintiff in the lawsuit and I am not listed on the complaint. Furthermore, Solter fails to provide both sides of the issue at hand, instead choosing to reinforce Sacco’s political propaganda.”
While the the Wainstein camp says Larry is in favor of building a new school, they say he has concerns about the proposed location of 85th Street and Tonnelle Avenue.
“There is no traffic study, no environmental report, and no public meetings. Instead, there was a rush to bond for $60 million by holding a special election in December. There as record turnout in November for the U.S. Senate and Congressional races. Sacco intentionally held the election in December to suppress the Latino community,” Wainstein continued.
Sacco collects 10,000+ petitions; exceeds total votes from previous election
In case there was any thought of Sacco’s support diminishing in North Bergen, the incumbent mayor and his team filed their nominating petitions for the May nonpartisan election today. Sacco collected over 10,000 petitions in what the township claims is a “record-breaking number” in North Bergen.
“The Sacco Team has collected 10,492 signed nominating petitions in all, adding to a total count of 52,460 signatures between its five candidates, a breathtaking total that has never before been seen in the municipality known for spirited local elections,” says Sacco spokesperson Phil Swibinski. “The campaign will continue to collect additional signatures until the filing deadline on Monday.”
“This outpouring of support from all over our community is a testament to the hard work our team has done not just in the last month gathering petitions, but in the last four years building on our past success and continuing to lead North Bergen forward,” said Mayor Sacco. “I am honored to receive this unprecedented level of support and I thank each and every one of the residents who signed our petition and agree that we must continue moving North Bergen forward.”
In 2015, Mayor Sacco received 8237 votes in a contested election. This year’s election will be held on May 14th, 2019.
Mayor Sacco appeared in North Bergen Township Hall today accompanied by Commissioners Hugo Cabrera, Frank Gargiulo, Allen Pascual and Julio Marenco along with Campaign Chairman Freeholder Anthony Vainieri, Co-Campaign Managers Rishi Mehta and Adamarys Alonso Galvin, and North Bergen Democratic Chairman John Belluardo.
‘Who cares?’ Wainstein camp implies Mocco involvement
Early Saturday morning HudPost received another photo of Joseph Mocco, former township clerk who was sent to prison for official misconduct and illegal dumping, in front of the Larry Wainstein’s official headquarters.
In an earlier response, Larry’s spokesperson skirted Mocco’s involvement, “At the time of his [Mocco] arrest…Larry Wainstein was 14 years old.”
In a brief telling response Wainstein’s spokesperson replied with a simple “Who cares?” when we attempted to ask for clarification on whether Mocco is officially working with Wainstein’s camp.
It seems that Larry is done answering questions about the former township clerks involvement, and wants to stick to what he calls the “real issues in this campaign.”
So when it comes to Mocco/Wainstein- who cares?
Wainstein-Mocco-Sacco: Who's the man in the middle?
For the average HudPost reader, Nicholas J. Sacco has been the only North Bergen mayor you know. George H. W. Bush was president of the United States the last time North Bergen was in the hands of different leadership. Even then, Sacco served on the board of commissioners.
So why are we telling you this?
Because, believe it or not, there was once a different mayor – one of the more “recent” being Peter Mocco. Someone you may know for developments in Jersey City such as Zeppelin Hall, rather than political history in North Bergen.
Peter Mocco was the mayor of North Bergen from 1971 to 1979, but it’s his brother, Joseph Mocco, who was touted as being the political mastermind behind it all.
Or so the legend goes…
Peter Mocco was beat by Anthony DeVincent in the 1979 North Bergen election. But, by 1983, the township was in dire shape. For example, a state report said that the township had overspent its budget by $2.3 million, and labeled the township as having “gross failure of management.”
This is when then the Sacco-Mocco connection takes place. Joseph Mocco, the driving political force, formed a successful recall movement against DeVincent in 1985. Leading Mocco’s handpicked, winning ticket was Leo Gattoni, who became the mayor, and a school principal by the name of Nicholas J. Sacco.
On August 7, 1986, the walls came tumbling down on Joe Mocco. He and nine others were arrested on charges of illegally dumping tons of construction debris from New York on sites in North Bergen, North Arlington and Newark.
Mocco was found guilty of second degree conspiracy to commit racketeering, second degree bribery, and official misconduct. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison and fined $200,000, ordered to make restitution in the sum of $56,300, and assessed a total Violent Crimes Compensation Board penalty of $90.
While Mocco was in prison, Sacco became mayor after the 1991 election. But now Larry Wainstein seeks to replace him… or is it Joe Mocco?
In the early 2000s a young fellow by the name of Larry Wainstein purchases Tonnelle Liquors, in the K-Mart on Tonnelle Avenue, in North Bergen. He bought the store and the liquor license from John Stalknecht, who was an aide for North Bergen Commissioner Frank Gargiulo.
But there was one thing Wainstein didn’t know.
During the time of the purchase, North Bergen reached a deal with a developer of the retail space where Tonnelle Liquors was located. The deal was for them to first build a new shopping center and replace the existing location with what is now Home Depot.
“I had no knowledge of a plan being in place. You would think that someone would let us know,” Wainstein is quoted in the 2004 Hudson Reporter article covering his lawsuit against the township.
And so begins the infamous Wainstein-Sacco feud.
Fast-forward to 2019, and “Mocco is a presence at Wainstein headquarters” is all over your social media newsfeed…(or just us?)
Wainstein refutes the notion that the infamous political leader Joseph Mocco has any official connection to his campaign. (But, he does; we can confirm.)
“I meet literally thousands of people. He has been in my office, just like thousands of people,” Wainstein is quoted in the report. “I don’t run background checks on the people I shake hands with.”
However, these claims go back as far as 2015. Remember the Shady Bunch video?
Or the time that Wainstein-backed, BOE candidate Jose Canonico said that Joe Mocco has “consulting value” and has “helped us a lot.”
In May 2019, voters will decide if Wainstein can casually cohort with a character such as Mocco or not.
As for what Sacco thinks of all this?
“…Unlike Larry, pictures don’t lie. Every North Bergen resident should be outraged that Larry Wainstein not only has been caught lying to all of us, but that he would associate himself with a criminal like Joe Mocco… Mocco is one of the most notoriously corrupt politicians in New Jersey history and anyone who willingly works with him should be absolutely disqualified from public office.”
Sure there’s a lot more to this story, but we’d have to a write a book….seriously, would anyone want to buy it?
Here we are, two men with personal vendettas against the current administration are leading the opposition, and here we have to pretend it’s about public pool prices and school books.
At HudPost, it disheartens us when we are labeled as a Sacco-leaning or Wainstein-leaning because we do our best to be fair and bring you the facts as they are. We reached out to Wainstein’s office but fell on deaf ears. So here’s a public invite to Larry to have a discussion.
UPDATE: Sat, Feb 9, 7:36 PM
Wainstein camp reached out to us with this response: “At the time of his arrest, Nick Sacco was Joe Mocco’s direct supervisor. Larry Wainstein was 14 years old. The real issues in this campaign: Sacco relatives paid 200 grand a year, Sacco’s schools among the worst in New Jersey, 15 law firms and PR firm earning as much as 1.3 million a year from North Bergen tax payer dollars.”
North Bergen School Reorganization Delayed Due to Wainstein Appeal
The North Bergen school reorganization plan of acquiring the former High Tech High School site to build a new joint High School campus, making major renovations and reducing class sizes district-wide has been delayed.
Larry Wainstein, North Bergen mayoral candidate, is appealing a lost court decision against the North Bergen Board of Education.
“The current proposal is not only bad for North Bergen, it is dangerous to the children who have to walk and commute too a school on Tonnelle Avenue,” writes Wainstein. “Under the cloak of darkness, Sacco held an election in the middle of December to approve $60 million in school bonds.”
The lawsuit claims the election was not properly noticed, but that was denied in the judge’s ruling.
Township voters overwhelmingly supported a public referendum on the plan in December, with 74% voting in favor of it.
“We know Larry Wainstein clearly doesn’t care about our schools because his children live with him in Franklin Lakes and don’t attend them,” said Freeholder Anthony Vainieri, the Chairman of the Sacco Team 2019 Campaign. “This lawsuit has no basis in reality and the only thing Wainstein will accomplish with it is making our kids wait months longer for these important school improvements to be made.”
“We are preventing North Bergen from illegally absconding with $60 million dollars in funds,” says Wainstein’s attorney Mario Blanc. “The referendum was unclear, illegally done, and in violation of all the bonding laws in the State of New Jersey.”
HudPost's 3rd Annual Power List
HudPost’s 2019 North Bergen Power List focuses on the pending transition of power within the North Bergen political machine. “Power” is defined by influence, popularity, and leverage.
This is HudPost’s third annual North Bergen Power List.
1. Nicholas Sacco, Senator & Mayor
What can be written about Sacco that already hasn’t? He’ll more than likely keep his mayoral seat after the votes are counted in May. After that, it’s his choice as to when he will retire- if ever.
2. Anthony Vainieri, Hudson County Freeholder
Right Hand man to Sacco – Vainieri continues to build on the brand as the logical next-of-kin to the throne.
As a Freeholder, Vainieri continues to bring value to North Bergen with park renovations, annual festivities, national landmarks, and coordinating the purchase of a new high school.
3. Julio Marenco, Commissioner
Admittedly, our very own Eva Deras’s favorite public figure, Julio Marenco continues to advocate for his downtown neighborhood and brings a youthful, diverse outlook to the local government.
While Julio has not been willing to share future ambitions- we suspect that his future is bright.
4. North Bergen Federation of Teachers
The teachers union proved they could have a public debate without being hijacked with political rhetoric.
With over 600 teachers represented by the Teachers’ Union – their influence is fundamental in any changes made in North Bergen.
5. Robert Dowd, North Bergen Police Chief
High-profile crime in the area rarely goes unsolved; whether it’s a hit-and-run, street shootings, or a stolen vehicle.
Chief Dowd represents a highly diverse force of over 120 officers and his leadership of the department has lead to many in & out-of-town accomplishments.
6. Phil Swibinski, Township Spokesmen/VP of Vision Media
Phil Swibinski has earned his own spot on our list. New to fatherhood, Swibinski steps into a bigger role in business and personal life. Paul Swibinski (father to Phil), who started Vision Media over 30 years ago, retired and regularly spends time in his Florida home.
Phil is the barrier between the public and Sacco over any outrage. He has held his own against the various hit-pieces from the iTeam, and will have plenty of work during the upcoming election.
7. Local, independent Media; HudPost (of course), Hudson County View, Talk on the Hudson
First it was print, then TV, but now it’s the age of the internet. These companies bring value to each other and in return to its viewers.
Whether its ‘Talk on the Hudson’ getting both state Senators Stack and Sacco on the record on their stance on marijuana or ‘Hudson County View’ getting a heated exchange between Wainstein/Vainieri over a development in the area- the “larger local” medias such as Jersey Journal or News 12 can’t compete with the relevant content, or simply ignore “NoHu” issues.
HudPost exclusively focuses on North Bergen (with a pinch of Guttenberg) so you can expect relevant and reliable content in 2019.
8. Aimee Focaraccio, Community Organizer
Aimee has a heart of gold and it shows in her work. Focaraccio continues to build the NB CARES program while becoming a leader within the Young Democrats of Hudson County party.
During our interview with her earlier this year, she has not ruled out a career in politics, but her current commitment is to helping families in need.
9. John Bender, Committee-person
Although a committee seat only represents a small portion of the town, Bender has used his political muscle to be the front of the anti-Larry effort.
He once ran a protest in front of Wainstein’s North Bergen home back in 2015.
Now he is addressing the “litter-ture issue” caused by elections with a clever widespread ’NO LARRY LITERATURE ACCEPTED’ window sign campaign. You’ll be sure to see (and hear) John at any anti-Larry event this year.
10. Larry Wainstein, Business Owner & 2019 Mayoral Candidate
So 2019 is finally here and everything Wainstein has been working for is coming to a conclusion; does his years of “community organizing,” and Sacco bashing win him a seat? Or will history repeat itself with another 3 to 1 or 2 to 1 loss.
Throughout the years Wainstein has fought against building a new Kindergarten school and acquiring High Tech High School. He has also fought against several residential buildings such as the projects on 56th and Kennedy, 48th and Tonnelle, and 78th and Bergenline Ave.
While it’s clear what he is against – he hasn’t done a great job of telling us what he is for.
He’ll be receiving help from West New York Mayor Roque and possibly some South Jersey politicians most of our readers probably wouldn’t recognize. He just makes our list but another loss in May definitely kicks him off.
Honorable Mentions;
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NB BOE Superintendent Dr. George Solter
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Retired Lt. Henry Marrero
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Commissioner Hugo Cabrera
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North Bergen…Now, Then, & Memories Administer Denis Jaslow
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Esq. Mario Blanch
Hudpost 