Essex County flashpoint: Caputo v. Russo

Assemblyman/Freeholder Ralph Caputo, battling to hold onto his District 5 freeholder seat, today hopes to break a bad streak in which candidates he backed for school board and Belleville Town Council recently lost.

Now Caputo himself is the candidate, and facing a revved former Montclair Mayor Bob Russo, who’s challenging the freeholder off the line.

Russo has ties to the three most populous Democratic Primary towns in the fifth district: Montclair (13,021 registered Democrats), Bloomfield (9,724 Democrats), and Belleville (6,394 Democrats).

A Belleville resident, Caputo has his support in those towns, plus he’s strong in the freeholder district’s other two towns - Glen Ridge (1,954 Democrats) and Nutley (5,507) - and finally possesses a very clear advantage over Russo as he runs on the organizational "B" line with every other name candidate in Essex.

Today in Bloomfield, members of the Bloomfield Democratic Committee passed out fliers urging voters to vote the "B" line for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell and Caputo - and the "A" line for the lone-standing Andrews.

"That's not something that Congressman Pascrell authorized, obviously he's with Lautenberg, said Pascrell spokesman Caley Gray.

When Andrews got in the race, Caputo stood at the endorsement ceremony in Newark for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). His close ally, North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato, meanwhile, is a key Andrews supporter.

Regarding Bloomfield Democrats’ simultaneous legwork for him and for Andrews, "You’ll have to ask them about that," said Caputo. "I’m supporting Lautenberg and the ‘B’ line."