David Delle Donna

The Guttenberg town council will meet either this week or next to decide on who will fill the office of former Mayor David Delle Donna, who stepped down late last month after his conviction on corruption charges. 

The Municipal Democratic Committee submitted three names to the council: Margarita Batista; former Vasilios G. Scullous; and James Hannon. 

The mayor will serve until November, when he or she will have to run again in a special election.       

The Star-Ledger reports that Corzine Deputy Chief of Staff Javier Inclan resigned today.

"The governor accepted Javier Inclan's resignation. He understands why Javier reached the conclusion that he did that it was necessary to resign," Corzine Communications Director Deborah Howlett told the paper.

Inclan had testified as a prosecution witness at the corruption trial of Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna, admitting to delivering two envelopes he believed were stuffed with cash to the mayor.

Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna is the 4th North Jersey Mayor to face corruption charges this month

Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna and his wife Anna have been indicted by the U.S. Attorney on charges of mail fraud and extortion.

Delle Donna has been mayor of this tiny northern Hudson County town of about 11,000 since 2002. Anna Delle Donna served on the town’s planning board during the same time period.

According to the indictment, the Delle Donnas allegedly took bribes from an unnamed local bar owner in the form of thousands of dollars in tickets to campaign events. In turn, they helped the bar owner get a variance for construction on a piece of property, get rid of citations for property violations and smooth over “problems” that the bar owner was having with the town’s police department and council.