Jerome Jewell

In separate cases in Elizabeth this afternoon, Superior Court Judge Kathryn Brock ruled in favor of Hillside mayoral candidates Shelly Bates and Joe Menza, who won the right to be bracketed with their respective running mates on the May 12th ballot. 

“We are vindicated,” said Bates, a councilwoman. “Voters know it had to be done, but it’s a crying shame we had to use taxpayer dollars for one of our many township attorneys to defend the indefensible.”

“We won,” affirmed John O’Shea, spokesman for real estate developer Menza. “The judge ruled that the township clerk arbitrarily decided not to bracket (at Monday’s ballot drawing) after not including bracketing applications in the materials received by the candidates.”

Joe Menza

UPDATED*** 

HILLSIDE - Outraged that the township clerk is preventing him from appearing with his running mates on the May 12th ballot and citing the handiwork of Union County Democratic Party Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo as the reason, Hillside mayoral candidate Joe Menza has sued the Township of Hillside.

Absorbing the news today, an unimpressed DeFilippo hit back at the real estate developer candidate, charging him with having a “cavalier attitude” about the law, in a fast-unfolding skirmish between the independent brand Menza and the Democratic Party, scheduled to spill into Union County Judge William Wertheimer’s courtroom this Friday for a summary judgment hearing. 

“The clerk’s office, under the direction of the political boss Charlotte DeFilippo, is attempting to thwart the electoral process,” seethed Menza, who said Clerk Janet S. Vlaisavljevic broke up his slates on orders from above. “We must go to the courts to have our team together on the ballot because of technical knit-picking.  This tactic is straight out of the DeFilippo playbook.”

HILLSIDE – A campaign spokesman for mayoral candidate Jerome Jewell said Rosemary McClave no longer occupies her position as treasurer of the Hillside Democratic Committee. 

“Rosemary was replaced as treasurer of the Democratic Committee last night,” said Jewell campaign consultant Pat Politano. “She has stepped aside. Arthur Kobitz is the new treasurer for the Hillside Democratic Committee.” 

Attorney General Anne Milgram Monday charged the 66-year old McClave, former Assemblyman Neil Cohen’s campaign treasurer, with stealing money from his election fund to use for personal expenses.

Jewell is running for mayor with the backing of the Hillside Democratic Committee.

HILLSIDE – Independent mayoral candidate Joe Menza today urged Councilman Jerome Jewell to dump campaign treasurer Rosemary McClave following the Attorney General’s indictment of the former Neil Cohen campaign treasurer on theft charges.

“I think it’s a joke they and they should remove her immediately,” said Menza. “She shouldn’t continue in that role now that she’s under indictment."

Councilwoman Shelley Bates, also running for mayor as an anti-establishment Democrat, said Jewell's association with McClave raises questions.

"A candidate’s quality is determined by the people he surrounds himself with," said Bates. "It’s a reflection of the candidate that his money person has been indicted." 

Rosemary McClave the campaign treasurer was indicted yesterday on charges that she used Neil Cohen's campaign account to pay for clothing and toys from QVC.  The indictment, which carries a mandatory prison sentence if she's convicted, doesn't seem to bother the Borough of Teterboro, the Bergen County municipality with a population of eighteen that employs her as municipal treasurer.  The Borough Manager told PolitickerNJ.com today that the allegations against McClave are unrelated to her job as the official custodian of taxpayer funds, so she can continue to hold her local government post as she awaits trial.  State law does not require public officials who handle taxpayer dollars to step down while accused of corrupt activities.

Councilman Jerome Jewell

Today at 4 p.m. is the deadline for bracketed candidates to submit petitions to run in May 12th municipal elections and barring last minute entrants, the contest appears set in Hillside Township, according to sources.

Running for mayor, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Shelley Bates heads a slate that includes Recreation Committee Member Leonard Dupree, former School Board President Sip Whitaker and former School Board Member Beverly Lynn;

School Board Member Andre Daniels heads a slate including Planning Board Member Jeffrey Dykes, Recreation Committee Sandy Cureton and Activist Neomi Escobar;

Second Ward Councilwoman Shelley Bates

HILLSIDE – Against the backdrop of a local fight over raises for public employees in a dry season for state extraordinary aid, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Shelley Bates launched her grassroots campaign for mayor today in an email blast to supporters.

“A new day is coming and… I am making it official: I will be a candidate for Mayor of the Township of Hillside,” wrote Bates, a public information officer for the State of New Jersey and ardent 2008 Barack Obama supporter who is serving her first term on the council. 

“Over the course of the next few days I look forward to introducing you to my slate of candidates for the three at-large council seats and discussing how we plan to make Hillside a better place to live and work,” said the candidate. “If the last year has proven anything, it's proven that change is within reach. It will be hard work and I will need as many of you as possible standing by my side starting today. I ask for your support and I promise to not let you down.”

Hillside sources say it is very likely Second Ward Councilwoman Shelley Bates will enter the race for mayor as an independent Democrat in a growing field that already includes a pair of system-bucking candidates: real estate broker Joe Menza and School Board member Andre Daniels.

At-Large Councilman Jerome Jewell is also expected to formally launch his campaign with the local Democratic Party’s backing as early as next week. Jewell will run at the top of a party machine slate that will not include incumbent Councilman Frank Deo, an organization man who does not intend to pursue reelection.

The anti-party establishment Menza will run with George Cook III, who finished fifth in a run for School Board last year; Planning Board member Joe Pugliese, who finished second to Council President John Kulish; and newcomer Jean Marie Miller.

Councilman Jerome Jewell

HILLSIDE – Here it comes – a Hillside free-for-all. 

Sources close to Councilman Jerome Jewell say he will formally enter the race for mayor sometime in the next two weeks. The long-serving Newark detective will run with the backing of the local Democratic Party organization. 

But there’s still political oxygen out there that at least two other candidates are trying to gobble up in the apparent aftermath of the troubled tenure of Mayor Karen McCoy-Oliver, niece of the late Assemblyman Willie Brown, who has not publicly declared her intentions regarding reelection.  

Whatever she does, McCoy-Oliver’s well-publicized head-butting episodes with powerful local party leader Charlotte DeFilippo have made the mayor an off-the-line contender at best now as Jewel commands the organization’s backing.

Hillside At-large Councilman Jerome Jewell prepares for Tuesday evening's council meeting.

HILLSIDE – Crammed between highways in an industrial terrain just beyond the grip of two oxygen-hoarding metropolises to north and south, Hillside has that forgotten city feeling, as if residing within its limits between Newark and Elizabeth were actually the ultimate New Jersey emblem of honor, where the ironic allusion to being disrespected comes with a special appreciation of big and rough edges.  

Indeed, if Newark can claim to be the triumphant birthplace of Red Badge of Courage author Stephen Crane, Hillside was handed the unhappy task of burying the 28-year old wunderkind in the local cemetery. 

Peruse the names of native silver screen personalities, and Hillside fares no better.  Newarkers can brag of living in the birthplace of tough guys like Ray Liota and Joe Pesci while Hillside provided the early stomping grounds for the brilliant if largely unknown actor Michael Gazzo, whose claim to fame was getting bumped off in the Godfather II.