Joe Menza

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 – 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." 

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;

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.