May 13

Al PetraccoNUTLEY - The 43-year old owner of a Nutley deli, first time candidate Al Petracco also has a number of real estate investments in his home town.

His parents were born in Newark and moved to Nutley to give their family what they believed would be a better life. But after the most recent property revaluation, the elder Petraccos are now paying $10,000 annually in property taxes.

Petracco said he is concerned that seniors like his mother and his father - a career cement finisher - are being priced out of their homes, while he doesn’t see Nutley making full use of its downtown, a diamond in the rough, in his words, and revenue generator waiting to happen.

NUTLEY - Mauro Tucci, the 55-year old Commissioner of Parks and Public Safety, is seeking re-election to a third term in office. A retired township manager, Tucci owns Nutley Pool and Spa, and four years ago was the second highest vote-getter.

Born in Newark where he grew up playing football with future County
Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Tucci said as far as he knows he is only the second commissioner in Nutley’s history who is not a Nutley native.

Running on his record of helping to secure over $1 million in state and county grants for town projects, and maintaining the town’s green character, including its bike and walking paths, Tucci said no one prevails in elections here unless he or she is in touch with the residents. He prides himself on that contact.

NUTLEY - The Commissioner of Revenue and Finance wants a second term on the Board of Commissioners. A certified public accountant and Nutley native, Thomas Evans, 53, is a partner with Price Waterhouse Coopers, and the man on the board who gathers the budgets from the different departments, adds them up and tries to make it all fit.

“I’m the most junior commissioner, but I’m the tallest,” he joked.

Four years ago, Evans was the fourth highest vote-getter on the commission.

NUTLEY - Family businessman Sal Olivo, 56, has served on the Nutley Board of Education for six years and now serves as that body’s board president. In the last election, he was the top vote-getter on the board. His current term comes to an end on April 15.

“I’d like to continue my public service as a member of the commission,” said the candidate, who wants to do a better job of sharing school and municipal services and improving town services overall.

Olivo comes from a line of proud Nutleyites and he’s hoping his family name and record helps translate into votes. His grandfather founded Blue Ribbon Coal, which has stayed in the family and is now called Blue Ribbon Fuel Oil under Olivo’s direction.

NUTLEY - What passes for civic pride in most places would be a form of
indifference in Nutley, where anything less than total commitment to the
town probably means a person is not a Nutley native.

A transplant can endeavor to be a Nutleyite, but it’s a running joke that
one can never put in enough time.

“I’ve been in the community for 35 years,” Planning Board Chairman Phil McGovern told the Nutley Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night in Town Hall, and he paused, seeming to expect the moment of agitation in the room that followed his remark.

IRVINGTON - Council President John Sowell and Councilman David Lyons stepped up their attacks on each other this week, as each aggressively backs a candidate in the other’s ward in the upcoming Irvington Council race.

Sowell, an eight-year veteran of the council and friend of Mayor Wayne Smith, hopes Gene Etchison bumps Lyons off the council in north Irvington.

“Some people are tired of Lyons being condescending,” Sowell said of the 12-year council veteran. “His service is a combination of demagoguery, bad attendance and an inconsistent, contradictory voting record. I can’t tell you the number of people I meet who ask me, ‘When is this guy going to stop complaining?’”

Fifth Ward Councilman Juan Torres

PATERSON - He's been in some tough Paterson scraps, but this year's could be the toughest for Fifth Ward Councilman Juan Torres.

The winner against Virtudes Sanchez in 2000 and 2004, Torres now faces a challenge from Julio Tavarez, a 31-year old Dominican immigrant who teaches technology at Public School 15 and is the founder of patersononline.net.

PolitickerNJ.com readers have spoken through an online vote, and by a narrow 52%-48% margin, have asked that The Inside Edge move on and stop referring to Paul Stuart Aronsohn as a Rotarian American. The former congressional, Assembly, Freeholder and Fort Lee Council candidate -- now seeking a Ridgewood Village Council seat in the May 13 municipal election -- now sheds that label, at least on this website.

Police Benevolent Association (PBA) Local 266's endorsemeVineland Mayor Perry Barsent today of Vineland Police Lieutenant Robert Romano for the office of Vineland mayor left Romano’s opponents shrugging their shoulders.

"Big surprise," said Nick Girone, a former school board president and retired business administrator who earlier this week talked to PBA reps in advance of their announcement, knowing he had no shot against Romano, a police veteran.

Mayor Perry Barse, meanwhile, says endorsements are fine but Romano still has not agreed to debate him at an April 21 event at the high school, sponsored by the Daily Journal and hosted by the League of Women Voters.

Vineland mayoral candidate Robert Romano"We have plenty of things we’re going to be discussing in this campaign, but so far the main issue is his reluctance, no - his refusal - to debate," said the incumbent Republican. "So we’ll let that take its course."

Romano, son of a former mayor, dug in on his decision not to face Barse, whom he believes is manipulative and would conspire to create an unfair advantage.

"I took the stance, I’m not debating him," said the Republican challenger. "What you should have asked him is why he didn’t come to see U.S. Attorney Chris Christie when he was here in town two weeks ago."

Jackson Councilwoman Emily Ingram is seeking re-election to a second term
JACKSON - Although her running mates from two years ago won’t be joining her in a re-election bid, Councilwoman Emily Ingram said she feels no less committed to building on her freshman term in office.

A certified public accountant and Brooklyn native who moved here with her husband and children six years ago, the only incumbent on the May 13th ballot welcomes a debate with former committeeman Michael Kafton on the fiscal foibles of Jackson Township.