Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith digested with no great or urgent sense of drama the news of Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) running against him.
"I'm a cop for 26 years - nothing surprises me," he said, referring to Chiappone's decision today to obtain petitions from the clerk's office.
The state Attorney General's Office has indicted the assemblyman for funneling aides’ paychecks into his personal and campaign accounts, a rap Chiappone says he can beat.
Regardless, Smith said he'll beat Chiappone.
"Anybody has the right to run," said the mayor. "But I'll take my 18 months in office and put them before the voters. Let the folks decide. I'm confident we'll prevail for the right reasons. We started to turn this battleship around in the bathtub, and I think people appreciate that."
Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith digested with no great or urgent sense of drama the news of Assemblyman Tony Chiappone (D-Bayonne) running against him.
"I'm a cop for 26 years - nothing surprises me," he said, referring to Chiappone's decision today to obtain petitions from the clerk's office.
The state Attorney General's Office has indicted the assemblyman for funneling aides’ paychecks into his personal and campaign accounts, a rap Chiappone says he can beat.
Essex County Superintendent of Elections Carmine Casciano was charged today with official misconduct for allegedly giving unauthorized paid days off to county employees who worked on political campaigns, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
The second-degree official misconduct charge against Casciano stems from a joint investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Corruption Unit.
Casciano, 63, of West Caldwell, will be ordered to appear in Superior Court in Essex County at a later date to answer the charges. He is a former Essex County Freeholder whose political roots were in the North Ward political organization of Stephen Adubato, Sr.
The complaint charges that between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2008, "Casciano, in his position as Essex County Commissioner of Registration and Superintendent of Elections, orchestrated a scheme in which employees of his office would be given unauthorized paid days off to compensate them for vacation days they used to work on political campaigns."
Casciano allegedly instructed one or more county employees to maintain an "unauthorized log of vacation days used by county employees to work on political campaigns and paid days off owed to those employees to compensate them under the scheme. It is further alleged that, in an attempt to conceal evidence of a crime, he instructed one or more county employees to alter and/or destroy records related to vacation days and unauthorized paid days off of employees who participated in the scheme."
Essex County Superintendent of Elections Carmine Casciano was charged today with official misconduct for allegedly giving unauthorized paid days off to county employees who worked on political campaigns, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
The second-degree official misconduct charge against Casciano stems from a joint investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Corruption Unit.