Morris Madness: Cesaro Tries to Restore Order as the Political Floodgates Burst Open
Political observers like contested primaries because they’re fun to watch. Voters probably like them too because they have a choice and a reason to vote. The candidates are another matter.
Here is the take of Morris County freeholder John Cesaro who is running for reelection in a field of seven candidates.
“There should not be seven candidates running in a primary,” he told supporters at a Tuesday night fundraiser in Mountain Lakes. “There should be seven people running the county.”
Actually, there are seven people running the county as freeholders, but they do have to get elected. And since all don’t always think alike, there are multiple candidates (seven in fact) seeking three nominations in June’s Republican primary.
Cesaro said he sought agreement among his peers.
“We want unity. It’s what I wanted from day one,” he said.
It didn’t happen.
Of the other six candidates, incumbent Deborah Smith and former freeholders John Krickus and Hank Lyon are running as a team. Bsides Cesaro, others in the race are Stephen Shaw, Rob Peluso and Aura Kenny Dunn, who was the only other freeholder candidate to attend Cesaro’s event. Don’t be surprised if Dunn and Cesaro wind up running as a team.
Cesaro, who called the contested primary the “10,000 pound gorilla in the room,” said the freeholder board long has been committed to reducing the tax burden on residents.
Looking ahead to the campaign, Cesaro said, “Everyone is going to brag about conservative budgeting, but we did this as a team.” He then gave individual credit to each member of the freeholder board for jointly developing a responsible budget.
The fundraiser was attended by the two candidates seeking the chairmanship of the Morris County Republican Committee this June, Ron DeFilippis and Rob Zwigard.
Bad blood between the two continues to boil.
Earlier this week, former county chair Richard Kamin, who was also at the fundraiser and who is backing DeFilippis, said Zwigard was emulating “Hudson County” politics by allegedly saying he would not endorse county candidates unless they also endorsed him for chairman.
Just as an aside, when Morris Republicans refer to Hudson County, they’re righteously talking about political chicanery of the highest order.
Zwigard said the charge was “juvenile” and did not merit a response.
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