(Montville, NJ ) State Sen Joe Pennacchio ( LD-26) is again a day late and dollar short when it comes to helping the people he is supposed to be representing in Trenton, says Republican Primary State Senate candidate Tom Mastrangelo.

This time Pennacchio, who has been in the state legislature for more than 23 years, announced today that he wants to address a problem that has been hammering suburban towns in Morris and Passaic counties for decades – the state’s so- called affordable housing laws.

Mastrangelo, a five-term Morris County Commissioner, said the state’s liberal housing mandates are forcing towns to over-build to accommodate low-income housing in large, high-density housing developments that are unsuitable for small towns.
“In all his years in office Joe Pennacchio has done nothing to help his constituent municipalities fight the overdevelopment caused by liberal policies,” says Mastrangelo. “Now with the senate Primary Election less than a month away, Joe decides to say something about affordable housing mandates.

“Thank God for Primary Elections, or Joe Pennacchio would do nothing for anyone,” added Mastrangelo.
On April 12, Mastrangelo addressed the serious problems caused by overdevelopment associated with the state’s low-income housing mandates. He highlighted the municipalities of Florham Park, Hanover and East Hanover, Montville and Parsippany that are besieged by state-mandated overdevelopment.

One of the tools that municipalities were at one time able to use to help meet their affordable housing state mandates was Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA’s). The RCAs allowed suburban towns to fund affordable housing in urban areas. However, the state took away the RCA option in 2008.

“For 15 years suburban town had to fight the state in court without the help of RCA’s. Where was Joe Pennacchio all that time? Did he not realize what his constituents were going through?” asked Mastrangelo. “Now, only because I raised the issue, he decided to say something about the disastrous overbuilding caused by the state.”

PENNACCHIO NOT PAYING ATTENTION

Mastrangelo said the state’s 37-year-old affordable housing laws pushed by liberal courts and Democrats have been forced upon small towns by an ultra-liberal group called Fair Share Housing (FSH ). FSH is infamous for the lawsuits it files against municipalities that resist over-development. FSH donors are liberal groups, including the Phillip & Tammy Murphy Family Foundation.

Mastrangelo also pointed out that FSH received federal Covid money through the state to support its intrusive actions against suburban towns, a fact that eluded Sen. Pennacchio.

“How did Joe Pennacchio fail to see that taxpayer money went to an ultra- liberal, anti-suburban group that is bent on destroying our quality of life? Again, Joe Pennacchio was sleeping on the job,” said Mastrangelo.

“The people of District 26 need a state senator who is awake and fighting for them all the time. Not a senator who does nothing until he is forced to respond to someone who threatens his job,” added Mastrangelo.