Scandal-ridden N.J. mayor headed to reelection, despite racial slurs, criminal charges

Voters in Clark Township took another look at Mayor Sal Bonaccorso and liked what they saw, handing him victory at the polls despite public corruption charges and a racism scandal in which he was caught using the n-word and crassly disparaging women in law enforcement.
Bonaccorso led challenger Michael Shulman by 5,299 votes to 2,605 votes in his bid for a seventh term at the helm of the suburban Union County community, according to unofficial results on Wednesday morning.
Bonaccorso, a Republican, has been the public face of the conservative town of 14,500 for nearly a quarter century. But this election was a test of his popularity, given pending criminal charges that he abused his office and revelations that he and police brass casually used racial slurs.
“We didn’t win,” Shulman said in a text message late Tuesday, while noting his slate of Democrats performed better than his party has in prior elections.
Clark is a Republican stronghold where Donald Trump beat Joe Biden by 23 points in the 2020 presidential contest. Shulman headed a team of Democratic candidates who hoped voter anger over the controversy — and its steep cost to the township’s coffers and public reputation — would offset the political headwinds they usually face.
“The election was closer than previous years but I’m openly shocked that so many people in this town put party over their best interest and reelected someone who is racist, corrupt and criminal,” Shulman said.
Bonaccorso, who has denounced the unresolved criminal case against him, did not return requests for comment.
Three Bonaccorso backers on township council — Angel Albanese, Jimmy Minniti and Bill Smith — also had commanding leads over their Democratic challengers, according to unofficial results.
Bonaccorso and his allies have faced a torrent of criticism since 2022, when NJ Advance Media revealed the township had quietly paid a $400,000 hush-money settlement to a whistleblower who secretly recorded Bonaccorso, police Chief Pedro Matos and internal affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston crudely denigrating Blacks. Bonaccorso also called female police officers “f—— disasters.”
Last year, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said his office “seriously considered” bringing criminal charges against township officials in the cover-up, but concluded they weren’t warranted. Platkin did so as he attacked the 2020 settlement as a misuse of public resources.
At the same time, Platkin announced unrelated charges against Bonaccorso that accuse him of using his township office to benefit his private landscaping business and falsifying permitting applications for work his company performed. Those charges could send Bonaccorso to prison if he is convicted, and bar him from holding public office.
Bonaccorso has criticized the criminal case, dismissing the allegations as “garbage” and “another weaponization against a MAGA Republican.” The longest-serving mayor in Clark’s history, Bonaccorso says that under his tenure, the township has been a safe community with good schools and good services.
But in the campaign, Shulman questioned whether Bonaccorso plans to accept a plea deal after the election, pointing to a court hearing now scheduled for Nov. 20 that is listed for a “plea bargain,” according to court records. Shulman, a defense attorney, said a plea would force Bonaccorso from office just after he asked voters to reelect him.
At a council meeting last month, Bonaccorso acknowledged his attorney had “talked to the attorney general’s office for several months,” but denied a guilty plea was imminent.
“I have a right, if I feel to, to enter into a plea. I have a right to fight the case,” Bonaccorso said. “That is still being talked about.”
Meanwhile, Matos and Teston are suing to keep their jobs. They and a third Clark officer have been on paid leave since July 2020 amid the long-delayed probe by prosecutors, at a cost to township taxpayers of more than $2 million in salary as of late-September.
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Riley Yates may be reached at [email protected].
NJ Advance Media reporter Matthew Gray contributed to this report.