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Scarpelli's Shadow Looms Over Mayoral Election
By Eric San Juan
When talking about Brick's 2007 mayoral election, the name Joseph Scarpelli is bound to come up. After all, this election wouldn't even be taking place were it not for Scarpelli's abrupt resignation in 2006, stepping out of the mayor's seat just before being hit with federal charges for accepting money from a developer for project approvals.
Scarpelli was a high-profile Democrat. His loudest critics were often, of course, Republicans.
Now mayoral candidate and Democrat Dan Kelly, appointed mayor after Scarpelli's resignation, wants to get a message out to voters: He is his own man.
Meanwhile Republican mayoral candidate Stephen Acropolis, a councilman, has a different message for voters: The taint of Joe Scarpelli remains in Brick.
Acropolis believes much of this election is about the fallout from Scarpelli's resignation and guilty plea to federal corruption charges. For years, Acropolis said he was criticized for being so aggressive with Brick's disgraced former mayor.
"My main goal in the last election was to alert people to what was going on, the corruption taking place," Acropolis said. "They realize now that I was right."
Acropolis said links to Scarpelli are a diffi- cult gray area, an uncomfortable tie for public servants to have. In the wake of corruption scandals that have rocked the public's faith in elected officials, the councilman said, such ties should not be minimized.
"Anyone who has a link to Joseph Scarpelli, they shouldn't be here," Acropolis said.
And according to Acropolis, Kelly was one of those people.
"Am I sitting here saying Dan Kelly is corrupt? No," Acropolis said. But, "Am I uncomfortable with Dan Kelly being the chairman of the planning board when Joe Scarpelli used his influence for builders? Yes."
Kelly balked at the suggestion that this election was about the wake of the Scarpelli scandal. Joseph Scarpelli and his legacy have nothing to do with this election, he said.
"What has Joe Scarpelli to do with Dan Kelly and his administration? Absolutely nothing. I have no connection to Joe Scarpelli and never did," Kelly said.
Kelly said despite suggestions to the contrary, during his stint on the planning board, Scarpelli had "no direct access" to him when it came to board decisions. If Scarpelli tried to influence board members, "He certainly didn't do it to me," Kelly said.
"The person who really brought me into government was not Joe Scarpelli, it was Fred Underwood. He asked me," Kelly said. "It was not Joe Scarpelli who picked me. In fact, Joe was a little mad at Fred."
For his part, Kelly said he understands that people have had their trust in the mayor's office shaken.
"Obviously, the reason why I'm in this job is because ethics became a problem with a certain individual," Kelly said. "The people have to look at town hall and have trust ... I think I am somebody who is extremely trustworthy. I spent my life doing the right thing, been that way for my whole life."
But according to Acropolis, while Kelly may be a good man, remnants of the Scarpelli administration remain in town hall. That, he told The Brick Times, has to change.
"I believe there are a lot of people who knew what was going on and said nothing ... Either you are complicit in what was going on or you didn't know." Either option is troubling, Acropolis said. "What did people know and when did they know it?"
Acropolis said it's not about political party - Brick has many good Democrats, he said - but rather about "the Joe Scarpelli Club."
"At the local level, this is not about Democrats and Republicans," Acropolis said. "It's about having an association with an admittedly corrupt mayor."
That, Acropolis said, is the key issue in this election. Moving past what Scarpelli left behind.
And Kelly? Kelly said something other than Joseph Scarpelli, or any entrenched politicians, for that matter, is exactly what he'll be offering on Election Day.
"It's the first election I've run in," Kelly said. "I think I'm giving people alternatives."
Election Day is Tuesday, November 6.
For more on the campaign platforms of Acropolis and Kelly, see Page A5 of this edition of The Brick Times. Also, visit our archives at micromediapubs.com and look under "Government" to see past candidate columns, starting with our October 4 edition.
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