Multiple jobs of N.J. politician stirring anger

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. - Not only is Nicholas Sacco the mayor of this township on the Hudson River, he's also its state senator and assistant superintendent of schools.

"Where does he find the time?" Gov. Christie asked about Sacco at a town hall meeting last month.

Christie has been flaunting Sacco's resume and paychecks - he makes nearly $300,000 a year - as an example of why New Jersey needs to pass an ethics reform bill that would ban residents from holding multiple public jobs, a longstanding New Jersey tradition.

Sacco, who was appointed mayor in 1991 and won election to the Senate in 1993, is coming under fire close to home, too. Residents complain that government is not transparent and services are not up to snuff. They say it's time for new leadership in the town of 60,000.

"It's time for him to go," said resident Vivian Smith. "He's been in office too long. He doesn't do his job - his jobs."

One group of citizens is even challenging what they claim is Sacco's decades-long lock on power, which they said is the engine in a political machine. While Sacco hasn't been accused of wrongdoing, some residents say that the government is inactive and operates only for certain spheres of influence.

"You just understood that Sacco was all-powerful and all-knowing and can do anything," said Mario Blanch, a lawyer and activist. "It's time for a change."

Blanch and others started the North Bergen Concerned Citizens Group, an organization dedicated to improving quality of life issues - and changing the town's power structure. It put up a slate of candidates for mayor and town offices last year, though all lost.

"While families struggle to survive in this economy, the city and school board payrolls are padded each year with no-show jobs for the political friends of Mayor Sacco, costing you millions of dollars each year," reads a flier the group distributes to residents. One side was in English, the other Spanish. North Bergen is 68 percent Hispanic.

"This group is a total sham," said Paul Swabinski, a spokesman for Sacco. "Mayor Sacco is one of the most successful and popular and highly regarded mayors in New Jersey."

Swabinski said that town services were "excellent" under Sacco and the town was a "very solid economic growth engine."

"It's certainly a unique situation," he said. "But Mayor Sacco is a unique individual who does an extraordinary job for the people of his town and the people of his district."

In September, a superintendent in the town's department of public works pleaded guilty to using municipal workers for personal chores and political campaigning while they were being paid by the township. Prosecutors said James Wiley ordered employees to do work around his home, including winterizing his hot tub, cleaning his grill and installing Christmas lights. Officials also said Wiley instructed workers to canvass neighborhoods and post campaign signs for mayoral races in Bayonne and Jersey City and a sheriff's race.

No elected officials, Swabinski said, "had any idea that these things were going on" at public works. The town is cooperating with the investigation, he said.

Town meetings have gotten more heated and crowded since Wiley's arrest. Early this month, a frequent critic of Sacco was arrested for making remarks after her allotted speaking time was up. As police officers approached the woman, Janice Zorovich, Sacco said he had warned her about speaking out of turn. Police escorted Zorovich from the packed room as people filmed the encounter with their cellphones and yelled about First Amendment rights. Zorovich was charged with defiant trespassing and released on her own recognizance that night.