Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso admitted to criminal charges Friday and agreed to resign from office under a plea deal just days after being sworn in for another term.
Bonaccorso pleaded guilty to using city resources to benefit his private landscaping business and to forging signatures on permit applications for work performed by his company.
Bonaccorso did so under an agreement that stipulated that he would receive three years of probation when Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh sentenced him on February 7.
Bonaccorso, a Republican, has been the face of Clark for a quarter century, the longest-serving mayor in the history of the Republican stronghold. In November, township voters rewarded him with a seventh term, despite accusations of public corruption and a racism scandal in which he was caught using the n-word and rudely disparaging women in law enforcement.
His guilty plea requires him to resign from that position, a provision that took effect immediately. He is also prohibited from holding public office or employment in the future.
Bonaccorso entered his guilty plea in Union County Court in Elizabeth. Immediately after the hearing, his defense attorney, Robert Stahl, issued a statement saying Bonaccorso’s decision came after he recently learned he was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm that will require surgery.
“After a long and difficult period of reflection and discussion with his family and friends, Mayor Bonaccorso decided that the best path forward for his health, his family and the city he loves so much and to which he has dedicated more than two decades, “was to resolve this matter by way of argument,” the statement said.
Stahl said the city services Bonaccorso illegally used amounted to less than $200, and he said staff occasionally faxed or emailed documents on behalf of their company.
“Mayor Bonaccorso has dedicated decades to public service,” the statement said. “He was an accomplished mayor, who tirelessly advocated for his community and its residents.”
Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso pleaded guilty to using city resources to benefit his private landscaping business and forging signatures on permit applications for work performed by his company.Ed Murray | For New Jersey Advanced Media
Bonaccorso has faced a torrent of criticism since 2022, when NJ Advance Media revealed The city had paid a $400,000 silence settlement to a whistleblower who secretly recorded Bonaccorso, Police Chief Pedro Matos and Internal Affairs Sergeant. Joseph Teston crudely denigrating black people. Bonaccorso also called female police officers “damn disasters.”
In November 2023, Attorney General Matthew Platkin his office said He “seriously considered” filing criminal charges against township officials for a cover-up, but concluded they were not justified. Platkin did so while attacking the 2020 agreement as a misuse of public resources to hide irregularities.
In a statement Friday, Platkin said the guilty plea “ends a long and sad betrayal of the community by someone who had been in a position of power and trust for a long time.”
“Anyone who betrays the public trust by putting his own interests ahead of his duty as a public servant to the residents of New Jersey will be held accountable,” Platkin said. “Let me be clear: I will never stop rooting out corruption in New Jersey, no matter how powerful the offenders may be.”
At the same time, Platkin announced unrelated corruption charges against Bonaccorso. They accused him of using his township office to benefit his private landscaping business and of falsifying permit applications for work his company performed.
Official misconduct, the most serious crime Bonaccorso faced, carried a possible sentence of five to 10 years in prison. It was dropped as part of the plea deal.
The charges alleged that Bonaccorso stored his company records in his mayor’s office and used government resources (including computers, fax machines and even municipal employees) “solely for the purpose of managing his private business.”
Authorities also accused Bonaccorso of improperly removing hundreds of underground oil tanks in nearly two dozen communities, saying he and his company lacked licenses to do the environmentally sensitive work.
Prosecutors said that to get around that, Bonaccorso forged an engineer’s signature on removal requests and falsely claimed that person would be present. But in reality, authorities said, “the engineer was not supervising or involved in any way in those projects.”
The fraudulent jobs “amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars” since 2017, prosecutors estimated.
With the vacancy, the president of the Council, Ángel Albanese, becomes interim mayor until a successor is named.
The all-Republican Clark City Council will select that replacement. Under state law, the board will do so from a list of three names that the local Republican party must draw up within 15 days of Bonaccorso’s ouster.
The appointment will last only until 2025. In November, voters will have their say again, when special elections are held for the remaining three years of Bonaccorso’s term.
Bonaccorso, 64, had criticized the criminal case, dismissing the allegations as “garbage” and “another weapon against a MAGA Republican.” Despite the uncertainty, sought re-election and I won 69% of the votes.
On January 1, Bonaccorso was sworn in for his new term. At the City Hall ceremony, he made no direct reference to the charges or the possibility of being forced out of office. But his comments nonetheless had a farewell tone.
Bonaccorso choked back tears that day as he spoke of his family’s support. He went through a list of accomplishments during his long tenure. He praised his allies on the city council who stood firmly behind him during the controversies.
“I received many stones in recent years and they were with me and supported me because we know each other,” Bonaccorso said. “We know the integrity, the effort and the love we have for this community.”
Council members reciprocated his feelings during the reorganization meeting.
“The first 25 years of the 21st century of this community are Bonaccorso,” said veteran Councilman Brian Toal, adding that the mayor’s legacy will live on. “Sal, you did a good job, is what I’m trying to say.”
During the campaign, Bonaccorso’s Democratic opponent, Michael Shulman, questioned whether he planned to accept a plea deal after the election. Shulman said voters had a right to know whether Bonaccorso would have to resign right after he was granted another four years in office.
But Shulman said he will not run to fill Bonaccorso’s vacant term, citing the time commitment of another campaign and family and professional obligations. He declined to comment after the hearing.
Meanwhile, the racism scandal continues to resonate in the municipality five years after the agreement with the whistleblower Antonio Manata.
Manata, former police lieutenant, has sued Clark The charging officials retaliated against him afterward, forcing him to sell his house and move out of town. Clark has filed countersuits seeking to recover money Manata received, alleging he violated the confidentiality provisions of the agreement.
Matos and Teston They are also demanding Clark, trying to stop the city from firing them. They and a third Clark officer have been on paid leave since July 2020 amid the long-delayed investigation by prosecutors, at a cost to local taxpayers of more than $2 million in salaries as of the end of September.
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You can contact Riley Yates at ryates@njadvancemedia.com.
