Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso is not apologizing for calling a political rival a slur for people with intellectual disabilities during last month’s council meeting.
Bonaccorso made the derogatory remark during the township’s June 20 meeting after a Democratic candidate for council addressed the all-Republican board during its public comment portion, according to a recording on Clark’s YouTube channel.
As the speaker walks away from the podium, Bonaccorso can be heard on a hot microphone saying, “He’s a f—king r—ard,” according to a recording.
This is not the first time Bonaccorso was captured on tape using slurs and it comes as the Republican mayor is running for a seventh term, despite facing ongoing fallout from a racism scandal and criminal charges alleging he used his office to benefit his private landscaping business.
In 2020, the township paid a whistleblower a settlement of more than $400,000 to try to conceal secret recordings in which Bonaccorso and police brass used racial epithets against Blacks that included the n-word. That provoked an investigation by prosecutors that culminated in November, when the Attorney General’s Office released a report excoriating Bonaccorso and other township officials over the coverup.
John Greaves, the Democratic candidate for council who Bonaccorso’s new slur was directed toward, said the comment shows Bonaccorso lacks the discipline and courtesy required for public office.
“He broke the trust before, he apologized, but now, we still see a pattern continuing to emerge,” Greaves said, adding: “He’s displayed time and time again that he can’t be trusted to handle things well.”
The video shows Greaves standing before council at the public comment podium and asking questions about tax deals and community development. As Greaves finished his remarks and walked away, the camera panned to the board, and Bonaccorso’s muttered comment could be heard, though he was off-screen at the time.
Greaves said he was unaware of Bonaccorso statement until he later reviewed the video.
Bonaccorso faced intense criticism and calls for his resignation two years ago when NJ Advance Media revealed the existence of the racist recordings, which also captured Police Chief Pedro Matos and internal affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston using racial slurs. On one recording, Bonaccorso also derided women in law enforcement, calling them “all f--king disasters.”
After those recordings were published, Bonaccorso publicly apologized while insisting he was a changed man.
On Tuesday, Bonaccorso said he doesn’t recall saying the new slur, though he acknowledged being upset by the “ridiculous questions” Greaves was asking.
“It wasn’t said out loud,” Bonaccorso said. “Was it a mutter, or was it a statement? I don’t recall either one.”
Bonaccorso downplayed the offensive language, saying he has long supported programs for people with intellectual disabilities.
“I don’t think this is a major issue, and I don’t think this was done with malice if it was done,” Bonaccorso said.
Michael Shulman, a Democrat running for mayor, said the new video shows Bonaccorso was insincere when he publicly apologized in 2022.
”Is he going to apologize every six months when he says something completely abhorrent and outside the bounds of what a mayor should be saying or a person should be saying?” Shulman asked.
”That kind of language to somebody with a special needs child or special needs family member, that word is just as bad as another word he said,” said Shulman.
Greaves also chastised members of Clark’s council, who have backed Bonaccorso throughout the controversies.
“The council remains silent in all of these situations,” Greaves said. “They see him continuing to act this way, and they continue to just not say anything.”
Council President Angel Albanese, who is up for reelection, said Tuesday she didn’t hear the remark and had no comment on the matter.
Two other council members running on Bonaccorso’s slate, Jimmy Minniti and Bill Smith, did not immediately respond to calls or emails requesting comment.
In November, the Attorney General’s Office charged Bonaccorso with using his township office to benefit his private landscaping business and falsifying permitting applications for work his company performed. Authorities said they uncovered the allegations during their investigation of the racism scandal.
Authorities said the mayor “submitted false and fraudulent paperwork to nearly two dozen municipalities to facilitate his landscaping company’s improper removal of hundreds of underground storage tanks” dating back to 2017.
The mayor’s company, Bonaccorso & Son LLC, held contracts with other town governments for landscaping and underground tank removal. The jobs associated with the fraudulent permitting “amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” prosecutors alleged.
Bonaccorso has denied wrongdoing, with his lawyer calling the charges “faulty and incorrect.”
Stories by Jackie Roman
This post will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Riley Yates may be reached at ryates@njadvancemedia.com.
Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.