“RUBBER STAMPS” KARCIC & BOCCHINO AWARD MAYOR WITH POLITICAL BLANK CHECK!
On June 11, 2020, North Arlington’s Mayor and Council led by Dan Pronti, Mario Karcic and Donna Bocchino gave themselves and 25 other borough employees raises – retroactive to January 1st!
Mayor Dan Pronti thought he deserved this generous raise along with incumbents Mario Karcic and Donna Bocchino, both seeking reelection as part of the Trump team.
And he thought it was a good idea to give raises to non-contract employees like Republican Party leader and chief fundraiser James Bocchino, who has a meaningless government job.
Was it a good idea or just good politics (click here and see Pronti praise Bocchino’s fundraising skills)?
Just what is Pronti’s objective in awarding political supporters with jobs, raises and promotions?
Let’s look back on how Mayor Pronti came to power in North Arlington
He fought his way onto the November 2018 ballot by climbing over the body (literally) of former beloved Mayor Joe Bianchi who died on October 10, 2018.
Just 24 hours later, on October 12th – Mr. Pronti and his political handlers were initiating a legal fight (click here for complaint) with the Bergen County Clerk’s office to have Joe Bianchi’s name removed from the already printed November ballots and replaced with Mr. Pronti as the Republican candidate for mayor.
However, Bergen County Clerk John Hogan charged Pronti with making false statements in his petition to have Mr. Bianchi’s name removed from the ballot* and replaced with his own.*
The dispute was heard in Bergen County’s Superior Court before Judge Robert Wilson.
Mr. Pronti’s team tried to mislead the judge saying that a N.A. Republican County Committee hearing (the official governing body of the local Republican organization) was properly conducted to replace Mr. Bianchi with Mr. Pronti as the GOP mayoral candidate. In fact, no such meeting took place. The committee secretary Leonard Alluto – a Pronti ally – tried “unconvincingly”* to tell the Judge Wilson that it had.
Judge Wilson knocked Pronti off the ballot.
On an appeal, Judge De la Cruz, allowed Pronti to “cure the mistakes he made to become a candidate” and he fought his way on the ballot amidst a fog of chaos as he told voters he was the “heir apparent” to Joe Bianchi’s legacy!
Pronti climbed over the record and legacy of a departed soul in Mayor Joe Bianchi to seize power for himself!
Pronti’s unbridled ambition is fitting for medieval palace intrigue – not a small, suburban community in New Jersey like North Arlington!
And true to his machine legacy, Mr. Pronti rules as the “New Boss” since his rise to power – rewarding his political supporters with jobs and influence, and bending the Borough Council to his will.
Alluto, who besides being a Republican Party official is also a Borough Public Works Department employee, has benefitted as much or more than any other Pronti ally!
In 2018 before Pronti became mayor, Alluto was earning $42,595.
The next year (2019) – Pronti awarded him with a salary boost of $32,873 to $75,468!
THAT’S A 44% INCREASE IN SALARY IN ONE YEAR!
And Council members Donna Bocchino and Mario Karcic “rubber stamped” this outrageous pay hike, one of the largest in borough history!
The whopping salary increase came because Alluto was promoted to be a heavy machine operator; even though he apparently had no license or certification for the position – and regardless of the fact that the Borough already has two approved heavy equipment operators!
But this is not about Alluto, it’s about Pronti, Karcic and Bocchino and their taste for political power and a Borough Council that objects to none of the Mayor’s dictates!
Given that the Mayor just doled out tens of thousands of dollars rewarding himself, the Borough Council and allies at Borough Hall, it is obvious that the Mayor’s pattern of political scheming includes using local government to further his political objectives.
He’s not the first politician to do that, but that is not a justification to do so!
As it stands now in NA, the Borough is controlled by the power-hungry objectives of one person; the Borough Council serves no purpose other than to “rubber stamp” everything Pronti wants done.
There is no dissent or debate about Pronti’s political objectives.
Mario Karcic and Donna Bocchino are political hacks who have done nothing to deserve consideration for reelection and in fact have showered themselves with raises and jobs and promotions for relatives as political nepotism is alive and well in North Arlington!
So why do we need a 6-member Borough Council if they are going to be just pawns of Boss Pronti?
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*Source: Court transcript” North Arlington Republican County committee v. John Hogan, Bergen County Clerk, October 12, 2019.