NA DEMOCRATIC BALLOTS LEAD LOCAL GOP BY A BETTER THAN 2-1 MARGIN, RACE TO KEEP NORTH ARLINGTON SMALL, SAFE AND SUBURBAN COMES DOWN TO TURNOUT!
KARCIC AND BOCCHINO’S PAY RAISES AND NEPOTISM SCARE NA VOTERS, IS LOW INCOME HOUSING AND TAX HIKES NEXT?
DEMOCRATS YAMPAGLIA & BRADLEY CALL RESIDENTS TO RETURN NORTH ARLINGTON TO RESPONSIBLE TWO-PARTY GOVERNMENT THIS TUESDAY!
It’s been four years since North Arlington Democrats have won at the local level leaving Republicans a political stranglehold which will be challenged come Tuesday as we brace for one of the largest electoral turnouts in borough history.
As the Donald Trump campaign seems to be bracing for defeat, a red flag for the President was revealed last week when a rally on Ridge Road fell on its face with about dozen people in attendance, mostly non-residents of North Arlington in stark contrast to the warm reception local Democrats have received at the North Arlington Post Office where challengers John Yampaglia and Tommy Bradley have been greeting voters on a weekly basis.
In addition to the strong post office presence, local Democrats led by Bradley and his two sons have been walking door to door for weeks and dropping campaign literature to a positive response from residents who seem to prefer a mix of Democrats and Republicans versus the current 7-0 majority on the Mayor and Council.
“Donald Trump was a detriment to North Arlington. He tried to build over 1,500 units of high density, low income housing. Now we have incumbents Mario Karcic and Donna Bocchino approving hundreds of new apartment dwellings on Ridge Road transforming the community into an extension of Hudson County. North Arlington is the first community in Bergen County and we don’t want to be the last municipality in Hudson and that’s what will occur if Karcic and Bocchino get their way come Tuesday,” offered one Democrat when asked to comment.
Democrats nominated two life-long residents in Yampaglia and Bradley while the GOP has two political hacks with one a Hudson County transplant and the other a double-dipper with two political jobs. Karcic voted to award his nephew a job at Department of Public Works while Bocchino voted to give her father a job and a 23% pay hike. Both voted to award themselves a 19% pay hike while further voting to award 25 patronage employees additional raises including a $43,000 pay hike for a local GOP official affiliated with their campaign.
James “Jimmy” Bocchino, a retired patronage employee with the Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA) was awarded a part-time job last year created specifically for him and then 10 months later was given a 23% raise by both Karcic and his daughter Donna. Bocchino is the chairman of the Karcic/Bocchino campaign and his wife, Donnas’ mother serves as treasurer. Bocchino is also the chief fundraiser for the NA GOP in his role at Vice-President of the North Arlington Republican Club. As chief fundraiser for the GOP, you can see Mayor Dan Pronti praising Bocchino for the thousands of dollars secured by the longtime political operative and double-dipper (click here for Facebook video).
North Arlington Democrats on the other hand have run a “grass roots” campaign reaching directly to residents who oppose this transformation of North Arlington from small, safe and suburban to “urbanization and gentrification” as engineered by Karcic and Bocchino.
Out-of-town developers, builders and borough officials have populated the GOP election donor list with many being active applicants before the community for projects that exceed the three-story height maximum and are now six-stories decimating the mass, scale and character of Ridge Road.
Residents have expressed their outrage and Democrats are cautiously optimistic as November 3rd approaches this Tuesday.
Democrats believe John Yampaglia and Tommy Bradley offer residents and homeowners a dialogue and discussion versus the one-party machine politics of Karcic and Bocchino.
The brother of a former four-term councilman and son of a retired municipal judge, John Yampaglia is a small business owner in Essex County and licensed beautician. A product of local schools, Yampaglia earned his BA and MA and is a former member of the North Arlington Planning Board.
Bradley, making his first run for public office is a graduate of Queen of Peace High School where he was a 1,000 point scorer for the varsity basketball team and heavily recruited baseball prospect by the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. Bradley opted to play Division 1 baseball at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where injuries ended his dream of playing professionally.
A former IBEW member, Bradley is a technology executive, husband, homeowner and father to two sons who helped their Dad in his door to door campaign efforts.
Tom has coached in North Arlington since 2011, and has been an executive board member for both recreation basketball and baseball.
His oldest son AJ attends Bergen Academy and was a honor roll student while at the North Arlington Middle School. His younger son Nico is a NA Middle School student who is like his Dad, an avid baseball player.
Bradley has been married for seventeen years to his wife Kelly and resides with his family on Melrose Avenue. A life-long resident, Tom grew up on Willis Road.
“Whether it be the nepotism practiced by Mario and Donna, giving themselves 19% pay raises in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving greedy out-of-town developers a blank check for unchecked over development and transforming Ridge Road into an extension of Hudson County, there is a clear distinction between the partisan practices of the Republicans and the goals of John Yampaglia and Tom Bradley to end this decimation of our community values and keeping North Arlington small, safe and suburban. North Arlington demands responsible two-party government and a suppression and elimination of this proliferation of apartments along Ridge Road that is destroying our character and setting up NA for low income housing.”
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