SCOTCH PLAINS —An intraparty feud between the local Republican chairman and the head of the Union County party resulted in a near-draw in Tuesday’s primary election, with seven county-backedcandidatesforthecounty Republican Committee winning and five candidates backed by the local chairman emerging victorious.
County Chairman Glenn Mortimer haddeniedpartysupporttosomecounty committee members from Scotch Plains, where GOP Chairman Joseph Sarno is backing another candidate — Carlos Santos — for county chairman instead of Mr. Mortimer, who has led the party for the past 10 years. Mr. Sarno won re-election to the county committee on Tuesday, beating former Mayor William McClintock, who had the backing of Mr. Mortimer, by a single vote, 18 to 17.
Besides Mr. Sarno, 11 of his candidates, running under the banner of “America First Republicans,” faced challenges from candidates supported by the county GOPin the township’s 23 voting districts.
The feud erupted when Mr. Sarno, who was elected chairman in 2021, accused Mr. Mortimer of acting “deceitfully” in removing him and other Scotch Plainsers from the county primary ballot line. He further said that Mr. Mortimer had committed “an egregious breach of trust” by filing ballot names and petitions with the township clerk that differed from forms that Mr. Mortimer had provided to Mr. Sarno. This, Mr. Sarno said, “broke [Mr. Mortimer’s] reputation for fairness.”
In turn, Mr. Mortimer said he had received “numerous complaints from long-serving members of the Scotch Plains Republican Committee, all of which focused on Chairman Sarno’s behavior with respect to management of campaign funds and lack of support for his favored candidates.” He accused Mr. Sarno of misdirecting campaign funds without the approval of the municipal committee and also said that Mr. Sarno had not supported the Republican candidate in a special election to fill a township council vacancy in 2021.
Besides Mr. Sarno’s race against Mr. McClintock for a county committee seat from Scotch Plains’ 2nd District, county-backed Nicholas Rettino lost to “America First” candidate Alexandr Gorbach by a single vote while countysupported Deanna Dell Bene won by a single vote against “America First” candidate Maryana Sverdlova in District 3. Richard Duthie and Liz Mangan had the county’s support in their successful District 5 challenges to Kevin and Jennifer Newell;GarySchusterwonagainst “America First” Republican Anthony Masciolo in District 6; Michael Toffolo defeated county-backed Brian Doyle in District 7; “America First” candidate John Denning edged out Albert Muller in the 18th District; Stephen Steinbergher and Susan Suminski had the county’s backing in their successful District 19 challenges to Peter andAlice Debease; county-backed John Brewer won against “America First” candidate Dennis Roitman in District 20; and Adriana Lombardi defeated former Mayor Mary DePaola, despite county support, in District 23.
