Howell Republican Municipal Chairman Joe DiBella is backing Jack Ciattarelli for governor, in an endorsement that follows Howell Mayor-elect John Leggio’s announcement that he will support Bill Spadea.
“Jack Ciattarelli is the obvious choice to be our state’s next Governor. Jack offers a unique combination of successful business and public policy experience that distinguishes him from the other candidates in the race,” said DiBella, a former mayor. “From running a successful business to being an effective and tough elected official, Jack has what it takes to fix New Jersey.”
DiBella said that Ciattarelli “has stood up to the special interests, opposes big government and the Trenton mandates, and will fight to make NJ safer and more affordable.”
“Being governor requires real-world and practical business and policy experience. Bloviating on the radio may be fun and without responsibility, but there’s no correlation to running the State and doing the massive work required to fix New Jersey,” DiBella said. “Only Jack has the record, leadership, and toughness to get the job done.”
Leggio scored a 54-vote off-the-line victory in the Republican primary against DiBella’s preferred candidate, Councilman Ian Nadel. He won a 2-1 victory in the general election and will succeed retiring two-term Democrat Theresa Berger next month.
In 2021, Howell produced 3,134 votes in the Republican gubernatorial primary – 9.1% of all votes cast in Monmouth County that year. Phil Rizzo won Howell by 110 votes, 38.1% to 34.6%, against Ciattarelli, with two other candidates trailing.
DiBella served as a Sayreville councilman and school board member in the 1990s before moving to Howell. Following the death of Assemblyman Melvin Cottrell (R-Jackson) in 2002, DiBella ran in a special election convention to fill the seat; he lost to Ronald Dancer (R-Plumsted), 106-72. He heads the employee benefits practice at Connor Strong & Buckalew, the insurance company where Democratic powerhouse George E. Norcross III is the majority shareholder.