Four Republicans compete for Assembly nod in 36th district

Four Republicans have filed to run for State Assembly in the 36th legislative district in an uphill bid to unseat Democratic incumbents Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park).

Twin brothers Chris and Craig Auriemma, both U.S. Army veterans, are making their third bids for the legislature; they’ll face a challenge for the Republican nod from former Lyndhurst school board member Christopher Musto and Carlstadt Councilwoman Diane DeBiase.

Chris Auriemma challenged State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) in 2021 and received 43% of the vote, losing by a 14-point margin.  In a 2023 rematch, Sarlo beat Auriemma by 7,141 votes and a margin of 23 points.  Craig Auriemma his previous Assembly bids by roughly 5,700 votes in 2021 and 6,500 votes in 2023. DeBiase has been a councilwoman since 2019 and is employed by the Carlstadt public schools.

Musto worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for over 20 years and now runs a public safety consulting firm.

Not running is the third member of the Auriemma and Auriemma slate, Joseph Viso.  Viso’s last campaign was damaged by the revelation that he pleaded guilty to smearing fecal matter on the doors of a children’s daycare center in East Rutherford following a 2009 neighborhood dispute.  Viso said he was angry that Barack Obama had become the President of the United States.

The fecal matter issue was just one part of Viso’s extended rap sheet that included convictions on federal and state drug and gun charges and a history of financial problems.  He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to distribute Methylone in 2016 and was sentenced to three years on probation.  In 2014, Viso was charged with possessing a sawed-off shotgun near a school, possessing a gun while committing a crime, and multiple drug offenses in Carlstadt and East Rutherford.  He accepted a plea deal and admitted to having a prohibited weapon, a defaced firearm, and a 4th-degree crime.  He was sentenced to two years of probation in 2019.   In 2010, Viso was charged with 1st-degree burglary for reconnecting an electric line after PSEG had disconnected it for non-payment. He was charged with possession of heroin and jailed for seven days in 2013, records show, but he agreed to a plea deal and admitted to using/possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.

Viso disputed that he was a heroin user, even though a police report alleges that “a small stack of glassine bags containing heroin and two straws with powder residue on them” was found inside a Sucrets tin in his car, records show.

The three Republicans raised about $30,000 in 2023.

The 36th includes Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Fairview, Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, Wallington, and Wood-Ridge in Bergen County and the city of Passaic in Passaic County.