New Jersey radio personality Bill Spadea has pulled his endorsement of an embattled GOP Assembly candidate who admitted smearing fecal matter on the doors of an East Rutherford children’s daycare center and slammed the Republican state chairman for not properly vetting legislative candidates.
In the 36th district, Joseph Viso pled guilty to criminal mischief charges after the 2009 incident, blaming it partly on stress related to Barack Obama’s election as president.
The 52-year-old Viso also has a long rap sheet of federal and state drug convictions, possessing a sawed-off shotgun near a school, and personal financial issues that included not paying his taxes and over $400,000 in credit card debt. Viso said he hit rock bottom after being diagnosed with cancer left him in financial ruin, but his legal and money problems occurred prior to getting sick.
Spadea, a likely candidate for governor in 2025, said the state Republican leader, Bob Hugin is to blame. But Hugin had no real control over the awarding of the line.
“You’re not only embarrassing our party’s brand, you’re damaging our chances of taking back the Statehouse,” Spadea said. “A lot of people put their support behind Republican nominees in targeted Senate and Assembly races like LD-36. But because your NJGOP just failed Campaign 101, many of us are now forced to withdraw our support of Joseph Viso.”
But Matt Rooney, the editor of Save Jersey, a conservative political news site, reported that Hugin and Republican legislative leaders had expressed concerns about candidate quality to Bergen Republicans but were rebuffed.
Spadea also criticized Hugin’s recent effort to replace a presidential primary with a party convention.
“Maybe if you spent less time trying to cancel our presidential primary and more time vetting our candidates, we’d be in a better position next month,” he said.
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