Bob Russo drops bid for Essex County Commissioner

Former Montclair Mayor Robert Russo plans to drop out of the race for Essex County Commissioner-At-Large, ending a 48-year quest for county office.

In a text message late Wednesday evening, Russo said he is “discussing and drafting a withdrawal letter which may follow by tomorrow.”  Russo bemoaned the loss of a county commissioner seat for Montclair following the retirement of five-term incumbent Brendan Gill.

Russo filed nominating petitions on Monday, two days after finishing ninth out of eleven candidates for four at-large seats at the Essex County Democratic convention last weekend.

That leaves the organization-backed slate of Verona Councilwoman Christine McGrath, Livingston Mayor Shawn Klein, incumbent Wayne Richardson, and West Orange Democratic Municipal Chairman Abdur R. Yasin running against former  Newark Public Schools Advisory Board member Marques Aquil Lewis, who finished sixth at Saturday’s convention, and former Maplewood Township Committeewoman Deborah Engel, who finished eighth.

Russo called his decision to run in the June 2 Democratic primary “a symbolic gesture to all of our hundreds of supporters in Montclair, who want continued representation on the Essex County Board of Commissioners.”

Russo made his first bid for Essex County Commissioner (then freeholder) in 1978 when he was 31-years-old.  He won the District 5 Democratic primary by 48 votes against Belleville Mayor Robert Marrotti, and then, after initially winning the general election by 13 votes, wound up losing by 39 after a recount.  He ran again in 1987 and lost the Democratic primary by about 300 votes in 2007 against incumbent Ralph Caputo.

The winners of the Democratic primary will face Republicans Demtrius Eley, Daniela Ferreira Almeida, Douglas Freeman, and Sahwa Frank.  The GOP has not won a county executive race since 1998 and an at-large commissioner (then freeholder) contest since 1971.