Caramagna quits as Democratic municipal chairman

Francesco Caramagna has resigned his post as Elmwood Park Democratic Municipal Chairman and has been replaced for now by Vice Chair Sandy Balistrieri, a councilwoman.

Caramagna resigned as mayor in April after the Bergen County Prosecutor charged him with election tampering.  Since the charges were filed after the filing deadline, Caramagna had no opposition in the Democratic mayoral primary.

It wasn’t until earlier this month that Caramagna finally withdrew as a candidate for re-election.

As municipal chairman, he engineered the nomination of Councilwoman Lorraine Pellegrine as the replacement candidate.  The move triggered the resignation of Councilman Joseph Dombrowski, who had indicated his desire to run for mayor.

Caramagna has now been admitted into the pre-trial intervention program.  The charges against him will be dismissed if he follows the guidelines of the program.