Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton is up on the air with a new cable TV ad touting his crime-fighting skills as he seeks a third term in November.
Script: “(Narrator) From our neighborhoods to our classrooms, to all the places we love to go. Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton is dedicated to keeping our community safe. As sheriff, he increased patrols around houses of worship, provided critical resources to local departments, is taking on the opioid crisis, and is bringing law enforcement and the community together. That’s why Bergen County was named one of the ten safest counties in America. Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton. A record of service keeping Bergen County safe.”
Cureton was elected in 2019. The incumbent, Michael Saudino, resigned after getting caught making racist and homophonic statements.
He faces Republican Robert Kugler, a former Saddle Brook police chief, for a third time. His 2021 campaign was derailed by an indictment by state prosecutors that was later dismissed.
One year after he lost his bid to unseat incumbent Anthony Cureton, he was vindicated by a Superior Court Judge who found that Kugler didn’t violate any law by permitting police escorts for funeral processions to cemeteries involving a local funeral home he owns.
Deputy Attorney General Eric Cohen, who prosecuted Kugler for the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), left out critical information that might have benefited the suspended police chief to the grand jury that indicted him, Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark said in her ruling. Cohen is no loner with the attorney genera’s office.