Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie issued the following statement on the candidacy of Jerry Speziale for sheriff:
“Speziale announced he was running as a Democrat for the County Sheriff position vacated due to the tragic death of Sheriff Richard Berdnik, but he is refusing to even screen in front of actual Democrats.
“Speziale is well-known among county Democrats for selling out the Democratic Party when he colluded with top Republicans in 2010 to abandon his post as County Sheriff to accept then-Governor Chris Christie’s offer to work at the Port Authority. Speziale’s resignation in the middle of a contentious political campaign was later confirmed in a sworn affidavit from a top Port Authority official to be arranged directly by Christie in an attempt to hamstring the county Democratic Party.
“At the time, county Republicans celebrated the fact that Speziale would not be using his over half a million dollars in campaign contributions against them because of his new job as a Christie cop. When Democrats suggested that Speziale return the money contributed by Democrats for a Democratic campaign, Speziale refused and said he would donate the money to charity. That never happened and now Speziale intends to use those ill-gotten gains for his Primary campaign this year.
“After leaving the Port Authority as a political pariah, Speziale then fled to Prichard, Alabama, to become their Chief of Police. Of course, Prichard’s mayor learned the hard way who the unscrupulous Speziale truly was after only finding out his Police Chief was vacating his position through media reports.
“Upon his return, Speziale became the Public Safety Director in Paterson while also working in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Speziale proved to be so ineffective at doing both jobs that the state of New Jersey eventually had to come in and take oversight over the Paterson Police Department.
“Speziale endorsed a Republican for Sheriff against then-candidate Berdnik in 2013, and allowed his name to appear on a mailer endorsing the Republican candidate for Surrogate in 2021.
“Speziale also provided his full-throated endorsement for Pennsylvania Congressman Dan Meuser. Rep. Meuser is a proudly pro-MAGA Trump apologist, an election denier who sought to invalidate Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results and a staunch advocate in the fight to strip away women’s rights.
“Jerry Speziale would wear a MAGA hat and dance onstage to YMCA with Donald Trump if he thought it would get him his next elected position. Jerry is a two-bit politician and a fraud. He sold us out for his own blind ambition before and he will do it again. We have all worked too hard and come too far to allow a deceitful MAGA-supporting Christie conspirator to try and sneak in and steal this election. He doesn’t even have the common decency or respect for the people who built this party and work every day towards its successes to come and share his vision.”