Happy 100th Birthday to Anthony E. Russo, ex-Senator, mayor

Former State Sen. Anthony E. Russo, who served in the legislature from 1978 to 1982 and spent 27 years as a Union Township Committeeman – ten of them as mayor — will celebrate his 100th birthday tomorrow.

He is the oldest living former legislator in New Jersey, and the oldest sitting county official in the state.  Russo still serves as the $120,000-per-year Union County Adjuster, where he prepares, supervises, and files documents for the institutional commitment of psychiatric and developmentally disabled patients. He was appointed in 1972 and has held the job for 54 years.

The earliest-serving living legislator –– and the next oldest behind Russo — is 98-year-old Martin Kesselhaut (D-Newark), who served as an assemblyman from Essex County from 1957 to 1959.  Just five former lawmakers who served in the Senate with Russo are still alive: Donald DiFrancesco (R-Scotch Plains), 81; Barry Parker (R-Mount Holly), 93; Steven Perskie (D-Margate), 81; and Anthony Scardino (D-Lyndhurst, 89.

Just seven weeks ago, Russo was the second-youngest living former legislator; Frank J. Guarini (D-Jersey City), who served in the State Senate from 1966 to 1972 and in Congress from 1979 to 1993, died on June 20 at age 101.

Russo grew up in Phillipsburg and became involved in politics in his late 20s when a family friend, former State Sen. Robert Meyner (D-Phillipsburg), became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor.  Russo volunteered on the campaign; Meyner narrowly won the primary by a margin of 1,585 votes and 1.6%, and he won the general by nearly nine points.

His career received praise from the two Democrats who represent Union County in the New Jersey Senate.

State Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union Township) remembers Russo’s explanation about how the Warren County native wound up in Union Township.

“Anthony’s deep love of the township of Union, his appreciation for its deep history from revolutionary times to today, and his devotion to helping people is part of what makes this hundred-year birthday so special.  His story of driving through Union from Philipsburg decades ago and asking the police officer, “What town is this?”, and deciding to make Union his home, is the stuff of legend,” said Cryan.  “From Committeeman to Mayor to State Senator, Anthony Russo has defined the very best of public service.

Senate President Nicholas Scutari said that Russo’s “leadership as Mayor, State Senator, and community advocate helped strengthen Union and left a lasting mark on the State of New Jersey.”

“Reaching 100 years is an extraordinary milestone, and there are few centenarians who have dedicated more of their lives to serving the public than Anthony Russo,” Scutari stated.  “I wish Anthony a very happy 100th birthday and thank him for an inspiring lifetime.”

On the ballot with JFK

Russo launched his political career as a Democratic candidate for Union Township Committee in 1960 at age 33, challenging Republican incumbent Kolomon Kiss.  In those days, Union Township was all-Republican and led by a local political boss, Mayor F. Edward Bierutempfel.  Kiss won, but Russo came close: the margin was just 631 votes, 51%-49%.

His relatively young age in that race makes Russo among what must be a handful at best of living New Jerseyans who ran on a ticket with John F. Kennedy.  Richard Nixon won Union Township by 643 votes in 1960.

In 1961, Russo ran again for township committee; this time, he and his running mate, James Conlon, won, changing the political complexion of the governing body to a 3-2 Republican majority.  It represented a huge setback for Bierutempfel, who had supported incumbent Robert Ostertag and his running mate, Fred Baummann, in an eight-candidate GOP primary.  Among the losing candidates was Harry King, a former township committeeman and Union County freeholder who had broken with Bierutempfel.   The other incumbent, Robert Lackey, did not seek re-election and instead became township treasurer.

Russo was the top vote-getter with 11,563, followed by Conlon with 11,199.  Ostertag, who had first been elected in 1946, received 10,843 votes, and Baumann finished with 10,189.

Russo’s victory came despite Union Township voting for the Republican gubernatorial candidate former U.S. Secretary of Labor James Mitchell, by 1,326 votes against the winner, Democrat Richard J. Hughes, a former Superior Court judge, 53%-47%.  Mitchell was from Elizabeth, which borders Union Township.

Republicans held two of their seats in 1962 when Biertuempfel and Samuel Rabkin, a former school board president, easily defeated their Democratic opponents, Alberts Simpson and John Zimmerman; they held their majority when Kiss was re-elected in 1963.

Russo and Conlon were re-elected in 1964, and Republicans held their three seats with wins in 1965 and 1966, when Kiss defeated Alfred Liotta, the father of actor Ray Liotta.  But 1967 was a wave election for Republicans across New Jersey; Conlon held on to his seat, but Republican John Yacoville narrowly defeated Russo.

Anxious to return to public office, Russo sat out 1968 rather than take on Biertuempfel.  Instead, Russo took on Kiss,

Russo sought a return to the township committee in 1969 in a rematch of his 1960 race against Kiss, who had been in office since 1946.   Russo beat Kiss by 702 votes, returning the township committee to three Republicans and two Democrats.

Union Township voters split their tickets in 1970, re-electing Yacoville and Conlon; Conlon won by about 1,000 votes.  Republicans held their majority in 1971 with Biertuempfel and Rabkin winning a landslide re-election against Democrats Philip Portnoy and Thomas Ehrhart.

Also in 1971, 29-year-old C. Louis Bassano (R-Union Township) was elected to the State Assembly in a district that included Linden and Rahway, defeating incumbent Henry Gavan (D-Linden) by nearly 2,600 votes.  Bassano’s election would trigger a fierce rivalry against Russo that would last two decades.

Despite Richard Nixon carrying Union Township by a wide margin, Russo easily defeated Republican Lucille Clauss for re-election in 1972.

Watergate and the death of Biertuempfel

Biertuempfel’s 34-year reign as mayor (and 44 years on the township committee) came to an end in April 1973 when he died in office after several years of health issues at age 78.

Less than seven months later, riding the Watergate landslide, Democrats won a 4-1 majority and control of the Union Township Committee.

Conlon and Zimmerman, who had run against Biertuempfel in 1962, easily won the two seats; they defeated Yacovelle and Edward Weber in landslides—in the special election to replace Biertuempfel, Democrat William Staton defeated Earl C. Henwood, a colorful GOP figure, by almost 2,000 votes, a 55%-45% win that was slightly closer than the other two seats.  Completing the sweep, Democrat Joseph Kmet ousted the incumbent tax collector, John Foley.

The wave election, which brought the GOP caucus in Trenton to ten Senate seats and fourteen seats in the Assembly, took down Bassano, who had emerged as a promising young legislator and in a new district that spanned from Hillside to Westfield, Union County Democratic Club President Joseph Garrubbo and Garwood Councilman John McCarthy ousted Bassano by about 5,000 votes.

Russo had been mentioned as a possible Assembly candidate in October when one of the candidates, former Assemblyman John J. Wilson (D-Westfield), dropped out of the race following a corruption indictment.  Russo said he wasn’t interested and backed Garrubbo instead.

Another victim of the Watergate landslide was State Sen. Frank X. McDermott (R-Westfield), a former Senate President and 1969 gubernatorial candidate.  Assemblyman Alexander Menza (D-Hillside), a former mayor, defeated McDermott by almost 8,000 votes, a 14-point margin.

When the Township Committee reorganized in January 1974, Russo was elected mayor – the first Democrat in over 60 years.

Immediately, Russo made moves to challenge freshman Rep. Matthew Rinaldo (D-Union); he believed the Watergate scandal might extend to a national wave election in 1974.  Instead, Democrats decided to back Adam Levin, a 25-year-old University of Michigan law student and son of a wealthy real estate developer who seemed willing to fund his son’s campaign.   Despite a tide that gave Democrats a gain of 48 House seats – four of them in New Jersey – Rinaldo was re-elected with 65%.

Despite the anti-Republican sentiment in 1974 – facing impeachment, Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency in August – Republicans were able to hold on to two township committee seats in Union Township when Bassano and Dr. Edward Goodkin unseated Staton and his running mate, Portnoy.  Bassano was the top vote-getter, running about 1,000 votes ahead of Goodkin, who defeated Portnoy by roughly 500 votes; Staton, the interim incumbent, finished fourth, about 700 votes behind Portnoy.  That reduced the Democratic majority to 3-2.

Bassano’s comeback in Union Township, which made him a Russo colleague for three years, set the stage for his return to Trenton.

After the mayoralty rotating to Conlon, Russo ran for re-election in 1975 and won a 66%-34% landslide over former Municipal Court Judge George Lombardi.  He carried every election district in Union Township, and his coattails helped Mary Liotta, the mother of actor Ray Liotta, win election as township clerk.  Russo’s victory allowed Democrats to remain in control of the township committee.

That year, Bassano teamed up with McDermott to run for the State Assembly; the two flipped the district: McDermott received 29,162, with Bassano at 28,212; Garrubbo lost his seat after one term with 26,956 votes, with Westfield attorney Brian Fahey coming in fourth with 25,253. McCarthy changed his mind about seeking re-election in August, and the 34-year-old Fahey replaced him on the ticket.  (For those who want details: Fahey edged out Hillside Board of Health President June Fischer, Roselle Park Mayor Eugene Carmody, Hillside Mayor Vincent Baldassano, and Cranford Township Committeeman Daniel Mason.)

The district, then the 20th, included Cranford, Garwood, Hillside, Roselle, Roselle Park, Union, and Westfield.

In 1976, Conlon won re-election to his township committee seat, but Republican Peter Leonardis flipped Zimmerman’s open seat by edging out Democrat Stephen Manca by about 500 votes; Conlon ran over 1,200 votes in front of the other Republican, Herb Orbann.  That gave Republicans a 3-2 majority, with Goodkin becoming mayor in January 1977.

While Bassano ran for Union Township Committeeman to set up his return to the Assembly – and to keep Republicans in the game locally – McDermott ran for the Assembly to set up a Senate comeback and possibly another run for governor.  McDermott’s chances appeared to increase in July 1976 when Menza was one of 21 Democrats who voted to establish a state income tax.

But Menza, once called the voice of New Jersey’s second-class citizens by Star-Ledger columnist Herb Jaffe, announced in early 1977 that he would not seek re-election.  He voiced frustration with Trenton and was instead planning to challenge Clifford P. Case, a four-term Republican, for the U.S. Senate in 1978.

Anthony Mollozzi, a Union County freeholder from Hillside, had been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate, but an ethics issue where he threatened political influence to help a law client moved Russo to the top of the list of Democratic candidates to replace Menza.

Russo and McDermott both opposed the income tax.  Russo hammered McDermott for missing over 200 votes in the Assembly that year, and outcampaigned his Republican opponent.

With Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne coming back from an expected defeat to win a second term. Russo defeated McDermott by 990 votes, 51%-49%, 30,057 to 29,067.

But Bassano and his running mate, Chuck Hardwick, a Pfizer executive from Westfield (and a future Assembly Speaker and gubernatorial candidate), easily held on to the two Assembly seats.  Bassano finished first with 31,819, followed by Hardwick at 29,540.  They defeated Baldassano (26,327) and Mason (25,704).

In Union Township, Democrats flipped the two Republican seats on the township committee: Rev. E. James Roberts and school board member Michael Bono ousted Goodkin and Weber, who gave up his Union County freeholder seat to run. Bono edged out Weber by about 250 votes, while Roberts ran about 1,000 votes ahead of Goodkin.  Bassano did not run again.

That returned control of the governing body to the Democrats, with Conlon as mayor.

In a stunning upset, Russo, in his first year as a senator, lost his bid for re-election to the Union Township Committee in 1978 by a wide margin; Weber, making his third run, ousted Russo by 1,585 votes, 55%-45%.  Another Republican, Nancy Derr, unseated Municipal Clerk Mary Liotta by 354 votes.  Edward Slomkowski, a police officer from Union Township, won a freeholder seat.

Democrats held their 3-2 majority in 1979 when Conlon and Leonardis easily won re-election over a Republican, George Petkov, and a Democrat, Anthony Terrezza.

In the same election, Bassano (29,672) and Hardwick (28,707) were re-elected in a landslide against Democrats Jonathan Bell, a party-switching Hillside Township Committeeman (17,823), and William Cambria (17,359), a lawyer from Westfield.

Republicans took control of the Union Township Committee in 1980 with Peter Genova unseating Roberts by 106 votes; Bono was re-elected.

The Bassano Wars

Legislative redistricting in 1981 added Kenilworth and Springfield to Russo/Bassano district, with the 20th now becoming the 21st.  Russo had wanted to drop Westfield from the district, but DiFrancesco, one of the GOP members of the mapmaking commission, was able to stop that.

The 1981 version of the 21st district, which would be solidly Democratic now, was perhaps the most politically competitive in the state.  It included two then-Republican strongholds, Westfield and Cranford; the swing towns of Garwood and Roselle Park, and Union Township; Democratic-leaning Hillside, Kenilworth, and Springfield; and Roselle, which was solidly Democratic.

Shortly after the final map was approved, Bassano entered the race to challenge Russo for the Senate seat.  Bassano was widely viewed as the underdog.

The race between the two became deeply personal.

Bassano portrayed Russo as an ineffective legislator who sponsored bills for his own benefit.  His campaign ran a full-page newspaper advertisement labeling Russo a legislative lightweight. He said just seven of Russo’s bills were passed by the legislature, and Byrne had vetoed four of them.  Russo defended his record by emphasizing his perfect attendance and the large number of bills he had pending.

Russo had sponsored a law allowing school districts to lease unused school buildings or portions of buildings to municipalities, other school districts and public agencies for nominal fees, and one that helped Union Township move its senior-citizen program from an inaccessible municipal basement into an underused wing of a school with a cafeteria, auditorium and barrier-free facilities.

They also clashed over raising New Jersey’s legal drinking age from 19 to 21.  Bassano had voted to lower the age in 1978 but later reversed his position after concluding the policy had failed.  Russo, who supported restoring the drinking age to 21, characterized Bassano’s reversal as political opportunism.

Bassano criticized one Russo-sponsored measure allowing off-duty corrections officers to carry firearms, arguing that it had been poorly conceived and opposed by the state sheriffs’ association. Russo defended the legislation by pointing to the recent arrest of Weather Underground fugitive Kathy Boudin by an off-duty corrections officer.

Bassano defeated Russo by 2,735 votes, 36,957 to 34,252 (52%-48%), winning five of the nine municipalities in the 21st district.

He carried Cranford by about 1,400 votes (57%-43%); Roselle and Roselle Park each by around 300 (53.5% to 46.5%); Springfield by roughly 400 (53%-47%); and Westfield by nearly 4,400 (69%-31%).   Russo won Garwood by just 25 votes (51%-49%), Hillside by 750 (56%-44%), Kenilworth by about 200 (53%-47%), and Union Township by a little more than 2,000 (55%-45%).

In the Assembly race, Hardwick and former Cranford Mayor Edward Gill crushed their Democratic rivals, Bell and Mollozzi; Hardwick won by over 10,000 votes and Gill by nearly 7,000.

But in Union Township, Russo’s win helped Roberts reclaim a township committee seat when he toppled Weber.   Still, Durr was re-elected to the clerk’s post over Delores Danz.

Russo sought a comeback for a third non-consecutive stint on the township committee in 1982 – a race he thought would set up a return to the Senate, the way Bassano did in 1974.  Leonardis decided not to run again, and Republicans ran Henwood and David Issenman, a young deputy county counsel and rising star in local politics.

Conlon finished first with 11,625 votes, and Russo was close behind with 11,580.  An independent Maurice Fenichel, a social worker and Teamsters union board member, finished third with 8,789, followed by Henwood (6,752) and Issenman (6,633).

In January 1983, Russo became the mayor, ending a lengthy stretch for Conlon.

Because this was a new map at the top of the decade, Bassano had to run again in two years, and Russo wanted a rematch.  First Russo had to get by Joanne Rajoppi, a former freeholder, Springfield mayor, and Assistant Secretary of State; she also wanted to take on Bassano.  Instead, she opted to take on two-term Union County Register of Deeds and Mortgages; that turned out to be the right move for her, since Rajoppi went on to hold that post for 13 years and the county clerk job for more than 30.

In the 1983 race, Bassano slammed Russo for holding two political jobs, mayor and county adjuster, while also running his own law firm.  He also criticized Russo for legislation he got passed as a senator that gave him tenure as the county adjuster.

Russo defended himself by saying he works seven days a week, that mayor was “night work,” and he claimed to have saved Union County hundreds of thousands of dollars as adjuster.  He promised not to run again for municipal office if he was returned to the Senate.

He hit Bassano for opposing rent control and a bailout of a program that made prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.  He also accused the Republican legislator of blocking the reappointment of Superior Court Judge John Callahan.   Russo accused Bassano of playing both sides on issues; Bassano labeled Russo as a master of deception and said he was distorting his record.

Bassano was re-elected by 565 votes, a 50.5% to 49.5% margin over Russo in 1983.

The Republican senator won Westfield by over 3,000 votes, 68%-32%, and Cranford by about 700 votes (55%-45%), and Garwood by 6 votes.  Russo won Union Township by roughly 1,500 votes, Roselle by around 1,200, Roselle Park by about 500, and Kenilworth by 165; Bassano secured re-election by holding Russo’s margin in Hillside to 41 and in Springfield to 69.

Genova was re-elected three years later as the top vote-getter in a split contest.  Genova received 8,614 votes, and Democrat Michael Bono won his third term with 8,206.   Another Democrat, Robert Vreeland, finished third with 7,943, followed by Republican Arthur Kramer with 7,786.

In 1984, Republican Diane Heelan ousted Roberts by about 600 votes, with two independents, Naomi Mirlorcca and Evelyn Johnson peeling off over 2,300 votes combined.

Union Township voters returned Russo to the township committee in 1985 with 9,546 votes despite Gov. Thomas Kean’s landslide re-election victory.  Conlon stepped down, and Roberts came back for a third stint; Republicans Al Santoro, Jr. (7,972) and John Nagy, Jr. (7,454) were unsuccessful.

After Assemblyman Edward Gill (R-Cranford) died on February 9, 1985, Republicans picked Genova to replace him in a March 26 special election to fill the vacant seat in the hugely competitive 21st legislative district.  Genova won with 62%.

Genova declined to seek re-election as a township committeeman in 1986, and Republicans held his seat and knocked out Bono.  Mark Bellotti (8,397) and Greg Muller (8,394) defeated Democrat Ronald Manzella (5,777); Bono finished fourth with 5,598 votes.

With a 3-2 Republican majority, Heelan replaced Russo and became the township’s first woman mayor in 1987.

Russo and Bassano faced off for a third consecutive time in 1987.  That summer, with state Democrats not committing to fund his campaign, Russo mulled dropping out.  Then, for a while in September, Russo had some reason for optimism.

Kean had put the full weight of his governorship behind a school takeover bill, a piece of New Jersey education legislation that let the state seize full control of school districts it judged to be persistently failing.  The Department of Education could effectively replace local control by abolishing the school board and installing state-appointed leadership, with a state-appointed superintendent assuming authority over the district’s budget and tax levy.

The Senate initially rejected Kean’s takeover plan, with seven Republican senators, including Bassano, voting against it.  A livid Kean ordered GOP State Chairman Frank Holman to stop funding the campaigns for Bassano and other Republicans who weren’t with him; the governor then left for a two-week trade mission to China and Japan.

Edward McGlynn, Kean’s chief of staff, told Hardwick, then the Assembly Speaker, that if Kean attends a Union County Republican fundraiser in October, he planned to announce his public opposition to Bassano’s re-election.  Kean eventually calmed down, and Bassano later backed a watered-down version of his original takeover proposal.

Russo attacked Bassano for taking PAC money, and pledged to donate his full Senate salary — $25,000 back then — to the American Cancer Society.   Bassano continued to smack Russo on the same issues he used successfully in 1981 and 1983.

Bassano won by a solid eight-point margin, 54%-46%, and a plurality of 4,007 votes. Perhaps most significantly, Bassano held Russo to nearly a tie in their hometown: Russo won Union by 52 votes, 50.2% to 49.8%.  Bassano won Cranford by about 1,384 votes (59.5% to 40.5%); Garwood by 64 (53%-47%), Kenilworth by 401 (58%-42%); Roselle Park by 340 (55%-45%); Springfield by 560 (56%-44%); and Westfield by 2,816 (67%-33%).  Russo won Hillside by 862 (59%-41%); and Roselle by 644 (56%-44%).

Hardwick and Genova easily defeated Fahey and Blitz to secure re-election to the Assembly. And a Union Township Democrat, Neil Cohen, was elected freeholder.

In 1989, when Democrat Jim Florio won the governorship by a wide margin, the 21st district became more competitive: Hardwick was re-elected after losing the GOP gubernatorial primary, and Cohen won the open Assembly seat to become the first Democrat to win since Russo’s Senate win twelve years earlier.

In 1991 redistricting, Bassano was placed in a district that was substantially more Republican, stretching from Roselle Park to Cedar Grove in Essex County.  He defeated Democrat Elly Manov, a former Livingston Zoning Board chair, in a massive 72% landslide.  (Manov is now a Republican State Committeewoman in Indian River County, Florida and a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.)

Bassano remained in the Senate until his retirement in 2001 and became a hugely consequential lawmaker during six years in the Assembly and twenty in the Senate. He was the author of the law that required lap-type seat belts on New Jersey school buses — legislation considered pioneering at the time — and a law requiring employees of state psychiatric hospitals to report patient abuse and professional misconduct.

He chaired the Senate Senior Citizens, Veterans’ Affairs and Human Services Committee and was regarded as one of the Legislature’s leading specialists in health and human-services policy.

Bassano, 84, told the New Jersey Globe that he and Russo now talk about their shared memories and said the two get together a couple of times a year.

“He was the toughest opponent I ever had.  He was Mr. Union,” Bassano said.  “If John Adams and Thomas Jefferson could eventually come together, certainly we can do that.”

And so it goes

Russo had a loss – and sort of a win – on election night 1987. In the Union Township Committee race, Democrat Jerry Petti defeated Heelan with 58% of the vote.

That gave the Democrats a 3-2 majority, and in January 1988, Russo again became the mayor of Union.  That fall, Russo (13,265) and Roberts (11,997) easily defeated two Republicans: Anthony DiGiovanni (9,560) and Carol Orbann (9,303).

In 1989, Bellotti (8,678) and Muller (8,464) won re-election against Democrat Joseph Florio (7,795). In 1990, Petti was re-elected by a 54%-31% margin over Republican Linda DiGiovanni, with Portnoy receiving 15% as an independent.

Russo and Roberts coasted to re-election in 1991, one of the most substantial Republican wave elections of the 20th century; they defeated Republicans Richard McMillan and Ronald Bordens.

Democrats expanded their majority in 1992; Muller was easily re-elected, but Bellotti’s open seat went to Democrat John Paragano.  Petti was re-elected in 1993, defeating Republican James Geron by a 2-1 margin.

In January 1994, Russo became the victim of a coup: his onetime close friend, Petti, secured the votes of Paragano and Muller, and ousted Russo for mayor by a 3-2 vote.

And in November 1994, Union Township voters ousted Russo completely.  Republicans Richard McMillan (8,316) and Michael Calleo (8,302) defeated Russo (6,463) and Roberts (6,178).   That gave Republicans a 3-2 majority; Muller became mayor in January as Russo left local government for the last time.

During his time on the township committee – 27 years in total, in three non-consecutive stints, including ten years as mayor – Russo created the township’s Senior Citizens Department.  He launched what was described as New Jersey’s first municipally operated senior-citizen bus service and helped develop a permanent senior center by converting unused space in a local school.  He also oversaw the expansion of municipal services as Union grew into a large suburban community.

Russo made preserving Union’s Revolutionary War and colonial heritage a priority.  He required commercial storefront improvements designed to maintain a colonial architectural character, installed Revolutionary War markers throughout the township, and helped raise money to acquire the historic Hannah Caldwell property, which became the headquarters of the Union Township Historical Society.

The township later named Anthony Russo Park in his honor.  His long record in municipal government also earned him induction into the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Elected Officials Hall of Fame and the Union Township Historical Society’s Hall of Honor.

Editor’s note: In full disclosure, the author has been an unabashed, enthusiastic Bassano enthusiast for 43 years, and managed Bassano’s 1983 re-election campaign against Russo.  Still, he extends his best wishes to the former senator on the centennial of his birth.