OCTOBER 23, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY ALFRED P. DOBLIN
THE RECORD
THERE MUST be something in the soil, some remnant of the days of celery farms that affects politics in the 38th Legislative District, making state Assembly races toxic. In 2009, Democrats running for the Assembly in the 38th went ugly. This year, the Assembly race is ugly in so many ways it may redefine ugly.
Republican challengers Mark DiPisa and Anthony Cappola were hoping to unseat Democratic incumbents Tim Eustace and Joseph Lagana . The 38th is considered one of only a few competitive districts in New Jersey where neither Republicans nor Democrats have a gerrymandered advantage.
Things started going south when it became common knowledge that Cappola had written a book called “Outrageous” a decade ago. Cappola calls the book raunchy. That is not a fair description. Even calling it a book is a stretch. “Outrageous” is a badly spelled rant against almost every form of humanity.
Cappola says that he regrets the book and that it is not who he is today. He also claims his core campaign team knew all about the book before he became an official candidate. Meeting with The Record’s editorial board Tuesday, Cappola said his then-running mate knew about the book and its general content. He also said Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, the ranking Republican in the Assembly, knew about it as well. According to Cappola, Bergen County Republican Organization Chairman Bob Yudin was not informed at all.
Once the book and its contents became public knowledge, there was an outcry for Cappola to drop out of the race. Cappola says he called DiPisa, who almost hung up on him in disgust. DiPisa has a different recollection of events. He says that he never knew about the book and that he called Cappola and said either Cappola drops out of the race or he would.
To make this long story longer, there was a legal effort to replace Cappola on the ballot. Bramnick determined the costs of reprinting and resending already mailed ballots could be as high as $200,000 and there was no money for such an effort in one legislative district.
https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/ethical-bar-drops-lower-in-the-38th-district-1.1439556
