Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso admitted Friday to criminal charges and agreed to forfeit his office during a plea hearing just days after being sworn in for another term.
Bonaccorso pleaded guilty to using township resources to benefit his private gardening business and to forging signatures on permit applications for work his company performed.
Bonaccorso did so under a deal that calls for him to receive three years of probation when Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh sentences him on Feb. 7.
Bonaccorso, a Republican, has been the face of Clark for a quarter-century, the longest-serving mayor in the history of the GOP stronghold. In November, township voters awarded him a seventh term, despite the public allegations of corruption and a racism scandal in which he was caught using the n-word and grossly disparaging women in law enforcement.
His guilty plea calls for him to forfeit that office, a stipulation that took effect immediately. He is also barred from holding public office or employment in the future.
Bonaccorso entered his plea at the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. Immediately after the hearing, his defense attorney, Robert Stahl, released a statement saying Bonaccorso’s decision came after he was recently diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm that will require surgery.
“After a long and difficult period of reflection and discussion with his family and friends, Mayor Bonaccorso decided that the best way forward for his health, his family and the city he so dearly loves and has devoted more than two decades to, was to resolve this matter in the form of an appeal,” the statement said.
Stahl said the township services Bonaccorso illegally took amounted to less than $200, and said staff would occasionally fax or email documents on behalf of his company.
“Mayor Bonaccorso has dedicated decades to public service,” the statement said. “He was a consummate mayor, relentlessly advocating for his community and its residents.”
Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso pleaded guilty to using township resources to benefit his private gardening business and to forging signatures on permit applications for work his company performed.Ed Murray| For NJ Advance Media
Bonaccorso has faced a barrage of criticism since 2022, then It was revealed by NJ Advance Media the township had paid a $400,000 hist-money settlement to a whistleblower who secretly recorded Bonaccorso, Police Chief Pedro Matos and internal affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston grossly offends black people. Bonaccorso also called female police officers “f——disasters.”
In November 2023, Attorney General Matthew Platkin his office said “Seriously considered” filing charges against township officials in the cover-up, but concluded they were without merit. Platkin did so when he attacked the 2020 settlement as a misuse of public resources to cover up wrongdoing.
At the same time, Platkin announced the unrelated corruption charges against Bonaccorso. The accused him of using his council office to benefit his private gardening business and falsifying permit applications for work his company carried out.
In a statement Friday, Platkin said the guilty plea “ends a long and sad betrayal of society by someone who had been in a position of power and trust for a long time.”
“Anyone who betrays the public trust by putting their own interests ahead of their duty as a public servant to the people of New Jersey will be held accountable,” Platkin said. “Let me be clear: I will never stop rooting out corruption in New Jersey, no matter how powerful the perpetrators may be.”
Official misconduct, the most serious offense Bonaccorso faced, carried a possible sentence of five to ten years in prison. It was dropped as part of the settlement.
The charges alleged that Bonaccorso stored records for his company in his mayoral office and used state resources — including computers, faxes and even township employees — “for the sole purpose of operating his private enterprise.”
Authorities also accused Bonaccorso of improperly removing hundreds of underground oil tanks in nearly two dozen communities, saying he and his company lacked licenses to do the environmentally sensitive work.
Prosecutors said that to get around that, Bonaccorso forged an engineer’s signature on removal applications and falsely represented that the person would be present. But in reality, authorities said, “the engineer neither supervised nor was in any way involved in these projects.”
The fraudulent jobs “totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars” since 2017, prosecutors estimated.
With the vacancy, Council President Angel Albanese becomes acting mayor until a successor is named.
Clark’s all-Republican City Council will choose that replacement. Under state law, the board will do so from a list of three names that the local Republican Party must draw up within 15 days of Bonaccorsos’ ouster.
The appointment will last only through 2025. In November, voters will have their say again, when a special election will be held for the three years remaining on Bonaccorso’s term.
Bonaccorso, 64, had criticized the criminal case, dismissing the charges as “rubbish” and “another weapon against a MAGA Republican.” Despite the uncertainty, he sought re-election and won 69% of the vote.
On January 1, Bonaccorso was sworn into his new mandate. At the City Hall ceremony, he did not directly refer to the charges or the prospect that they would force him out of office. But his statements still struck a powerful note.
Bonaccorso fought back tears that day as he spoke of his family’s support. He ticked off a list of accomplishments during his long tenure. He praised his allies on the city council who steadfastly supported him through the controversies.
“I took a lot of flak over the last few years, and they were right with me and stood behind me because we know each other,” Bonaccorso said. “We know the integrity, the effort and the love for this community that we have.”
Council members echoed his sentiments during the reorganization meeting.
“The first 25 years of this community’s 21st century is Bonaccorso,” said longtime Councilman Brian Toal, adding that the mayor’s legacy will live on. “Sal, you did a good job, is what I’m trying to say.”
During the campaign, Bonaccorso’s Democratic opponent, Michael Shulman, questioned whether he planned to accept a deal after the election. Shulman said voters had a right to know if Bonaccorso would have to resign just after being granted another four years in office.
But Shulman said he will not run to fill Bonaccorso’s vacant term, citing the time commitment of another campaign and family and professional commitments. He declined comment after the hearing.
At the same time, the racism scandal continues to reverberate in the township five years after the settlement with whistleblower Antonio Manata.
Manata, a former police lieutenant, has sued Clarkaccused officials retaliated against him afterward, forcing him to sell his house and move out of town. Clark has filed a counterclaim to recover the money Manata received, claiming he violated the confidentiality provisions of the agreement.
Matos and Teston is also true Clark, tries to block the township from firing them. They and a third Clark official have been on paid leave since July 2020 amid the long-delayed investigation by prosecutors, at a cost to local taxpayers of more than $2 million in wages by the end of September.
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Riley Yates can be reached at [email protected].
