BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — By tomorrow night, the mayor’s office inside Borough Hall could have a new occupant.
The Borough Council is expected to choose one of the three candidates nominated earlier this month by the local Democratic organization to fill the unexpired term of former Mayor Paul Zambrano during a special public meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow inside Borough Hall.
At that time, the five-member, Republican-controlled council is set to vote on a successor to Zambrano, who resigned from the mayor’s office on March 4 in the wake of his arrest late last month on federal charges of extortion.
The three candidates, whose names were submitted to the council earlier this month by the West Long Branch Democratic Committee are John Paolantonio Jr., who also chairs that organization; Marie Sorrentino, vice-chairman of the same party; and Thomas Manzo.
Whichever one of the three candidates, if any, wins the majority of the council vote, will then be sworn in during tomorrow night’s public meeting.
“Whatever decision the council makes will be acted upon at that time,” council President Richard Cooper said.
Cooper would not comment on whether or not there was a clear front-runner among the three candidates.
The new mayor is expected to remain in office until a special election is held this November in accordance with state statutes.
The winner of that election will then be free to run for the office again in 2006. Zambrano’s current term was to expire at the end of next year.
Zambrano himself was first named mayor in late 1996 to fill the unexpired term of the late Democratic mayor Frank “Clint” Sorrentino, who passed away while still in office.
Marie Sorrentino is the widow of the deceased mayor.
Last Thursday night, the three candidates were interviewed by current council members during a closed session of the governing body.
Under state law, the council has until Monday, which is 30 days after the date of Zambrano’s resignation letter to borough officials, to choose a new mayor to fill out the unexpired term.
However, the council still has more work to do as it moves toward selecting a new Democratic colleague to replace former Councilman Joseph DeLisa, whose resignation was received on March 15, after he, like Zambrano, was arrested and charged by federal authorities on one charge of extortion.
Both Democratic officials remain free on $50,000 bail following their appearances before a federal judge in Newark on Feb. 22, the same day they, along with nine other former or current public officials from throughout Monmouth County, were arrested in an FBI corruption sting.
The borough’s Democratic organization was to submit the names of three candidates from within its membership to take over DeLisa’s current unexpired term to Borough Clerk Lori Cole by yesterday, 15 days after the ex-councilman’s resignation letter was received in the municipal offices.
DeLisa’s current four-year term began on Jan. 1, 2004.
By April 14, the council is to choose one of the three Democratic candidates to succeed DeLisa, as mandated by state law.
As with the mayor’s seat, the winner of that contest would then be eligible to run in a special election in November to fill out the balance of DeLisa’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2007.
Zambrano and DeLisa are accused of accepting a total of $12,500 and $3,000, respectively, in late 2003 from an Ocean Township-based demolition contractor who was actually a cooperating witness for the FBI during its long-term investigation into alleged corruption among county officials.
The FBI’s cooperating witness, identified as Robert “Duke” Steffer of Vero Beach, Fla., appeared to be seeking work with the borough at the time he met with Zambrano and DeLisa on various occasions both locally and in Atlantic City.
The two men were audio and videotaped by federal investigators discussing a way to circumvent the usual bidding process to award Steffer’s firm a public contract to raze the former borough hall, according to a criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
To date, Zambrano and DeLisa are the only two elected officials nabbed in the FBI sting to step down altogether from their offices. Hazlet Township Committeeman Paul Coughlin, resigned from his post as that township’s Republican mayor earlier this month, but retains his seat on the governing body.