BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
West Long Branch
WEST LONG BRANCH –– If the Borough Council members chose a successor to recently resigned Democratic Councilman Joseph DeLisa, as they were expected to do at a special meeting last night, all of the chairs on the governing body’s dais will be filled for the first time in over a month.
From a field of three nominees offered by the West Long Branch Democratic Organization, the Republican-led council was set to vote on a replacement for DeLisa, who stepped down from office on March 15, three weeks after his Feb. 22 arrest by FBI agents on federal charges of corruption. DeLisa was one of two Democrats on the six-member council.
Last night’s special meeting was scheduled for 5 p.m. at borough hall.
By a majority vote, the remaining council members were expected to select one of three candidates: Thomas Manzo, a recently retired lieutenant of administration with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office; Planning Board member Tanis E. Deitch; or borough resident Jeffrey Resnikoff.
The candidate selected is sworn in immediately after the council vote.
Under existing New Jersey laws, the replacement council member has the option to run for office in a special election for the seat scheduled concurrently with November’s general election.
The winner of that election is then expected to serve the balance of DeLisa’s current term, which expires Dec. 31, 2007.
By selecting and seating DeLisa’s successor by last night, the council will have complied with state laws requiring a governing body to fill a vacated office within 30 days of an elected official’s death, resignation or other unforeseen circumstance that opens up the position.
In the case of DeLisa, the council had until today’s date to fill his seat in accordance with state law.
One of DeLisa’s prospective successors, Manzo, was most recently nominated to fill the office vacated by former Democratic Mayor Paul Zambrano, who resigned on March 4, also following his Feb. 22 arrest on federal charges of corruption.
However, local Democratic Organization Chairman John Paolantonio, owner of a Wall Street service station, was unanimously chosen by the council at an April 1 special meeting over Manzo and Marie Sorrentino, vice chairwoman of the borough’s Democratic Party.
Paolantonio is expected to remain in office until after a special election for the mayor’s post, also scheduled to coincide with November’s general election.
So far, Paolantonio has stated that he has not decided if he will run in the special election for the balance of Zambrano’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2006.
Both Zambrano and DeLisa are accused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of accepting bribes of $12,500 and $3,000, respectively, from an Ocean Township-based demolition contractor, who was supposedly seeking borough contracts, but was actually a witness cooperating with the FBI.
The two men remain free on $50,000 bail each after they were rounded up by FBI agents in the surprise, early-morning sting operation, along with nine other former and present public officials from throughout Monmouth County. Those arrests were the culmination of Operation Bid Rig, an ongoing federal probe into corrupt practices by government officials serving in municipal and county governments.