EDISON — While leaders of the township’s Democratic party have called a truce, the fallout from the feuding, according to one councilman, continues on.
The Edison Democratic Organization’s new chairman, Keith Hahn, and the party campaign chairman, Anthony Russomanno, recently announced an end to the conflict that followed Hahn’s election.
But the Democratic Councilman, Wayne Mascola, however, said the whole situation was the final straw for him with the party, and he has decided to run for council in November as a Republican.
The Democrats decided in March not to put Mascola on this year’s ticket. At the time, the councilman said he wasn’t selected because he had supported fellow Democratic Councilman Sudhanshu Prasad’s unsuccessful run against Democratic Mayor Thomas Lankey in 2013.
It wasn’t until after Hahn’s election, when Mascola said he had come to his decision.
“I decided to jump ship,” he said, while he added that he doesn’t believe the infighting is over.
The decision to switch parties was prompted primarily by Russomanno’s actions, Mascola said,. He also said that he has also taken an issue with Lankey’s choice of political allies. Mascola said he feels that Russomanno has misused the power that he has wielded within the party.
“The next time Anthony told the truth, would be the first time,” he said.
In a prepared statement, Russomanno expressed his disappointment over Mascola’s decision, but said he saw it more as a rejection of Hahn than himself.
“Wayne was understandably disappointed when the Edison Democratic Committee did not nominate him to run for re-election. But, I never expected Wayne to abandon the Democratic Party especially after Keith Hahn — who Wayne vigorously supported — became its chairman,” he said. “This is a blow to Keith, more than to our candidates.”
Mascola stated emphatically that his choice has nothing to do with Hahn.
“I wish him all the best,” he said, adding that he also talked to Prasad about his decision. “He knows about it, and he’s not upset with me.”
Mascola will replace Jack Rothstein on the ticket as he runs alongside Guy Gaspari, A.J. Nayee and Michael Orlowski. He said his views wouldn’t change fundamentally on the issues facing Edison, despite his party affiliation.
“I’m still going to vote the same way I’ve always voted,” he said. “All we do is basically set the tax rates and [handle] quality-oflife issues.”
As Mascola pondered switching parties — something he said that has been done frequently in Edison — the councilman said he had a colleague reach out to the Republicans to gauge their interest in having him on their ticket. The Republicans have been receptive, Mascola said, and he also reported that his experience so far has been positive.
Mascola said, however, that he doesn’t have any illusions that the Republican organizational setup will be tremendously different from that of the Democratic setup. And he also said that if his affiliation as a Republican doesn’t work out, he’ll go back to what he was in the beginning — an independent.
“I have a love-hate relationship with politics,” he said.
In his statement, Russomanno intimated that his party wouldn’t have issues running against someone who was one of their own until a couple of weeks ago.
“Wayne’s departure creates the kind of unnecessary chaos that Keith and I have worked to overcome,” he said. “I am confident that the Republican party’s decision to run Wayne as one of their candidates will have little impact on our campaign to get Rob Karabinchak, Ajay Patil, Mike Lombardi and Len Sendelsky elected this November.”
Mascola also said it won’t be hard to campaign against his former allies. He said he was never in the inner circle of the party anyway and claimed that residents often knew about things before he did.
“I always felt I was in a fishbowl by myself anyway,” he said.