With the May 12 municipal election right around the corner, North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco’s team is again taking aim at Larry Wainstein, catching a board of education candidate endorsed by Wainstein on video saying that convicted felon Joe Mocco has “consulting value” and has been “helpful” to the campaign.
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-zxNsGWtFM[/fve]
In footage captured by members of Vision Media, the public relations firm used by Sacco, last month following a press conference revealing Jose Canonico’s criminal past, Canonico answered questions from the crowd regarding whether or not former township clerk Joe Mocco still supported his candidacy.
Mocco, who worked in township hall from 1971 until 1979, was among eight arrested for illegally dumping in North Bergen’s Meadowlands (h/t New York Times). After serving jail time, the NJ State Parole Board placed sanctions on Mocco to prevent him from getting involved in elections.
“I’ll tell you about Joe Mocco,” Canonico said outside of North Bergen High School. “He made this monster, he made this administration, so there’s some consulting value in Joe Mocco.”
“He has helped us a lot, he’s told us a lot of things [that] were going on, but have no mind, he’s not part of the administration.”
Ever since Wainstein announced his candidacy in February, Sacco and his allies have been insistent that Joe Mocco has been “running” his campaign, though Wainstein has maintained that is not the case.
Julio Marenco, the current board of education president who is running for commissioner on Sacco’s ticket, slammed the whole Wainstein team, for associating with Mocco.
“There is nothing Larry Wainstein won’t lie about — where he lives, what his plans are for North Bergen, what violations his businesses have committed — but denying Joe Mocco is running his campaign is the biggest whopper of all,” Marenco said in a statement.
“Luckily for us, Jose Canonico went off message and exposed the truth, that Joe Mocco is running the Wainstein campaign. North Bergen voters deserve to know that Wainstein’s political brain is none other than one of the worst political crooks in Hudson County history.”
A Wainstein spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.
