Following his ninth swearing-in ceremony in 30 years, North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco reflected on the political landscape during the first time he was elected to office, the changes he’s seen in the township since 1985 and what he thinks of adversary Larry Wainstein saying he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.Â
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“I was beaten in an election in 1983 and got suspended without pay, from my principal’s job,” Sacco told Hudson County View. “I knew I would get back, but they put me out of work for about eight months.”
Back then, Sacco was leading the charge against Mayor Anthony DiVincent. Although he came up short during the 1983 election, DiVincent had to quickly defend his seat again in 1985 after being recalled – a feat rarely achieved in modern-day political battles.
“If they possibly would’ve shaken my hand after the election, let bygones be bygones, I wouldn’t have had the heart and desire to run after them. But what they said to me is that ‘if you stop how, we’ll forgive everything that we had, put it in the past.’ I slammed the door on them.”
“Once they went after me like that, to hurt me and my family, it was going to be until the end between me and them, and we won the election.”
Sacco also spoke about some of the demographic changes the township has experienced in the past three decades, as well as what he thinks about going head-to-head with Wainstein one more time.
