New Jersey Mayor Who Made Racist Remarks Caught Using Slurs, Again

Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso is not apologizing for calling a political rival an insult to people with intellectual disabilities at last month’s council meeting.

Bonaccorso made the disparaging remark at the June 20 township meeting after a Democratic council candidate addressed the all-Republican council during its public comment portion, according to a recording on Clark’s YouTube channel.

As the speaker walks away from the podium, Bonaccorso can be heard saying into a live microphone: “He’s f—king r—ard,” according to a recording.

This is not the first time Bonaccorso has been caught on camera hurling insults and it comes as the Republican mayor is running for a seventh term, despite the ongoing fallout from a racism scandal and criminal charges alleging he used his office to benefit his private landscaping business.

In 2020, the city paid a whistleblower more than $400,000 to try to cover up secret recordings in which Bonaccorso and police officials used racial epitaphs against Black people, including the n-word. That prompted an investigation by prosecutors that culminated in November, when the attorney general’s office released a report blasting Bonaccorso and other city officials for the cover-up.

John Greaves, the Democratic candidate for City Council targeted by Bonaccorso’s latest insult, said the comment shows Bonaccorso lacks the discipline and courtesy required for public office.

“He’s broken trust before, he’s apologized, but now we’re seeing a pattern again,” Greaves said, adding: “He’s shown time and time again that he can’t be trusted to handle things well.”

The video shows Greaves standing in front of the council at the public comment podium and asking questions about tax agreements and community development. As Greaves finished his speech and walked away, the camera panned to the board and Bonaccorso’s muttered comment could be heard, though he was off-camera at the time.

Greaves said he was unaware of Bonaccorso’s statement until he later viewed the video.

Two years ago, Bonaccorso faced intense criticism and calls for his resignation when NJ Advance Media revealed the existence of racist recordings that also included Police Chief Pedro Matos and Internal Affairs Sergeant Joseph Teston making racial slurs. In one of the recordings, Bonaccorso also derided women in law enforcement, calling them “f***ing disasters.”

After the recordings were released, Bonaccorso publicly apologized while insisting he was a changed man.

On Tuesday, Bonaccorso said he did not remember uttering the new insult, although he acknowledged being upset by the “ridiculous questions” Greaves asked.

“It wasn’t said out loud,” Bonaccorso said. “Was it a whisper or a statement? I don’t remember either.”

Bonaccorso downplayed the offensive language, saying he had long supported programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

“I don’t think it’s a major problem, and I don’t think it was done maliciously if it was done,” Bonaccorso said.

Michael Shulman, a Democrat running for mayor, said the new video shows Bonaccorso was not sincere when he publicly apologized in 2022.

“Is he going to apologize every six months when he says something that is completely heinous and crosses the line of what a mayor or a person should say?” Shulman asked.

“That kind of language directed at someone who has a child or a family member with special needs, that word is just as bad as any other word he said,” Shulman said.

Greaves also rebuked Clark’s board members, who supported Bonaccorso throughout the controversies.

“The council remains silent in all these situations,” Greaves said. “They see him continuing to act this way and they continue to say nothing.”

Council President Angel Albanese, who is seeking re-election, said Tuesday she had not heard the remark and had no comment on it.

Two other City Council members running on Bonaccorso’s ticket, Jimmy Minniti and Bill Smith, did not immediately respond to calls or emails seeking comment.

In November, the attorney general’s office accused Bonaccorso of using his city office to benefit his private landscaping business and falsifying permit applications for work done by his company. Authorities said they uncovered the allegations during their investigation into the racism scandal.

Authorities said the mayor “submitted false and fraudulent documents to nearly two dozen municipalities to facilitate his landscaping company’s improper removal of hundreds of underground storage tanks” dating back to 2017.

The mayor’s company, Bonaccorso & Son LLC, had contracts with other municipalities for landscaping work and the removal of underground tanks. The work related to the fraudulent permits “totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars,” prosecutors said.

Bonaccorso has denied any wrongdoing, with his lawyer calling the accusations “false and incorrect.”

This article will be updated as new information becomes available.

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Riley Yates can be contacted at [email protected].

Jackie Roman can be contacted at [email protected].