BOE Election Charges Dismissed

Correction appended at 10:26 pm. 

The Essex County Board of Elections last night found no wrongdoing  in the re-election of William Freda and Joseph Longo to the Belleville Board of Education April 27.

Nine separate complaints were lodged by Ralph Vellon, a challenger in the election who lost to the incumbents Freda and Longo, including allegations of bias and inappropriate conduct by a longtime poll worker, Florence Pentol.* 

The proceeding, held at the Hall of Records in Newark, took an unusual turn last night and grew heated at times as Vellon leveled veiled accusations against the board itself. Bethany O’Toole, the chair of the four-member board, repeatedly admonished Vellon, stating she took some of his complaints “personally” and angrily challenging Vellon. Other board members were more restrained but ultimately agreed with O’Toole that Vellon’s complaints were without merit.  

Longo, Pentol and Richard Yanuzzi -- who worked on Longo and Freda’s campaign and was also mentioned by name in Vellon’s complaint -- arrived at the hearing at 4:30 pm, the start time announced in a newspaper public notice. Vellon was not present at the beginning of the hearing.

Instead, Vellon arrived at 5 pm, after the hearing had closed and the board had dismissed Vellon’s complaints. Minutes earlier, O’Toole had even cited Vellon’s absence as a reason to rule against him, stating that “he could not even be bothered to be here” to substantiate his claims in person.

Vellon, however, protested, stating he had been told by the clerk of the board that the hearing would begin at 5 pm. Complainants are not formally notified directly when hearings take place, O’Toole later told a reporter. Instead, per sunshine law requirements, board meetings are advertised in local newspapers, she said.

The board, however,  relented and re-opened Vellon’s hearing after Pentol, Yanuzzi and Longo had left.

“With the time mix-up we have no problem giving you a second chance,” board member Michael Carson said to Vellon.

Before Vellon’s arrival, however, the board had quickly determined that several of Vellon’s complaints did not fall under its jurisdiction, including charges that Belleville police officers were seen removing Vellon campaign posters on Election Day.

“We’re only concerned with what happens in [the polling place],” O’Toole said at one point. “Everything else is outside our purview.”

The board considered other complaints but dismissed them after hearing testimony from Yanuzzi and Pentol, including a charge that Pentol was hostile to Vellon when he appeared at Pentol’s polling place, Fewsmith Presbyterian Church on Little Street. On Election Day Vellon asked county election officials to remove Pentol “but this was not done,” Vellon said in his complaint. Pentol was aligned with Freda and Longo, Vellon also alleged.

Yanuzzi rebutted the allegation by citing letters written on Pentol’s behalf by Belleville officials, including a letter written by Marie Strumolo Burke, a Belleville councilwoman who donated to Vellon’s campaign.

“In my opinion she is not biased against any candidate,” said Yanuzzi, quoting from the letter.

“I follow the law,” said Pentol, who has worked Belleville elections since the mid-1980s. No complaint had ever before been filed against Pentol, Linda von Nessi, the election board’s clerk, also noted.

“This is the first time someone has accused me of something like this,” Pentol later said. "I’ve always worked very well with the poll workers.”

Yanuzzi also refuted charges that he had inappropriate contact with poll workers. “I was an accredited challenger” and was therefore not barred from speaking with poll workers, Yanuzzi said. Only direct contact between campaign workers and voters inside a polling place is forbidden, von Nessi later said.

Vellon had also charged that one of his own campaign workers was improperly banned from a polling place by Essex County sheriff’s officers. But Yanuzzi said this was because the worker was handing out Vellon literature within 100 feet of the polling station, “electioneering” prohibited by law.

“He was handing out palm cards,” Yanuzzi said of the worker. “That’s why he was removed.”

Later, when Vellon was given the chance to speak, board members addressed other complaints, including Vellon’s contention that a change in a district polling place to Town Hall from a Washington Avenue church had the effect of suppressing voter turnout. “No Parking” signs were also affixed to several spaces that night, which prompted Vellon to call county election officials.

Von Nessi, the board clerk, said town hall employees told her they had put up the signs in order to reserve spaces for voters. But von Nessi advised the town workers to remove the signs, which Vellon said was not done. A reporter at Town Hall that night did see several signs still up as the polls closed. Voter turnout at Town Hall was much lower than usual, even though an extra district was voting there, a poll worker told a reporter on election night.

For the most part, however, Vellon failed to sway the board, which stuck by its earlier ruling. Board members repeatedly told Vellon that at least some of his complaints should be reviewed by other agencies, including the state Attorney General and the Essex County Superintendent of Elections, a different office that’s empowered to conduct investigations. At other times Vellon was told his complaints were too vague to be addressed.

“We’re not inclined to go on a fishing trip with this,” board member Lee Fisher said.

Board members also said much of what Vellon testified about had already been considered when the board first reviewed his written complaint.

As Vellon’s lengthy testimony continued, O’Toole, the board chair,  betrayed outright exasperation with Vellon,  at one point advising him to “choose his words carefully” and at another point stating she wanted to wrap the proceedings up because “I’d like to eat dinner.”   

*Correction: Pentol's name was originally misspelled.