By John Soltes / Editor in Chief

NORTH ARLINGTON (Aug. 5, 2010) — Deputy Bergen County Clerk Joyce SanFilippo wrote a two-page letter to North Arlington Mayor Peter Massa and the local governing body Wednesday, July 7, outlining a recent incident in the clerk’s office involving Nicholas Antonicello, a well-known Democrat in the borough, and his “unacceptable behavior.”

The letter, which is on official letterhead and was obtained by The Leader, describes an alleged incident in which Antonicello entered the Election Division of the Bergen County Clerk’s Office in Hackensack on June 29. Antonicello, treasurer of Massa’s reelection campaign, reportedly was in the office to file the mayor’s required financial report and disclosure for the upcoming electoral contest.

“Mr. Antonicello entered into (the) Election Division and instead of waiting to be acknowledged by one of the employees in that office, he immediately berated the Election Division supervisor, in a loud voice, for being on the phone — incidentally not on a personal call but on another election matter,” the letter reads. “When she told him she would be right with him, his loud and obnoxious reply was to tell her to get off the phone.”

According to the letter, another employee then approached Antonicello, asking him if he needed help. Antonicello allegedly asked this second employee where to “get certain forms for voter registration.” The reply was to head to the superintendent of elections office in room 380. “He then asked her about a different form, which she told him could be acquired also in room 380,” the letter continues.

Antonicello then apparently remarked “nastily” that “you already told me that.” The employee tried to explain that he had asked her two different questions but the answer was the same for both.

“He then made the unbelievably rude comment to her saying, ‘Why don’t you get that puss off your face,’ ” the letter reads. “She wisely ignored him and returned to her desk markedly upset by his behavior. He then left the office slamming the glass door as he went.”

The letter from the clerk’s office states that the employees “are not here to be abused by Mr. Antonicello or anyone else when he is representing you (Massa) on your personal political business.”

Finishing the letter was the following statement: “Please inform Mr. Antonicello that when and if he might return to any part of the Bergen County Clerk’s Office in the future to conduct his personal business, your personal business or on behalf of the Borough of North Arlington, should he display anything less than gentlemanly and appropriate behavior, security will be called, he will be escorted out of the building and with further actions taken.”

Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney was cc’d on the letter.

Antonicello, who is a volunteer member of the North Arlington zoning board, told The Leader he never received the letter and never spoke to SanFilippo. “I don’t know who she is,” he said.

North Arlington Borough Administrator Terence Wall wrote to the clerk’s office, stating that the borough is in receipt of the complaint and “please be advised that Mr. Antonicello is not an employee of the borough and in no way was representing the municipality in his deliverance of said documentation.”

Massa said he plans to meet with Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, a candidate this year for county executive, to talk with her about SanFilippo’s “inappropriate” letter.

“The correspondence was overtly partisan and written with the expressed intent of targeting myself and a fellow Democrat,” Massa said. “I realize the author is a resident of the borough and an active supporter of my Republican opponents. That doesn’t give this individual the privilege to use her position as a sounding board for manufactured political rhetoric at my expense. These kinds of actions diminish the transparency and objectivity of an office designed to be above such foolishness. ... I’m calling upon (Donovan) to repudiate such politics on the job.”

SanFilippo, whose party affiliation could not be verified, said “the letter speaks for itself.”

Massa objected to the letter’s assertion that Antonicello is a borough employee, plus the mayor said the attacks against this well-known Democrat have become “personal, excessive and ugly.” Massa questioned why SanFilippo’s response came a week after the incident, and why Antonicello did not receive a copy.

The documents that Antonicello reportedly filed on Massa’s behalf show that the mayor raised more than $16,500 for the recent primary campaign, and had expenditures of nearly $9,000. This, according to a 20-day post-election report filed the same day of the alleged incident in the clerk’s office. Similar documents for Massa’s challenger in the upcoming mayoral contest, Republican Gary Burns, were not available.

Antonicello is a controversial figure in North Arlington. He was part of a recent public dispute involving his backyard fence, which was allegedly built too high and eventually torched in an apparent act of arson. In a letter to the editor after the fence incident, Antonicello wrote: “The issue of the height of the fence quite frankly has become politicized by individuals who oppose me in my position as local Democratic Party leader. For the record, it should be noted that the complaint filed was by the son of a former Republican mayor. The zoning officer is also an active Republican and hardly a friend to any Democrat. It is politics of the worst common denominator.”

Antonicello and Massa were also involved in a meeting last year at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, where borough Democrats allegedly tried to get a Republican council candidate out of the race by offering him a municipal appointment. The Republican at the table — current councilman, Chris Johnson — forwarded the details of that meeting to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

There has been no confirmation from the county on whether an investigation is ongoing or charges will be filed against the public officials involved.

Call John at 201-438-8700