Rich Mastrangelo

PREDATORS IN OUR MIDST

Mastrangelo Calls for Essex Internet Child Safety Unit;
Fontoura's Website Remains Stuck in 1998

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- U.S. Attorney Chris Christie announced yesterday the arrest of 14 child pornography offenders, including a man from Verona. In response, Essex Sheriff's candidate Rich Mastrangelo today reiterated his call for the creation of a detective's unit to catch online predators.

"Today's predators don't need to hang around school bus stops. They could be talking to our children in our own living rooms through the computer. Bergen, Passaic, and Westchester Counties all have units designed to set up stings to catch predators, just like you may have seen on Dateline. Essex County has nothing."

COUNTY POLICE FADE AWAY
UNDER SHERIFF'S WATCH

Audio Tape Confirms Fontoura Too Weak to
Fight Administration for Public Safety

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- On Oct. 2, the 111-year-old Essex County Police, protectors of county parks and roads, will be disbanded. Its policemen will become regular officers of the Sheriff's Department. After he repeatedly broke contract rules because of lack of manpower, Armando Fontoura decided to bust up the County Police union rather than fight the administration for new hires. While Fontoura claims the disbanding is for efficiency, in reality it illustrates the weakness of a sheriff unable to stand up to friends in his own political party. When Jim Treffinger tried to snatch $4.8 million from the Sheriff's budget in 2000, Fontoura pulled out all the stops to oppose him with a public uproar. This year, however, Fontoura let $3.5 million slip out of his department without making a peep against Executive Joe DiVincenzo, his former campaign manager. In a recently released audio recording Fontoura admits he is helpless to stop public safety funds from draining away.

"If you don't have five votes on a freeholder board you can't fight the administration," said Fontoura in the audio tape, recorded during a meeting with County Police officers and sent out by a member of the force. "The administration is very good at going there, before I can get to there and get...the vote that they need. You know. So, they have more things to trade with than I do. I don't have anything to trade with other than PBA cards, which, you know, that's about it. Most of the--all the guys here are civil service so I can't even offer anybody a job for their son or their daughter, which I wouldn't do anyway. It's hard for me to bargain. Very frustrating."

MASTRANGELO CHALLENGES FONTOURA TO
FIRST DEBATE IN A DECADE

The Public Deserves an Informed Choice in
November's Sheriff Election

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- The last time Sheriff Armando Fontoura had to defend his record and debate the issues, Bill Clinton was just starting his second term and 'Y2K' was the disaster that would end the world. The last time Fontoura faced an opponent, cell phones were a novelty and 'Seinfeld' was must-see-TV. Fontoura hasn't debated in an election since 1997, back when the biggest county threat that Emergency Management had to worry about was icy roads.

STATEMENT ON STAR-LEDGER PHOTO BLUNDER

(Cedar Grove, NJ) -- The Essex section of today's Star-Ledger featured a piece about the endorsement of Rich Mastrangelo for Sheriff by the entire County PBA. Unfortunately, the Ledger posted the wrong picture above Mastrangelo's name. Instead of Rich in a police uniform, there was a bald man in a suit. Campaign spokesman Jack Grimes responded with the following statement:

"Obviously they got the wrong guy. Rich isn't bald. After this week's press coverage, the corrections rally, and now the PBA coming out against him, Armando Fontoura is the one pulling his hair out."

ESSEX COUNTY PBA UNION
ENDORSES MASTRANGELO

Entire Conference of Locals Votes
For Change in Sheriff's Office

(Newark, NJ) -- Detective Rich Mastrangelo today received the official endorsement of the Essex County Policemen's Benevolent Association. The County Conference voted unanimously to support Rich's candidacy for County Sheriff, with the Sheriff's Officers Local the only abstention. The Essex County PBA union represents nearly 2,500 rank-and-file police officers.

"It is my pleasure today to announce that the Essex PBA County Conference has endorsed Rich Mastrangelo for County Sheriff," said Bill Brennan, County Conference President. "I have known Rich for over 20 years. I know his heart, I know he will be dedicated to serving the officers and people of this county. The administration currently in power has for too long been too comfortable, believing they will always be re-elected no matter how much they ignore the public safety of the county. Our endorsement today says it is time for a change."

NEWS RELEASE

CHIUSOLO FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Call Thom Ammirato

973-403-7836 September 19, 2006

Republican Essex County Executive candidate Joseph Chiusolo

Received the Endorsement Today of the Essex County Police Benevolent Association.

Chiusolo offered the following comments:

THE JAIL NEEDS A SHERIFF

Essex County Corrections, Abused for Years by an
Inattentive Executive, Should Be Run Under the
Umbrella of the County Sheriff's Department

(Newark, NJ) -- Today Rich Mastrangelo joined members of PBA Local 382 and their allies from across the county and state to protest the violence and unsafe conditions at the Essex County Jail. PBA Local 382 President Joe Amato organized the rally to call for the replacement of the jail's under-qualified director, Scott Faunce. Mastrangelo proposed that the Department of Corrections be removed from control by the County Executive and transferred to the constitutional office of Sheriff, as is the case in Bergen , Cape May, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, and Sussex counties.

ESSEX IS NOT READY FOR A TERROR ATTACK CRISIS

County Sheriff Admits His Emergency Management
Department is Unprepared for Mass Evacuation

(Fort Lee, NJ) -- Detective Rich Mastrangelo, candidate for Essex County Sheriff, today joined Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. in drawing attention to the Homeland Security needs of northern New Jersey. Essex County is particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks on its many bridges, rail lines, ports, and chemical plants--an area that has been called the "two most dangerous miles in America." Just two years ago, captured documents from al-Qaeda revealed the Prudential building in downtown Newark as a prime target. And our neighbor to the East, New York City, remains under constant threat from terrorists. Yet Sheriff Armando Fontoura says his Office of Emergency Management is still not adequately prepared for an evacuation of New York City passing through Essex County.

ESSEX IS MURDER
CAPITOL OF NEW JERSEY

Continued Killings Confirm Crisis;
State Police Report Shows Surge in Slayings

(Newark, NJ) -- The city of Newark lost three of its sons this week to fatal street shootings. Police are without suspects or leads because witnesses fear coming forward. The city of Orange lost one of its finest because a known gang member was still on the streets. The recently released State Police Crime Report reveals just how large a problem murder has become in Essex County. With New Jersey last year seeing its highest number of murders since 1993, nearly a third of them occurred in Essex County. Detective Rich Mastrangelo, candidate for Essex County Sheriff, demanded to know why Armando Fontoura wasn't taking extraordinary steps in such an extraordinary crisis.

"When it comes to violent deaths, Essex County is suffering more than any other county in the state. Essex is continually the only county to see murders in the triple digits," said Mastrangelo, a decorated police officer. Murders in Essex climbed from 136 to 147 in 2005. There were 418 murders in the whole state....

ORANGE DETECTIVE ONE OF
ESSEX COUNTY'S FINEST

Det. Mastrangelo Gives Condolences to
The Shields Family and the City of Orange

(Cedar Grove, NJ) - Detective Keiran Shields, a decorated officer with the Orange Police Department, was shot and killed in the line of duty this week by a known member of the Bloods street gang. Detective Rich Mastrangelo, a life-long resident of Essex County, expresses his deep sympathy to Chatrian Shields and her children:

"Det. Shields was a model police officer and clearly a loving father and husband. His death is a sorrow to everyone who wears the uniform. His bravery and selflessness is an example for us all. It now falls to us to work towards an Essex County that is safe for Det. Shields' daughters and son. Right now Essex is a county where gang members have no fear pulling guns and witnesses to violence are scared to death of testifying. We must instead be a county where the gang killers are the ones terrified, and the witnesses against them are the ones fearless."