Zangari Seeking Freeholder Seat

Peter Zangari, the vice-president of the Belleville Board of Education and grandson of a former state legislator, announced today that he will likely be seeking the Democratic nomination for the District 5 seat on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He said in a statement he would make a final decision in the next few days. 

The primaries will be held in June.

“I think in these tough economic times my experience dealing with the board of education budget would carry over into the county,” said Zangari, who was elected to the Belleville BOE in 2009.  “I’ll make sure the money is spent correctly and wisely. People in this county pay very high taxes and should get the most for their tax dollars.”  

The Essex County Board of Freeholders is the legislative branch of county government, and works with the county executive, a post now held by Democrat Joseph DiVincenzo of Nutley. District 5 consists of Belleville, Nutley, Bloomfield, Montclair and Glen Ridge.

The District 5 seat is currently held by Ralph Caputo of Belleville, who also holds a seat in the state Assembly. Last week Caputo announced that he would not seek another term as freeholder so he can concentrate all his efforts in the state Legislature.

The 30-year-old Zangari praised Caputo and state Sen. Ronald Rice, who will also represent Belleville in the Legislature until the new legislative districts recently announced by a panel of state lawmakers takes effect next year. Districts are redrawn every decade following the release of census data.

“You know it’s unfortunate we’re losing Ralph Caputo ….and our long-term senator Ron Rice,” said Zangari, adding that he wants to see Belleville continue to have a local representative on the freeholder board.

“And I also want to bring representation to the 123 township districts that include Belleville, Montclair, Nutley, Glen Ridge and Bloomfield.”   

Zangari said he would focus on economic development throughout the district, working to attract businesses to the area. While holding a generally favorable opinion of the DiVincenzo administration, which he said is “effective” and has brought welcome change to the county, Zangari said he would work to ensure that there was adequate “oversight” and “accountability” of county government.

“I would really focus on that issue,” said Zangari, whose grandfather, James, served as an Assemblyman in Essex County for many years. James Zangari died in February at the age of 81.

A member of Belleville UNICO and the Belleville Education Foundation, Zangari grew up in the township and graduated from Belleville High School before attending Essex County College and the Chubb Institute, where he studied information technology. Zangari, who is single and has no children, worked as a consultant for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for about a year after completing his studies at Chubb in 2001. From June 2002 until this past February, Zangari worked as a computer network specialist for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission in Newark.

Zangari was among dozens of employees fired from the scandal-plagued agency earlier this year after published reports detailing sweetheart deals, no-show jobs and other perks for political insiders prompted Republican Gov. Chris Christie to remove most of the agency’s commissioners. For years, some workers at the agency got their jobs thanks to their familial or political relationships with various commissioners, employment candidates  whose names were kept in a special ledger known as the “commissioners’ rounds.”  

Zangari, whose father was also employed at the plant, said that his work at the facility was legitimate, however. He was not among those in the commissioners’ rounds and routinely took classes to maintain his certification, helping run what he described as a “24-7” IT operation.

“[M]y interest in running has nothing to do with my previous employment,” Zangari said. “The truth is for nine years I went to work every day and put in a hard day’s work and was terminated with no explanation.”

His termination, he added, may have been the consequence of his political party affiliation or because of his family’s prominence in county Democratic circles.