Diner Photo by W.L. Bill Allen Jr. Other Photos provided by officials These five individuals met Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton (top photo).  From top: Nick Antonicello, chairman of the local planning, zoning and library boards; Council President Albert Granell; Republican council candidate Chris Johnson; Mayor Peter Massa; and Councilman Steve Tanelli.

By Susan C. Moeller, John Soltes & Alexis Tarrazi / The Leader Staff

NORTH ARLINGTON (Oct. 20, 2009, 6 p.m.) — In the Borough of North Arlington, where partisan politics is a tense, aggressive enterprise, Democrat and Republican leaders routinely lash out against their opponents across the aisle.

But on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Tick Tock Diner on Route 3 in Clifton, officials from both parties came together over Belgian waffles and over-easy eggs.

What the four Democrats didn’t know was that the sole Republican at the table was recording the entire conversation with an audio device hidden in the sleeve of his gray sweatshirt.

The recording offers listeners a rare, candid look into the world of local politics.

Republican Chris Johnson, who is currently running with Jon Kearney for the two open council seats in North Arlington, gave the audiotape exclusively to The Leader Thursday, Oct. 15. As of press time, he said he planned to turn the tape over to federal prosecutors in Newark.

The audio recording, which lasts for more than one hour, features the voices of the four Democrats: Mayor Peter Massa, Councilman Steve Tanelli, Council President Albert Granell and Nick Antonicello, the chairman of the local zoning, planning and library boards.

Granell is up for re-election this year in North Arlington with his running mate, Salvatore DiBlasi, who was not at the Tick Tock meeting.

All four of the Democrats confirmed in an in-depth interview at The Leader’s office that they were in fact at the breakfast get-together.

The Tick Tock tape

At the Tick Tock on Oct. 3 the conversation quickly turned to what Johnson could expect to receive from the Democrats if his name was out of the race: money, appointments and power.

Johnson himself wasn’t short on words, revealing his discontent with the local Republican Party. “Without the money, the Republican Party is sunk,” Johnson said a few minutes into the meeting. “Without me they’re done. … If this thing goes through, they will not know which way to turn.”

Tanelli countered, showing confidence in the progress of local Democrats. “We’ve been trying for six years now to rebuild and get some strength,” Tanelli said. “To be honest with you, we have a lot of support saying, ‘You guys are doing a great job you’re holding the line on X, Y and Z.’ ”

Granell added, “We are building an army and they all vote.”

After a comment from Massa that “anything that is going to happen is going to be done right, legally and by the book,” Granell made the first of what would be several promises. “So let’s talk,” Granell said. “At noon time today, all the Chris Johnson wonderful literature on the NA Today Web site will be released. That comes off. We will take all that stuff down.”

NA Today is a political Web site run by the North Arlington Democratic Club; Granell is a contributor. Johnson and Kearney are currently featured on the Web site with their likenesses superimposed on lawnmowers and the infamous Mini-Me character from “Austin Powers.”

The next promise appears to have come from Antonicello. “If you come on board, I will make recommendations for you — planning board, construction board, next year,” Antonicello said.

Approximately 27 minutes into the audio recording, Antonicello brought out a letter of resignation for Johnson to sign. The letter was prepared at Antonicello’s request by North Arlington Borough Attorney Anthony D’Elia.

“Look what I have here,” Antonicello said. “You can read it, this meets all of your demands, I think.”

The conversation then focused on the looming deadline for Johnson to have his name removed from the election ballot. If he didn’t act quickly, all the parties contended, the Bergen County Clerk’s Office would not have enough time to remove his name.

A portion of the unedited transcript follows; the only missing words are those indistinguishable on the recording, and the numbers indicate when the remarks were made.

28:11 Granell: You’re here now. Don’t blow smoke

28:14 Johnson: The whole thing that you have my word is not going… I’m going to be honest, that’s not going to fly. I just need something...

28:21 Granell: Like what?

28:23 Johnson: I need something more concrete. I would say the in-writing thing would be a problem.

28:30 Granell: Like what?

28:31 Johnson: You know what I mean. You put yourself in my position.

28:35 Tanelli: The only thing that I would say is a guarantee would be the board spot. Because we talked about that. The council seat is a complicated process where the county committee has to vote on it. So it’s not something that we can say.

28:54 Antonicello: If you want something in writing as far as from a legal point of view. The mayor can’t put nothing in writing. As chairman of the party I will make a strong recommendation. I will give you my word on that. I will give you my bond on that.  

29:06 Massa: You tell us what you want. We want to hear it from you what you would like to do.

29:14 Tanelli: I asked him that the other night.

29:15 Johnson: Yeah, the planning board thing is good, but from what I hear, it’s more of a burden than anything. Maybe something on the recreation.

29:22 Granell: You want that?

29:23 Tanelli: Oh that’s easy the spot is open right now.

29:29 Johnson: Maybe something on the recreation. ... That’s one thing I thought I could make a positive impact. ... That’s something I have an interest in.

29:37 Tanelli: That happens Thursday night at the council meeting. …

29:39 Granell: Thursday night at the council meeting.

29:52 Antonicello: You want something where you will be appointed to the recreation?

29:57 Johnson: With maybe a little salary attached to it.

29:59 Antonicello: Well, I don’t know about that. Salary?

30:01 Granell: On the rec commission?

30:04 Johnson: Yeah, something like that.

30:05 Antonicello: I don’t know if you can be on the rec commission...

30:07 Tanelli: There is no uh, they don’t get money.

30:10 Granell: The director and then if they had a secretary. They do have a secretary, right?

30:16 Tanelli: Yeah, I don’t know who the hell the secretary is now.

30:23 Granell: That’s like a $1,200 ...

30:27 Tanelli: Yeah, the only two people who get paid in the recreation is Mazzolla is the youth director and Rita Healy is the rec director.

30:34 Johnson: Well, that’s one idea.

30:36 Tanelli: But the commission spot is a voluntary position. If you want that. That could happen at the next council meeting.

30:40 Massa: That’s the foot in the door.

30:43 Johnson: Yeah, I understand. I understand.

30:44 Massa: That’s the uh beginning.

30:47 Johnson: Do you have any other suggestion, I mean, any other suggestions? Something with a stipend attached to it? Like you know I understand. I’m just saying to make a nice contribution to you guys. And you know whatever you put me on is going to be done 100 percent. Because if you see this the way this campaign would have gone down, if we didn’t have this meeting. … I’m not sure that we are going to win. But at the end of the day, you would’ve said that guy ran a pretty nice campaign on $6,000. How do you run a campaign on $6,000?

31:28 Massa: We ran a campaign on $7,000.

31:31 Antonicello: Chris, what kind of stipend are you looking for? What number?

31:36 Johnson: I don’t know.

31:37 Antonicello: $2,500? That will get you back and forth.

31:40 Johnson: Yeah, that would give me incentive. That would give me a little more incentive.

31:44 Granell: Let me be honest with you, before we go any further. I don’t think we can offer you a salary position right now. Because of pay to play. Because of who you are. If you were ‘Joe Blow’ walking off the street and we offered you a job, it would be nothing. But you being a political candidate, right? And then we offer you a salary position. That looks like pay for play. OK? Put yourself in my spot. Not your spot. But my spot.

32:09 Antonicello: I think, Al, that what he is saying though. I think. I read it a little different. I think that what Chris is saying here is that he won’t do anything before the election, because he won’t want to embarrass himself and make himself look terrible. I understand that. What you’re saying if I understand you correctly is that the day up to the election, the week after the election, the first council meeting — if there is something on recreation down there. You can put him down there. An assistant ...

32:34 Granell: We can do recreation this Thursday.

32:35 Antonicello: No, no, no. Not as commissioner, but maybe assistant to Mazzolla. We can work something out. You know what I’m saying...

32:41 Johnson: Right, I know him well.

32:52 Granell: You have to be very careful with pay for play. What’s going to happen ... Let’s be honest here. He dropped out, and we paid him off, that’s what they are going to say.

The talk continues

The conversation continued with talks of future development on the controversial property near Porete Avenue in the southeastern section of North Arlington.

“The ball is going to be in my court with all the development. Real estate down there is in my jurisdiction,” Massa said. “Being in that spot, it’s going to be a high visibility spot. … It’s going to be upfront. … Things are going to happen.”

Toward the end of the conversation, Antonicello and Tanelli returned to the topic of Johnson’s future after the election. “We can put you on recreation and put you down there, and possibly rec director after the election,” Antonicello said. “You have my word. If I tell you, ‘You got it.’ You got it. … Let’s not beat around the bush. I made a commitment to you. You have my word. You take it to the bank with you.”

Connecting the dots

Because of the sensitive nature of the audiotape and the allegations Johnson made, The Leader invited all four of the Democrats into its office Monday, Oct. 19.

The interview lasted for more than two hours; the officials were accompanied by attorney D’Elia. Although D’Elia initially said that he was present at the interview in his capacity as borough attorney, he later indicated that the Tick Tock issue was not borough business, and he would not bill the borough for his time.

The Democrats claim that the recorded conversation at the Tick Tock was all predicated on Johnson’s desire to drop out of the race and cooperate with Democrats in the future.

The recorded meeting was not the first time some of the men had met. A few days before, also at the Tick Tock, Granell, Tanelli and Johnson discussed the election.

“(Johnson) said he was interested in pulling out,” D’Elia said of the initial encounter. “He wanted to know whether he could get his letter in quick enough to the county to withdraw in time. This is what I was being told after the fact, and then he wanted to have a meeting with these guys at the diner to talk about him withdrawing so he can go ahead and do it.”

Johnson adamantly denies D’Elia’s characterization. “There are no two sides to the story,” Johnson said in his own follow-up interview at The Leader’s office.

“They’re the ones who solicited me. They’re the ones that made the offer. … I wouldn’t resign from the race; it’s just not in my character. I would go down taking a beating in the election. I just wouldn’t resign.”

For himself, Granell said he had no idea Johnson was recording. “I was really annoyed when I heard that,” he said. “Now that I hear that there is a taped conversation on Saturday, it’s very disturbing.”

Antonicello said that the promised recommendations offered to Johnson were more situational; North Arlington just doesn’t have enough qualified volunteers to fill available positions on municipal boards, he said.

Antonicello said he is still considering Johnson as a candidate for the planning board. Tanelli and Granell were less forgiving, saying that the secret tape shows Johnson’s true character.

Massa would still consider Johnson with one caveat. “If he sits down to me like a man and talks with me and puts his tape recorder on the table,” the mayor said.

Tanelli said the conversation is not evidence of quid pro quo. “Absolutely not,” Tanelli said. “What was a guarantee was that I would support him in putting him up. I would support him as recommending him for the mayor to make the move. … You can’t find volunteers to take these positions … you need experienced people and you need people that are willing to donate their time.”

When asked what they would think if the residents of North Arlington knew about the conversation, Granell stood his ground. “I think they would read the transcript for what it is,” he said. “It’s just a very honest conversation going back and forth. We were trying to get an issue resolved. … There is nothing in that conversation that I regret saying. I think you got a very frank, candid conversation.”

Antonicello, who was apparently the first person to bring up a monetary value for a political appointment at the meeting, defended his actions. “I threw out the number $2,500 … and that was just a figure of speech, a figure of conversation of what was open, thinking because he was a young guy to be involved and we are looking for a young guys,” Antonicello said. “Anything other that’s taken from that is taken out of context or a misleading statement.”

During his interview with The Leader, Antonicello failed to mention that only a few hours earlier he had talked with Johnson again about leaving the election, a fact confirmed by borough spokesperson, Thom Ammirato.

Johnson acknowledged that he taped and baited the Democrats in the diner meeting, but had no intention of taking any offers.

“I taped it because I couldn’t believe what they were trying to do,” Johnson said to The Leader. “After that first meeting that they were going to offer me a job to drop out of the election … To me it shows that the dirty, filthy arm of corruption extends to little North Arlington. And if they are going to do it to me, for whatever reason they have in their mind, where else would they pull these maneuvers? … There’s no two ways. You can’t tap dance around that tape.”