Bucco Beats Chegwidden In Attack-Driven Senate Primary

A nasty Republican primary campaign ended Tuesday with incumbent Sen. Anthony Bucco easily defeating William Chegwidden 7,977 votes to 4,212.

Bucco will face Democrat Rick Thoeni of Denville in November. Thoeni received 2,877 votes in an uncontested primary.

Chegwiddeen, a Morris County Freeholder and mayor of Wharton, challenged  the veteran state senator from Boonton for the four-year seat in the recently reconfigured 25th legislative district, which this year added Bernardsville in Somerset County, and Mendham, Netcong, Chester Borough, Chester Township and Washington Township in Morris County (Jefferson and Rockaway Township shifted to the 26th District).

Morris County had a 12 percent voter turnout, with 26 percent of Republican registered voters heading to the polls, and 11 percent of Democrats.

"Thanks to all the volunteers, the people here tonight, the elected officials," Bucco, whose son, Anthony M. Bucco, will run alongside fellow incumbent Republican Michael Patrick Carroll for Assembly seats in November, told those gathered at a post-election reception. "Everyone worked very, very hard. Again we couldn’t have done it without your help. It only shows that the continual work I’ve done over the years for my district, for my county and for my state , it showed tonight with the victory we are enjoying.”

“I’m proud to have my son standing behind me also, a father-and-son team," he continued. "We're not the first father-son team. I think the people understand that. They respect it. And we'll continue to work for the 25th District taxpayers.”

The senator also thanked his wife,  Helen.

“We have been working with the governor since the day he came into the State House, and we're going to continue to work with him to carry on his agenda so that we can get this state back in order instead of where we were going previous to that,” the elder Bucco said.

Chegwidden said he "took on the establishment and lost."

"As an incumbent mayor and freeholder, I know how hard it is to defeat an incumbent," he said. "I’m not afraid to lose.”

Chegwidden said  he felt he ran a good race and go tmany positive responses during the campaign, during which he knocked on thousands of doors.

Still, he said, “I ran for only three months.”

Each candidate raised ethical questions about the other.

Chegwidden questioned actions Bucco allegedly took a decade ago in relation to his chief of staff, Nina Fleishman, who accused Bucco of sexual harassment. In her 2002 lawsuit, Fleishman claimed Bucco made a sexual relationship a condition of her employment. Fleishman claimed she was fired after Bucco’s wife discovered the affair, and that it also cost her a subsequent job at the Lake Hopatcong Commission. Bucco at the time filed a countersuit.

The  lawsuits were settled, but the details were sealed.

Chegwidden questioned the use of $48,000 in state funds to cover Bucco’s legal fees in the suit and also questioned state development funds being used to support Bucco’s adhesives company.

Bucco, in turn, challenged Chegwidden’s “triple-dipping,” as a freeholder, mayor and high school teacher.

Bucco, 73, served as Morris County freeholder from 1989 to 1992, as assemblyman from  1995 to 1998, and as state senator since 1998. Her serves as Republican Budget Officer.

He supported the 2 percent property tax levy cap now in place, backed Gov. Chris Christie’s 2011 budget that cut state spending without raising  taxes, and sponsored legislation that reduces pensions  and health benefits for public employees.

Chegwidden, 48,  is a teacher at Morris Knolls Regional High School in Denville. He has served as Wharton mayor since 2002 and as a freeholder since 2007. He was named freeholder director this year.

As mayor, Chegwidden worked with state and federal officials to clean up a Superfund site that is a target for redevelopment He worked with Mine Hill’s mayor to merge police departments, an effort that saved $2 million, and reduced the debt of Wharton by 70 percent in a decade.

He was also instrumental in the creation of the Dover Joint Municipal Court, which merged five municipal county into one location, saving million in tax dollars.

As a freeholder, Chegwidden led the effort to create county’s solar energy plan, which is expected to generate $3.8 million in savings for the participating towns and schools.

The 25th District, after the reconfiguration earlier this year, is: