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North Bergen Mayor Sacco raps aide's comments, but unlike Lonegan won't fire him
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A profanity-laced interview given by a top aide to U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan may have cost the aide his job for that campaign, but he’ll still be working for North Bergen Mayor and state Sen. Nicholas Sacco.Rick Shaftan, who lost his Lonegan campaign gig after he ridiculed Lonegan opponent Newark Mayor Cory Booker in a lengthy interview with political site Talking Points Memo, has made big bucks working for Sacco’s campaigns since the 1990s. And Sacco spokesman Paul Swibinski said that won’t stop.
“Rick is a friend,” Swibinski told The Jersey Journal. “He has been a good guy and a good pollster and part of our team for a long time.’’
In the interview, published last Friday, Shaftan excoriates Booker for his widely publicized Twitter exchanges with a Portland, Ore., stripper. Booker’s nonsexual back-and-forth with the woman indicates the mayor might be gay, Shaftan said.
Lonegan, a Republican challenging Booker for the seat formerly occupied by the late Frank Lautenberg, subsequently fired Shaftan, saying his comments weren’t reflective of his campaign.
Sacco, a Democrat who supports Booker for Senate, disapproved, too, Swibinski said.
“He wishes that Rick had never made those comments,“ Swibinski said. “They don’t sound like him and I’ve never known Rick to judge anybody based on their sexuality.”
Shaftan declined to comment.
In 2011, when Sacco ran for re-election to the state Senate and as North Bergen’s mayor, Shaftan’s Mountaintop Media billed $455,623.04 for polling, purchasing airtime for campaign ads and more, according to campaign finance reports.