BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J. –– It was “an issue of character” for some and gutter politics for others as the race for mayor inflamed the Oct. 16 township council meeting, complete with allegations of racism, lying, and nepotism.
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At one point, Council President Robert Bruno, the target of what he said is a setup by the politically active family of Republican Peter Calamari—his rival for the top job—called police officers to council chambers to eject resident James Hanson for badgering.
Calamari—and Councilman Thomas Sears, who is running for reelection—denied involvement in a scheme to damage Independent candidate Bruno’s reputation by trotting out a former Township police officer who is now a private investigator, who outed disturbing, 15-year-old material stemming from Bruno’s self-described accidental, false 911 call that contains instances of the “N” word.
According to the investigator, Drew Krafte, who addressed the mayor and council at the Oct. 16 meeting’s public comment period, the Nov. 10, 2002 evening call started this way:
“911, what is your emergency?”
“Yeah, my n–, I’ve got a n– bleeding from the head here, can you help me out?”
“I’m sorry, you have a what?”
“A n– bleeding from the head, can you help me out?”
Pascack Press has requested official copies of any related 911 transcripts and court records from the courts.
John Snyder photo.
Bruno, confronted with this version of events at the meeting, countered to Krafte, “It’s not a true document, and I know it’s not a true document because I know what I said and that’s not on there.”
He added, “The [description] is not accurate. That’s not how the phone call went down. Somebody wrote that up; I don’t write that up…”
According to Bruno, he had meant to call his brother, but was used to dialing 9-1 to get an outside line at work, and so he did the same in this instance. He got what he thought was his nephew on the phone, and began to riff on a scene in “Training Day,” the gritty 2001 Denzel Washington film, he said.
In the provided, unconfirmed transcript, the “victim” is named “John Malvo,” who was at the time revealed to be one of the two Washington, D.C. Beltway-area snipers who killed 10 and critically injured three over three weeks in 2002.
Including 9/11 and the anthrax attacks of the same period, tensions were heightened.
Bruno said he quickly realized his mistake and tried to clear it up with the dispatcher. He said calls in error to 911 are not uncommon and he should have been called back to rule out an actual emergency.
Instead, the police arrived at his home. Responding were then-Cpl. Richard Skinner and Officer Vincent Montalbano.
“When the police came, I admitted my mistake; I apologized for the confusion. Apparently they didn’t want to hear that,” Bruno told Krafte.
“I went to court because it was inaccurate what they said and what they wrote. I fought it. I paid $7,000 in fines and court fees. The judge felt it wasn’t in my favor. There was nothing racist about it. It was a comment that was made from a movie where I thought I was spoofing with my nephew.”
He was charged for giving a false report to law enforcement and for calling 911 without needing 911 service. He pled guilty in court to the first charge, with all fines paid in full. Charges were dismissed in the second charge.
Disposition was March 7, 2003. Municipal Court Judge was Peter G. Geiger.
Pascack Press was shown this court disposition on Sept. 29, 2017, as a text to a reporter’s personal number from James Hanson, with whom the reporter had met once to discuss Memorial Field.
“A little more background on why I don’t trust Bruno. I got this [an image purporting to be a true copy of the disposition of complaint] today and have requested additional info,” the text read.
The reporter replied, “Shared this with my editor… Thanks.”
Newspaper editorial staff discussed the lead internally and questioned its relevance as an election story, deciding it lacked legitimate news value in the 2017 race, a determination it would have reached regardless of the candidate it was about.
The paper neither discussed it with anyone else nor provided it to anyone else.
Hanson did not ask that the matter be introduced off the record and he was given no reason to believe that this text to Pascack Press was off the record.
At the Oct. 16 meeting, several observers questioned how Krafte, a 25-year police veteran of both the Westwood and the Township police departments, and now owner of a business in Wyckoff specializing in security and investigation, came to possess the records and why he came forward with them now, and in such a public forum.
He notes he was an active township officer in 2002 and says he obtained the records in a legal records request.
Fingers were pointed at Calamari and Sears, as well as Calamari’s father, August Calamari, who is the chairman of the Township of Washington Republican Municipal Committee and chairman of the Planning Board.
Calamari and Sears denied knowledge of or involvement in the disclosure at the meeting.
August Calamari, reached by phone for comment, said he was unaware of the matter until he was pointed to meeting coverage on television.
Krafte said for himself at the meeting, “In my 20 years of police work here, this is the only time I can recall that a resident of this town used the ‘N’ word in the description of a victim of an assault.
“I am here tonight to bring this past matter to the attention of the mayor and council but more importantly to the residents of this town,” he said in part.
Krafte added, “I most certainly do not feel this township deserves to have a mayor or, as your current standing as the Council President, a person who outwardly shows such a blatant racist nature and a failing to understand the emergency nature of our 911 system.”
Following that, Hanson and resident Scott Spezial lambasted Bruno over dishonesty and racism, all of which Bruno flatly denies.
Taking the mic for his five minutes, Spezial riffled through the sheaf of documents Krafte presented and set to work.
“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” he began. “Am I correct in understanding what just happened here? Am I correct in understanding that you called a fake 911 call in, used racial language and let’s call it racial discussion about somebody who has skin a different color from you, you then argued with the police, you lost in court, and there’s a summons here you had to pay for.”
Bruno pressed back, insisting Spezial did not have the facts and that he limit his comments to town business, not personal or political matters, or face ejection.
Spezial continued:
“You jeopardized the lives of the police department, jeopardized the lives of paramedics, jeopardized the lives of the public as they raced to your home, and then when it was all said and done according to these documents which are accurate documents, they’ve been OPRAed [formally requested of the clerk]—”
Bruno cut in: “Do you have the recording from the court, when I went to court?”
Spezial continued: “That disturbs me as a resident. I don’t want you representing me, my town, my children…”
“You don’t have to vote for me. Thank you,” said Bruno.
“I would like to make sure other people see this document… I think you’re a disgrace to make a fake 911 call and you jeopardized the lives of many people. You should resign,” Spezial said.
He also made an attempt to bring Councilman Steven Cascio into the discussion, questioning whether he would support Bruno in this light.
When Bruno asked Spezial whether he mailed him an anonymous letter he received Sept. 16, saying only “Drop out of the race and resign your Council seat immediately,” Spezial said no.
Bruno had shared that letter, which he called “a thinly veiled threat,” with the police and Pascack Press, asking rhetorically, “Is this what the mayoral race has come to?”
Bruno’s town email has also been hacked, he claimed.
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Police called to chambers over complaint of badgering
At the meeting, resident James Hanson had been tearing into Bruno’s truthfulness at the public microphone over his work on the Memorial Field Committee and as a public menace over the 2002 charges, earning warnings from Bruno to keep comments to matters of governance, not personality or politics.
“Did you plead guilty? Did you pay fines? Because a fine’s not enough for saying stuff like that,” Hanson insisted.
“People riot over those things now. That’s just not acceptable behavior. I want my children to know that. I want the children of the town to know that that’s completely unacceptable.”
He continued, “Honesty is the most important thing out of any public official. People doubt it all the time. ‘They lie.’ Well, you lied to me three weeks ago [over the Memorial Field project].
“There’s something wrong with that behavior. We shouldn’t accept it of ourselves or anyone. Just be honest. Did you plead guilty? I’m sorry, honesty is the most important thing in this world,” he said.
Bruno warned him, “You’re bringing this into an area that you shouldn’t be discussing,” and threatened to have him removed.
Hanson seemed willing to talk about the field again, but Bruno called the police on his cell phone anyway, complaining of badgering and disruption to the meeting.
Hanson retreated to his seat in the gallery, then rose to put on his jacket as Lt. Richard Skinner and three other officers arrived to investigate, bringing with them the chatter of police radios.
As Hanson had broken no law he was allowed to stay.
Skinner himself figures into the history of Bruno’s past court matter. He drew what appeared to be jeers from the gallery by alluding to the event.
After ascertaining that nobody had broken a law in the session requiring ejection, Skinner said, “Listen, I have a very clear understanding of what happened in 2002.”
The crowd reacted with a wave of groans.
“Now we’re really going down a different road,” Bruno lamented.
“You called me in here! I’m not going to comment; I’m not going to say anything. Do you want us to stand by here?” said Skinner.
“No,” said Bruno. “Please, just go.”
“Another false report, calling the police for no reason,” put in Calamari.
Resident Eamonn Twomey challenged Bruno over the status of Memorial Field, improvements for which are hung up at the stage of an interim report from the Memorial Field Committee needing to be advanced to the council for consideration.
Bruno is on the committee. Voters defeated a referendum in November 2016 to borrow
$2.45 million on upgrades for the field, which is in poor condition for gameplay.
After Twomey spoke for five minutes, following character attacks from Krafte, Hanson, Spezial, and Calamari, Bruno did not seem to respond quickly enough for Twomey’s liking.
“You have to do something! Mr. Bruno. Who’s not paying attention. You have to do something and you don’t get to vote by yourself.”
Twomey spoke this last bit into the microphone so loudly and so near that the sound system buzzed.
The drama upstaged Ray Bernroth, 77, who had recently left after addressing himself to the mayor and council on an unrelated pitch from the superintendent of schools on the district’s rationale and financing of a proposed, $24 million true middle school in Westwood.
Bruno’s wife, Sandy, delivered a defense of her husband’s character and his suitability for the mayor post, and a few lines against Calamari, whom she said had disappointed her.
“This man [Bruno] could run this town. He knows business, he knows how to make money, and you don’t,” she said.
“This is the best man I know. This is the best man for the job,” she said of her husband, who urged her, as well, from speaking on personal matters.
To Calamari, 56, who owns a trucking company, she said, “Your father’s going to run it [the township], not you.”
All throughout, Calamari called out for Sandy Bruno to be stopped from speaking.
“Your wife walks in and you give her preferential treatment? Someone else should take control of this meeting immediately,” he complained.
“Be quiet, Peter,” said Bruno.
Another resident, Toni Plantamura, also called Calamari out on his family’s ties in town, and said she would launch a referendum seeking a change in the form of government should he win and the council not limit the mayor’s spending powers.
“I want the general public to understand when you vote for change you’re really not getting change; you have a continuity of a family that’s basically running Washington Township,” she said.
She asked for an explanation on the town’s recently adopted anti-nepotism ordinance, which covers certain hiring and appointment matters but not elections.
“Anybody in the land can run for office,” Town Attorney Kenneth Poller told Plantamura.
In his defense, Calamari lauded his family for its public service, saying it showed town spirit. In addition to his father, August, who serves on the Planning Board, Peter Calamari has a brother on the police force.
August Calamari, reached by phone for this story, said any notion that he would be pulling strings in his son’s administration is “idiotic.”
He added he would resign from the Planning Board in that eventuality, but would keep his leadership post in the township Republican committee.
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Joe D’Urso takes on ‘pure entertainment of dirty politics’
Shortly after Krafte spoke, former Councilman Joe D’Urso arrived to lead a full-throated rebuke against Calamari and his fellow campaigner Councilman Thomas Sears, suggesting they’d brought Krafte along to do damage.
“I got to tell you, this is pure Monday night entertainment at its best—dirty politics. Hats off to you two, that’s great that you bring this gentleman back here, you know, really. You didn’t need to. This is just dirty, disgusting politics,” D’Urso said.
“Everybody has something in their past,” he added.
Outside the chamber, Calamari maintained his innocence in the matter, and said he had no reason to believe that his father, who was not present, was involved.
Asked whether he could continue to work with Bruno should the latter win the race, Calamari said he wasn’t sure.
“I want a little time to think about that, to be honest. I want to read what was distributed, because it’s news to me.”
He described it as a character issue for voters to weigh. “Since it’s out there now I assume they will consider it,” Calamari said.
Krafte maintains he was not put up to his council appearance as well, saying, “I am not a resident but I still do have, and will always have, strong feelings and ties to this township.”
Asked Oct. 19 for additional comment, Lt. Richard Skinner replied that it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to do so given his involvement in the 2002 event.
Hanson told Pascack Press on Oct. 18 that “I haven’t received information from [the town clerk] yet. I’ve never met the officer who read the disturbing 911 transcript. I still don’t have a copy. Until he read that, this was all just a rumor.”
He added, “I really wanted to talk about the field, but when I heard the 911, I had to speak about it.”
For his part, Bruno told Pascack Press that owing in part to his background—his mother was forced to flee her native Guatemala, and he has family and other connections to people of different heritages—he is in no way racist or bigoted.
“These people have no campaign, nothing to offer the town. It’s the first time they’ve been challenged in 28 years, so they have to investigate me and my wife. It’s deplorable,” he said.
If he does win the mayoralty, he said, he would continue to have “an excellent relationship with the police and other departments,” though “there will be some people in this town unfortunately who will be at a loss, and some employees are not going to get what they expected to get.”