Former Assemblyman Christian Barranco, now running for mayor of Jefferson Township, and his fellow council slate are accusing incumbent Mayor Eric Wilsusen of misusing his office for personal and political purposes.
In a press release sent to NJO, Mayor Wilsusen, Police Chief Paul Castimore, and Atlantic Communications owner Gary Davieau jointly purchased property in Little Egg Harbor in 2006. In 2015, Eric Wilsusen was added, by amendment, to PES LLC, along with the wives of Mr. Davieau and Chief Castimore. That company owned a commercial property at 664 Route 15 South, the same building where Atlantic Communications, a township vendor, operated as a tenant, per the Ocean County Clerk’s office.
“We are calling on Eric Wilsusen to release every invoice, purchase order, and disclosure related to Atlantic Communications within seven days, and to recuse himself from any township decision involving a vendor in which he or his business partners hold a direct or indirect financial interest, per our municipal code,” said the campaign. “We are also urging the [Jefferson] Township Council to authorize an independent review of contracts awarded to vendors connected to township officials over the past ten years.”
In addition, the campaign also states Wilsusen is using his municipal email address for his campaign Facebook page. On a Facebook page titled “Eric Wilsusen–Mayor of Jefferson Twp NJ,” is categorized by Facebook as a “Government Official” page and lists mayor@jeffersontownship.net as the point of contact, which is Wilsusen’s official government email address. A line in the bio notes the page is “created & managed” by Wilsusen personally. This has occurred multiple times since February 6, when Wilusen shared a press release that he is seeking re-election this year. On April 18, Wilusen’s government account shared a campaign video posted by his campaign account, New Vision for Jefferson. According to the New Jersey state ethics law (N.J.S.A. 52:13D), it is illegal to use government assets for political purposes, which can cause a conflict of interest.
“He [Wilsusen] has aligned himself publicly with a sitting state senator and several Morris County elected officials, and every unanswered records request and carefully worded communication puts their reputations on the line alongside his own,” the campaign said in a statement. “Those officials should ask themselves whether they want their names attached to a pattern of conduct that Jefferson residents are increasingly being asked to question.”
NJO has reached out to the Wilsusen team for comment. Wilsusen told NJO that the allegations against him are “a political hit piece” and said they lacked evidence. He pointed to a public statement that was published by the Jefferson Focus. An excerpt from the piece is shown below, said by Wilsusen.
“I want to thank Jefferson Focus and Editor Frank Cahill for his "hard-hitting investigative journalism" in the April 19 article entitled, "𝘑𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘎𝘰 𝘜𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥," and the Editor's note/retraction that followed. The article claimed that Open Public Records requests were not being fulfilled in a timely manner—only to later require an Editor's Note retracting that claim after it was confirmed that the requested information had, in fact, been sent from Deputy Clerk Amanda Nevins, but was filtered into Mr. Cahill's Google spam folder.”
Barranco has requested to debate Wilsusen, but no debate has been scheduled at the time of this article’s publication.
Note: This article has been updated to reflect the Wilsusen team’s comment on the press release
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