By Colleen Reynolds / Reporter

(Oct. 29, 2009) — Democrat incumbents Fred Scalera and Gary Schaer are fighting for re-election to the state Assembly, while Republicans Don Diorio and Carmen Pio Costa are challenging to unseat them as representatives of Legislative District 36, which includes the six municipalities in The Leader coverage area, as well as Garfield, Moonachie, Wallington, Nutley and Passaic. Responses were edited for design purposes.

DON DIORIO, 61, a Republican, is a member of the Carlstadt Board of Education who holds a bachelor’s degree from Montclair State College. He is the president-elect of the nonprofit trade association, Meeting Professionals International, as well as a member of its New Jersey chapter. Diorio is single and has no children, but has a brother and two nieces. He works in the event management and travel industry and has owned Consierge Services Group, LLC, since 1999.

What are some of your plans to prevent the EnCap debacle from occurring again?

The bill Mr. Schaer proposed is toothless. I believe the threshold on that is $50 million. Why?

Perhaps it was a nice idea at one point in time, but it certainly didn’t work out well. And we know — in fact this is a quote from (Executive Director Robert) Ceberio when I asked him at a public forum hearing in Rutherford, ‘How much did this cost us?’ He swore $50 million, so it only cost the taxpayer $50 million, that’s all. And the taxpayer has what to show for it? A pile of dirt. Now, in their grand scheme — and I know I’m being sarcastic — they’re asking the municipalities that have a stake in that property what they would like to see done, which is good.

So some people want to see tennis courts. Some want to see Rollerblade rinks. I don’t think I heard one person say they wanted housing, because we know the impact of additional housing on police, fire, schools, etc. What they want to see in addition to activities is low-impact ratables, so I’m going to interpret that as meaning warehousing, low-rise buildings, nothing that creates a great impact on the environment and the surrounding areas in views.

How will you be a good steward to the people of South Bergen in bringing back tax dollars for projects in the local area?

That’s exactly what we should be doing is not funneling the state aid, in particular, to towns outside of this district or allowing that to happen. We lost $2.9 billion. Here we are in this situation where everyone is suffering. There has to be a resolution to this.

My own brother left the state. He and his wife moved to eastern Pennsylvania because of a tax advantage. We have business people leaving the state, in particular, to go to Delaware and Pennsylvania. Because of what? A favorable business-tax climate.

So, if you are friendly to small-business people; if you make it easier for them to do business here; if you make their corporate tax liabilities more friendly, making payroll taxes more friendly, real-estate taxes, perhaps, more friendly, where they could take those dollars and reinvest in some of their businesses; if you have a healthy business climate in the state, that has to help the overall financial climate. ... If you can do that, you’ll have more revenues and people will be fully employed.

Public corruption is a problem in the Garden State. How as a state assemblyman can you address the issue and push legislation that crushes such corruption before it’s too late?

Let’s look at the three state leaders in our district, starting with Mr. (Paul) Sarlo. I’m sure he’s a nice guy. He’s the mayor of Wood-Ridge. He’s a senator representing District 36. I believe his engineering firm is the engineering firm of Wood-Ridge as well, and I believe Carlstadt and East Rutherford as well, if not Rutherford. And he also works for, I believe, Sanzari Corporation. Now, you could say, ‘Perfectly fine,’ which it is, by law, because he’s grandfathered. But can you possibly be unbiased in your decision making? I’d be hard pressed to be unbiased in my decision making.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sarlo currently serves as borough engineer only in Carlstadt. And the senator has resigned that post, effective Dec. 31, 2009.)

If you look at Mr. Schaer, he’s president of the city council of Passaic. He’s an assemblyman. By law, it’s fine. Can he be totally unbiased in his decision making? I’m going to say, again, it’s going to be very, very difficult.

And Mr. Scalera, as well, I believe he stepped down from his position at the fire department. He held an emergency management position of some sort, homeland security.

Here in New Jersey, we need legislation that says that if you’re convicted (and that includes pleading guilty), you don’t get any benefits. You’re done. I bet you the incidence of corruption will decline dramatically after that.

This isn’t about power or ego or any of that. It’s really about making a commitment to the folks here in 36, where, in particular, I was born and raised. I spent 50 years in Garfield and the last 11 years in Carlstadt. I know Bergen and believe me, I know Passaic as well because Passaic was the hub. Passaic was where we went as little kids. We did everything in Passaic.

When we take office next January, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to hit the ground running. Let’s get together all the elected officials, the new governor, the new lieutenant governor and make a new pact right away.

Do you think the Xanadu development was a good idea, after all the delays?

From the general population’s point of view, it is not attractive. That’s the first thing. You could say the visual’s most important because that’s what impacts you most. That’s what you see.

So you couple that with much of the space is not leased yet. The anchors have put off their openings, at least Cabela’s has until the fall of 2010. ... So you have a huge problem there because if there’s no rent coming in, that’s pretty bad. No rent equals no revenue.

The plan, at least as far as I understand it, was to create a destination. … But in the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce, their activities, the state’s tourism activities and even other local organizations, their activities in trying to market this area as a destination has been difficult. To get the folks across that river or come under that river has been difficult. You’re not getting people from Poland, Italy and Spain coming to the Meadowlands.

Then comes the list of all the public dollars that were spent on the egress, the interchange of 17 and 120, 3; the widening of 120 in East Rutherford, Carlstadt; the light-rail system.

What is your vision for the landfill property formerly operated by EnCap?

Those three towns should work collaboratively — Rutherford, Lyndhurst, North Arlington. And I don’t see why they can’t. Put the political stuff aside. Get the three mayors together, the council people, business-savvy people. They could collectively give their opinions, come up with a plan.

CARMEN PIO COSTA, 30, a Republican, works in commercial real estate for a family-owned and -operated business, where he performs property and office management. Pio Costa holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hartford in business with a concentration in accounting and finance.

Preventing EnCap?

I firmly believe that the jurisdiction should really remain with the towns. I’d like to see the towns have more say. They’re ultimately going to be providing all the services so they should be able to zone and have a say in what happens. I think something like mixed-use commercial … I think those would be good ideas for ratables and perhaps some other recreational-type things as well. … I think the state should hold its responsibility to finishing capping the landfill and preparing it to sell to turn it over to someone else.

If the towns that have the opportunity to zone it do what they like and then if it was sold to different people or one person, at least they’d know what they’re getting into. It’d be ready to go. The state would have fulfilled its obligation and then the towns could at that point see whatever built there that they like.

How will you be a good steward?

I think we could start by keeping our state aid steady.

Rutherford alone went down almost $200,000 in state aid this time, so I think that our current representatives, Fred Scalera and Gary Schaer, voted time and again to reduce state aid, and I think we should at least see that steady and see more fair distribution of the state aid.

In my opinion, arguably, we’re one of the best-located states in our country. We’re sandwiched between two of the largest cities in the country. And we should have the lowest unemployment rate, given our location. The reason we have the highest is because of onerous regulation, over-taxation and just a general unfriendly attitude toward business. And we need to turn that around. That’s how you create real jobs, not stimulus jobs. Stimulus jobs only last as long as the stream of money.

Public corruption legislation?

There was a dual office holding ban, but they grandfathered individuals in. I’d like to see an immediate dual office holding ban. I’d like to see the people that are currently still holding those offices to give them up because they foster corruption.

The second thing I’d like to see is we need to give serious consideration to legislators or mayors, any type of politician that is also holding another public position, because I think it allows, again, a toxic relationship of undue influence over another section of the government because of their elected position

Put forth legislation to call for a relinquishment of any benefits if convicted of a crime. … I think that’s the main thing — an immediate ban on dual office holding and a more scrupulous check on whether there’s any conflict of interest between one or more, if you’re an elected official holding another public job.

Was Xanadu a good idea?

I think the Xanadu project appears to be turning into something similar to what happened with EnCap. It looks to me like … everything is halted over there, and I know they don’t have it tenanted. I know they’re probably well below 50 percent, and they keep extending their anticipated opening.

I hope for the taxpayers’ sake, the project works out. Because if not, we’ll find ourselves in another year or two in the exact same situation, where millions upon millions of taxpayer money have been expended to redo the roadways, all the infrastructure that we paid for to put in place around that project will be for nothing other than a large, ugly, empty building. It seems to be another grand example of the government getting involved in doing development where they should leave it to someone who knows what they’re doing.

The issue is why are public dollars being spent to foster this development? That’s the problem. Again the taxpayer’s at risk. The taxpayer’s not getting the reward. I don’t think they’re collecting any part of the rent, so taxpayers should not be involved in that at all.

What is your vision for the landfill property formerly operated by EnCap?

My opinion is the state should finish doing whatever remediation and cap is necessary. I don’t know who actually owns it at this point. I thought the bank was going to foreclose on it, but I’m not sure if they’ve reverted back to the state. But, I think that it should be sealed and given local control over what happens there.

FRED SCALERA, 51, a Democrat, has been a state assemblyman representing the 36th district since 2003. He has a wife, one son, Eric, 11, and one dog. Scalera earned a fire code technology degree from Essex County College and recently completed his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Preventing EnCap?

Assemblyman Schaer drafted and wrote the EnCap legislation. He spent quite a bit of time on it and has much more financial expertise than I do, so he’s truly the lead on that as we do different bills where we’re better. He takes the lead. But I think it does have the teeth.

We just interviewed with the Philadelphia Inquirer a week or two ago and then that same question came up. And a couple statements I have is one, Assemblyman Schaer’s bill was modified when it got to the Senate and there were hostile amendments by a Republican senator, in fact, on the final day of the bill, even after it had been reduced. But will it help us? One-hundred percent.

From our district, this bill will completely protect the EnCap property. You hear the other side saying, ‘Well, it’s not going to protect this. It’s not going to protect that, the cities.’ Well, our concern? When Assemblyman Schaer originally drafted it, one is our district and then it’s also the benefit of the state. And I truly believe that in our district we are protecting the EnCap property and the towns that are included in that area.

How will you be a good steward?

I have to say this to you, I think Assemblyman Schaer and I, we have a very difficult district — three counties, three county governments, everything to deal with, three sets of freeholders — but if you were to look at what we’ve brought back in school aid, Open Space money, grants to municipalities, municipal aid, we’ve probably brought more back to this district, District 36, than any other district in the State of New Jersey.

If you just saw, we did Open Space funds. There’s over a million dollars in Garfield, over 2 million to Nutley between county and municipal on Open Space funding because there was a county park and a municipal park. When you look at what we’ve brought back in state aid, it’s almost second to none, and grants.

So, I think we’ve proven that we’re responsive to the community. Just last night I went to a DOT hearing in Rutherford to hear what was going on as a project. Assemblyman Schaer and I show up at all those, and we’re going to the next one. We showed up at a hearing on EnCap in Rutherford, and we’re going to Lyndhurst tonight to make sure we hear what’s going on on that project within our district.

We’ve assisted with the Boys & Girls Club in Garfield with a million dollars for the roof to save the club there. It might have faltered.

Just recently a dive truck in Wallington ... we’ve brought in money for all the volunteer fire companies that have been in Bergen.

We can go on and on, but I think that that’s proven that we’ve across the board made sure between the three counties and all of our towns that we have properly represented them, as well as with the EnCap legislation that was really the brainchild of Assemblyman Schaer.

And we’ve also done some legislation. It came out of Bergen County, and we want to protect children. Originally, there’s always been a law — you can’t sell drugs within 1,000 feet of a school zone.

Well, here in Bergen County they were selling prescription drugs within 1,000 feet of a school zone. Well, at that time prescription drugs weren’t considered illegal drugs so they couldn’t be charged.

The Bergen County prosecutor brought it to our attention, and we’ve now changed the law that whether it’s illegal or prescription drugs being sold illegally, they can’t be within 1,000 feet of a school zone, and that came out of Bergen County also. So I think we’ve been pretty responsive on most of those areas.

Public corruption legislation?

Well, first off, going to corruption and going to ethics, things that are illegal will always be illegal.

We did legislation, which I believe I was a co-sponsor on, that if an elected official is found guilty, it affects his pension and other funds.

We strengthened the penalties because, truly, if an official is going to do something wrong, there’s no way to stop him from doing wrong, but we can put penalties on afterward, and we’ve done that. It’s the same thing: there’s a law that says you can’t jaywalk, but how many people go to the crosswalk? But, a cop can give you a ticket outside the crosswalk.

We’ve strengthened you getting penalized afterward.

How we can tell a person sitting at a table, ‘It’s illegal to take money,’ and they’re taking money — so we can affect them afterward. It’s illegal to do this.

We affect them afterward. I don’t know what much more else we can do, except make the penalties more severe, which we’ve done.

Affect their pensions, which we’ve done. Everybody says, ‘We need to make the ethics law stronger.’ I think the laws are on the books.

People, once they’re caught, have to be penalized, and we’ve supported that, in making that tougher. I don’t think there’s much else I can totally say about that. If a person’s going to shoplift, they know if they get caught, they’re going to be arrested. We’ve now strengthened the laws to the elected officials and municipal employees and government officials that they’re going to be penalized. Will that stop corruption?

We haven’t stopped corruption in 100 years in this country. A person who used to steal a horse used to be killed if you stole a horse, and that didn’t stop stealing horses back then. And, of course, we don’t kill anybody for stealing a horse today, but that’s pretty much the largest thing I can say about corruption.

If you read all the indictments of the Legislature, that 44 — one out of South Jersey, as he was sitting across the table while they were taking him and they had him on camera, he was saying to the gentleman, ‘I have to be careful.

‘The legislator who sits next to me just got indicted for taking funds’ — as he was accepting the money over the table.

How we can ever stop that? I can’t give you that answer.

Was Xanadu a good idea?

First off, I do think the Xanadu development was a great idea.

Who knew that we would hit this economic situation that we’re in?

I don’t think anybody could have planned that.

When you look at what was planned at that facility, I’ll use a few.

The only other place with the indoor skiing was in Spain. We did a bill to have an aquarium in North Jersey, which would be tremendously the closest one to New York City and the only one in North Jersey.

And people say, ‘Well, why did you approve that?’ Well, you’ve seen the way gas has gone.

It used to be nothing when gas was $1 a gallon to send the bus down to Camden to the aquarium in New Jersey, but we fought for a school, for an education aquarium there. It’d be great.

They won’t have to spend the money for that bus and for those trips because a lot of school trips — because of the gas costs — have been cut down. So we have another one in North Jersey. It would be an entertainment destination.

The new light rail station’s going to bring you from New York City to the new rail station that’s out there.

People in New York can come out to it. People in New York are used to mass transit, not the cars.

They’d be able to come right out to it, use the facility, use the movies.

It’s good income for New Jersey, good use of the property. It would benefit some of the communities. We receive payments in lieu of taxes, which would also assist them. So, yes, I don’t think anybody saw the financial crisis coming that now has truly affected Xanadu.

I mean, if you go on the inside, all the stores, all the façades are there. If you go inside, it’s just studs behind it because, really, no store in today’s market wants to lay out all the money to outfit it inside and stock it unless they know they’re going to be able to recover from it.

And I think if you also look at that, you have to tie into that the new Giants stadium. The Giants bring a lot of money to North Jersey with their games, soccer games and the use there of the facility.

The agreement to get that done, we still had to do the roads, we had to do the rail station, so they were naturals then to have to do that and bring another venue to augment why it’s being built and used except for some football games alone.

And what Assemblyman Schaer and I are working on now, since we’ve built that new rail station there, we are facilitating meetings to try and get that used as a park-and-ride during the week. We have already had one meeting. We are working to set another meeting up with NJ Transit because the other alternative is this: people that are coming from the West (and I say it all the time and I’m from the Nutley side and it does have rail from Passaic), but I would say if you’re from Nutley and you go up to Belleville, Bloomfield, there’s no immediate rail to be able to come west.

They drive to get into the city or get on a bus. But if we’re going to eliminate some of the traffic — and if you saw the Bergen Record a couple weeks ago with the article about mass transit — if you’re coming down Route 80, 46, the first place you’ll be able to hit will be a park-and-ride at the Meadowlands.

The next thing you hit is Secaucus Junction. Now, for Secaucus Junction you have to take the exit for 109. If you’re getting off that exit, the traffic is phenomenal so I often say if I’m going to be driving that far to get to Secaucus Junction, I might as well drive through the tunnel because it’s going to take me longer to get to Secaucus Junction.

Secaucus Junction also is a private parking lot that costs a couple hundred dollars a month. The average cost to use a state-owned lot is $75 a month.

So, instead of having to get caught in traffic, we have new exits that are built off the turnpike, right into those lots.

We have the new exits that are going to be off Route 3 ... And what better way to help out residents? And it’s something that’s been built. ... If it wasn’t for the new Giants stadium and the projects of Xanadu, that discussion might not be happening to you either so there will be some long-term benefits, I think, as we move forward, and the economy comes back together.

What is your vision for the landfill property formerly operated by EnCap?

The baler in North Arlington, in what’s being done now through the Meadowlands Commission ... which is administrative ... they are working to try to open the baler back up in North Arlington for multiple reasons. One is it’s a facility that can still be operated and run.

Number two is it will bring income into North Arlington again.

So the Meadowlands Commission is working on opening the baler down there, which will be funds for the Meadowlands Commission, funds for North Arlington, and still good for the area. The landfill’s permanently closed, but the baler may be back open in that area, and that’s about $900,000 a year, I think, for North Arlington because North Arlington never had big tipping fees for their garbage and of course received revenue off of that, so it’ll be a good use back in our district, not contaminating the ground, not adding to the landfill, but a use that is still needed for the disposal of garbage.

GARY SCHAER, 58, a Democrat, is the vice president of Private Client Group, a financial services company. Schaer has served as an assemblyman since 2006. He is the current chair of the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, vice chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and vice chair of the Assembly State Government Committee. He is also the current council president of the City of Passaic. Schaer is married to a school principal in New York and has three children, a son, 32, who is a police officer, a daughter, 28, who is a nurse at St. Barnabas Hospital and a daughter, 23, who is studying watch making. He has an advanced degree in economics, financial theory, asset management and a bachelor’s degree from American University in political science.

Preventing EnCap?

The Record newspaper referred to this legislation as ‘landmark legislation.’ The Office of Legislative Services, which is a bipartisan group in Trenton that functions on behalf of both Republicans and Democrats, (obviously they were used in helping draft the bill), they refer to the bill as the best insurance policy for the voters in the State of New Jersey.

I’m also very, very pleased to be able to be joined with Assemblyman Scalera on the bill. The vote in the Assembly was 77-0. In the Senate it was 38-1. I’m proud that the minority leader in the Senate, the minority leader in the Assembly, both Republicans, the now-Chairman of the Republican Party statewide, who’s also an assemblyman, I’m proud that these Republicans joined with us in passage of the bill.

Could the bill be stronger? The answer is always yes, it can, but the bill sought and seeks to provide a careful balance, a balance on the one hand between business growth and development and on the other hand protecting New Jersey residents and taxpayers.

I think the bill has achieved that. Certainly the original bill was a bit stronger than the current bill is, but that’s part of the process, and I have no doubt that in future years, we’ll be strengthening the bill even further, but I think that we need to remember it’s ‘landmark legislation,’ that it’s legislation we can now build upon, that it’s never happened in the State of New Jersey, and as a result quite a number of feathers were ruffled.

I’m convinced that in the end, people will recognize — both businesses as well as individuals in the state — the State of New Jersey has got to be held to the same standards of good business that any business does.

And that’s exactly what this bill does. There are many aspects to the bill, obviously, but the most important aspect of this bill as far as I’m concerned, it not only encourages, but demands communication amongst all agencies, municipalities, the state, the county, etc. It demands that everybody be on the same page, that there be central coordination and cooperation, and that’s what was lacking in EnCap.

Obviously a number of other items to the bill, including a requirement that developers put in $1 for every $5 that the state puts in, requiring that they have skin in the game.

Will this prevent another EnCap? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that it will. Our three EnCap towns suffered. They suffered tremendously as a result of EnCap.

The best legacy that we can provide to those three towns, to their residents, to the 36th District and frankly to the whole state is to make sure it won’t happen again.

How will you be a good steward?

I’m looking over the check presentations we’ve done recently: a million dollars to Garfield, $500,000 for East Rutherford, $131,000 for Rutherford, $125,000 for North Arlington (that doesn’t include the $500,000 for Ridge Road that we got for North Arlington also). Also, obviously very pleased that AIG came to the table under a lot of pressure from the governor’s office, in terms of giving funds back to our three EnCap towns to try to make them a little more whole than they would be otherwise.

I think, I’ve got to tell you, I think the majority of the time Assemblyman Scalera and I spend is probably spent in Bergen.

Bergen is fundamental to our district. It’s a tremendous, tremendous community, nine communities, of course.

And we’re very honored to be able to represent South Bergen, and I think that we do a good job.

Public corruption legislation?

I think Assemblyman Scalera hit it totally on the head. We have passed, I think, every law that could be passed in terms of just making the penalties so absolutely, incredibly onerous for bribery, for corruption, for anything regarding government officials. The real issue that we have is that — and it’s no surprise — there is a culture of corruption in New Jersey.

I’m very proud, and I know Assemblyman Scalera is equally as proud, that in our years in the Legislature, as well as Sen. Sarlo, not one of us has even been impugned to have been involved in anything untoward.

You do as much as you humanly can. How we attack the issue of a culture of corruption, which seems to be prevalent in New Jersey, you strengthen the laws as much as you can, you look to give more ethics training courses to legislators, which we’re required to go through every year, and our staffs as well. You provide a careful review of all your financial records and how business is being done.

And, again, in mind of four years in the statehouse and my 16 years in local government and Assemblyman Scalera’s five, six years in the Legislature and 32 years in public service, I will tell you, I’m very proud that neither of us has even been accused of anything that would be considered immoral or unethical or illegal.

Was Xanadu a good idea?

Admittedly, I take a slightly different view of Xanadu. It occurred before I got to office, and like all of us it’s a reality, whether I like it or not.

The issue then becomes, ‘How does one make sure, to the greatest extent possible, that it will be a good thing versus a bad thing?’ It’s necessary to distinguish, I think, between Xanadu and EnCap for many, many reasons, not the least of which is that the state’s investment in Xanadu is infrastructure, the rail lines, roads, etc. But we’re not talking about the state having lent Xanadu money to build, and the taxpayer is not on the line, and that’s a great thing.

Hopefully, Xanadu will meet the promises that it originally offered, and those promises include lots of jobs, and we need jobs in South Bergen.

Too many of our people have been laid off as a result of the worldwide economic malaise.

We need more jobs. And our towns need more ratables.

And if Xanadu does half as much as they say they will, it will be helpful to all of our towns in terms of income, in terms of jobs and in terms of business growth.

But again, Xanadu, in similarity to EnCap, came before I came to office, before Assemblyman Scalera came to office. So we’re forced to do what everyone else does and that is live with it.

What we need to do now and what we’re committed to doing for our residents here in South Bergen, is to make sure that it’s the best project that it can be.

Again, to reaffirm, we were not there when Xanadu was decided upon, when EnCap was decided upon.

Our job is make sure that we can make things as good as we can get them to be, and I think our idea to utilize this as a park-and-ride becomes a net benefit to everybody concerned. And something that cost, frankly, quite a lot of money to build, can now serve two functions, two uses, and our people here in South Bergen can benefit from that, in terms of a commuter stop to New York.

What is your vision for the landfill property formerly operated by EnCap?

If there’s one lesson that we learned from EnCap, it’s that no town stands on its own, and especially in South Bergen where we have, in our district, nine towns that are very close together. It’s clear that what affects Rutherford is going to have a spillover effect in Wallington. What affects Carlstadt is going to also affect Moonachie. Frankly, what affects Wood-Ridge is going to affect Wallington. All of us are interrelated.

One of the lessons that I think we’ve learned from EnCap —and I think that all of our public officials in the three EnCap communities are committed — as we begin talking about the future of EnCap, the land, what it is, what it should be, it requires all of us sitting down together, talking about these items.

To build a massive development in East Rutherford is going to tremendously affect other towns, traffic-wise, parking-wise, needs for police and fire and everything else.

And I think that what we need to do, frankly, is to look to some regional authority that we can establish — we, meaning the towns, can establish — that will create an environment of conversation and discussion and cooperation, where we can achieve a unified vision amongst everyone for what to do with the area.