Political mischief

The 2019 general election loomed. On the ballot, was Democratic Middlesex Borough Mayor Ron DiMura, who was seeking his second term in office.

State investigators had already begun to ask DiMura difficult questions about campaign money. Voters were unaware of the mayor’s looming legal peril, so local Republicans had to map out a campaign strategy to unseat him.

For two Middlesex Republicans, it wasn’t enough for the GOP candidate slate to defeat DiMura and two Democratic Borough Council associates. The effort required political mischief, employing psychological tactics to get in the mayor’s head while embarrassing him publicly.

The GOP duo – John Erickson and Jason Carr – saw that strategy as warranted due to the mayor’s perceived misdeeds. At the time, Erickson was an officer in the Middlesex Borough Republican Organization. Carr was a sitting councilman, having won election in 2018.

Though neither Erickson nor Carr was on the ballot in 2019, they worked for the election of GOP mayoral candidate John Madden and council running mates Jeremiah Carnes and Jim Eodice.

Both Erickson and Carr now live out of state. Erickson and his family moved to Florida several years ago. Carr’s family relocated to Delaware.

“We were always thinking campaign and he was always thinking about something else,” Erickson said recently of DiMura, when asked to comment on the 2019 campaign. “We were also a team that vetted everything possible and looked under every stone.”

While doing so, Erickson and Carr identified two opportunities to inflict political embarrassment. One was the prior Democratic campaign web site. The other, an electronic billboard that sits atop a Union Avenue building once housing a video rental store and a workout gym. In fall 2019, DiMura lived in a duplex only yards away from that structure.

The Republican pranksters found that DiMura had not renewed the internet address previously used for the Democrats’ campaign website. So, the Republicans obtained it.

Next, material to post there was needed. A spoof Democratic campaign flyer was created. It poked fun at the alleged accomplishments of DiMura and his two council running mates. Middlesex voters were alerted to the parody via social media.

One of DiMura’s then-running mates – Kevin Dotey – is back on the ballot in 2023, endorsed by the Middlesex GOP to run for council. It proves once again that indeed, politics does make strange bedfellows.

The satiric mailer taunted DiMura and his running mates with bulleted items under four subheads:

• Promoting Fiscal Irresponsibility at the Expense of Middlesex Taxpayers

• Improving the Quality of Our Lies

• Taking Shameless Credit for Making Our Community Safer

• Investing in Ourselves

Four years later, Erickson still questions how the Democrats could have left their internet domain available for others to acquire. He sees it as an indication that DiMura was preoccupied with using campaign money for personal purposes, not political needs. Democratic expense reports filed with the state over multiple years show political donations used for numerous supermarket trips.

“It’s an example of DiMura being only concerned with cash going to ShopRite and not campaign items,” Erickson said.

The most visible 2019 prank endured for weeks on the electronic billboard. Its graphic was essentially the campaign mailer sent by Madden, Carnes and Eodice, including the GOP team’s slogan, “Integrity First.”

Carr recalls use of a billboard was his idea. It was executed by Erickson, however, who picked the specific location that was right outside DiMura’s home. It was paid for with campaign funds.

The intent was to not only have motorists and pedestrians view it as they passed. Erickson and Carr wanted DiMura to see it each time he exited or entered his home.

Carr credits Erickson as heading the GOP’s prank tactics. Carr served as an associate, helping with materials and strategy. “The quality improved and the amount of shade thrown walked the line between clever and outright calling them crooks,” Carr said.

A little more than a month after Madden and his running mates were victorious in the November 2019 election, DiMura was indicted. He was charged with laundering campaign money through a scholarship fund and bilking private investors. DiMura resigned in mid-December, weeks before his term was to expire.

Carr and DiMura ended up serving less than a year together on the municipal governing body. It was punctuated on the back end by the indictment. The front end got off to a rocky, contentious start.

During the 2018 campaign, Carr had posted on social media, noting public frustration over a resource officer not being hired for the borough schools.

DiMura asked to meet with Carr after he and GOP running mate Doug Rex won council seats. Shortly into the discussion, Carr recalls, the mayor pointedly warned the councilman-elect not to come after him verbally during future council meetings. If so, DiMura vowed to retaliate, according to Carr.

The two never had a heated exchange in public at a council meeting. Carr saved his ammunition for the 2019 campaign work.

Erickson’s last exchange with DiMura was public and memorable. He was among the audience members who spoke at a late October council meeting, only weeks before the mayoral election. Several alleged unethical activities by the then-mayor.

Erickson questioned DiMura’s use of the phone and laptop supplied to him by the municipality. He alleged the then-mayor had used them for political purposes, a violation of state law.

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