A Conversation With Joe Signorello
"fuck it, if these guys aren't gonna do the right thing, then I'll do the right thing"
Joe Signorello III, the mayor of Roselle Park, New Jersey (population 14,000) announced a primary bid against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez yesterday morning. Primary School had a chance to talk with him about his campaign, the state of New Jersey politics, and the scandal-tarred senator he’s challenging. The full interview transcript is available to subscribers below the paywall, but of course we’ll put some excerpts in front of the paywall, using dividers to separate between each excerpt.
[We asked an introductory question, but lost the exact wording of the question thanks to yours truly fumbling with the recording; thankfully we got Mayor Signorello’s answer clearly recorded.]
Signorello: I’ll just run through my story real quick and then I can talk about why I’m running. Grew up in Jersey, left the state for a bit, was living in New York—I actually spent some time overseas. My mom is fresh-off-the-boat Italian, if you will, so I have an Italian passport through her. So I worked in Europe for a bit. Donald Trump won, I really hated that, so I moved back to my hometown. The town was Republican, so I actually got my start here, flipped it from red to blue, and then I just won my second term.
PS: Republicans had Roselle Park? Sorry, I-
Signorello: Roselle Park is a town.
PS: No, I’m from Scotch Plains, I know.
Signorello: Oh really? No shit, that’s funny.
PS: I think we’ve actually ran into each other at an event or two where I was a lowly grunt intern.
Signorello: That’s alright man! I’ll be honest with you, I hate political events with a burning passion. I feel like they always end up being everybody kissing ass, looking for attention from each other, so I try to avoid them or like, get in and get out.
PS: Yeah, that’s kind of why I don’t work on campaigns anymore, because I realized that I hate staffing fundraisers.
Signorello: It’s gross! It’s gross! It sucks! Look, I think good politicians are awesome. I think in New Jersey there’s a lot of ickiness to it, and bringing it full circle, right, like—I actually, put the federal investigations aside with Menendez, I actually really lost my taste for him doubly last year, when his son [Rob] magically became a congressman without any real competition. I kind of have had it in mind for a while that this is something I wanna take on, because I just think he’s—look, there’s a couple policy things that I think differentiate us, but the main reason why I feel compelled to get in this is nobody’s really stepped up to challenge what I think is kind of an embarrassment to our state and our party. If you think about the stereotypes of New Jersey, it’s like—somebody with a lot of baggage, linked to corruption, and this guy can’t shake that off, right? And I think we deserve better, to be honest with you.
PS: I’m kind of editorializing here, but when you think of New Jersey politics, you think of Bob Menendez, and that’s not a good thing.
Signorello: No! And the sad part is—I think people overestimate how corrupt the system is. I think there’s a lot of good people doing good things in the state. Quite frankly I wish we could do more. A lot of times I don’t think it’s people that are bad, I think they just—they’ve been doing it for a while, they’ve been in the system for a while, and they don’t know what else it looks like. But I think the only way to start changing that is—it starts from the top, in a certain way.
PS: It’s inertia, almost.
Signorello: Yeah. I compare it to another state, like Minnesota and Al Franken. It’s a little bit apples and oranges, right? He was clearly caught with pictures making wildly inappropriate gestures with female soldiers. And he stepped down. And I would argue he made the right call by stepping down, doing the right thing for the state and the party. We have a guy who literally was censured by the Senate, which hasn’t happened in ages. [Note: Menendez was publicly admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for violating ethics rules, but not censured by the full Senate.] Investigation over investigation over his head, and a million different other accusations, and he still stands because, oh, it’s New Jersey, we stay in line, we support our guy. It’s gross, it’s bad.
PS: He chairs a committee again, but during the first investigation [Senate Democrats] sidelined him and took away that committee job.
Signorello: So that’s the thing, right? Policy-wise I think Cory Booker does an alright job—there are things I wish he was a little bit stronger on, but, you know, he represents the state well and he’s got a good position in the Senate. As one of the bluest states, to have one of our guys sidelined for ethics issues? It’s just embarrassing, there’s no other way I can put it.
PS: It’s been odd for years that he’s the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, because he’s not in line with most of his colleagues on those issues.
Signorello: Yeah, he’s kind of a hawk!
PS: When he first got investigated, he told the press he thought it might be North Korean or Cuban spies engineering his prosecution, and I am happy to send you a link, because he actually did say that. [He said it was Cuban spies, and actually asked the FBI to investigate.]
Signorello [stifling laughter]: If you’d be so kind as to send me that link, I appreciate it, but my official stance is no comment on that.
PS: You alluded to this earlier, but you said you’re expecting retribution and recriminations for stepping out of line. Have you already gotten a taste of that?
Signorello: I would actually say the response on the whole has been pretty positive. Behind closed doors, I think people are like—they’re not the first one to go out and throw somebody under the bus, but they’re like “we get this and I kind of understand why you’re doing this.” There have been a couple disappointing conversations where I’ve had people have really come at me, not publicly, just personally not happy with what I’m doing. I don’t know. I think for whoever’s potentially reading this, if they’re smart, they won’t try that, because I’m gonna be very transparent throughout all this. If Roselle Park is impacted by some service, doesn’t get the service that we used to get, I think it’s a pretty clear indication of how shitty the system can be, and part of what I’m fighting against, right? So if somebody wants to bring about retribution for me stepping out of line, be prepared to have a spotlight on whatever you think that retribution is. I think there will be some attempt at it if somebody thinks this is a serious candidacy. My guess is I don’t think people are gonna take me seriously until they have to.
PS: I mean, that retribution has been promised by Menendez himself—
Signorello [stifling laughter]: Oh yeah, what was it, “To those who—”
PS: Literally, I wanna read that one Menendez quote into the transcript. “To those who were digging my political grave so they could jump into my seat, I know who you are and I won’t forget you.” And that’s an actual quote. He sounds like a fucking mob boss! Sorry.
Signorello: That’s okay! If he was looking into the future and seeing Mayor Signorello, you know—he’s talking to a feisty little Italian from New Jersey. I don’t back down from threats. You’re only gonna get me more pissed off. But yeah! I don’t know, I think that it’s a shame it’s even a discussion. It’s really embarrassing. We’re the Democrats here, when the other party has gone loony—and they have—we’re supposed to be the paragon of good government. So the fact that in one of the bluest states, we’re talking about somebody taking names and remembering them, like this is some kind of gangster Chicago movie, like—what world do we live in now? It’s 2023. Let’s move on.
PS: What do you think your path is to the nomination, and what are your next steps after your launch?
Signorello: I think the benefit of doing this as an existing mayor who’s ran for state senate before is like—I know how to work within the confines of the machine, right? I’m going to reach out and try and get the line—I’m gonna talk to all the county chairs, I’m gonna talk to all the municipal chairs, I’m gonna try and get the endorsement of every town and county I can when it comes to Democratic Party [committees]. Do I think I’m gonna get them all? Definitely no. I think the game right now is to start reconnecting with some of those people, especially those who are brave enough to talk to me, and fundraise. I think when I was running for state senate I had to fundraise to prove that I can spend against Jon Bramnick. When I’m running statewide I need to fundraise to make sure that I have the people to reach South Jersey and North Jersey and all these counties outside of Union County, where my base is. So it’s really focusing on fundraising, it’s gonna be a lot of small-dollar fundraising because I think a lot of the larger players are not gonna get involved in this. I think it’s also—I’ve gotta do it fast, right? One of the things I’ve heard about my campaign is, “Oh, well, Mayor, we see why you’re doing this, but you’re just setting the table for someone else to do this.” And maybe that’s the case. Maybe somebody else with more money and more name recognition than me comes in the race. But whoever does that, I’m gonna tell them—my case is gonna be exactly what I’ve been saying: “You’ve kept your mouth shut for the longest time on this, and you’ve had a position of authority, and I don’t know if you have the moral authority to come and be the saving grace here, I really don’t.”
PS: That’s understandable—the first Bob Menendez allegations were what, like ten years ago?
Signorello: Right! In his defense, some of them, I’m sure, were Republican conspiracy theories. I’m not gonna go down the Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole. That’s just dirty politics. Those have been discounted. But these improper gifts that he’s accepted, happened during, at the very least, I can remember it six years ago during the last primary. It’s not like this is new news, guys!