The 36th legislative district has seen the filing of four Republican candidates for State Assembly, in a difficult attempt to dislodge Democratic incumbents Clinton Calabrese (D-Cliffside Park) and Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).
U.S. Army veterans Chris and Craig Auriemma, twin brothers, are running for the legislature for the third time. Former Lyndhurst school board member Christopher Musto and Carlstadt Councilwoman Diane DeBiase will compete with them for the Republican nomination.
In 2021, Chris Auriemma ran against Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), losing by 14 points after receiving 43% of the vote. Sarlo defeated Auriemma by a margin of 23 points and 7,141 votes in a 2023 rematch. Craig Auriemma lost his 2021 and 2023 Assembly attempts by about 5,700 and 6,500 votes, respectively. DeBiase works at the Carlstadt public schools and has been a councilwoman since 2019.
Musto, who currently owns a public safety consulting business, spent more than 20 years working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Joseph Viso, the third candidate on the Auriemma and Auriemma slate, is not running. After a local disagreement in 2009, Viso pleaded guilty to spreading feces on the doors of an East Rutherford children’s childcare center, which hurt his last campaign. Viso expressed his anger at Barack Obama’s election to the presidency.
The fecal matter issue was only one item on Viso’s lengthy criminal past, which also included a history of financial difficulties and convictions on both federal and state drug and firearm crimes. In 2016, he entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute Methylone in U.S. District Court and received a three-year probationary term. Viso was accused of many narcotics violations in Carlstadt and East Rutherford in 2014, as well as possessing a sawed-off shotgun close to a school and carrying a firearm while committing a felony. He agreed to a plea bargain and acknowledged having a 4th-degree offense, a forbidden weapon, and a defaced handgun. In 2019, he received a two-year probationary term. When Viso reconnected an electric line after PSEG had removed it due to nonpayment, he was charged with first-degree burglary in 2010. According to records, he was arrested for heroin possession in 2013 and spent seven days in jail; nevertheless, he accepted a plea bargain and acknowledged using or possessing drug paraphernalia with the intent to use it.
Although a police report claims that a small stack of glassine bags containing heroin and two straws with powder residue on them were discovered inside a Sucrets tin in Viso’s car, Viso denied using heroin.
In 2023, the three Republicans raised around $30,000.
The 36th encompasses the city of Passaic in Passaic County and the towns of Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Fairview, Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, Wallington, and Wood-Ridge in Bergen County.
