Leonard Inzerillo can’t seem to catch a break.
He ran a close Assembly race in 2003, coming within 244 votes of ousting Joseph Azzolina, despite getting virtually no financial support from the state Democratic Party. But his quest for a rematch fell short in 2005, when he was denied the party line and came in a distant third in the Assembly primary. And after failing to file ELEC reports for parts of his 2003 and 2005 Assembly races, he dropped his bid for Monmouth County Freeholder under pressure from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.
But you won’t hear Inzerillo blame anyone for his losses. Reports of his criticism of Scudiery and other members of the party leadership for not giving him any help were overblown, he said. Besides, he added, nobody expected him to beat Azzolina.
“Truth be told, if we had enough money to get another mailing, I think we could have won (the 2003 Assembly race),” said Inzerillo. But, he said, “You can’t spend good money against a perceived not-so-good race.”
Today, Inzerillo, a former Middletown Board of Education Member who’s in his 26th year as a fireman in Union City, is shooting higher than he ever has before, challenging five-term incumbent Joseph Kyrillos for State Senate. And, like before, he’s pretty much on his own and not considered to have a chance, though he says he’s getting some more help with press releases and research – if not money – from the state Party.
“Is it a longer shot than I had in 2003? Going into the 2003 election I was told that I didn’t have a shot either,” said Inzerillo, who acknowledged that it will be an uphill battle, to say the least, against someone as well known as Kyrillos. “Joe’s been there – Joe’s a likable guy by many. He looks the part."
And so he’s been out knocking on “endless” doors with his Assembly running mates Pat Walsh and Robert Brown. Enough that he can say that, had he knocked on this many in 2003, he would have won that election. And he’s raised about $15,000 so far – not bad, he said, considering he came so close in 2003 with under $30,000.
Much like his attitude towards fellow Democrats, Inzerillo has mostly gracious words for Kyrillos. Kyrillos is a good guy, he says, but he could do better. Indeed, many of Inzerillo’s campaign themes have recently been more often sounded by Republicans: stricter ethics reform, lower property taxes, changing the school funding formula.
Unlike Democrat Wasim Kahn, who criticized Joseph Pennacchio for mulling a U.S. Senate bid while in the middle of a State Senate race, Inzerillo doesn’t criticize Kyrillos for his job chairing Mitt Romney’s campaign in New Jersey – perhaps not something a candidate in a truly competitive race would have time to do.
“I don’t see him as someone that’s just going to take things lightly and shrug it off. I think Joe’s more of a serious type of guy. I think he’ll put his efforts towards the election,” said Inzerillo.
Just because Inzerillo came within a couple hundred votes of ousting a sitting Assemblyman four years ago doesn’t mean he has much of a shot of against Kyrillos, said Ingrid Reed, a political analyst at the Eagleton Institute. At the time, Azzolina was involved in a controversial development project in Middletown, which ultimately led to his GOP primary defeat to Amy Handlin two years later.
But the district does have an almost equal amount of registered Democrats and Republicans and, if the stars line up just right and Inzerillo wages an aggressive campaign, it might be worth watching.
“The Democrats have a formidable opponent but certainly don’t see a margin that would make a victory for them impossible,” said Reed.
But while Inzerillo says he’s running an earnest campaign against Kyrillos, the two have not engaged in a debate, nor do they plan to.
And although he’s been in the Senate for almost 15 years, Kyrillos said that he’s taking this challenge just as seriously as any.
“I take all elections seriously. It’s nobody’s birthright to serve in these offices and I take it as a privilege and an honor,” said Kyrillos.
