Former congressional candidate Frank Pallotta is publicly accusing Bergen County Republican leaders of sidelining Mahwah and attempting to control which candidates and officials appear before the local GOP club.
MAHWAH, NJ — A long-running dispute inside Bergen County Republican politics has broken into the open again, with former congressional candidate Frank Pallotta accusing county party leaders of interfering with the Mahwah Republican Club and discouraging candidates from engaging with one of the county’s largest Republican municipalities.
Pallotta, a former congressional candidate from Mahwah, published a lengthy statement criticizing Bergen County Republican Organization Chairman Vincent Durante, state Sen. Holly Schepisi and other county GOP figures following the Mahwah Republican Club’s September meeting.
The dispute centers in part on the club’s decision to invite Democratic Bergen County Clerk John Hogan to speak about election administration and voter integrity.
Pallotta said Hogan spent roughly 40 minutes answering questions and described the presentation as informational rather than campaign-oriented. He argued that inviting the county clerk was appropriate because Hogan’s office has direct responsibility for significant portions of Bergen County’s election process.
Bergen County’s official election information confirms that the clerk’s Elections Division is responsible for duties including candidate filings, mail-in ballots, ballot printing, election certification and tallying voting machines.
Pallotta Says County Leaders Objected to Hogan Appearance
According to Pallotta, BCRO leaders were unhappy that Hogan had been selected as the club’s guest speaker.
He alleged that the disagreement was less about Hogan’s presentation than about county leaders’ inability to exert influence over a Democratic elected official in the same way Pallotta claims they previously did with Republican speakers.
That is Pallotta’s characterization of the dispute. The statement does not provide independent documentation establishing why BCRO leaders objected to Hogan’s appearance.
Pallotta also disputed an assertion he attributed to Durante that a Democratic candidate for surrogate had been invited to the Mahwah meeting, saying no such invitation was issued.
Previous Speaker Dispute Also Raised
Pallotta pointed to a separate episode from October 2025 involving New Jersey Republican Party Executive Director Kate Gibbs.
According to his account, the Mahwah club had arranged for Gibbs to speak about the 2025 elections, but she subsequently withdrew after intervention from then-BCRO Chairman Jack DeLorenzo, Margaret Frontera and others.
Pallotta presented that earlier episode as evidence of a broader pattern of county party involvement in Mahwah club programming.
The statement does not independently establish what prompted Gibbs’ withdrawal.
2026 County Candidates Become Part of Dispute
Pallotta also criticized Bergen County Republican candidates for not reaching out directly to the Mahwah club.
He said the organization has more than 225 members and continues to hold regular meetings, arguing that countywide candidates should take responsibility for requesting opportunities to speak rather than expecting invitations.
“It’s not my job, to do your job,” Pallotta wrote, directing his comments at candidates seeking offices that include Mahwah within their constituency.
The Bergen County Republican Organization currently lists Timothy Walsh as its candidate for county clerk and Joseph Conte as its candidate for county surrogate, along with Todd Hennessey for county executive and John Dinice and Maria Soledad Laman for county commissioner.
Pallotta alleged that Frontera had previously instructed county candidates to “stay away” from Mahwah. The statement provides Pallotta’s account of that communication, but Shore News Network has not independently verified the instruction.
Mahwah Remains a Significant Republican Base
Mahwah occupies an important place in Bergen County Republican politics.
The Mahwah Republican Club describes the township as the largest municipality in Bergen County geographically and emphasizes its longstanding Republican base.
Official Bergen County election records show Mahwah had 19,322 registered voters for the November 2025 general election, with 11,012 ballots cast, a turnout rate of 57 percent.
Pallotta claimed the township has more than 6,000 registered Republicans and roughly 6,300 unaffiliated voters.
His broader argument is that candidates seeking county office cannot afford to ignore an organized Republican club in a municipality of that size.
Internal Party Tensions Extend Beyond Mahwah
Pallotta’s statement also targeted several current and former BCRO officials.
He accused former vice chair Margaret Frontera of attempting to control candidate access, criticized current vice chair Thomas Toscano Jr. over campaign activity involving another Republican candidate and sharply attacked Schepisi over what he characterized as efforts to police political relationships and social-media activity.
Those claims and characterizations come from Pallotta and represent his view of internal Republican disputes.
The BCRO’s current leadership page identifies Vincent Durante as chairman, Thomas Toscano as vice chair, Margaret Frontera as secretary and Kevin Klich as treasurer.
Schepisi represents New Jersey’s 39th Legislative District, which includes Mahwah and numerous other northern Bergen County municipalities.
Hogan Is Running for Reelection
The controversy also comes during an election year in which Hogan himself is seeking another term as county clerk.
Hogan is the Democratic incumbent, while Republican Timothy Walsh is challenging him in November.
That creates an additional political dimension to Hogan’s appearance before a Republican club, even though Pallotta said the county clerk did not campaign during the meeting.
“No politics, no spin, and no campaigning,” Pallotta wrote, saying Hogan simply answered members’ questions.
The county clerk’s office is one of three entities involved in Bergen County election administration, along with the superintendent of elections and the bipartisan Board of Elections.
Bergen Republicans Head Into Fall Campaign With Internal Friction
The public dispute arrives as Bergen Republicans move into the final stretch of the 2026 county campaign.
The BCRO says its mission is to elect Republicans at all levels of government and lists a full county ticket for November.
Pallotta, however, portrays the conflict with Mahwah as evidence that the organization is struggling with internal cohesion and local relationships.
He concluded his statement by accusing county leadership of repeatedly making poor political decisions and warning Durante that the organization faces continued difficulties if those internal conflicts are not resolved.
The BCRO had not been quoted in the material supplied by Pallotta responding to his allegations.