Harry Pappas

1977 State Senate campaign

In 1977, Pappas became the Democratic candidate for State Senator in New Jersey's 22nd district, which included Rahway, Plainfield, Scotch Plains, Berkeley Heights, and Mountainside. He challenged Peter J. McDonough, a popular first term Senator and Republican from Plainfield, who survived the 1973 Democratic Watergate landslide. McDonough easily defeated Pappas, 28,669 to 22,032—a margin of 6,637 votes.

He became Acting Director of the Union County Department of Central Services in March 1989, at an annual salary of $58,000, but within a few months he was terminated for lacking proper job qualifications. Pappas filed a lawsuit against six Democratic Freeholders, including three who presently serve in the New Jersey State. His job was eventually restored.

Party switch

In 1991, Pappas announced that he was switching to the Republican Party. Phillip Keegan, who was then serving as Democratic State Chairman, told The (Newark) Star-Ledger: "I wish the Republicans the best of luck with Harry. They deserve him." And longtime Democratic National Committeewoman June Fischer said of Pappas' party switch: "It's our gain and their loss."

A Democratic insider said that "Pappas is the kind of guy who could switch to the Socialist Workers Party and convince them to name him as their Union County Chairman. Within three months, he would be involved in a scheme to kick out the other two members of the organization."

Pappas became a candidate for the Springfield Township Committee in 1991. Helped by a massive backlash against then-Democratic Governor Jim Florio’s $2.8 billion tax hike, Pappas won by a narrow 65-vote margin. It was his first election to public office. He took office in January 1992, and by June he had already divided the local Republican organization in a very public split with Republican Mayor Phil Kurnos, a 73-year-old grandfather, told The Star-Ledger: "Pappas wants to control Springfield. In August, Pappas asked the local Republican organization to "banish" Kurnos from the party. The following year, Pappas asked the Union County Prosecutor to investigate Kurnos for allowing the family of the local board of education president into the township pool on opening day, and for hiring his grandson as a summer lifeguard.

Union County Prosecutor Andrew Ruotolo wrote back to Pappas that his office has more important things to do than to worry about Springfield's swimming pools. "I cannot and will not allow my office to become mired in the bog of political infighting that appears to be based largely upon rumor, speculation and innuendo," Ruotolo wrote to Pappas. ... Pappas became a candidate for the Republican nomination for Union County Freeholder, and won a majority of the votes of the screening committee members for the third spot on the GOP ticket, along with incumbents Linda DiGiovanni and Linda Lee Kelly. A special meeting of the County Committee was held after the filing deadline and Pappas lost that vote by a margin of more than 2-1. Union County Republican Chairman Frank X. McDermott wrote Pappas asking him to drop out of the race, but Pappas declined to do so. Running on the organization line, Pappas defeated a poorly funded Louis Santagata in the GOP primary. But Pappas ran more than 2,000 votes behind his two running mates countywide. In Springfield, Pappas defeated Santagata by just eighteen votes, 322-304.

A few weeks after the primary, a Superior Court judge ordered Pappas to pay Union County $264,000 in legal fees spent defending the county on his failed lawsuit. Pappas was unable to satisfy the judgment, claiming that business problems left him without any funds. Personal financial records supplied to the court show that Pappas had no assets other than his Springfield home, which was worth $200,000 but had two mortgages on it, and that he had made early withdrawals from his IRA. Pappas sought to settle the case, saying he could afford to pay only $17,000, but the Union County Freeholder Board turned him down.

Pappas was beaten badly in the general election by Linda Stender. Pappas ran sixth, with just 59,379 votes. In Springfield, Pappas also finished last, losing by 1,300 votes and running 700 votes behind his GOP running mates.

Despite his landslide defeat, Pappas announced in February 1994 that he was considering another bid for Freeholder. But few Republicans took him seriously, and in April announced that he wasn't even running for a second term on the Township Committee.

In 1995, McDermott contacted newly elected Essex County Executive James Treffinger about a job for Pappas in his new administration. With Treffinger's help, Pappas became the Purchasing Agent for the Essex County Utilities Authority.

He left in 1997 to become the Deputy Executive Director of the Union County Utilities Authority, but was fired when the agency went private in 1998. Pappas again responded by filing a lawsuit, which was dismissed. He returned to Essex County in 1998 as a Labor Project specialist.

During the spirited contest for Union County Republican Chairman in 1998, Pappas had his feet planted firmly in both camps, and, overstated his value to each side. Pappas was a longtime ally of incumbent McDermott, but also attended meetings at the home of Union Township Republican Chairman Anthony DiGiovanni, Linda DiGiovannis’ husband, who was running against the incumbent.

Pappas sought a political comeback in 1998, running for a seat on the Springfield Board of Education. He ran a campaign that was typical of Pappas but atypical of local school board races, with a negative message and, to a certain extent, scare tactics. But Pappas was soundly defeated, finishing a distant fifth in a field of five candidates. In May 2000, Pappas was appointed to the $79,000-a-year position.

n May 2000, Pappas was appointed to the $79,000-a-year position of Essex County Purchasing Director. That year, he backed Treffinger for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate against Union County favorite-son Bob Franks, and Assemblyman Joel Weingarten for Franks’ seat in Congress. Treffinger and Weingarten each finished third in Springfield.

During the recent feud between Treffinger and Kevin J. O’Toole, published reports say that Pappas had agreed to deliver Union County Republican delegates to Treffinger in a special election for the Senate. In exchange, the same sources say, Treffinger had agreed to back Pappas for the State Assembly in a primary against O’Toole. A Republican close to O’Toole said that Pappas has worn out his welcome in Essex and that he is not a factor in the race to succeed O’Toole in the Assembly. His campaign, one Essex County Republican insider says, is simply posturing for a patronage job, and that Pappas feels that the longer he stays in the race, the higher his price will become.

In 1999, McDermott asked Pappas to assist Republicans in an uphill battle for Union County Freeholder. Pappas put out a campaign mailing that listed all the Union County vendors and what they contributed to the Democratic Party. But some of the vendors whose names appeared on the list also donated to the Republicans and took issue with Pappas' mailing. As a result, some of those vendors cut off the already cash starved Union County Republicans from further campaign donations.

Pappas recently left his position in Essex County to take a job with the New Jersey Department of Labor. His dependence upon the political fortunes of Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco is ironic, especially since Pappas was prepared to be one of the lone Union County Republicans to support another candidate. Pappas, sources say, had committed to join Treffinger is backing Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler for the Republican nomination for governor when a supposed deal was cut between Treffinger and Schundler a year ago.

Party activists from both sides say that for 25 years Pappas has boasted of his relationship with former PresidentJimmy Carter, claiming that he was an early supporter of Carter’s bid for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination and that he served as a frequent advisor to the President. But according to the Carter Library, which keeps detailed records of Carter’s minute-by-minute movement in the White House, Pappas saw Carter only once during his presidency. On June 29, 1979, President Carter’s schedule shows that the President participated in a “photo opportunity” with Pappas and Rajoppi, then a candidate for the New Jersey State Senate. The session began at 2:00 PM and ended at 2:02 PM, according to White House records. So Pappas’ closeness to Carter may have allowed him to spend exactly 120 seconds with the President during his four years in the White House.

Last year, Pappas personally contacted an employee of PoliticsNJ.com in an effort to determine what he could do to make this website’s Power List, of the one hundred most politically powerful people in New Jersey politics. Pappas is the only individual to campaign for a spot on the list.

One top Union County Democratic leader, in an e-mail to PoliticsNJ.com, said: “There are so many Harry stories floating around that its impossible to pick. Frankly none of them are particularly nice, and I suspect that at least 99% of them are true. But, alas, I know the man."