Roselle Democratic chairman says a borough vehicle was used for campaign activity

In Roselle, a political clash over a photograph of a borough vehicle has reopened long-simmering questions about the misuse of taxpayer dollars, police accountability, and the criminal past of the town’s mayor.

The dispute began when Bishop Reginald W. Atkins, chairman of the Roselle Democratic Municipal Committee and a former assemblyman, posted an image on social media showing what he claimed was a government vehicle used for campaign activity on a Saturday evening in a residential neighborhood.

“Taxpayer resources are for public service — not politics,” Atkins wrote. “If this is acceptable… what else is? We need answers. And we need accountability.”

Atkins’ wife, Cynthia Pryor Atkins, is a candidate for borough council in the June 2 Democratic primary election.

Mayor Donald Shaw responded with a forceful denial, posting a statement that included what appeared to be backing from Police Chief Helder Freire, who was appointed by Shaw after Stacey Williams was illegally fired, only to be reinstated at appeal.

Shaw insisted the vehicle was an unmarked police car on routine patrol, stopped at a traffic light at East 3rd Avenue and Linden Road.

He accused Atkins of deliberately circulating a false claim and labeled the act a dangerous escalation of political discourse.

“Sharing misleading information about an unmarked police vehicle actively engaged in patrol is not harmless,” Shaw wrote. “It puts officers and ongoing operations at risk.”

But Shaw’s denial rests on a shaky foundation. Freire’s appointment as police chief was ruled illegal by a judge, a fact Shaw did not mention.

Whether Freire had any authority to issue a statement on behalf of the department remains an open legal question.

The Roselle Police Department, in a written message attached to Shaw’s post, appears to have affirmed that police vehicles are never used for political campaigning and that the department remains strictly neutral.

But the credibility of that assurance is shadowed by the unresolved status of its purported chief and the absence of any document like the one pictured in Shaw’s denial from the municipal website or another one maintained by the police department.

Shaw singled out Atkins by name, saying the former councilman and assemblyman “should know better” and that his conduct is “deeply alarming.”

He called on appropriate authorities to review whether any laws, policies, or ethical standards were violated. “THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE,” Shaw wrote in all capital letters.

Yet for many residents, the mayor’s outrage rings hollow given his own record with municipal vehicles and taxpayer dollars.

Documents obtained by News 12 New Jersey in January 2023 showed that Shaw, while using a borough-owned car, racked up nearly $5,000 in E-ZPass violations over two years.

Those tolls were incurred at the Goethals Bridge, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and the Lincoln Tunnel during a series of trips to New York City. One violation was for $66 at the Goethals Bridge on March 26; another at the Lincoln Tunnel in April, also for $66. Four violations from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on a single day totaled $220.

The mayor caused taxpayers to pay the fines, but the pattern of travel raised questions about why a Roselle official was making so many trips to New York.

Shaw’s history in New York is more troubling.

After Shaw tried to sell heroin to undercover New York City police officers, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, a felony under New York Penal Code § 220.39.

Shaw was sentenced to three years in prison at Rikers Island and probation. The case was docketed as New York Supreme Court Docket Number N13014-89.

Despite that conviction, Shaw later became the borough recreation director in Roselle.

Sources with direct knowledge of the events say Shaw refused to submit fingerprints when he was hired because he knew a background check would reveal his criminal record. That information emerged only after a civil rights complaint from another employee.

Shaw works for the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation, earning a salary of over $85,000.

Councilwoman Cynthia Johnson previously discovered a taxpayer check for $4,952 made out to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and signed by Shaw to cover those E-ZPass violations.

The trips traced a path across bridges and tunnels back to the city where he had been convicted of selling heroin.

Residents are not letting the current controversy pass without comment.

Florence J. Saunders, an 88-year-old Democrat from Roselle, said, “With the price of gasoline, they use our tax dollars. What happened to walking door to door in Roselle?”

Michele Bono Alcamo was more direct. “Nothing in this borough surprises me anymore,” she said. “Corruption at its finest. I’m still trying to find out if the taxpayers footed the bill for a new vehicle for Donald and gave his to (Denise Wilkerson, who was hired as a $130,000 assistant business manager after her re-election to the council was rejected by voters).”

Wilkerson is the campaign manager and treasurer for First Ward Councilwoman Isabel Sousa, who is being challenged by Atkins’ wife, Cynthia Pryor Atkins.

Alcamo said her messages seeking answers have been seen but never answered.

Ironically, Shaw used the theme song from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to promote an April 22 event he had hosted to support Sousa and Third Ward candidate Cecilia Dallia Ricks.

Former Councilwoman Sylvia Turnage said Shaw, Wilkerson and the candidates they support have even campaigned in clothing that the taxpayers paid for.

George Glick, a retired Roselle public works employee now living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, called the entire episode a “waste of taxpayers’ dollars.”

The backdrop to this fight includes a 2021 audit by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller that found Roselle failed to properly monitor municipal vehicles assigned to employees.

More than 40% of miles logged on those vehicles occurred outside the borough. The comptroller’s office continued to monitor the town after finding that, while a log was established, previous policies did not require employees to document trips or mileage, leaving the system vulnerable to abuse.

Shaw ended his denial with a plea for trust.

“We serve. We protect. We stay neutral,” he wrote.

But for a town that has watched its mayor pay thousands in fines for personal use of a municipal car, that conviction for selling heroin, and a police chief whose appointment a court struck down, the photograph of a government vehicle on a Saturday evening has become a Rorschach test of a deeper truth.

The question Atkins posed remains unanswered: If this is acceptable, what else is?