Expletive-laced argument leads to harassment complaint against Wayne councilman

A Passaic County Regular Republican Organization employee lodged a harassment complaint against a township councilman after a heated argument about campaign signs. The argument was recorded on multiple cellphones. 

Susan Enderly, a Wayne resident and PCRRO employee, was completing paperwork on Sunday at the organization's Wayne office when Republican Councilman Richard Jasterzbski entered. The two argued about campaign signs that had been removed from a window at the PCRRO headquarters at 1220 Hamburg Tpke., according to police reports.

In the video, recorded by Enderly and one of her daughters using cellphones, Jasterzbski is seen standing very close to Enderly, pointing at her while angrily making sexual comments and shouting expletives over five or six minutes.

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When reached for comment, Jasterzbski said the argument was rooted in political signs at the PCRRO headquarters that were removed and replaced by Enderly and her family. 

Jasterzbski said a sign for Wayne mayoral candidate Lonni Miller Ryan had been removed and replaced by one for Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who is on Tuesday's gubernatorial primary ballot.  

Volunteers had been in and out of the PCRRO headquarters on Sunday delivering campaign materials and going door to door, Jasterzbski said.

The office had been set up for work on Guadagno's gubernatorial campaign and displayed her campaign sign in the window, said Enderly, according to police reports. Later in the day, she said, the sign had been replaced with a sign for Miller Ryan, and was later changed back by one of Enderly's daughters, police reports show.

Miller Ryan is Wayne Township Council president and is challenging Mayor Chris Vergano in Tuesday's primary race. 

Miller Ryan, who is supported by Jasterzbski, said she had seen the video, but declined to comment. 

"One of the volunteers had come to me and told me that they saw [Enderly] remove the signs with her children from the inside of that office ... As a candidate, she has no business removing anybody’s campaign signs or literature from that office," said Jastrebzski. "When it was told to me that she removed those signs, I confronted her about that. That’s where the confrontation started.”

Enderly is a candidate for Republican state committee. Jasterzbski is a Republican state committee member.

The video of the heated exchange had been edited, said Jasterzbski, and was missing the beginning of the argument.

He said Enderly was the first to hurl an expletive, which wasn't captured on video.

During the exchange that was caught on video, Jasterzbski can be heard using expletives about 35 times. 

Vergano's campaign issued a statement about the video: "Following the revelation that Councilman Richard Jasterzbski used extreme vulgar and sexually crude language directed at Susan Enderly, the Vergano campaign demands that he step down from his post on Councilwoman Lonni Miller Ryan's mayoral campaign, and resign from the Wayne Township Council, immediately. This reprehensible, sexist, disgusting behavior is unacceptable for any decent person."

When reached for comment on the call to resign, Jasterzbski said he had no plans to step down.

"I represent the voters of the 1st Ward and I will continue to represent them until they don’t want me anymore," he said. Jasterzbski's council term expires in December 2019.

The complaint was forwarded to the Clifton Municipal Court judge for review to avoid a conflict of interest in Wayne.

The Clifton court administrator would not confirm the names in the complaint, but said the judge made a judicial determination of probable cause on a Wayne case this afternoon. The administrator said probable cause was determined electronically by the judge. 

The case now heads back to Wayne to do service of the complaint.

Ward 1 is in the south part of Wayne, bordering the Passaic River, Little Falls and Woodland Park, and is home to Willowbrook Mall.  

Attempts to reach Enderly and other members of the Township Council were unsuccessful.

Staff writer Tony Gicas contributed to this article.

Email: presinzanoj@northjersey.com