Longtime official vows to clean house as mayor
Acropolis wants the job he lost by 184 votes to Scarpelli in 2005
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Camelot is over. That's Brick Township Council President Stephen C. Acropolis' message to voters. No more patronage jobs. No more unqualified people collecting township paychecks.

"Camelot" was the term some people used to describe Town Hall during the years former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli presided over Brick, Acropolis said.

Employees will be selected for positions based on their qualifications and experience, not their political affiliation, he said.

"The township has had a record of bypassing qualified women and putting in unqualified men," he said in a recent interview.

The former Democratic-dominated Township Council selected George Cevasco to serve as township clerk in 2000 although he lacked certification as a registered municipal clerk. The move bypassed current Township Clerk Virginia Lampman, who was assistant clerk when Cevasco was selected, Acropolis said.

Stephen C. Acropolis' Brick roots run deep. He is a lifelong resident. He graduated from Brick Township High School in 1975. He and his wife Wendy will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in December. Their five children went to Brick schools. They have four grandchildren and two more on the way.

"There's no better job in the world than to be mayor of the town you grew up in," he said. "I love this town."

Acropolis, a Republican who has served on the Township Council for 12 years, came agonizingly close to being elected mayor in 2005. He lost to Scarpelli by 184 votes out of almost 25,000 votes cast.

Scarpelli, who was elected to an unprecedented four terms as mayor, later went down in disgrace. He resigned suddenly last December for "personal reasons." One month later, he pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer.

Acropolis, 50, was the lone Republican on the Township Council for many years and Democrat Scarpelli's nemesis.

"I believe a lot of the employees knew what was going on," he said. "They were mad. They knew I was fighting against the system and they called me. I went to the prosecutor's office. I was attacked by the mayor and other council members as if I had just stabbed somebody in the back."

Some employees called Acropolis and told him they were ordered to do work for Scarpelli and some of his relatives, Acropolis said.

He said he knew what was going on during the 2005 election, but had to keep his mouth shut.

"I was told by the FBI to stop talking about the investigation, because it was hurting the investigation," he said. "When the FBI tells you to stop talking, you stop talking."

Acropolis is running against Mayor Daniel J. Kelly for the remaining two years of Scarpelli's unexpired term. Kelly, 66, was appointed by the GOP-dominated Township Council on Jan. 4 to replace Scarpelli until the November election.

Kelly, who has never held public office before, served as chairman of the Planning Board during the Scarpelli years. Acropolis has questioned Kelly's ties to the former mayor.

Kelly has said there were none and that he rarely saw or heard from the mayor during his time on the Planning Board. He stepped down as board chairman when he was appointed mayor.

"Had we known Joe Scarpelli was going to plead guilty to using his influence on the Planning Board, I don't know if I would have voted for Dan Kelly," Acropolis said. "I probably would have voted for someone else."

Anyone associated with the Scarpelli era "needs to go," Acropolis said.

"We need new blood," he said.

Acropolis faults Kelly for his lack of experience and says he has failed to act as a "strong mayor" as required by the Faulkner Act, the township's form of government.

"I have a vision for the town," he said. "I can bring a business acumen to the government in Brick that we have not had in a long time. As the mayor, I'll be able to get things done."

Part of Acropolis' vision includes the purchase of the 13.34-acre Ocean Ice Palace site on Chambers Bridge Road. He held a press conference in July to announce that the township was poised to purchase the Brick landmark for $5.2 million to use as a community center.

His critics have questioned the sudden press conference and Acropolis' longtime ties to the Brick Hockey Club, which uses the rink. His father-in-law is Robert Auriemma, president of the Brick Hockey Club for many years. Acropolis played Pee Wee ice hockey as a child, on Brick Township High School's hockey team and coached hockey as an adult.

"That township has been after that site every single year for many years," he said. "She (owner Joan Dwulet) never wanted to sell it and now she does. And when was it ever bad to be a volunteer coach or a volunteer board member in Brick Township?"

Kelly said in August that the Ice Palace purchase should have been put on the November ballot as a referendum question, so voters could decide.

"Do you do a referendum on a site that's going to make money?" Acropolis said. He (Kelly) should have bought up the referendum in January."

The township didn't have referendum questions on the Brick reservoir or the purchase of Windward Beach, either, he said.

"You have to be a mayor who can see what things will be like in the future, not just now," he said.

Kelly has also said he wants to see the final costs for a community center, not just the purchase price.

The residents will decide what goes on the site, which already has a revenue-producing ice rink, Acropolis said.

Acropolis made headlines last month when it was made public that he had a $27,516 federal tax lien on his Port Road home. The lien was placed against the home on June 25 and showed unpaid federal tax balances going back to 2002.

Acropolis said he made a $3,000 payment on what he owed earlier this summer, to keep it from becoming a lien. The lien was paid in full on Sept. 6, he said. It should not be a campaign issue, he said.

He has paid $105,539 in federal income taxes over the four-year period, Acropolis said.

"It's not an issue," he said. "Steve Acropolis has not cost the taxpayers one penny in anything I have done."

He also defends the council's decision to oppose Kelly's proposed 12.9 cent increase in the municipal purposes tax rate earlier this year.

The council trimmed the increase to a little over four cents by deferring school taxes and using more surplus.

"If you can defer school taxes, why wouldn't you do it?" Acropolis said. "You're either concerned with taxes or you are not. We should only raise taxes when we absolutely have to and 12 cents was too much."

Acropolis is an independent financial consultant for AIG Royal Alliance in Toms River.