CLARK — Clark’s longtime mayor Sal Bonaccorso will square off against Democratic challenger Michael Shulman next week.

Mr. Bonaccorso, who was first elected to serve as a Republican member of the Clark Township Council in 1996 before being elected as mayor in 2000, currently is facing state-level legal fraud charges related to his landscaping and underground-storagetank- removal company. The charges came on the heels of a multi-year investigation by the state Office of the Attorney General which originated when a series of racially-charged conversations between the mayor and several members of the township’s police department were recorded and released to the media.

The Clark Police Department has been under the supervision of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office since 2020.

Mr. Bonaccorso and his running mates — incumbent at-large council members Angel Albanese (currently serving as the council president), Jimmy Minniti and Bill Smith — are running on a platform that promises to fully fund the township’s police department, maintain low property tax rates, revitalize struggling commercial areas throughout the community and build upon the township’s existing recreation programs.

Mr. Shulman, an attorney and a frequent public critic of Mr. Bonaccorso, hopes to secure a four year term as the township’s first Democratic mayor in more than 20 years.

Mr. Shulman is joined on the ballot by running mates Bill Grzyb, Mary Cortazzo Semler and John Greaves, who are running on a collective platform based on fiscal responsibility, municipal term limits and governmental transparency.

All candidates are seeking four year terms.

Five candidates — incumbents Robert Smorol and Dino Bencivenga and challengers Thomas Maye, Jared Preiss and Seamus Patrick O’Toole — will be vying for three, three-year terms on the Clark Board of Education. Mr. Maye, Mr. Smorol and Mr. Bencivenga are running under the campaign slogan “traditional values”; Mr. Preiss’ slogan is “committed to education” and Mr. O’Toole’s is “Parents Know Better.”