Woodbridge Council Candidate Says Mailman Ripped His Signs Down

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Update: The U.S. Postal Service responded when asked by Patch if they were looking into this and said the mailman was "performing his job."

The USPS also seemed to imply some of Masculin's mailings were being put in mailboxes without the required paid-for postage.

"The carrier was performing his job and properly followed existing guidelines governing how to handle such mail matter," said a USPS spokesman. "There are federal regulations governing the use of mailboxes to protect the sanctity and security of mail. The use of a customer’s mailbox is restricted to ensure its integrity."

"As reminder, anyone else seen accessing a mailbox, other than their own, should be reported to local law enforcement or the Postal Inspection Service. Items placed in mailboxes without postage, retrieved by postal personnel, are returned to sender," said the USPS.

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One of the Republican candidates for Woodbridge town Council, John Masculin, said he witnessed a U.S. mail carrier tearing down his campaign fliers and signs.

Masculin said this occurred at 11 a.m. last Tuesday, Oct. 19 while he was putting up campaign signs in Avenel; he cannot recall on what street. Masculin is the Republican running to unseat longtime Third Ward Avenel Councilman Cory Spillar, a Democrat.

Masculin posted photos of this Sunday on his Facebook page.

"I was hanging my campaign signs up; I know I cannot put them inside mailboxes but you can put them everywhere else — I was putting them on front doors, railings," said Masculin. "And all of a sudden I see this mail carrier taking them down, tearing them down. Nobody is supposed to touch campaign mailers. They were not impeding with the U.S. mail."

This comes the same week campaign signs were stolen in Edison: The uncle of the Democrat likely to win the Edison mayoral race, Sam Joshi, is accused of tearing down rival campaign signs. The uncle, Rajendra Joshi, 71, has been charged with theft by the Middlesex County Prosecutor.

Prosecutors say he took down the campaign signs of Republican candidate Keith Hahn. Sam Joshi called the incident a "minor misunderstanding." Read the Edison story: Edison Mayor Candidate's Uncle Charged With Campaign Sign Theft

Masculin said when he confronted the mail carrier, he told him "I can do whatever I want; Cory said I can do it."

"He just said Cory," said Masculin, who said he filed a complaint with the Avenel Post Office on Rahway Avenue. "I don't want Cory to think I'm disrespecting him. But when people spend time and money on fliers, nobody should touch them. Put the fliers up and let the best person win."

Spillar denied any connection and also said Masculin has no proof.

"I have more important things to address than all three of Mr. Masculin's signs. And his door knocker where he does not even know how to spell the word 'resident,'" said Spillar. "I haven't had any contact with this mail carrier and I actually haven't seen him in weeks, to the point where I was worried about his well-being."

"It's the silly season and we have seven days to go. We all know how this going to end," said Spillar, referring to the fact that election day is next Tuesday, Nov. 2.

This is Masculin's first time running for Woodbridge town Council. He ran last year as a Republican for Middlesex County Freeholder and lost, but received a sizable 136,000 votes, a record among GOP candidates.

Woodbridge is a majority Democrat town; Middlesex County is a Democratic stronghold of New Jersey.

Masculin is running with a group of Republicans this year on the platform that Mayor John McCormac and his allies are turning Woodbridge into a city, with many new high-rise apartment buildings going up. McCormac and his team maintain that Woodbridge is a nice place to live and raise a family. Read a Q&A with all the 2021 candidates here: Meet The Woodbridge Council Candidates: Why They Want Your Vote

Current Councilmembers Nancy Bader Drumm, Howie Bauer, Spillar, Viru Patel and Debbie Meehan are asking voters to re-elect them.

The Republicans running are John Vrtaric, Paul Lund, Masculin and Rocco Genova.

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