Politics & Government

Zapolski Promotes Outsider/Insider Status in County Clerk Bid

Attorney looks to unseat three term incumbent.

Republican Arthur Zapolski is trying to walk a tightrope in his race for county clerk, promoting his status as an outsider with his status as an insider.

Zapolski is seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent Joanne Rajoppi, who has served as clerk for 15 years and held the predecessor office of county register for 12. At the same time he is noting that as an attorney he works with the clerk's land records preservation division on a regular basis.

"Joanne has been there for 27 years, that's a full generation," he said. "That is an awfully long time to have one viewpoint in the office. It's never good to have one viewpoint to dominate for that time. What I bring is unique in that I am an outsider and a user of the system."

Zapolski faces an uphill challenge in the county clerk's race. Rajoppi is the highest vote getter in county history and faced her last tough race in 1995 against former acting County Clerk Peter O'Keefe. Five years ago, her opponent, Plainfield Republican Chairwoman Sandy Specter barely campaigned. 

While Specter was a rare sight during her bid, Zapolski has emerged as a frequent campaigner around the county. This is his second bid for countywide office, having lost a bid for county surrogate last year.

Zapolski said he wants to enhance the core work of the county clerk's office in recording and preserving deeds and mortgages. In this area he would like to place a calculator on the clerk's office website for the calculation of real estate transfer fees in order to provide a better cost analysis to residents. In addition, he places to place a calculator on the office's website for the calculation to obtain land use records on a per page basis. 

With Rajoppi touting her work in bringing technology to the land recording process in the county, Zapolski said he wants to conduct an analysis of the technology used to ensure it is in the best long-term interest of the county.

"Whatever we do technologically today has to work tomorrow and next year," he said. "It can't be so tied to today's technology that upgrades don't work."

He said he would like to allow for more electronic filings of deeds and mortgages to save time for consumers and attorneys in the process. He said he believes this would be a way for the county to upgrade the technological offerings of the office.

Zapolski pointed to his work in the Air Force Reserves in implementing technology programs and said this will help him in that area.

Zapolski touted his experience in the Reserves, in other ways as well, including the county clerk's role in issuing veteran identification cards. Other county veterans services are run through the county Department of Human Services, which reports to the freeholder board.

If elected, Zapolski said he is prepared to work with a Democratic majority on the freeholder board in order to accomplish his agenda in the clerk's office. He said he background as a Republican working as a legislative aide to a Democratic state legislator in Texas early in his career give him the bipartisan background which would allow him to navigate the political situation in Elizabeth.

"I have no axe to grind," he said. 

Zapolski said he wants to expand the county clerk's role in education, including bringing in an intern from Union County College's paralegal program to work in the office and provide assistance to residents. He said he has entered into preliminary discussions with UCC officials, who he said have expressed interest in the program. He said one requirement would be to have an attorney supervise the intern, which he said can be done given his status as a licensed attorney.

Zapolski said he will work to ensure integrity in the elections process if elected. The county clerk is responsible for parts of the election process, including issuing absentee ballots, designing ballots and counting votes. He said he has been studying past election issues in the county and is prepared to run elections.

Zapolski said he wants to make sure people can trust him if they choose to change county clerks.

"I want to make sure that people have total confidence, soup to nuts," he said.


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