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John P. Capizola, Jr.

Former Commissioner Capizola is a democrat with approximately one year of experience serving as a commissioner. Some quick points of note are that he seems to have a moderate stance on gun control, supports armed security in schools, and he supported the middle mile broadband grant. He also has spoken against school vouchers, he hopes to make local politics less partisan, and he supports better transparency and communication between the government and constituents. In terms of specific agenda should he get elected, his focus seems to be to improve roads/infrastructure/broadband, to support senior housing and healthcare, to provide recreational advancements. Facebook source. Also, Austino and Capizola have openly supported the Harris/Walz ticket on facebook, so it follows that Austino/Capizola will support and/or implement that agenda, unless they clarify otherwise in the future. There was a facebook post on August 13th which additionally states his agenda will include educational excellence, environmental sustainability, and fiscal responsibility. Also, it seems as though Capizola did an interview with Celeste Riley and Robert Austino, which you can view here. Click the red x at the top of this box and then scroll down down for more in-depth information and sources.

John Capizola

Running for:
Cumberland County Commissioner
Incumbent
Challenger

Websites

This election is on November 5th, 2024

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individual agenda

Current Agenda per facebook post

  • Educational excellence by supporting schools and providing lifelong learning opportunities
  • Environmental sustainability by protecting our natural resources for future generations
  • Fiscal responsibility by ensuring efficient use of taxpayer dollars
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  • Improve roads/infrastructure/broadband, support senior housing and healthcare, and provide recreational advancements facebook campaign site


party messaging

To be clear, with the lack of a proper newspaper providing thorough, professional-level election coverage, both sides of the aisle in *local* politics seem to be suffering from a lack of clear messaging. This is not to say that they aren't putting forward a lot of effort to message, but the information is oftentimes scattered across the internet, spoken about at meetings/events that appear partisan or have expensive sponsorship fees, or mentioned at lengthy meetings most people simply won't attend. Oftentimes people get brief literature like
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. They also might get vague impressions of what local Republicans or Democrats might believe based on what they know about national politics. While we have been able to gain some information regarding his agenda, there is probably a lot more detail that we could go into about the specifics of the Commissioner's board and Austino's campaign bid.


policy positions

After reaching out to Capizola multiple times with no substantive response, it is unclear what his current policy positions are. However, we might be able to infer the following from last year's efforts:
  • Supports armed security in schools. (learned from the Candidates Forum held at Bridgeton High School)


Capizola and Austino also brought up an issue regarding South Ave in Bridgeton while on the campaign trail: Source, however it seems as though the issue is in the process of being handled: Source, County Press Release.


experience

Cumberland County Democrats chose Capizola to serve out an unexpired, one-year term on the county Board of Commissioners, replacing the resigning Castellini. Capizola was sworn in January 24th, 2023. Source
He majored in health and physical education. He has a master's degree in Educational Leadership. He has certifications to be a New Jersey principal and Supervisor. He also has business experience in regards to owning a restaurant and a laundromat.


2023 Candidates Forum Statements

When asked what makes him most qualified to serve as Commissioner at the Candidates Forum held at Bridgeton High School, Capizola spoke about how he is just getting his feet wet as an appointed Commissioner. He seemed to convey that he is learning a lot about county politics quickly and has watched his board of commissioners transform from very partisan to mostly non-partisan during his tenure. He hopes to continue that trend. He wants to help attract people who have left the county to come back by helping to entice new business, which he can help with through his business experience. He also seemed to imply that he may be a rising star as he may be the new assistant principal at the school where he works.

When asked about improving transparency and accountability, Capizola spoke about needing to communicate better with the community, the new county website which should be done soon, and needing reporters in the county.

At one point during the forum, Capizola made it clear that he is against school vouchers.