Palisades Park mayor's mother goes on racist tirade after primary election

The Palisades Park mayor’s mother went on a racist tirade on social media about the recent primary election where her son was trailing his challenger, a Korean councilman, in a race that is too close to call.

Lorraine Rotundo, the mother of James Rotundo, alleges "illegal voting" being done by Koreans, who make up more than 50 percent of the borough's population. She wrote in a Facebook post that Koreans arrived to vote by the busloads.

"Go to hell PALISADES PARK, let the GD KOREANS have this F'n town," Rotundo commented in a Facebook post. "All of us AMERICANS are so done. I am going to suggest that only English be spoken in our Boro Hall at least while an AMERICAN is still the mayor."

Rotundo goes on to say, "Any American working there has no idea what is going on because Korean is mostly spoken there, not English."

It's not clear when the posts were made by her, but they have since been deleted.

Lorraine Rotundo could not be reached for comment, but her son, James Rotundo, said in a phone interview he disavowed the statements written by his mother, who he said was 80 years old and has lived in the borough since she was 16.

“I am not defending at all my mother’s comments and I think that was totally disgusting and inappropriate, and I know the minute I heard about it, I told her to remove it immediately, which she did,’’ he said. “She is devastated and apologetic, and mortified of her statement of what she said, and I know that she has also posted an apology to the community.”

Lorraine Rotundo's comments come two days after the primary election where her son and Councilman Chris Chung vied for the Democratic nomination to run for mayor in November. It was the borough's first contested mayoral primary in decades. The mayoral primary is too close to call, with Chung narrowly leading Rotundo. More than 100 provisional ballots still need to be counted. The county is scheduled to tabulate those ballots Monday.

The mayor said that his possible loss the was the reason his mother wrote the post.

“She’s upset about her son losing, I mean it’s a mother trying to defend her son, who loves her son,’’ he said.

Rotundo also said his mother has “never” expressed such sentiment in the past, and said that he has worked hard as mayor to serve all people in town, no matter their background. He said that under his tenure as mayor the town erected a monument in honor of Korean women and others who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army. And in the latest election, he ran on a ticket with two Korean candidates.

“I chose Korean-Americans because I believe in the community, and I believe in the Korean-American people,’’ he said.

Chung said he was “heartbroken” when he saw the posting, which several people had sent to him. Chung said he lived next door to the mayor’s mother for about seven years.

“It’s not fair to put a whole community down, and it was just unjust,’’ he said. “That was one of the bases for my campaign, and I want to make sure this type of behavior is not tolerated, and that we need to work together.”

The posting circulated among the Korean community in North Jersey, some who said they were outraged.

Jimmy Chae, of Dumont, said that the screenshot of the posting went “viral” in the Korean community and that the mayor’s apology on Facebook was not enough. Chae, who said he shops and has friends who own businesses in Palisades Park, said he want’s the mayor and his mother to address the public in person.

“Have his mom come down to town hall and next town meeting and publicly apologize and say she is sorry,’’ he said. “If this was the Italian community or the African-American community, you would have community leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton come out immediately, have an uproar and say it's unacceptable and demand an apology. It’s ridiculous that things like this get brushed under the rug.”

Koreans are one of North Jersey's fastest-growing ethnic minorities with many living and opening businesses in Palisades Park. Along the borough’s commercial district along Broad Avenue, storefront signs are mostly in Korean. The town also had its first Korean-American councilman in 2004, and since then two more have been elected, including Chung.

The Korean community members are also becoming more active in town government, attending council meetings when they are concerned about an issue. The town has also hired more employees of Korean ancestry, including its current borough clerk. A few years ago, some Korean residents successfully lobbied for an interpreter who could tell them what was discussed at meetings.

The growth of the town’s Korean population, though, hasn’t come without tension. When more Koreans opened up businesses, town residents complained about the signage with the Korean lettering. There has also been allegations of racism during past elections.

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