a bombshell conclusion today to an investigation into Clark Township officials the State Attorney General's office is criminally charging longtime mayor Sal Bonaccorso with official misconduct forgery and falsifying records alleging the 63-year-old mayor used his public office to benefit his private Landscaping Company accusing him of submitting false and fraudulent paperwor to nearly two dozen towns to help his company improperly remove hundreds of under ground storage tanks now Clark officials have been under investigation since 2020 that's when a whistleblower within the police department captured secret recordings of the mayor and top police brass using racial slurs and disparaging remarks about black people and women in the police force then allegedly paid nearly half a million dollars in hush money to cover it up attorney general Matt plantkin today said the state found no criminal misconduct in the racism probe these charges are separate but the police department remains under the control of Union County and prosecutors today called for Clark's police chief and others to be fired