Board of Chosen Freeholders, local school board meetings and Bayonne Zoning & Planning Board meetings. It was through this civic participation that Chiappone became involved in local government and politics. Chiappone at that time created the civic activist watchdog group called REACT (REsponsible ACTion in Government). As an Independent municipal candidate in 2002 having defeated the Council candidates of his political adversary Bayonne Mayor and Assemblyman of the 31st District Joseph V. Doria, Chiappone was selected by then Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham to run on his legislative team in the 31st District. Along with Lou Manzo, Chiappone and Glenn Cunningham defeated Joe Doria's 31st District Democratic team of Joseph V. Doria, L. Harvey Smith and Elba Perez-Cinciarelli in the June 2003 Primary election. Following the death of Glenn Cunningham, Chiappone ran unsuccessfully for Senate against Joseph V. Doria in the Special election to fill the vacancy in November 2004. Chiappone was then defeated in the Democratic Primary in June 2005 by the team of Louis Manzo and Jersey City Superintendent Charles T. Epps Jr. After once again defeating "Team Doria" for the non-partisan 2006 Bayonne municipal election for the position of Councilman At-Large, Chiappone aligned himself with the wife of deceased Glenn Cunningham, Sandra Bolden Cunningham, to once again seek state legislative office in the 31st District. Along with running-mate L. Harvey Smith, Chiappone defeated the team of Nicholas Chiaravrolloti and Sheila Moses-Newton for Assembly in the Democratic primary in 2007, thus essentially winning the election as they were running unopposed in the general election. Chiappone and Smith were sworn in as Assemblyman in January 2008. Criminal charges and resignation On August 26, 2009, Chiappone and his wife, Diane, were indicted on seven counts, including theft by deception, official misconduct, tampering with public records, falsifying records, conspiracy, and misrepresentation of contributions or expenditures, having allegedly issued over $8,000 in state-issued paychecks to campaign volunteers in 2005, then diverting the money into his personal accounts and his campaign fund, without declaring it on his campaign finance forms. In spite of the charges against him and calls for his resignation from Governor Jon Corzine and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Chiappone proclaimed his innocence and refused both to resign and to withdraw from his re-election campaign. The criminal charges against Chiappone meant that both of the 31st legislative district's assemblymen were simultaneously under indictment, as L. Harvey Smith had been