Keep this guy off the town council – he’s going to be a congressman one day.

Proving yet again how odd politics can be, that’s one of the arrows being shot at Justin Musella, who just announced a run for the Parsippany Council. Musella, who chairs the Morris County Young Republicans, will run with mayoral candidate Lou Valori.

The Democratic incumbent is Michael Soriano and it’s clear that the Dems very badly want to keep the mayor’s seat in Morris County’s largest town.

Morris Democrats already have labeled Valori as a guy who enjoys hanging out with q-anon crazies and other disreputable types. Valori calls the accusation asinine.

More recently, the Democrats went after Musella, alleging he just moved to the township to run for council, thereby questioning his commitment to Parsippany.

Then, we got around to Congress.

“If elected, Musella is unlikely to serve out his term on council,” the Democrats’ message said, urging financial support for Soriano and running mates Judy Hernandez and Cori Herbig.

“It is well-known that Musella is seeking to run for higher office, including Congress as soon as possible,” it added. “Given that Parsippany is by far the largest town in Morris County, Musella’s motivation for moving here to seek local office is clear: this community is his stepping stone to what he considers bigger and better things.”

Musella may indeed have plenty of ambition. But he hasn’t been elected to anything yet, so it’s a bit hard at this point to see him as a credible candidate for the House.

Not missing a beat, Musellla is trying to use the criticism to his advantage.

He said he appreciates the compliment but that, “I will be busy for a lifetime as a Parsippany councilman fixing Mayor Soriano’s disastrous policies.”

The sentiment is understood, but does Musella really want to spend a political lifetime in Parsippany?

The curious thing here is that all this back and forth is occurring months before election day and more than a month before the primary filing day.

There may be other Republicans besides Valori running for mayor, and, of course, more council candidates.

The Democrats’ attack against Valori, the chair of the Parsippany Republican Committee, brought up his association with John Cesaro, who was indicted last week on charges of bribery and filing a fictitious campaign financial statement.

At the time, Cesaro was vice-chair of the local GOP committee.

No longer, he resigned that post soon after the indictment was announced.

In a rather cryptic message, the Parsippany GOP said Cesaro was stepping aside “due to family reasons.”