Mahwah Council President: We Had Nothing To Do With Recall

MAHWAH, NJ — One local official is fighting back and blaming Mayor Laforet for the citizens' recall campaign that was launched against him.

Council President Robert Hermansen denied the Town Council having anything to do with the second recall effort launched against Laforet.

"The council had nothing to do with this," Hermansen said. "The only person who is responsible for this recall is the mayor himself."

A grassroots committee of residents collected more than 5,000 signatures in an effort get a special question placed on the November ballot asking residents if Laforet should be recalled. Town Clerk Katherine Cavillo must verify the signatures before the question is placed on the ballot.

Laforet found himself at the center of controversy for backing and then distancing himself from a controversial ordinance banning non-New Jersey residents from using township parks. Laforet came under fire for criticizing the Township council over the ordinance and its alleged discrimination against Orthodox Jews.

"The ordinance was the mayor's ordinance, the mayor was the one who asked the council to take up the park ordinance," Hermansen said. "He signed off on the ordinance and we did what we requested of us by the [state] Attorney General's Office, which was rescind it. He signed it into law. We passed his ordinance and now we were asked to repeal his ordinance and we did."

Laforet previously said in backing away from the ordinance he was "standing up for the Civil Rights of human beings," said Laforet. "I do not regret standing up for the Civil Rights of any human being, and this [recall] petition will not make me waiver, protecting residents of our community, state, and across this nation. It is the Constitution of the United States of America."

Laforet said Hermansen was behind the recall effort "100 percent" and pointed a finger at the Town Council regarding the recall.

"They have misled the public with a wide variety of falsehoods to get people to sign," Laforet said.

Hermansen emphatically denied the Town Council's involvement in the recall.

"We had nothing to do with this recall," Hermansen said.

The Town Council cast a vote of no confidence in Laforet in September — the second such vote cast against him as mayor.

It is the second recall effort launched against Laforet. The first was in 2015, but the group in charge of it stopped its campaign because there was not enough time to get the required number of signatures.

That group claimed that Laforet allegedly did not abide by municipal statutes regarding the opening of an ice rink on town property, circumvented the Town Council's authority and accused him of using emergency communications equipment for political gain.

Officials and residents were also at odds with Laforet then regarding his decision to terminate DPW Director Ed Sinclair in 2015 over allegations of inappropriate material being watched on DPW computers.

Related:

• Signatures Filed In Second Recall Campaign Against Mayor Laforet
• Mahwah Council Casts Vote Of No Confidence In Mayor Laforet
• Mahwah Residents Launch 2nd Recall Effort Against Mayor Laforet
• Mahwah Resident Announces Mayoral Recall Effort

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