Mahwah Mayoral Recall Campaign Is In Its Final Days

MAHWAH, NJ — A grassroots campaign by a group of citizens to possibly recall Mayor William Laforet is in its final days.

The group has collected more than 75 percent of the 4,150 signatures, 25 percent of the registered voters in town, needed to place a special question on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

The "yes or no" question would simply ask voters whether Laforet should be recalled. The group has until June 27 to collect the signatures to town Clerk Kathrine Coviello. The signatures will then need to be verified.

While the campaign, if successful, will not cause a special recall election to be held, it will bring the decision of whether Laforet should be recalled "in the privacy of the voting booth," said Melanie Sue, a member of the recall committee running the campaign.

"So anyone who believes that this should be put to a vote should sign the petition, thereby giving their neighbors the option to vote," Sue said. "Any resident can vote yes or no, whether or not you've signed the petition."

More than two dozen of the group's Recall Laforet signs were stolen earlier in the campaign, moves "indicative of how the mayor and his supporters are constantly trying to suppress free speech," Sue previously said.

Laforet's seven years holding the town's highest elected office have been controversial.

Laforet backed, and later distanced himself from an ordinance banning non-New Jerseyans from using township parks and for speaking to the press about the ordinance when he was urged not to.

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

The first recall campaign against Laforet was conducted in 2015, but the group running it ceased campaigning because there was not enough time to get the required number of signatures.

That group claimed Laforet allegedly did not abide by municipal statutes regarding the opening of an ice rink, circumvented the Town Council's authority and inappropriately fired then-DPW Director Ed Sinclair, among other accusations.

Related:

• Recall Laforet Signs Stolen, Committee Says
• Town's Response To Mayoral Recall Is 'Overwhelmingly Positive'
• Mahwah Council Casts Vote Of No Confidence In Mayor Laforet

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Photo: Mayor William Laforet/Patch file photo