Residents Get Enough Signatures For Mahwah Mayoral Recall

MAHWAH, NJ — A grassroots group of residents has collected enough signatures for the recall against Mayor William Laforet to proceed.

Of the more than 5,000 signatures that were collected, more than the 4,150 were validated by Township Clerk Katherine Coviello as being from registered voters, which was the number needed to place a special question of should Laforet be recalled on the November general election ballot, said Melanie Sue, spokesperson for the recall campaign.

"We're hopeful that the mayor can set his ego aside and recognize that more than 5,000 Mahwah residents want the opportunity to vote him out of office," Sue said.

Laforet has the option to challenge their validity, fight the recall in court, or go ahead with a recall vote. Candidates to run against Laforet would need to file a petition to run. The winning candidate would immediately replace Laforet rather than wait until the township government reorganizes in January.

Laforet won a full term in office after getting 3,753 votes in 2016, which were less than 100 more than the next highest vote-getting, John Roth.

"I would hope that he listens to the numbers carefully when choosing his next path," Sue said. "The wise choice would be to resign and save the township from a bitter and destructive campaign."

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.

Another ordinance required peddlers to get permits before they went to residents' homes soliciting. The ordinances were proposed during a controversy regarding a Jewish religious boundary in town commonly called an eruv.

The state Attorney General's Office filed a civil rights lawsuit against the town.
The Town Council effectively rescinded the ordinances. Hundreds of residents packed council meetings when the ordinances were introduced and approved.

Laforet and the Council butted heads with regards to the ordinances. The Council was critical of Laforet speaking out against the "no-knock" ordinance in an interview he gave in September. Laforet was critical of the Town Council in the interview.

"The Council was told repeatedly to not proceed," Laforet said last week. "They ignored the advice of their own attorneys."

Mahwah Council President Robert Hermansen vehemently disagreed.

"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."

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

Related:

• Signatures Filed In Second Recall Campaign Against Mayor Laforet
  
• Mahwah Council President: We Had Nothing To Do With Recall
• 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

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Image: Mayor William Laforet (Patch file photo