Judge To Rule On Candidate's Petition Today: Report

A Superior Court judge is expected to issue her ruling regarding the validity of an independent’s nominating petition to run for a Wyckoff Township Committee seat.

Judge Estela De La Cruz heard testimony last week regarding the legitimacy of the signatures on the petition Thomas Madigan submitted, Northjersey.com reported.

Republican candidate Susan Yudin claims Madigan did not witness some of the people sign his petition and, as a result, his petition is invalid, the report states.

Karl Schaffenberger, a handwriting expert, concluded that seven of the signatures on Madigan’s petition were either signed by another person or were not the signature of the person the signature allegedly represents, according to the report.

Attorney Charles Rabolli said that if Madigan forged or failed to witness even a few of the signatures, the entire petition should be invalid.

Madigan, who acted as his own attorney, argued that state law requires he must only ”obtain” the signatures; he said he personally witnessed obtaining 117 signatures of the 194 on the petition, the report states.