Noticias

A 20-year-old Park Ridge school board member who attends college in Nashville will avoid facing a recall election this year because organizers of the effort to remove him from office never had their petitions notarized.

That means Robert Fisher, who was elected two years ago at age 18, might not face voters again until next year, if he decides to seek re-election.

“I am delighted that the Clerk’s Office followed the law and rejected this ridiculous attempt to subvert the will of Park Ridge’s voters,” Fisher said. “Now I can get back to doing the will of the people with this distraction out of the way.”

Organizers of the recall effort collected 2,141 signatures – more than the 1,864 needed to put the measure on the ballot.  But they neglected to have the petitions notarized, which is required under state election law.

The decision to toss the recount effort was made by Bergen County Clerk John Hogan.

The move to force Fisher out of office followed allegations that he’d missed 30% of meetings this year, isn’t available to attend community events, and doesn’t serve on any school board committee.  Fisher has stated that he has spent thousands of dollars commuting back to New Jersey due to his public duties.  Fisher attends Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

He also faced residency issues: his family moved out of Park Ridge after his high school graduation, and he rents a basement apartment in town for $10 per month.

But the real objection to Fisher, at least from the recall organizers, appeared to be his socially conservative political views.

Fisher credited State Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-Park Ridge) and Assemblyman John Azzariti (R-Saddle River), and his attorney, Michael Collins, with helping him navigate the recall effort.

“They saw that this effort reeked of lies and age discrimination from the start, standing by me through every step of this process,” he said.

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