Noticias

A state appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling that recall petitions are not required to be notarized. 

Robert Fisher, a 20-year-old school board member in Park Ridge, challenged the legality of a recall effort because petition signatures were not notarized. The appeals court affirmed Superior Court Judge Peter Geiger’s ruling that recall petitions can be submitted with a simple affidavit. 

“The purpose of the affidavit portion in the statute is to ensure to the best of the committee’s ability that the signatures are valid, true, accurate and comport with the intention of the statute,” the judges ruled. “Here, we conclude the clear language in the collector’s statement on each page of the petition meets the intention of the statute and provides an appropriate attestation to the truthfulness of the statement signed by the collectors.”

Judges Stanley Bergman and Kay Walcott-Henderson issued the ruling the day after motions were filed in the case.

Bergen County Clerk John Hogan initially tossed out the recall effort, saying the lack of a notary meant the signatures were invalid.

Fisher can resign by Friday afternoon to avoid the recall election. He can still appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Fisher, who attends Vanderbilt University, has faced allegations that he’s missed 30% of meetings this year, isn’t available to attend community events, and doesn’t serve on any school board committee. Fisher has said he’s spent thousands of dollars commuting back to New Jersey due to his public duties. His opponents accuse him of residency issues as well: His family moved out of Park Ridge after his high school graduation, and he rents a basement apartment in town for $10 per month.

Fisher has said the recall effort “reeked of lies and age discrimination.”

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As a “problem-plagued” Democratic primary threatens to delay the distribution of mail-in ballots in Roselle, the second-most powerful man in state government announced plans to introduce legislation to rectify electoral failures related to the case.

State Senate President Nicholas Scutari said the legislation will clarify laws surrounding recounts and mistakes in the electoral process. He said election officials will have input in the bill, which he hopes will address conflicting court decisions and standards.

A close finish in a council primary in Roselle led to months of slow-moving litigation, ultimately leading to the results being thrown out. Scutari, also chairs the Democratic Party in Union County, which encompasses Roselle.

“The confusion and conflicting decisions in the courts, the latest in Roselle, highlight the need for reforms to protect the integrity of the election process and prevent the disenfranchisement of voters,” Scutari said.

Denise Wilkerson, the incumbent, defeated a primary challenge from Cynthia Johnson by three votes. Superior Court Judge John Deitch denied Johnson’s request for a recount earlier this summer, but an appellate court overruled him. The recount brought Wilkerson’s margin down to two votes, but kept her in the lead.

Johnson continued the legal challenges. Last week, her attorneys presented three voters whom Deitch ruled were illegally disenfranchised. With those findings, Deitch nullified the election and ordered a redo of the primary. Late last week, Deitch determined he lacked the authority to order a new election so late in the process and changed his mind. Instead, he told Roselle Democrats they had until this past Sunday to select a candidate, which ended up being Johnson.

The New Jersey Supreme Court is now hearing the case under an expedited schedule. It’s unclear when the top court will decide, or if ballots for Roselle will be mailed with other municipalities. Mail-in voting for this November’s general election starts Saturday.

The Legislature is in recess for the time being; Scutari says he’ll introduce the legislation when the Senate reconvenes. The legislation will also handle any corrections needed due to the Motor Vehicle Commission’s handling of voter registration — he cited a Somerset County case of a woman whose voter registration changed without her knowledge after she sought a Real ID.

“We have to determine if the voting statutes are outdated, if the rules are too vague, and what specifically needs to be done to correct these problems,” he said. “There is no doubt that these failures have to be addressed to ensure that residents know elections are safe and every vote counts.”

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Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor, released a 10-point platform to improve affordability in the state as the mail-in voting period nears. 

Ciattarelli’s plans include a restructured school funding formula, reduced business taxes, a cap on property taxes, and a promise to veto so-called pork spending in the state budget. Inflation has driven up grocery prices, energy bills, and housing costs for New Jerseyans of late, and affordability has been the top issue of this year’s campaign.

“You could raise a family, you could start a business, and you could retire here,” he told reporters Thursday. “Those are the things that people feel terribly insecure, if not fearful of, today, and I refuse to be the governor of a state in which people live with insecurity and fear.”

Ciattarelli blamed Gov. Phil Murphy for the increase in prices. He said the governor’s efforts to implement clean energy have backfired and praised Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who Ciattarelli said is operating using coal, natural gas, and nuclear facilities.

“My opponent has a tendency to blame people in Washington, D.C., for what’s happening,” he said. “This lies at the feet of the Murphy administration. They broke it.”

Ciattarelli’s platform includes proposals to reduce income taxes for all taxpayers and consolidate tax brackets, but didn’t provide specific numbers. He said he would reduce the Corporation Business Tax from 11.5%, a rate which he says stifles business, by one percentage point every year over five years. He also proposed prohibiting property tax increases due to home improvements, as well as making health insurance premiums and student loan interest tax 100% tax-deductible.

“Why are we reassessing homes when someone does home improvement? This is just another way of punishing homeowners when they’re doing something to improve their wealth, and that will end on day one of my administration,” he said.

The Republican unveiled the platform outside a grocery store in Elizabeth. He offered the creation of a Department of Commerce to coordinate support for businesses and the appointment of a chief technology officer to update the state’s technology. Ciattarelli said a small business’s first $100,000 in income should be tax-free, and the first $100,000 of payroll should be exempt from payroll taxes.

Ciattarelli faces Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) in this fall’s general election. Mail-in voting starts Saturday, and the pair face off in the first of two debates on Sunday evening. 

If elected, many of his proposals would need to be passed in the Legislature. While Republicans could win control of the Assembly this year, the state Senate isn’t up for re-election until 2027, meaning the first two years of a Ciattarelli governorship would have to grapple with at least one Democratic-controlled chamber.

Sherrill launched her affordability agenda in May. Her platform focused on housing, energy, health care, taxes, child care, and food prices.

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