GOP Wants Mayor Removed Over Qualifications
Plainfield Republican Municipal Committee Chairwoman Sandy Spector is asking the City Council to enforce the city’s special charter and remove Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.
Robinson-Briggs filed to run for mayor on April 11, 2005, but had only registered as a voter in Plainfield on Sept. 30, 2002. The special charter requires a mayoral candidate to be a registered voter for at least four years before his or her election.
Spector asked City Council President Ray Blanco for an answer within five days.
But Blanco said Friday (Jan. 13, 2006) the matter was settled.
“The City Council received appropriate certification from the county clerk,” he said, referring to the official certification of election results presented at the annual reorganization meeting on New Year’s Day.
Blanco said County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi is “the chief election officer in the county.”
Spector countered by saying Rajoppi only certified the end results of the election, but not the initial qualifications at filing time.
Ten months ago, nobody questioned Robinson-Briggs’ petitions, despite the fact that incumbent Mayor Albert T. McWilliams found himself dumped from the party. Neither McWilliams’ supporters nor election officials apparently checked her standing against the charter requirements.
McWilliams was Democratic Party Chairman at the time but was not allowed to choose who would run on the line. After scrambling to put together a “New Democrats” slate for the June primary, McWilliams found himself outspent and ultimately out-voted, losing the primary by barely more than 300 votes.
Things were quiet until the end of the summer, when it came out that the Republican mayoral candidate, Cheryl Bullock, had never stepped down as she had announced she would in early July.
A frenetic effort to get McWilliams on the ballot as the Republican candidate failed. He then mounted a write-in campaign, but lost the Nov. 8 general election as well.
Referring to Rajoppi, Spector said, “She vetted us all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding Albert McWilliams. She had an equal responsibility to qualify Mrs. Robinson-Briggs’ candidacy.”
It was only on New Year’s Day, after Robinson-Briggs was sworn in, that a casual reading of the charter revealed that nobody had ever checked the mayoral qualifications. Neither McWilliams nor Assemblyman Jerry Green, who was the new mayor’s campaign manager and the Democratic Party Chairman, noticed the four-year requirement, each said in phone interviews last week.
Robinson-Briggs filed to run for mayor on April 11, 2005, but had only registered as a voter in Plainfield on Sept. 30, 2002. The special charter requires a mayoral candidate to be a registered voter for at least four years before his or her election.
Spector asked City Council President Ray Blanco for an answer within five days.But Blanco said Friday (Jan. 13, 2006) the matter was settled.
“The City Council received appropriate certification from the county clerk,” he said, referring to the official certification of election results presented at the annual reorganization meeting on New Year’s Day.
Blanco said County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi is “the chief election officer in the county.”
Spector countered by saying Rajoppi only certified the end results of the election, but not the initial qualifications at filing time.
Ten months ago, nobody questioned Robinson-Briggs’ petitions, despite the fact that incumbent Mayor Albert T. McWilliams found himself dumped from the party. Neither McWilliams’ supporters nor election officials apparently checked her standing against the charter requirements.
McWilliams was Democratic Party Chairman at the time but was not allowed to choose who would run on the line. After scrambling to put together a “New Democrats” slate for the June primary, McWilliams found himself outspent and ultimately out-voted, losing the primary by barely more than 300 votes.
Things were quiet until the end of the summer, when it came out that the Republican mayoral candidate, Cheryl Bullock, had never stepped down as she had announced she would in early July.
A frenetic effort to get McWilliams on the ballot as the Republican candidate failed. He then mounted a write-in campaign, but lost the Nov. 8 general election as well.
Referring to Rajoppi, Spector said, “She vetted us all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding Albert McWilliams. She had an equal responsibility to qualify Mrs. Robinson-Briggs’ candidacy.”
It was only on New Year’s Day, after Robinson-Briggs was sworn in, that a casual reading of the charter revealed that nobody had ever checked the mayoral qualifications. Neither McWilliams nor Assemblyman Jerry Green, who was the new mayor’s campaign manager and the Democratic Party Chairman, noticed the four-year requirement, each said in phone interviews last week.
--Bernice Paglia
KEYWORDS: politics, election
posted by Bernice at 7:45 AM
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