December 6, 2009
By CHRISTINA TATU
FRANKFORD -- After more than a year of political strife, voters will get their say on whether to recall Mayor Paul Sutphen during a special election Tuesday.
This is the first recall election for a government official to make it to the ballot in Sussex County.
In a twist of New Jersey's election laws, the same ballot also will give voters the opportunity to vote Sutphen back into office should he be recalled.
The first question will ask voters if they wish to recall Sutphen. A second question will ask voters to choose a replacement, in the event Sutphen is recalled. Sutphen and local veterinarian Emery "Sam" Castimore are the listed candidates.
"You may have an instance where a majority of voters favor the recall, but a plurality elects the same individual," said Jon Moran, New Jersey League of Municipalities senior legislative analyst. "When the law was written, I don't think it was anticipated that an individual who was subject to a recall might access the ballot to be his own
replacement."
Moran, who has been with the League for 24 years, was unaware of any instance where a candidate was recalled, but elected back into office on the same ballot. Recall elections in New Jersey are very rare, Moran said. On average, he estimates there are at least two petition drives per year, but the number of petitions that actually make it to an election are rarer still.
To hold a local recall election, a petition must include the signatures of at least 25 percent of the municipality's voters registered during the last general election.
For a special election, they must state their intention on the petition and include the cost of the election -- estimated at $15,500 in Frankford's case.
The signatures must be verified by the township clerk and can be challenged by the committeeman who is subject to the recall.
Moran said the laws are purposefully difficult.
"I think these laws were put into place so that there could be some continuity in the government and the system can't be gamed," he said. "If there was a significant political opposition to a municipal official, they might want to disrupt his or her tenure in office with repeated recall drives."
The Frankford election is the first recall of a government official to come to fruition in Sussex County, although Hardyston voters were successful in recalling Hardyston school board President Marbeth Boffa last April, making her only the second school board member recalled in New Jersey.
Last year, three petition drives to recall Sparta committee members failed to gather enough signatures.
In Stillwater, a petition aimed at recalling committee member Al Fuoco was approved for the November 2008 ballot, but Fuoco resigned his committee post at the end of August.
Earlier this year, Hopatcong residents started a petition to recall Mayor Sylvia Petillo, but the time limit to file the recall petition expired one week after election day. No petition was filed and the organizers of that drive have not answered questions about the effort.
