McCloskey tries to stay on council
Friday, March 07, 2008
BY PAULA SAHA
Star-Ledger Staff
The campaign signs have been popping up all over Denville's 2nd Ward and, after months of build- up, Jim McCloskey will know next Tuesday night whether he'll be keeping the council seat he's occupied for 13 years.
McCloskey, facing recall, is fending off a challenge by Gerard "Jerry" LaMonte, a 54-year-old systems engineer for Saint Clare's Hospital.
Both candidates say they have been campaigning vigorously -- knocking on every door in the ward, distributing fliers and posting signs in dozens of yards.
Both say their campaign signs -- each put out about 100 over the last few weeks -- had been torn down and covered up by each others' supporters.
But that is about all they have in common.
McCloskey, the 50-year-old president of a Parsippany electrical contracting company, maintains that the recall effort is "nothing but sour grapes" over a controversial sewer project that some in the ward did not want to go forward.
He says he made the right decision in voting for the project, calling it a public health issue that needed addressing. He said most voters can see that.
"They think (the recall supporters) is a small group of ... pretty vengeful people," he said.
LaMonte says the sewers -- which are now under construction in his neighborhood -- should have gone to a public vote, as should have the new, $7.6 million municipal building that McCloskey supported.
The recall is not just about the sewer, he said. About 78 percent of those who signed the petition supporting the recall don't live in the sewer area.
"The thrust of this entire campaign has been one of representation, or lack of representation on Mr. McCloskey's part," he said. "My goal, if elected, is to remain open and objective and not align with anyone but be an independent thinker."
McCloskey, a Republican, won his current term without opposition in 2005 with 745 votes.
The effort to oust him started last June, when the Committee to Recall James McCloskey filed a notice of intent with the township clerk's office.
The group collected 772 valid signatures on their recall petition, Clerk Donna Costello determined in November. Costello has estimated the special election will cost the township about $6,000.
The recall ballot is actually comprised of two questions. The first asks voters whether McCloskey should be recalled. The second one asks voters in the event he is recalled, which candidate should replace him. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
BREAKING NEWS: McCloskey ousted by 56 votes in Denville recall
LaMonte selected to fill Second Ward seat
Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 9:14 PM EDT
DENVILLE TWP. – Councilman James McCloskey was removed from office in a recall election today by Second Ward voters who then voted to replace him with Gerard “Jerry” LaMonte.Voters voted 466-410 to recall McCloskey and then selected LaMonte over McCloskey in a second question to decide who should replace him if he was recalled in a 476-403 vote.
The vote includes absentee ballots, but not provisional ballots, which are generally just a handful of votes. Turnout was with 32 percent of the ward’s 2,738 registered voters casting ballots.
McCloskey maintained the organizers of the petition drive to hold the recall election were people who were opposed to the Openaki-Kitchell sewer project. He could not be reached for comment tonight. Polls closed at 8 p.m.
LaMonte, 56, of Beaverbrook Lane, is married with two children, and has lived in the township more than 20 years. He is a systems engineer at Saint Clare’s Hospital in Denville and an active volunteer. In addition to serving five years on the Municipal Alliance Committee, which he is now chairing, he has coached many sports in town and has been a troop leader for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
LaMonte said in an interview the week before the election he will be better at communicating with residents.
He said people he met as he campaigned felt they were not heard by township officials, not just McCloskey, and he said he has had people tell him stories about presenting a concern or asking a question or offering an idea to someone in municipal government and, in some cases, not even getting any reply at all.
McCloskey, 50, of Ivy Crest Lane, is married with four children and is a lifelong resident of the township. He is an electrical contractor with E.J. Stewart of Parsippany. He is Republican, as are all members of the Township Council, and he is half-way through his third four-year term.
“I don’t want to be the only official in Denville to be recalled,” McCloskey said last week. “I don’t think I deserve that.” He said he believed officials should be targeted for recall for real wrongdoing in office.
