A state appellate court judge ordered officials responsible for administering the election not to print or mail ballots for the June Democratic primary election “pending further order of this court” after an appeal was filed by three candidates for Union County Commissioner who challenged an unfair lower court ruling.
The three Democrats for Change candidates — Patrick Busch, Janet Reynolds, and Mario Cornejo — are the only contenders other than the incumbents — Bette Jane Kowalski, Sergio Granados, and Rebecca Williams — who can give citizens a possible choice in the election.
No Republican has won a countywide election in Union County since 1994.
Attorney Nakicha Joseph, of the law firm King, Moench, Hirniak, Mehta & Collins, filed the appeal after Union County Superior Court Judge Alan Lesnewich apparently exceeded his authority by ignoring legal arguments in favor of giving voters a choice and instead overruling a constitutional officer’s decision on two signatures.
Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi declared that 99 signatures on the Democrats for Change petition were valid out of the 149 names submitted by them. To qualify for a spot on the ballot, candidates need 100 valid signatures.
Rajoppi has the constitutional responsibility to verify that petitions meet the legal requirements, so the issue presented to Lesnewich was whether any one of the seven disputed signatures rejected by the Union County Clerk was valid, which would render the petition sufficient.
In one case, a married voter signed the petition using her maiden name and in another case, the signer printed her street address but failed to list “Roselle” on the form.
Case law sets strong precedent requiring officials to overlook such minor errors.
“It is well-established that election laws should be construed liberally ‘to allow the greatest scope for public participation in the electoral process, to allow candidates to get on the ballot, to allow parties to put their candidates on the ballot, and, most importantly, to allow the voters a choice on Election Day,’ and voters should not be deprived of their franchise for technical reasons,” according to the precedents set in Catania v. Haberle, 123 N.J. 438, 448 (1991); Kilmurray v. Gilfert, 10 N.J. 435, 440-41 (1952); and Wene v. Meyner, 13 N.J. 185, 197 (1953).
Despite the order to hold off on printing ballots for the Democratic primary, Rajoppi can go ahead and distribute Republican ballots, which are not affected by the lawsuit.
A former New Providence borough councilman and member of the Union County Republican Committee, Lesnewich has a history of favoring the political establishment.
Cornejo, Reynolds and Busch are challenging the verdict of Lesnewich, who was originally nominated as a superior court judge by Gov. Chris Christie in 2013.
As both a senator from Union County and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic party boss Nicholas ‘No-Show Nick‘ Scutari signed off on Lesnewich’s appointment.
As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Scutari was the arbiter of who moves up in the judicial system, so observers note that his influence puts ordinary citizens at a disadvantage if they seek justice in the courts.
The appeal means two more independent judges will review the case that was allegedly mishandled in the corrupt Union County Courthouse.
Appointed to the New Jersey Superior Court by Governor Jon Corzine in 2007, Michael J. Haas was elevated to the Appellate Division by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner in July of 2012. Judge Hany A. Mawla was appointed by Corzine in January 2010 and assigned to the Appellate Division by Rabner in 2017.
Haas and Mawla will rule on the case after attorneys from both sides present briefs on Monday and Tuesday. No date is set for a hearing on the matter.
Unscrupulous tactics are nothing new for the Union County political machine.
Sue Altman, director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance, and nine other progressive Democrat activists called for Scutari to be removed as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and for the state’s Joint Legislative Committee of Ethical Standards to probe accusations of “serial absenteeism” level by Calcagni & Kanefsky, a law firm hired by the Linden City to examine his alleged ‘no-show job’ as the city’s prosecutor.
The state’s corrupt political establishment made Scutari the Senate President instead.
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