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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Northvale, New Jersey—Bergen County Clerk John Hogan and an independent candidate for mayor of Northvale told Northern Valley Press last week they deny allegations charged by Northvale Mayor Stanley “Ed” Piehler that they “violated [his] right to an honest, fair and unbiased Primary Election on June 5.”
The candidate, former Northvale Councilman Patrick Marana, visited Hogan’s offices on Primary Day for over three hours, where he filed a petition to run as an independent candidate for mayor in the upcoming November election. Piehler made the allegation after filing public records requests for security tapes from that day at the clerk’s office. Marana and Hogan confirmed they did meet on Primary Day, but that Marana was required to visit the clerk’s office to file a petition to become an independent candidate.
Both Marana and Piehler are former Bergen County employees, and both worked at one time for Hogan.
In a separate Northern Valley Press interview, Hogan rebutted all of Piehler’s allegations of ethical and possible elections violations. Hogan said the allegations were made “by a desperate candidate who is trying to put up a smoke screen to try to hide his dismal record as mayor.”
Hogan, a Northvale resident, said he has “recused” himself from all Northvale-related elections activities and drafted a letter to his attorney.
Marana said with weeks to go before the primary, he decided to become an Independent candidate as an effort to win the Democratic Primary as a write-in candidate was a longshot.
Weeks gathering signatures
Marana said that he spent two weeks before the June 5 primary gathering more than 55 signatures from Northvale residents and intended to compete as an Independent candidate.
Piehler alleges that Marana was running as both a Democratic write-in candidate and Independent candidate and accused Marana of a last-minute switch to Independent after running for months as a Democratic write-in candidate.
Due to the fact he was declaring as an Independent candidate for mayor—the nomination deadline was 4 p.m., June 5—Marana had to file his petition with the county elections office. If he had been declaring as a Democratic or Republican candidate, he would have filed a petition with Northvale’s borough clerk.
‘Sore-loser law’ challenge
Piehler initially challenged Marana’s change to an Independent candidate under the state’s so-called “sore-loser law,” which prevents a candidate from changing political affiliations after running as a declared candidate in an election.
However, since Marana’s name did not appear on the ballot, Piehler said he was told by county elections officials that the “sore-loser law” did not apply.
Piehler charges Hogan “violated public trust in the voting process and my rights as a candidate” by allowing Marana “to enter and remain in the employee area of his office for 3 1/2 hours on primary election day.”
Piehler questioned why Marana was at the county clerk’s office when Hogan “is required to remain impartial and avoid even the smallest impression of impropriety.”
Piehler said he sent separate letters alleging election improprieties to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, state Attorney General’s Office, and Bergen County counsel.
Northern Valley Press attempted to contact the individuals provided by Piehler as agency contacts and did not hear back by press time.
It was unclear if any agency had decided to follow-up on Piehler’s allegations and Piehler said he had not heard about any independent investigations being launched. Both Hogan and Marana said no one had contacted them regarding Piehler’s allegations.
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‘Blatant attempt to influence’
Piehler’s allegations are based partly on security surveillance video he requested of individuals entering and leaving the Bergen County Clerk’s Office on June 5, where he viewed Marana’s presence at the facility that day.
“Ultimately I believe the voting public should be enraged at this blatant attempt to influence the voting process,” Piehler wrote to Northern Valley Press.
Both Marana and Hogan respond that Piehler’s allegations are false and that nothing unethical occurred in Marana’s petition to become an Independent candidate on June 5.
The dispute appears to lie with Piehler’s allegation that because Marana ran his campaign completely as a write-in candidate, he should not be allowed to submit a nominating petition as an Independent, and then run as an Independent candidate.
However, from discussions with borough clerks, it appears nothing prevents Marana from filing a petition on primary election day since Marana was never a declared party candidate and his name never appeared on the ballot.
Marana’s campaign for mayor
Marana’s campaign—“Northvale Residents for Change”—has hammered Piehler’s mayoral leadership in four successive informational flyers mailed to residents.
Flyers have criticized Piehler for keeping residents “in the dark” about Northvale’s 6.24 percent tax increase, a shutdown of Hogan’s Park due to dangerous playground equipment, a new fleet manager position within the department of public works, an increase in borough legal fees, and $300,000 for municipal infrastructure improvements to former borough-owned lots at 411 Clinton Avenue.
“If Piehler spent as much time working on Northvale issues as he has challenging my legitimate candidacy, Northvale would be running a lot better. As a mayor, he has been a disaster,” emailed Marana, addressing Piehler’s claims.
“What he should be working on is avoiding another ridiculous tax increase (6.2 percent), replenishing the surplus he has depleted from $1,400,000 to $186,765, eliminating wasteful spending, repairing fractured relationships with Borough employees, and perhaps trying to rectify the unexplainable 411 Clinton Avenue land sale,” Marana wrote.
Regarding Piehler’s allegation that Marana’s candidacy is somehow tainted, Marana said he’s completely legitimate and Piehler is wrong.
“First of all, I was not a declared candidate in the primary. That has been established via legal review of Piehler’s formal objection to my nominating petition. I entered the day fully prepared to file a Nominating Petition for an Independent position on the November ballot,” said Marana.
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Hogan responds
“I run this office…like a tight-run ship, lowest budget in 20 years; we run everything ethical, we don’t receive any complaints at all. The allegations are totally false,” said Hogan via phone Aug. 28.
Hogan said he recused himself from dealing with any aspect of the Northvale election, as his election supervisor will assume those duties.
Hogan said no completed ballots are received in the county clerk’s office and no ballots are counted by Hogan’s office. Instead, Hogan said that all votes are counted by the Board of Elections only when the election is over. Hogan said Marana was in the clerk’s office to file his ballot, and as a former employee, he has many friends in the clerk’s office.
Piehler ‘absolutely wrong’
“He [Piehler] was absolutely wrong. It doesn’t surprise me. His whole six-year career here was one mistake after another. He’s a disgruntled former employee and he’s a disaster as mayor in Northvale and I’ve got no problem in saying that,” Hogan said.
Hogan cited Northvale’s 6.2 percent municipal tax increase, a 15.3 percent increase in spending during his four years as mayor [approximately $1 million] and a depleted budget surplus.
“I’m telling you my position why I’m not supporting him as mayor,” said Hogan.
Hogan said Piehler’s allegations are the first against his office in the seven years he has served as the elected Bergen County Clerk.
“It’s from a former employee who left here because I didn’t chose him as my deputy,” said Hogan.
Hogan said Piehler “made all kinds of allegations” regarding Marana’s candidacy and that he had an attorney research whether a “sore-loser law” applied to Marana’s candidacy and said it did not.
“When is it illegal and improper for a petition to be signed by a person who does it willingly?” said Hogan.
Regarding Piehler’s accusations of county employees signing Marana’s petition, Hogan said it did not occur.
“I would have known about that if it occurred and stopped it. We run a tight ethical ship here,” Hogan said.
‘Wild accusations’
“It’s wild accusations, he’s trying to create a smoke screen to hide his record. The citizens for Northvale mailed out four separate mailers and the whole town is buzzing,” Hogan said, detailing local issues roiling the borough.
“This has really got my back up. We work really hard to keep the political aspect out of my office. You can ask Democrats, you can ask Republicans: everyone is treated the same,” Hogan noted.
Hogan said no one has contacted his attorney or office regarding any potential investigation.
In addition to the mayoral race on Election Day, Northvale voters will also elect two council representatives on Nov. 6. Candidates include Republican Joseph McGuire, incumbent Republican Peter Sotiropoulos, incumbent Democrat Toni Macchio and Democrat Ryan Moran.
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