Group’s recall effort targets Orange mayor
Leaders cite high property taxes, fiscal crisis
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH STAR-LEDGER STAFF
Soaring
property taxes, crooked politics and a lack of integrity are the key
reasons why Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. should be recalled from
office, members of a citizens recall group said last night.
‘‘Our
city administration lacks the vision, the will and the leadership to
tackle these problems,’’ said Jason L. Jackson, one of three people
spearheading the 2007 Committee to Recall Mayor Mims Hackett Jr.
‘‘Allowing
the continued deterioration of the city, due to the mayor’s
mismanagement, fiscal irres p o n s i b i l i t y a n d c r o n y i s m
, w i l l eventually hurt all citizens,’’ Jackson told a group of about
30 people who attended the launch of a recall effort against Hackett, a
three-term mayor.
‘‘Orange is in a
fiscal crisis that cannot wait another two years’’ to correct, added
Jackson, referring to Hackett’s third four-year term, which expires on
June 30, 2008. Hackett has been mayor since July 1, 1996.
Hackett
said he will respond to accusations by the recall committee — an
outgrowth of the Responsible Citizens for Orange community group — by
today.
Besides Jackson, a Seton Hall
track coach who lives on Heywood Avenue, the recall effort’s other two
organizers are Richard Constable
III, a Newark attorney who owns a home on Clairmont Terrace, and Bruce Meyer, an airline pilot who lives on Berkeley Avenue.
‘‘We’re
saying we’ve got to put a stop to what’s going on, right now,’’ Meyer
said. ‘‘We’re going to expose every little dirty story out there. And
there are some doozies.’’
Now is the
time ‘‘to take our c i t y b a c k , ’ ’ C o n s t a b l e a d d e d .
‘‘We’re using our constitutional right to recall the mayor.’’
The
recall group gathered at the Echoes grief counseling center, part of
the Cotton Funeral Service on Main Street. The room there was filled
with small placards and signs that read things such as ‘‘We C a n ’ t H
a c k e t t , ’ ’ ‘ ‘ W e ’ r e G o i n g Broke,’’ and ‘‘Recall Mims.’’
While there, the recall group also announced the creation of a Web site — www.taxes2 high.org.
If
city clerk Dwight Mitchell certifies the wording of the recall
committee’s petition drive request by tomorrow’s three-day deadline,
and Hackett responds to the accusations lodged against him, ‘‘within
five days,’’ the petition drive will begin, door-to-door, no later than
mid-February, Jackson said.
The
Uniform Recall Election Law of 1995 requires any recall effort to
gather signatures from at least 25 percent of the people registered to
vote in that particular municipality’s last general election.
For
Orange, that means the recall supporters must secure at least 3,597
certified signatures, representing one-fourth of the 14,389 people who
were registered to vote last fall, Mitchell said.
The
recall group said it wants to gather the required signatures over the
next six months, so the recall question gets on the Nov. 6 general
election ballot.
‘‘The impact of
recent property tax bill increases caused many Orange residents to
focus on municipal spending and the conduct of our municipal
officials,’’ Jackson said.
‘‘Reviewing
the mayor’s current and past budgets, and attending city council
meetings, revealed that our city is plagued by r u n a w a y e x p e n
s e s c a u s e d , i n part, by unnecessary city positions, and
unreasonably high salaries,’’ Jackson said.
‘‘For
example, the mayor allows a volunteer fire director to earn
approximately $100,000 a year, inclusive of benefits, yet Orange has no
volunteer firefighters,’’ said Jackson, referring to resident Douglas
Burris being hired last fall as Orange’s coordinator of volunteer
firefighting services.
Also, ‘‘the
mayor’s chauffeur earns over $50,000, as his aide, and another $20,000
as Orange’s Equal Employment Opportunity C o m m i s s i o n o f f i c
e r , ’ ’ J a c k s o n said. MARK DYE/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER ‘‘We’re saying we’ve got to put a stop to what’s going on, right now,’ said Bruce Meyer, one of the recall group’s organizers.
MARK DYE/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER Richard Constable, left, and Jason Jackson listen to a resident last ‘‘Our is ’’ Jackson said
