BLOOMFIELD, NJ — An effort to remove 1st Ward Councilman Elias Chalet from office was recently turned aside, while another effort for removal awaits a possible showdown in November, on Election Day.
Chalet, who has been indicted by a state grand jury for official misconduct and bribery, was asked by Mayor Michael Venezia, on Sunday, Jan. 30, to resign but Chalet refused. Venezia said he had called the councilman to his Town Hall office.
“I don’t want to go into details,” Venezia said in a telephone interview. “He gave his reason why he wasn’t. We spoke for about 45 minutes.”
Venezia said he made his request because he thinks Chalet’s resignation would be in the best interest of Bloomfield. But with the councilman’s answer, the mayor said the township will move forward and just have to let the judicial system play its part. Venezia said he would not ask the council to act uniformly for a resignation.
“I am not going to publicly shame someone,” he said. “I’m heartbroken if the allegations are true. He’ll have his day in court. The Town Hall chambers are not a courtroom.”
The second effort to remove Chalet is a recall petition. This would require 25 percent of the voters registered for Election Day, 2015, to sign. A co-sponsor of the recall effort is 1st Ward resident Kathy DeMarino. The other co-sponsors are Alyn Specht and Leamon McKensie.
“We don’t know when he is going to trial,” DeMarino said in a telephone interview. “That’s why we decided to do this recall.”
DeMarino, who is vice president of the Board of Health, said the 1st Ward does not have any representation now.
“Can he vote on everything?” she said. “He can’t vote on anything on land and money.”
Chalet is alleged to have solicited and accepted $15,000 in cash from a Bloomfield businessman, who owns property the township wanted to acquire. Chalet is alleged to have been recorded by law enforcement authorities giving the businessman his word that the council would approve the purchase if the businessman gave Chalet the money, and taking the money.
DeMarino said in the past she had gone to Chalet if she had a problem, but did not feel comfortable to do that anymore.
“The 1st Ward voters want someone clean and forthright,” she said.
In order to have a recall election in November, the petition will have to be signed by 2,395 people in the 1st Ward who were registered to vote in the November 2015 election, according to Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin. This number represents the 25 percent, required by statute, of the 9,578 1st Ward voters who were registered to vote on Election Day, 2015.
According to the recall statute, the municipal ballot will offer the voter two choices.
The first choice would be whether the incumbent official who is the subject of the recall should be recalled. That requires a yes or no vote.
The second choice is for a candidate to replace the incumbent official in the event the recall is successful. Names of these candidates are listed on the ballot.
If the recall is not successful, results for all candidates are void, and the incumbent keeps his office. If the recall is successful, the candidate with the most votes is the winner. The statute also allows the incumbent official, who is the subject of the recall, to be a candidate to succeed himself.
Durkin said, in an email, the candidate being recalled is able to file a candidate’s petition to win the seat that they lost in a recall.
“The official being recalled can also be the winner of the recall election,” Durkin said. “Being charged with the crime does not disqualify but conviction would.”
DeMarion said she does not feel that way.
“I know there is a group of us willing to do this,” she said. “A lot of people are angry. The mayor said Chalet should be there until he is proven guilty. We don’t feel that way.”
Chalet’s attorney, Peter Till, of Springfield, refused to allow Chalet to speak to The Independent Press, saying it was not appropriate or proper.
Venezia said the property owned by the businessman allegedly solicited by Chalet is not the only parcel the township is considering to purchase. The land, if purchased, was expected to be used for a water-pumping station.
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