City Took Down My Campaign Signs, Says New Brunswick Mayoral Candidate

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A man running for New Brunswick mayor accused current Mayor Jim Cahill of directing Public Works employees to take down his campaign signs this week.

But a spokesman for the city said the campaign signs may have blocked the sidewalk.

This happened Monday, said Charlie Kratovil, who is challenging Cahill. Cahill, a Democrat, has been New Brunswick's mayor for the past 31 years. Kratovil is an independent and Maria Powell, Republican, is also running.

Kratovil said he personally saw a DPW worker removing his campaign signs at 4:15 p.m. Monday outside Kratovil's own home, in the Second Ward neighborhood.

Kratovil said he confronted the employee, who promptly re-installed the sign he had just removed and then proceeded to retrieve three more Kratovil campaign signs from his truck. The incident was caught on video.

The employee said New Brunswick Public Works superintendent Victor Fair had directed him to remove the signs, said Kratovil.

A spokesman for the city of New Brunswick said the signs may have been illegally placed or blocked the sidewalks.

"Our city workers routinely collect signs that are placed illegally in the public right-of-way and in violation of long-standing ordinances prohibiting such practices," said New Brunswick city spokesman Bert Baron. "Any such signs, regardless of content or messaging, are rounded up and the owners are notified of the violation(s). The owners are then offered the opportunity to retrieve their signs, and that is the case here."

Kratovil said the signs were not blocking any passageway.

"Shame on City Hall," shot back Kratovil. "The current administration is known for mistreating their own workers, but sending out uniformed staff to engage in blatantly illegal, politically-motivated activities is a new low. It's unfortunate that our public workers are being directed to execute political tasks by the administration."

Mayor Cahill refused to debate Kratovil and Powell in a public forum held Oct. 9 by the League of Women Voters. Kratovil ran against Cahill for New Brunswick mayor in 2018 and was defeated. Cahill won with 77 percent of the vote, compared to 23 percent for Kratovil.

The election will be Nov. 8.