Township Upholds GOP Challenger's Election Bid

The Republican party will indeed have a primary contest this June as the petitions filed by the challenger to Mayor Rudy Boonstra have been upheld after a legal challenge.

Boonstra will face the Rev. Jeff Boucher in an intra-party contest for the GOP line on the ballot this fall, when the victor will challenge Democrat Dr. Henry Velez for a three-year Township Committee seat.

Township Clerk Joyce Santimauro issued her decision Friday afternoon after reviewing an opinion by retired Superior Court Judge Robert Guida that recommended Boucher's filing petition be accepted as valid. While the ultimate decision rested with Santimauro, she was guided by Guida's report, issued after an election law hearing held Wednesday.

"The judge did the exact thing that we hoped for," said Boucher, the pastor of Powerhouse Christian Church. "He listened to all the facts" and reached "the desired outcome."

Boonstra, who is seeking his second term in office, said "the judge did agree with us on many of the points" but accepts Guida's opinion and Santimauro's decision.

"It's not unusual for petitions to be challenged (and) it's not unusual for petitions to be remedied," Boonstra said.

Guida did agree on many points raised by Jeremiah Larkin, a signatory to Boonstra's petition who put forth the objection to Boucher's filing, but found that efforts to fix certain problems were sufficient to allow Boucher's candidacy to stand.

"I agree with the objections raised by J. Larkin... and find that the Petition as filed by J. Boucher was defective," Guida's opinion states.

"However, I agree with the argument of counsel for J. Boucher (attorney Demetrios K. Stratis) that our election laws permit candidates in general elections to amend a petition or affidavit by filing a new or substitute petition or affidavits before the 10th day after the last day for filing of petitions," Guida's opinion continues. 

"The Election Act, particularly those provisions relating to primaries, disclose an evident legislative purpose to afford electorate maximum opportunity to vote on those whose names have been put forward by nomination, and opportunity of voters to express their choice at primary election should not be diminished by too narrow reading of statutes.

"Having found that the petition of J. Boucher has been amended so as to remedy any defects which existed, and is supported by the signatures of one hundred fifty eight (158) voters, I recommend that said petition be accepted as valid in all respects," Guida's opinion concluded.

Larkin, a member of the GOP's county committee, filed an objection with Santimauro's office on April 16 that listed eight concerns with Boucher's petition, arguing that the pastor's candidacy should be invalidated.

Chief among the defects was the fact that John Haboob, the resident who validated Boucher's petition, was not a registered Wyckoff voter when he submitted the document. Haboob, a former Oakland resident, switched his registration once he and Boucher became aware of the issue.

Guida agreed with Larkin's objection and stated that the registration, among several other issues, were enough to label Boucher's petition as "defective." However, the judge recommended the petition still stand as the defects were "effectively and timely remedied."

The retired judge also agreed with Larkin and Boonstra's contention that Boucher's petition was faulty in how signatures were circulated and verified, as the filing suggested Haboob witnessed and verified 13 pages of signatures. Haboob testified at Wednesday's hearing that he did not in fact circulate the signature sheets. But witnesses called by Boucher attorney Stratis testified as to which signature sheets they circulated, that they had seen the residents sign the forms, and each identified the sheets they signed and circulated. Again, Guida held that the testimony was a sufficient remedy to assuage concerns about validity.

Additionally, Larkin's objection found fault with individual signers, stating that some of the 176 collected were either unregistered voters or Democrats. Santimauro testified that 11 of the signers were Democrats and 7 were unregistered, leaving 158 signatures.

Guida again agreed, and struck the errant names from Boucher's petition, but the 158 remaining were well above the 100-name threshold for a valid petition.

Following delivery of Guida's opinion, Boonstra said it was "clear there were some inconsistencies" but that the "judge did what was provided under Title 19," in reference to the guiding state statute, NJSA 19:13-10.

"We were trying to protect the integrity of the nominating process," said the mayor, who Boucher had accused of not wanting a primary race.

"Now we can go forward and have a primary election and an exchange of ideas," Boonstra said.

Boucher also said he's "looking forward, not backward.

"The people will now get a choice," he said.

The primary contest will be held on June 8.