The Court Renders a Decision … Sort of

Superior Court Judge Mara Zazzali Jones released an opinion yesterday which appears to determine that Mayor Lori Hohenleitner was duly elected Mayor of Atlantic Highlands in spite of the challenge by her opponent Councilman James Murphy.

The opinion, however, left the decision up to a further conference among the Judge and the attorneys for both officials.

While the Court found three instances where she felt Murphy, as the Petitioner did not always meet his burden of proof in the case of those votes he contested, she found several other instances when he indeed did and those votes should be rejected.

Hohenleitner had also filed with the court three challenges she felt were against voters she did not feel were eligible to vote in the borough in November. The judge upheld her proofs in those cases and rejected the votes, meaning she rejected three voters Murphy challenged, and another three Hohenleitner challenged.

That number, six in total, is not enough to overturn the election, and Judge Zazzali indicated that going forward, “the court may require additional testimony for the reasons set forth in an earlier court case in Parsippany . That is because the six illegal votes exceed Hohenleitner’ s margin of a five vote victory.

The Judge cited the earlier decision that said “the statute specifically grants the judge the power to require voters to disclose relevant information, including the authority to ‘compel [a voter] to disclose for whom he voted.”

It is for this reason Judge Zazzali concluded she “shall conference this matter to address the effect of these findings of fact and conclusions of law on this election challenge.”

The opinion itself reflects a major error in the written opinion. On page five of the decision, where the background and history of the lawsuit filed by Councilman Murphy when he lost the election Hohenleitner, who was also a councilwoman at the time, is legally identified and laid out, Judge Zazzali identified Murphy as the Democrat candidate for Mayor and Hohenleitner as the Republican candidate.

Neither member of the borough council responded to requests for a statement hours after the release of the opinion.

Council meets tonight, Thursday, April 11 at 7 p.m. for its regular meeting and the matter is not expected to come up for any discussion during the meeting.

Prayers on the Porch is tonight, Tuesday, April 9 at 6 p.m. at St Paul’s Baptist Church, W. Highland Avenue. Atlantic Highlands.

Everyone is invited to meet in the church parking lot for a monthly get together of residents and friends from all faiths. It’s an opportunity to share informal prayer, meet neighbors, join in prayers for the specific challenges or requests of others and spend a half hour in peace, quiet, and friendship.

The monthly Prayers on the Porch meets at different front yards and porches of residents, businesses and churches each month. This month’ s meeting at St. Paul’s gives everyone the opportunity to meet and welcome the new pastor who recently assumed the leadership of the parish.

It’s Always The Questions That Complicate Things …

“It’s frustrating,” resident Mark Fisher told the Harbor Commission at its meeting Tuesday, pointing out that as a resident his questions should not be ignored.

Fisher, during the public portion of the meeting, reminded the Commission that questions he has been asking since last year have not been answered or even referred to or reported on at any meeting since. “You’ve considered, discussed, but not acknowledged or answered,” Fisher said.

The resident, regarded by many as the most accurate recorder of almost every municipal public meeting and a frequent speaker at public sessions during meetings, also stays on track with all his concerns. If he doesn’t get a response to a question at one meeting, he brings it up at the next. And next. He makes it clear to every elected and appointed council or commission member that just because they don’t answer or even acknowledge he is waiting for information, he won’t forget. And he won’t go away.

Commission Chairman Tom Wall and all the harbor commissioners listened attentively to Fisher’s list of questions he has not had answered, some dating back to September of last year.

He cited four specific questions at the meeting, and received assurances from Wall that not only did he believe Fisher has the right to the responses, but they would be provided to him both personally and at the May 7 meeting.

The resident asked the commission to consider individual votes on correspondence and agenda items, rather than grouping all the items into a single vote. He asked that the Harbormaster’s monthly report be read in its entirety at every meeting. This month’s report was three sentences long, and only read after Fisher requested it. He asked that the commission include on the agenda an opportunity for the public to speak or ask questions on agenda items before any action is taken, as is done at borough council meetings. And he asked that in the rare cases that the commission takes action after an executive session, usually the last business of any meeting, that the agenda includes an opportunity to be heard before that action is taken as well.

Wall assured Fisher he would have a committee discuss each of the suggestions and would bring their recommendations up for public discussion at the May 7 meeting. Wall indicated to the resident that he understood his frustration and conceded that he himself should have been more thorough.

When asked later in the meeting why the recommendations Fisher brought up could not be discussed at the present meeting, Wall indicated he was not prepared to respond and would prefer to have a committee of commissioners make a recommendation for discussion before taking any action.