Marc Moran, who was appointed to the Hopewell Borough Council July 3, says he will step down and not seek election in November in order to end the controversy over his membership in the white supremacist organization the National Alliance.
By: John Tredrea
Embattled Hopewell Borough Councilman Marc Moran said Saturday morning he will resign from the council, to which he was appointed nine days ago, adding that he has "no intention" of seeking election to the council in November.
"Hopewell Borough is too great a place to have to endure the amount of attention especially this kind of attention that it’s getting now," Mr. Moran said. "My roots in the borough are very deep and I love it very much. It’s because of that that I’ve decided to leave the council."
Statewide controversy erupted immediately after it became public knowledge two days ago that Mr. Moran is a member of the National Alliance, a rabidly white supremacist organization. Mr. Moran’s protestations that he joined the Alliance primarily because he shares its views on illegal immigration and the importance of safeguarding free speech seemed to do nothing to quell the furor.
Mr. Moran’s Internet writings, excerpts from which have been published widely during the past few days, fueled the controversy as strongly as his membership in the National Alliance. In one of Mr. Moran’s essays, posted a few weeks ago on the virulently anti-Semitic website vanguardnewsnetwork.com, he admired Chester Doles, a National Alliance member and former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan who has a swastika tattooed on one wrist and "White Power" tattooed on the other. In that essay, entitled "Freedom," Mr. Moran compared Mr. Doles to America’s Founding Fathers.
Mr. Moran’s decision has come as a relief to the borough’s mayor.
Hopewell Borough Mayor David Nettles said Saturday morning of Mr. Moran’s decision to resign, "I am relieved, very relieved. I think it’s the best thing for the borough. I’m glad it’s over."
Mr. Nettles said he knew nothing of Mr. Moran’s extremist views or membership in the National Alliance until he read about it in the press after Mr. Moran was appointed to the council.
Mr. Moran said he has already told Mayor Nettles and several council members of his decision to resign. He added that he "has no intention of running in the November election." Asked if he will seek to have his name removed from the ballot, Mr. Moran, a Republican, said: "Oh, I think the Republican Party will take care of that for me. But I have no intention of running."
GOP leaders and officials from all levels of state government have been clamoring for Mr. Moran’s resignation with increasing intensity. They include Gov. Jim McGreevey, state senator and state Republican chairman Joe Kyrillos, Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti and state assemblywoman and chair of the state Democratic Committee Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Ms. Coleman said Friday, "The cancerous and corrosive effect of a public official’s affiliation with a white supremacist group cannot be minimized. Local officials don’t just decide where to plant shade trees. They have a role in a broad spectrum of issues related to social justice and diversity, such as decisions on affordable housing, educational opportunity and the allocation of public resources, such as funds from state and federal government. Of course, a message of hate, prejudice and intolerance is wrong everywhere."
Mr. Moran, who said he will deliver a letter of resignation to Borough Hall Monday morning, was appointed to council to complete the unexpired term of Mr. Nettles, who vacated his seat on council to complete the unexpired term of former mayor George Padgett, who resigned recently and moved to Florida. The term to which Mr. Moran was appointed July 3 ends Dec. 31. His appointment came after he landed a spot on the November ballot as a Republican seeking a three-year term on the council.
At a Friday afternoon press conference near John Hart’s grave in a cemetery on East Broad Street in the heart of the small borough, Mr. Moran said several times he would not resign. He said he thought that whether or not he should remain on the council should be decided by the voters in November.
"But I changed my mind in the wee hours this morning and will resign," he said Saturday. "I re-examine my views on issues every day and will continue to do that," he added, "I think what has happened during the past few days will increase my efforts, and perhaps the efforts of other people as well, to do that. But what I want to say now is that, for the sake of my family and my town, it’s time to bring all this to an end."