Two committeemen won’t elect Bleacher mayor

Committeeman Ron Shapella and Committeeman-elect William Corboy are concerned about allegations of a state investigation, suggestions Gary Bleacher misled fellow officials and possible appointments by Mr. Bleacher that could undermine ordinances put into place to protect the environment.

By: Linda Seida
   WEST AMWELL — Bucking 160 years of tradition, the deputy mayor of West Amwell will not become mayor in 2007 because the other two members of the Township Committee refuse to vote for him for numerous reasons, including allegations of a state investigation and the suggestion he deliberately misled fellow officials.
   The vote for mayor will come at the committee’s reorganization meeting Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. at the municipal building at 150 Rocktown-Lambertville Road.
   Deputy Mayor Gary Bleacher was in line to become mayor for a third time. That changed at a meeting Dec. 21 when Committeeman Ron Shapella and Committeeman-elect William Corboy told him that was not going to happen.
   Traditionally, the senior member of the three-person committee becomes mayor in the final year of his or her three-year term.
   "When tradition collides against the express will of the people, tradition has to yield," Mr. Shapella said.
   "The will of the people" refers to the public support garnered by Mr. Shapella and Mr. Corboy when they ran for office. Mr. Corboy won election in November by running a "green" campaign in support of the environmentally protective direction the township has taken. Mr. Shapella won a seat on the committee when he ran on a similar platform in 2005.
   Mr. Bleacher was the lone vote against several ordinances protecting the environment that ultimately passed 2-1 in 2006.
   Mr. Shapella said he and Mr. Corboy had discussed the mayor’s post both before and after Mr. Corboy’s election. They both said they do not want to put the township’s progress at risk by allowing Mr. Bleacher to ascend to the township’s top post.
   A mayor has the authority to make appointments to various boards and committees, including the Planning Board, which has at least three open seats ready to be filled Jan. 1. Numerous other appointments also will be made.
   Most likely they now will be made by Mr. Shapella, who is the only remaining logical choice as mayor because he is the senior committee member after Mr. Bleacher.
   Mr. Shapella said he was concerned "progress will be overturned."
   He said, "That’s something I don’t want to get anywhere near. I don’t think good government is allowing a step back when we’ve made two steps forward."
   "Are you afraid?" Mr. Bleacher countered. "What you’re saying is you think your ideas can’t stand up to the appointments I’m going to make."
   Mr. Bleacher was mayor twice before, the last time in 2004. He said any appointments he could make would not counter what already has been done, although "it could certainly mitigate some of the results."
   One of Mr. Bleacher’s supporters, former Township Clerk Betty Jane Hunt, told Mr. Shapella, "As far as I’m concerned, Ron, you’re setting yourself up as dictator."
   Another supporter, resident Melissa Masset, told the committee it should adhere to tradition and make Mr. Bleacher mayor.
   She said, "You want to have it all your way, and that’s not democracy."
   Mr. Bleacher said a "healthy mix makes for a better path" for the township.
   Mr. Shapella said, "I’m all for diversity, but when appointments can serve to create policy that can take us a step backward, that’s something I want to avoid."
   Mr. Corboy said his decision was based on the fact he does not want to "see the complexion of the Planning Board change."
   Mr. Shapella said his other reasons for not voting for Mr. Bleacher include the "foot dragging" Mr. Bleacher performed when he was the committee’s liaison to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
   Mr. Shapella said Mr. Bleacher was charged with ensuring a proposed sewer service area was removed from a Department of Environmental Protection map. It never was. That fact came to light during the county’s cross-acceptance meetings in 2004. The township still is in the process of having it removed.
   Also, investigators from the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption Unit have been watching the township, anonymously sitting in on some public committee meetings, according to Sean Pfeiffer, chairman of the township’s Open Space Committee and a member of the Planning Board.
   Mr. Pfeiffer said state investigators have been in contact with him, but asked him not to divulge that fact because of the ongoing investigation.
   Mr. Pfeiffer told The Beacon Tuesday, "I can’t really comment on everything they have been investigating. However, of the issues you mention, it seems too clear to me that the conduct of certain parties with respect to the township’s sewer service area and township records have been of interest to them."
   At the meeting Dec. 21, he said he felt obligated to share some details with those members of the committee whom he felt it was clear were not under investigation, excluding Mr. Bleacher. Mr. Bleacher apparently found out about investigators’ close scrutiny for the first time that day.
   What investigators found of particular interest at one point, according to Mr. Pfeiffer, was the fact Mr. Bleacher’s fellow committee members never were informed of a visit from a state investigator who had gone to township offices in February to interview Clerk Lora Olsen.
   In an interview with The Beacon in April 2006, Mr. Bleacher said he had not been introduced to the investigator and did not even know the man was in the building until someone later told him.
   But Mr. Pfeiffer said the investigator was, in fact, introduced to Mr. Bleacher that day. Mr. Pfeiffer said the investigator recalls it clearly because he was introduced to Mr. Bleacher as a lieutenant, a rank two steps above his actual rank, and the two men shook hands.
   Last week, Mr. Bleacher asked Mr. Shapella, "Are you saying I lied?"
   "I don’t know," Mr. Shapella said. "That’s an open question. We have an officer of the law saying one thing, and you’re saying another."