By Anthony V. Coppola, Staff Writer
HIGHTSTOWN After being challenged to take a public stance on the petition effort to recall Mayor Bob Patten, one member of the Borough Council said this week that no member of the governing body plans to support the measure.
”I believe I can speak for the council members who expressed to me individually that there is no intention to sign a recall petition,” Council President Walter Sikorski said at the borough’s Tuesday council meeting. “If I’m not correct in that, I wish I would stand corrected.”
No additional comments from his colleagues followed those from Mr. Sikorski, which came after Mike Vanderbeck, a former councilman and leader of Democrats for Patten, called the recall effort a “dark cloud hanging out there” and urged council to “step up and say we don’t support this recall.”
”All of you guys are decision-makers,” Mr. Vanderbeck told the council. “You should be able to see something out there and try to mitigate it. I’m not here to defend Bob, I’m here to defend this town and the progress that it’s making.”
Mr. Vanderbeck went on to call the recall “pointless.”
”I asked Candace (Borough Administrator/Clerk Candace Gallagher) for a copy of it and in the comment section there’s nothing, it’s empty,” Mr. Vanderbeck said. “So someone is going to walk around with a blank petition and ask residents to take negative action against the town? I hope they don’t come to my house.”
J.P. Gibbons, the North Main Street resident leading the recall effort, has said he removed a previous commentary as a means to expedite a drawn-out process of getting the petition approved and to eliminate the mayor’s chance to formally respond on the petition.
Councilman Sikorski expressed annoyance with Mr. Vanderbeck’s comments.
”I feel the council was unjustly maligned tonight,” he said. “We have not been inappropriately acting, if anything we have been above the fray. We’ve chosen not to go public. … We are not signing the petition and I expressed that to Bob very early in the game.”
The council is comprised entirely of Democrats, while the mayor is Republican. Councilman Sikorski ran against Mayor Patten in 2006 and lost by 28 votes.
Councilman Larry Quattrone previously said he was undecided if he’d sign the petition.
”I doubt I’ll sign it,” he said Wednesday. “I said I’d need to see it and I haven’t seen it yet.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Quattrone backed up his July statement Wednesday that he wants his name considered as a replacement for Mayor Patten should there be a recall election.
Mr. Gibbons announced his intention in early July to seek Mayor Patten’s removal, saying such action is needed because the mayor is “divisive” and his exclusionary tactics have hurt the borough’s economy and reputation. The mayor has said there is no justification for such an effort.
Mr. Vanderbeck was one of a few members of the public who questioned the recall’s validity at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Chris Emigholz, who was appointed to the Planning Board by Mayor Patten and has served as the local GOP treasurer, attributed the concerns of those supporting the recall to the state, not the mayor.
”One of the things driving the recall is that property taxes are going up,” said the South Street resident. “To say Mayor Patten has anything to do with taxes going up is like giving him credit for the weather being beautiful; he has no control over it.”
Former Councilman Gene Sarafin had a different take on the situation at Tuesday’s meeting.
”Mr. Patten, it is very nice of you to set up all of your flunkies to come here tonight and praise you,” Mr. Sarafin said. “You work hard at your job, but this is not the forum for that. Now we wind up with my fellow citizens deriding Mr. Gibbons because he wants to get a recall.”
Mr. Sarafin said he hopes the movement moves forward.
”Let us who like Mr. Patten vote against the recall and those who don’t like Mr. Patten vote for his recall,” he said. “Just let the process of democracy exist in this town.”
Mr. Gibbons had already left the meeting by the time those comments were made.
On Thursday, Mayor Patten expressed thanks to Mr. Sikorski for his comments and denied Mr. Sarafin’s notion that supporters were planted at Tuesday’s meeting.
”Anyone who spoke in support of me, or against the recall effort of me, did so because they chose to speak out, not because of the recall defense committee,” Mayor Patten said.
A recall defense committee comprised of the mayor; his wife, Kathy; and Ashley Hutchinson, the GOP Municipal Committee chairwoman was recently formed to oppose Mr. Gibbons’ effort.
Vic Monaco contributed to this story.

