THREE MUST-QUIT-EERS
Unprecedented situation in Trenton politics has three major players in city government facing efforts to push them from office »
TRENTON » Reed Gusciora, who celebrated a triumphant moment when he was elected the first openly gay mayor of the capital city in 2018, faces a recall less than halfway through his first term.
Gusciora becomes the first mayor since corrupt ex-Mayor Tony Mack to face a recall. That recall effort failed, but Mack was removed from office by a judge in 2014 after being convicted and imprisoned as part of a federal bribery scheme.
“If that’s what Robin and her friends feel is important, more power to them,” Gusciora said. “It’s America. You can do whatever you want. The city has much more challenges and things to worry about.”
Gusciora joins council members Robin Vaughn and Joe Harrison who also face recalls. Separately, the council members were issued disciplinary Rice notices and could be censured, over their conduct on a coronavirus briefing, when the legislative body convenes Thursday.
Those with knowledge of Trenton’s political history called this movement unprecedented, in that they couldn’t remember a time when three sitting elected officials faced removal from office at the same time, let alone during a global health crisis.
The capital city has more than 2,300 cases and 54 deaths from COVID-19.
Filing with the clerk’s office Wednesday morning, the three-person committee to recall Gusciora said the mayor failed to perform his duties. abused his power and engaged in “unbecoming” conduct, according to the removal petition.
The recall committee includes Cherie Garrette, George Daniels and Mary Horne. Horne has made posts on Facebook supporting the embattled Vaughn.
Garrette declined to comment on the recall and other committee members couldn’t be reached.
Gusciora accused Horne of being Vaughn’s “Facebook echo bunny.”
The committee to remove Harrison consists of Sonya Wilkins, Anthony Johnson and Lisa Morris.
The Harrison recall committee alleged in its petition that Harrison has failed to perform his duties as councilman and also engaged in “unbecoming” conduct.
Morris didn’t answer a phone call after asking a reporter to call back later, and other members couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Trenton Housing Authority sued the council last year alleging it illegally appointed Wilkins, a former aide to council president Kathy McBride, to the Board of Commissioners despite her not being a THA resident.
According to court records, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice after being “amicably resolved.”
City law director John Morelli said the THA was “correct” about Wilkins’ illegal appointment and she was removed from the board.
Wilkins resigned as McBride’s aide Wednesday, after the filing of the recall petition, the Trenton clerk said.
Harrison earned a razor-thin win in the runoff over Taiwanda Terry-Wilson in 2018.
“It is what it is,” Harrison told The Trentonian. “What can you say? At the end of the day, I’m gonna continuing helping the people of the East Ward. It’s their decision. You really gotta question the motives of everybody. This council has been a disappointment. It’s supposed to be about the people. Most of the time all we do is talk about ourselves.”
The petitions must be signed by 25 percent of registered voters in Trenton and in the East Ward, respectively, to move forward.
Clerk Dwayne Harris said he was tabulating the number of signatures required on each petition to force a special election for Trenton’s terrific trio.
The recall effort comes after Gusciora, Harrison and Vaughn got into an argument during a coronavirus briefing this month.
Gusciora started in on Vaughn asking her to identify the “do-nothing” nonprofits that she maligned on her social media pages.
Much of the focus has been on Vaughn’s meltdown.
Some of the state’s top Democrats and colleagues demanded that she step down after she was caught on tape calling the mayor a “pedophile” and telling Harrison to suck the mayor’s “d**k.”
She was excoriated during a recent council meeting by those upset over her antics. And five residents of the West Ward filed paperwork this week to recall Vaughn. While people attempted to make false equivalencies between Vaughn’s viral vitriol and that of her colleagues, she was hardly alone in hurling insults and personal attacks on the conference call. Gusciora called the West Ward legislator an “idiot,” “child,” “4-year-old” and “little a**shole.” He also suggested Vaughn should be lobotomized and threatened to sue her over her pedophilia allegations. Vaughn attacked Harrison’s family when he stood up for Gusciora.
She accused him of performing sex acts on the mayor, called his mother a “whore” and suggested his father was a deadbeat.
Harrison called Vaughn “ugly” but suggested in a subsequent interview he was talking about her conduct not her looks.
Gusciora, a longtime assemblyman before taking over in Trenton, has faced controversy throughout his tenure, including when he first took office.
His term has been defined by constant acrimony with the legislative body.
He has taken two council members to court twice, and won an injunction, over allegations that the legislators abused their power.
Gusciora said council president McBride and Vaughn violated city ordinance and the Faulkner Act.
A judge recently refused to sanction Vaughn for violating her order after Gusciora’s attorneys said Vaughn’s conduct was undeterred by the November ruling.
Gusciora also faced a now-infamous Dunkin’ Donuts lawsuit from a faction of ardent supporters of mayoral runner-up Paul Perez that accused Gusciora of bribery and electioneering during the 2018 runoff.
That group, which included reputed Gusciora critic Mike Ranallo, later dropped the lawsuit after Gusciora refused to admit any wrongdoing.
Ranallo is not a part of the recall committee. And he took issue with Gusciora’s dismissal of the recall committee as disgruntled voters who aren’t over his historic win.
“This is a whole new group of people that are obviously dissatisfied with [his] lackluster performance,” Ranallo said. “Clearly, this isn’t two-year old voter bitterness over a very close election, but a real indictment on the mayors performance and behavior. He appears to be taking this nonchalantly and he should not be. He won by a squeak and every signature that the group gets is a vote he will not.”
Gusciora said he’s not worried about the recall effort tarnishing his reputation as a lawmaker.
“In public life, there’s always going to be people that hate you. There are continual people who can’t move past that election,” he said. “I got bigger things to worry about. I have to make sure we get testing done, that citizens are protected, that nonprofits are able to help us take care of the people who have fallen through the cracks. We still have to worry about graduation.”