Questions & Answers

Recall is a procedure that allows citizens to remove and replace a public official before the end of a term of office and hold a recall election. A recall election or “referendum” provides a way for citizens to retain control over elected officials who are not representing their best interests, or who are unresponsive or incompetent.

In New Jersey, time for gathering signatures is 160 days, and the signature requirement is 25% of the registered voters (approx. 4,200 signatures in Mahwah). The recall election in Mahwah will take place at the next general election on November 6, 2018. No special election is required and there will be no additional expense to the taxpayers.

• You are simply requesting that the question above appear on the ballot. 
• You are saying, “Let the people decide.”
• No one on the Recall Committee or anyone circulating this petition will ask you how you will vote on this question. 
• All we are asking is that the voters be given an opportunity to say whether the mayor should stay in office.

No one will see the signatures but the circulator. This information will not be used for any political activity by the Recall Committee, despite any claims that the Mayor might make. All signature pages will remain in a safe deposit box until all 4,150 signatures have been gathered. Only a successful recall petition and its signature pages becomes part of public record. If insufficient signatures are gathered, the petition becomes null and void and the signature pages do not become part of the public record.

The Recall Committee is privately funded by a group of passionate Mahwah residents who believe this is the right thing to do. Neither the Township nor any political group are paying for the recall.

Please see our "Why Recall" page for the reasons behind this recall.

The recall campaign is being held because:

• We have the right to decide how we are to be represented. 
• We were granted this right in our democratic form of government and in our New Jersey State Constitution. 
• We, the voters will have a chance to express our point of view and participate in democracy, giving people real power and influence on important social and political issues.  
• Every voter — in the privacy of the voting booth — will be able to provide a clear, decisive, Yes/No answer to this question:  “Should William Laforet be recalled from the office of Mayor of the Township of Mahwah?”

Call 201-252-2515 or email us at RecallMayorLaforet@gmail.com.
Someone will arrange to meet you to sign the petition.

Please note that we will not conduct recall business on township property (e.g. the town hall, firehouses and ambulance headquarters), but if there are functions occurring at this locations, we can definitely be available nearby. Recall rules and regulation prevent circulators from conducting business on property owned by the township of Mahwah.

No, petition circulators are NOT solicitors. They are protected under the U.S. Constitution which guarantees the right to petition the government for redress or grievances. In addition, the 1st Amendment protects political speech and is one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights.

No, the Council DOES NOT appoint a new mayor. Upon successfully completing the petition, it will be submitted to the township clerk to be certified. This process is expected to happen mid-to-late June. Legally, there is a 10 day certification period in which all signatures must be verified as legible and legitimate. Once officially certified, we will make arrangements for the recall question to appear on the November ballot.

There will also be a question regarding the additional candidate(s) for mayor ON THE SAME BALLOT. So, essentially, Laforet would be a “lame duck” for July/August/September/October and this time would be used to campaign for the mayor’s replacement. Bill Laforet may decide to have his name on the ballot. His ego is so big that this is a distinct possibility. The people of Mahwah must unite and vote together for the same candidate. We can not afford to split the vote. During the last mayoral election, 62% of Mahwah voted against Laforet, but he still won because the vote was split three ways. He only won by 92 votes. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

The Mayor routinely blocks many Mahwah residents from his Facebook page whose viewpoints he disagrees with. He has also blocked almost all Town Council members. He posts and promotes lies and hate mongering from public officials from other towns, news stories biased against Mahwah, and articles from propaganda sites pretending to be news.

Because he doesn't want the community to notice how deep his involvement is. The mayor and police chief were aware of the planned expansion of the ultra-orthodox community prior to Sept 2016, long before the eruv was illegally installed. The attached emails prove this. Mayor Laforet also expressed interest in strengthening our town's park ordinances and implementing a no-knock registry and asked the council to prioritize these actions. See the attached emails. It seems he was hurrying to get the signs and ordinances rushed through before the eruv was installed. But ordinances take time for discussion and the council and legal team simply couldn't get these things accomplished prior to July. So when the media and out of town residents started to falsely claim in July that Mahwah is anti-semitic and bigoted, Bill Laforet changed his tune and stated that the entire council should resign for attempting to implement the ordinances that he suggested. It's no wonder the town is so divided. Our leader is not leading. He is too busy protecting his democratic reputation that he is throwing his own council and community under the bus. We must stand up against this bully. We know who we are despite the lies the media — and our own mayor — are spreading about us.

Team Recall cannot answer this, but all signs point to Bill Laforet having his sights set on a higher ranking official position. He has gone out of his way to glad-hand with higher government officials, setting up political fundraisers for Phil Murphy. When Senators Cory Booker and Congressman Josh Gottheimer denounced Mahwah as rooted in antisemitism, Bill Laforet remained silent. He had the opportunity to jump to the defense of the town he represented, but he chose to be quiet. A true leader would have put his town and citizens ahead of his own political agenda.

Mayor Laforet continues to behave in a manner that many of the good citizens of Mahwah cannot understand. Mahwah is and always has been a welcoming community and the accusations that we are a town of hatred are being perpetuated in the media and from towns such as Teaneck and Englewood. The mayor has chosen to befriend these hate-mongering individuals while denouncing the very people that he represents here in Mahwah. He holds press briefings that reflect poorly on the citizens of Mahwah. It seems he has forgotten that he represents the people of Mahwah.

The first recall attempt was initiated for several reasons, but the wrongful termination of Ed Sinclair was a major catalyst that got the residents involved and motivated to start a recall. Please read the story of Ed Sinclair here.