The Life & Legacy of Ed Sinclair
Ed Sinclair joyous after being reinstated as the Department of Public Works director by the Mahwah Township Council in a 6-0 vote (March 19, 2015).
Ed Sinclair gave his heart and his career to the township of Mahwah. As a family man and youth hockey coach, he was well known in the neighborhood as the guy who would always help others. As a lifetime Mahwah resident, he served as a volunteer firefighter for 30 years and was chief of Company #2 for 2 years. He worked for the DPW and moved up the ranks to director. He also ran for mayor. However, those that knew Ed Sinclair knew that he wasn’t the political type, but he felt it was his civic duty to do so. Ed was aware of the level of corruption William Laforet brought to the table and feared that “he is going to destroy this town.”
William Laforet defeated Sinclair in the mayoral race, but that wasn’t good enough for Laforet. In an effort to advance his own agenda with privatization of the DPW, Mayor Laforet spread heinous lies about Ed Sinclair, including falsehoods about child pornography, publicly shaming him and the very character that he embodied. Against the advice of council, Mayor Laforet bypassed all township regulations and wrongfully terminated Ed Sinclair from his longstanding position at the DPW based on the false accusations. The pain and suffering experienced by Ed Sinclair and his entire family as a result of these false accusations was immeasurable.
When an investigation proved Mr. Sinclair’s innocence he was reinstated by the council (please view the video of that council reinstatement). This is one of the most important days in Mahwah’s recent history. It was on this day that Mahwah proved how strength, character, and being a good citizen can beat evil.
But despite his reinstatement, the pain and suffering didn’t end. Ed Sinclair’s good name had been tarnished and his family had to face the embarrassment of falsehoods circulating about the man they loved and cherished. William Laforet continued to enact his bullying on Ed Sinclair and the threats continued even after he resumed his position with the DPW. It seemed he would stop at nothing to destroy Ed Sinclair. After months of attempting to regain normalcy, Ed was at work one day when he wasn’t feeling well and decided to leave early—something his colleagues report that was very unlike him. Ed returned to his Mahwah home and ultimately suffered a fatal heart attack at the young age of 57.
If you ask people around town, there are nothing but kind words spoken of Ed Sinclair. A dear friend to the Freund family, Annette said “Ed Sinclair was a Mahwah native and volunteer firefighter who loved this town and wanted to be our mayor. He would have been a GREAT public servant—kind, considerate, friendly, funny and rooted in his faith. It was an honor and a privilege to call him my friend.”
A friend and neighbor Darlene Mikolajczyk welled up with tears as she described him. “Ed Sinclair was a saint of a person. Anyone who knew Ed knew that he was a protector and he was going to do anything to protect this town.”
His close friends and co-workers do not hesitate in stating that the emotional stress of Laforet’s smear campaign became too much for Ed. A former co-worker says “This situation is what killed him. Laforet is pure evil.”
The $60M wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Sinclair family is affecting the township as a whole, and is personally affecting the mayor and police chief as the lead conspirators. As reported in North Jersey.com and the Suburban News in 2015, the lawsuit “alleges that Laforet, Batelli and others ‘orchestrated, encouraged and/or participated in the creation, preparation or transmittal’ of the anonymous letter accusing Sinclair of viewing child pornography. Laforet later allegedly leaked the letter to a New York television reporter, who made it available to millions of viewers, as the mayor continued to wage a ‘malicious and unfounded campaign’ against Sinclair. As a result of the defendants’ actions, Sinclair suffered ‘severe depression, became despondent’ and ‘after prolonged suffering and agony’ died on August 13, 2015.”
The alleged actions of the mayor and police chief are nothing short of pure evil. It is truly unthinkable that this behavior could possibly happen in a quiet suburban town. But as a result, the community has shown that it can come together and bring about change. We are standing up for the very nature of Mahwah. We cannot allow our town to be represented by those who are so petty about winning in the political realm that they will go to lengths of ruining and ultimately ending the life of another human being. Laforet shows no remorse at the mention of Ed Sinclair’s name. It is almost as if he has no soul.
Mahwah cannot afford the lawsuits that accompany having this mayor in office. The recent lawsuits involving the parks ban and the Eruv pale in comparison to the Sinclair lawsuit. These recent lawsuits are a direct result of the mayor’s mishandling of these situations, but he has attempted to shift blame entirely to the council. His emails prove that he was the driving force behind the requests to ban out-of-state residents in our parks as well as the no-knock ordinance. The mishandling of the eruv is JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!! The issues down the road involve high-density housing, property tax-exemptions, corruption within our planning board, and massive changes to the very nature of our town. The dire situation that Mahwah is faced with is a direct result of ONE INDIVIDUAL. We owe this to Ed Sinclair. Please help us send the message that Mahwah is willing to stand united and fight for what’s right.
Laforet campaign banner with message "RIP BIG ED" spray painted on it