The political grudge match between Councilman Charles Morgan and Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh continues to brew in West Windsor, and has moved to a new arena – Mercer County Superior Court.
Morgan last month filed a civil suit against Hsueh claiming that the mayor failed to provide a report that the councilman believes he is entitled to under the township’s Faulkner Act form of government.
The lawsuit alleges that Hsueh did not comply with a statute that states “any council member may, at any time, require a report on any aspect of the government of the municipality by making a written request to the mayor.”
In the complaint, received by the Township Clerk’s office on January 28, Morgan submitted a copy of a written request he filed on October 27 with regard to information about the 2010 municipal budget. In his request, he “requires a report whether you will receive zero-based budget submittals, as well as the alternative scenarios discussed at the October 21 council meeting that should accompany a zero-based budget submittal.”
In the request to the mayor, Morgan goes on to say that “in the event that no alternatives will be presented at that time, this request requires that your report list the zero-based and other budget alternatives that will accompany your recommended budget for 2010 when you submit it to council.” Morgan asks for the report to be given to him on or before November 4 so that he could use it as a reference for discussion of the “proposed zero-based budget policy scheduled for the November 9 council meeting.” Morgan never received the report.
During the November 9 meeting, Morgan’s council colleagues rejected his proposal to mandate that the mayor and administration submit a budget with no increase, and also include options outlining various percentage increases.
The intent behind Morgan’s proposal was to guarantee the administration was serious in preventing a tax increase in the upcoming budget. He said he wanted to establish an official policy to get the administration to show the council the implications of the alternatives, which would include any increases it may feel are necessary.
Morgan said he thought there was 100 percent agreement on council in May that it wanted to see options for increases in one percent increments, all the way down to a zero percent increase in the 2010 municipal budget. Under his proposed policy, the administration would have been required to show the implications of a zero percent increase – including the areas in the budget that would have to be cut to have a zero percent increase — followed by the implications of a 1 percent increase, and so on.
Other council members expressed faith in the system, saying they had expressed their concerns to the mayor and administration about wanting to prevent tax increases. They pointed to the budget procedure outlined in the Faulkner Act, the state statute that governs the council-mayor form of government in West Windsor, saying it clearly stated that the mayor is required to deliver one budget to council After the budget is submitted, his colleagues said, council can conduct a line-by-line review.
In his lawsuit, Morgan also alleges that the mayor also has not yet submitted a budget to council. He is asking that the court declare that the mayor violated the state law and require him to provide the report.
This is not the only legal action Morgan has taken against Hsueh over the course of the past year. A week before the May municipal election, in which Morgan ran against Hsueh for the mayoral seat, Morgan filed a complaint with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, alleging that the mayor and Councilwoman Linda Geevers “illegally used West Windsor Township administrative staff, and hence the public money, in furtherance of their political campaign.”
He said that his opponents used township staff to defeat the political arguments he made in his own campaign. He alleged that they coerced then-business administrator Chris Marion and Chief Financial Officer Joanne Louth to perform an analysis of his proposal — that the township use more of its fund balance, or surplus, to offset taxes in the municipal budget — ridden with “factual errors.”
Morgan also charged that Geevers illegally asked Township Attorney Michael Herbert for a legal opinion as to whether it was a violation of the law in publicly using the materials put forth by the township professionals in response to council requests, saying Geevers was using the township attorney for campaign advice. He also alleged that Herbert was paid for a conference call with the mayor and Russell Schenkman about the West Windsor Community Foundation, which he alleged was a personal use of township staff by the mayor.
The prosecutor’s office cleared the mayor and Geevers, as well as Herbert, saying Morgan’s allegations had “no basis in fact under the law.”
“To the contrary, our review has revealed that the mayor and Councilwoman Geevers played no role in the preparation of the analysis of your proposal to utilize the fund balance to reduce the municipal tax rate. Your allegations stretch the criminal code to lengths not contemplated by the legislature,” the prosecutor’s office wrote.
With regard to the most recent action taken by Morgan, Hsueh said he would comment on the matter, but first had to consult with his attorney.
