Council Members Franc Gambatese and Charles Morgan, both up for re-election next spring, clashed publicly once again at a council meeting on Tuesday, October 10, and reportedly again in executive session the following evening.
“I just think it’s a shame that this whole thing is being politicized,” said Gambatese, “I’m tired of hearing about political intrigue and back room deals, and that’s a reflection on all of us. I’m sick and tired of hearing that. It’s not a back-room deal, Charlie, you throw that out with everything. What you do is unethical. It’s a disgrace.”
“It is a disgrace,” said Morgan, who had just gotten council to defer a vote on a motion Gambatese moved to pass. Gambatese has long been a vocal critic of Morgan, and this summer talked of a censure of his political opponent, who was Council president in the previous year. He has lately taken issue with Morgan’s perceived suggestion that the selection of a planning firm by the township was predetermined. “He’s trying to do what he can to distract from a healthy process. Now he says he was misquoted in the papers, but I sat next to him at a meeting and heard him say it. I asked him to give us a prognostication on who the finalist was going to be, and he wouldn’t do it.”
Morgan did not comment on the feud with Gambatese, but did say after the executive session that he is convinced there has been no back-room deal regarding the selection of the planning consultant.
