Hsueh v. Morgan
A recent newspaper editorial urged Councilman Charles Morgan to end his constant litigation against me at the expense of West Windsor taxpayers. I have read his response to the newspaper, and I am compelled to respond.
Mr. Morgan initially brought criminal charges against Councilwoman Linda Geevers and me alleging numerous violations of the Criminal Code. He did so during the election campaign in the spring of 2009 in which he unsuccessfully sought to replace me as mayor.
On October 5, 2009, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office issued a letter to Mr. Morgan finding no wrongdoing on my part or that of Councilwoman Geevers.
I had hoped that this decision by the prosecutor’s office would put an end to Mr. Morgan’s reckless claims. Instead, he actually filed a criminal complaint against Councilwoman Geevers and me charging corruption of public resources and official misconduct. On April 14, 2010, Presiding Municipal Court Judge Paul Catanese rejected this second legal attempt to attack Councilwoman Geevers and me. That judge found that there was not sufficient probable cause for the new charges to even be pursued.
At the same time that he was pursuing this second frivolous criminal complaint, Mr. Morgan filed a civil lawsuit in the Superior Court in January of 2010, demanding that the mayor himself provide a written response to any questions that he has made. We pointed out in court that the business administrator, Robert Hary, had responded to Mr. Morgan’s questions in writing and verbally at various Council meetings. Since I was sued personally, it was necessary to retain separate counsel, Steven Secare. On February 22, 2011, Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd granted summary judgment dismissing this third attempt to abuse judicial process.
Again, instead of accepting the result of these decisions, Mr. Morgan filed both an appeal to the appellate court and a fourth lawsuit against me.
My administration has advised the Council that it will respond to any questions that any member of Council may have. However, it is an abuse of the legal process for a member of Council to constantly attempt to attack either me or another member of the governing body. Mr. Morgan has been told by the prosecutor’s office and two judges that his legal claims have no merit. He alone is responsible for any legal costs that have been incurred and he alone has the ability to withdraw his latest lawsuit and end this costly nonsense.
Shing-Fu Hsueh
Mayor, West Windsor
Morgan v. Hsueh
Your June 10 article “Another Law Suit, More Attorney Fees” quotes Mayor Hsueh as saying “I just don’t think it makes any sense for him to go to court and file litigation. All of this can be talked about and worked out, and I don’t understand why he’s doing it.”
Mayor Hsueh’s statements are preposterous and simply misrepresent the truth. In fact, Mayor Hsueh does understand why we cannot resolve this without spending tax dollars on litigation.
Mayor Hsueh knows that he rejected my offer to settle the law suit. My offer was that we could amend the West Windsor ordinance to make it clear that the mayor (any future mayor, not just Mayor Hsueh) could not ignore written requests, directed to the mayor from a Council member, for the information needed to do the job of being on Council.
The West Windsor ordinance is the same as the New Jersey statute. It currently authorizes a single member of Council to “require a report on any aspect of government” simply by “making a written request to the Mayor.” The amendment would require the Mayor to respond within a reasonable period of time by means of a written report signed by the mayor (although preparation of the report could be delegated to staff).
Unfortunately, Mayor Hsueh would rather spend tax dollars defending his practice of ignoring reasonable requests from Council than resolve the lawsuit in a way that would promote good government.
Charles C. Morgan
Murano Drive, West Windsor
In Defense of Morgan
After reading Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s letter to the press dated June 16, I have to tell the public how they are being misled by the Mayor. Do not let him fool you by misrepresenting the truth. He does not want the actual truth to be told because then the public would know he was a liar. The sad thing is the residents of West Windsor accept the mayor’s lies and they turn against Mr. Morgan, who just demands the truth.
Mr. Hsueh says in his letter to the press that there were four lawsuits when in reality there were only two. Mr. Morgan did indeed file allegations of criminal conduct with the Attorney General. The Attorney General refused to file a complaint so Mr. Morgan asked a judge for a probable cause hearing that would result in the judge directing the Attorney General to file same. The judge declined. This means there was no complaint filed with any court on the criminal allegations. Without a complaint being filed and assigned a docket number, there is no lawsuit.
Everyone knows that resource constraints prevent prosecutors from going after criminals even when a crime can be proven. The idea that no crime was found is another fabrication. Just as Mayor Hsueh lied when he said there were four lawsuits, he lied when he implied he was found innocent.
In the first lawsuit, the judge ruled orally in Mr. Morgan’s favor on two issues he presented to the Court but then the Court amazingly issued an order dismissing all of Mr. Morgan’s claims. The chance of Mr. Morgan winning in an appeal is great and he has the right to pursue justice.
Instead of attacking Mr. Morgan, the Council should be demanding an investigation and issuing a report about the number of times Mr. Hsueh or his staff has misled the Council over the last few years. Knowing the mayor as I do, the Council investigation will find numerous instances where the mayor and his staff have misled the Council.
Nicole Sanders
Manville
The writer worked on Morgan’s mayoral campaign in 2009 and later relocated to Manville to run her family’s business. “I have been following the happenings in West Windsor ever since. I was tired of the Mayor lying about his involvement and decided to come forth to defend Charlie, since he is the innocent victim.”
Appalled by Mayor
As new residents to West Windsor this year, my wife and I are appalled at the disregard that Mayor Hseuh and all but one of the Town Council members have for the taxpayers. After I was informed by the tax assessor last week that my property taxes would increase by 4.8 percent despite the putative 2.5 percent cap being in effect, I was upset enough to call all Council members to voice my pique over this (the Board of Education in true supercilious fashion does not provide a method of contact to citizens via E-mail or phone).
To his credit the Mayor did call back, but when I asked why the teachers in West Windsor still do not have to contribute any of their salary towards their health care insurance coverage, he incredibly stated that they did despite the fact that I have read in several reputable sources (including your newspaper) that they did not, thanks to the Board of Education incredibly agreeing to continue this unbelievably taxpayer unfriendly policy.
I, along with virtually everyone else in private industry, contribute exponentially more than the 1.5% mandated going forward by the state, but this largesse was slipped in prior to the new law going in to effect. Either the mayor was woefully uninformed in this matter or was deliberately trying to mislead me. In either case this is not the type of stewardship that serves the taxpayers of this town well.
The only one I spoke to on the Council who actually understood how bizarre it is to have nearly a 5 percent increase in property taxes given the astronomically high levels already is Councilman Charles Morgan. Instead of berating this hard-working public servant, he should be commended as the lone voice of fiscal sanity in township government, who has alone tried to represent the taxpayers interests. From my focused analysis the other ones are all out to lunch as far as taxpayers’ interests are concerned.
Paul Milazzo
Monroe Drive, Princeton Junction
