Elections - Ledger - Court won't order criminal check in Orange council race

Elections - Ledger - Court won't order criminal check in Orange council race
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Published in the Star-Ledger, Thursday, June 1, 2006

Court won't order criminal check in Orange council race

Thursday, June 01, 2006

BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff

Rumors are not enough for a court to order a criminal check into the winner of Orange's hotly contested West Ward city council race or deny him his elected office, a judge ruled yesterday.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello, sitting in Newark, denied outgoing Council President Maria Vandermeer's contention that Hassan Abdul Rasheed, the certified winner of the election, should not take office July 1 because of alleged criminal convictions. She also gave Vandermeer's attorney 10 days to either amend the petition, by adding substantial facts about such claims, or stop asking the court to get involved.

Unless someone is personally identified and has personal first- hand knowledge of facts regarding the allegations, the request to have the court order a criminal background check on Rasheed simply "lacks content," Costello said. "It doesn't pass muster."

Vandermeer's attorney, Seth Levine, had asked the judge to request that the State Police and FBI turn over whatever arrest information, if any, they have about Rasheed.

"I'm really concerned about the lack of specificity in your proffer," Costello reiterated. "Pure hearsay. That's all we've got."

Rasheed's attorney, Eldridge Hawkins, agreed.

Neither Levine nor Vandermeer has supplied any "probable or reasonable cause" to order such a background check and to invade Rasheed's privacy, Hawkins said. "There's got to be more to it than 'I just heard something.'"

Levine and Vandermeer are just seeking to overturn an election based on something they "surmise, a wish, a hope," Hawkins complained. "Who is it that says my client has any record? We're talking in generalities. We need to have certification from somebody."

Generally speaking, "there is no law that says someone running for public office has to turn over their criminal records," Hawkins said. "We've got nothing here. There's something called due process and equal protection" under the law.

In contrast, there is a state law that says someone already holding elected office, and found guilty of a crime, must forfeit their elected post and can never again seek public office, Hawkins and Costello agreed.

However, that is not the case regarding Rasheed, Hawkins and Costello also agreed.

After Costello, for the second time in two weeks, denied Levine's request to delve into Rasheed's background, Levine agreed to voluntarily quash a State Police inquiry he made about Rasheed's background.

Costello also forbade Levine from personally trying to depose Rasheed and specifically ask him anything about any criminal allega tions.

Costello did allow Levine, on behalf of Vandermeer, to go ahead and rereview West Ward voter records and three absentee ballots Vandermeer was denied. Hawkins has until Monday to make similar inquiries about absentee ballots that his client, Rasheed, was denied, the judge said.

In Orange's May 9 nonpartisan election, the margin of victory in the contest for the West Ward seat was razor-thin, with two votes separating the winner and runner-up.

Rasheed, who changed his name from Craig Miller when he became a Muslim years ago, defeated Vandermeer, a one-term incumbent, 196-194.

Two other candidates -- Ellen Wing and Lamar Towns -- also ran for the West Ward seat. Wing received 47 votes and Towns 35.

Right now, Rasheed is to get sworn into office July 1. That is when he will officially replace Vandermeer as the city's West Ward council representative.

On that day, three others also will be sworn into political office in Orange: newly elected East Ward Councilwoman Lisa Y. Perkins, newly elected South Ward Councilman Edward B. Marable Jr. and re- elected North Ward Councilwoman Tency Eason.

Both Wing and Towns were in court yesterday. Costello allowed both to speak on the election controversy. Only Wing chose to do so.

Whoever holds Orange's West Ward council post should be "someone of the highest moral character they can be," Wing told Costello. "I don't know what the truth is, but I think the citizens have a right to know. The citizens of Orange deserve the truth about the person about to step into office."

Kevin C. Dilworth covers East Orange and Orange. He may be reached at kdilworth@starled ger.com or (973) 392-4143.

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