| Raids on the county sheriff's office, and the homes of her staff. Computers seized, records seized. Sheriff's officers stripped of their license to carry a weapon and banned for life from holding a law enforcement position anywhere in the state. Armed law enforcement officers lying on job applications. Resignations. Grand jury cases. Attempts to quash subpoenas. Sheriff's investigators hired without background checks, later found ineligible to attend the police academy, a requirement of their job. First Amendment violations and intimidation of citizens. Loyalty oaths required of staff. Taxpayer sticker-shock with one part of county government battling another part.
These are the kinds of things - and allegations - popping up in Hunterdon County against Sheriff Deborah Trout, who took office in January 2008, and has been in hot water ever since. A petition to recall the Sheriff has been approved and the clocks counting down 160 days to gather the signatures necessary to put the question on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The case against Sheriff Deborah Trout is complicated, dense with detail. And - depending on who you talk to - is either a slam-dunk or politically-motivated bull. It isn't easy to sort out what may be actionable from what is merely disagreement with the way the Sheriff does things.
Eagleton Institute of NJ Politics says this may be the first official effort to recall a county elected official in state history. If they succeed, it's definitely history. But the bar to take a sheriff's job is set high: 25% of all registered voters in the last general election and that's 21,866 signatures, which started with the first public meeting a few days ago of Out with Trout (which is officially non-partisan). I was surprised to see Marcia Karrow not only show up, but speak. Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.) will be sworn in in five days as State Senator, replacing Congressman Leonard Lance. Assemblyman Mike Doherty, who promises a he'll take that seat from her, skipped it.
Begin with the fact that Trout is a Republican. A dramatic primary left the first-ever Hunterdon woman to hold the job the surprise winner in 2007. The voters chose Trout over Democrat Bruce Cocuzza, arguably a better-qualified choice. But you find a lot of the same Republican names from the '07 primary pop up in this case, including George Muller, who gave up a Freeholder seat to run for Sheriff, perhaps motivated to add to his state pension years for a cushier retirement. Muller ended up in Trout's administration in a position, Freeholder George Melick alleges, for which there was "no funding" (Melick is calling on Trout to resign). And it appears that some of Trout's former primary rivals are involved in the recall effort, though how closely I don't know. Trout may feel the vultures circling. |
| Democrats may feel as though the county's Republican heavyweights - and voters - got themselves into this mess, and should deal with the fallout themselves. Hunterdon County Democratic Party Chair Lois Zarish is not involved in the Out with Trout movement.
So tonight, Hunterdon DFA is hosting its first-ever Republican special guest, Donna Simon, the leader of Out with Trout. The website detailing their case against the Sheriff, with its Benjamin Franklin quotes, and dense text, is high-toned, and indignant. I don't know if there's anything to their charges - Hunterdon County Prosecutor Pat Barnes has not yet handed down an indictment - but I thought she was worth a fair hearing. This appears to be a civic mission for, at least, her.
This is Hunterdon County and - to be sure - we are unused to grassroots efforts of any kind being powered by Republicans, as most (if not all) of the leaders of Simon's group are. But public sentiment - from both sides of the aisle - is brewing. More than 70 people showed up at their first public meeting just days ago. Most of them were already on board, and ready for change.
I haven't signed Out with Trout's petition. I haven't decided what's substance in this case, and what's Republican jockeying for position. It's still early and things are still shaking out. Additional shoes to fall. |
