Update: A case management conference has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Friday in front of another Superior Court Judge, Robert Geiger.
A bid to recall Park Ridge school board member Robert Fisher is now headed to court, pending a decision by Superior Court Judge Lina P. Corriston on whether to hold a hearing before the vote-by-mail ballots are printed.
Organizers collected 2,141 signatures – more than the 1,864 needed to put the measure on the ballot – but they neglected to have the petitions notarized, which is required under state election law. That caused the county clerk, John Hogan, to reject the recall election.
“This is a time-sensitive matter. If the court delays, the recall cannot appear on the ballot — and voters will be silenced,” a recall committee spokesman said. “We are calling on the judiciary to defend the constitutional rights of Park Ridge residents and allow this recall to proceed.”
The lawsuit was filed on Friday with a request for emergency action, but the courts have not yet set a hearing date.
Vote-by-Mail ballots are being printed now, and Park Ridge is on hold pending the court’s action. Ballot printing for fifty municipalities in Bergen County is already complete, and nineteen others are being printed now, election officials told the New Jersey Globe.
If the matter isn’t resolved by September 16, Park Ridge voters will not get their ballots on time. That leaves a narrow window for Corriston – and for a possible appeal.
Now, the organizers have hired election lawyer Bret Pugatch, who worked on the legal team of now-U.S. Senator Andy Kim, which successfully challenged the county line system in 2024.
Pugatch, in a court filing, argues that “the only challenge to the sufficiency of the Petition and the only reason for its rejection by the County Clerk was because the signature pages were not notarized.”
“The only reason the signature pages of the Petition were not notarized is because, upon (the recall committee) specifically asking the Bergen County Clerk if notarization was required, “he said. He maintains that the clerk “incorrectly instructed them that notarization was not required,” and that the recall committee relied on those instructions.
Fisher, elected two years ago at the age of 18, faces criticism for missing 30% of meetings this year, for not attending community events, and for not serving on any school board committees.
He also faced residency issues: his family moved out of Park Ridge after his high school graduation, and he rents a basement apartment in town for $10 per month. Fisher has stated that he has spent thousands of dollars commuting back to New Jersey due to his public duties. Fisher attends Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
