Morristown and town attorney sued over ‘pay to play’ ordinance

Four Morristown residents have sued  Morristown and its municipal attorney, Vijayant Pawar, to compel him to file a campaign disclosure report under the town’s anti-‘pay to play’ ordinance.

The lawsuit contends that the attorney, who can issue opinions on the eligibility of prospective town vendors based on their compliance with the ordinance, should file the same disclosure forms to report any contributions he made in last year’s mayoral race.

Mayor Tim Dougherty and Pawar both maintain that the attorney is a town employee, not a vendor. As such, they say, he is not required to file a disclosure, which they contend would set a bad precedent because other town employers then might be subjected to similar requests.

“It’s a frivolous lawsuit, and a waste of taxpayers’ resources and town resources,” Pawar said. “We are going to vigorously defend it.”

Richard Babcock, a former Republican candidate for town council who is a plaintiff, said Mayor Dougherty, who is a Democrat, campaigned last year on a platform of open and transparent government. His attorney should comply with the spirit of the pay-to-play law, adopted by voters in 2008, Babcock said.

“The fact that (Pawar) has declared himself to be an employee while still maintaining his own law firm seems contradictory,” Babcock said. “When asked about campaign contributions he refuses to be forthright about it. He’s still working from an outside law firm. Is he an employee or not?  He makes that call. It’s a matter of openness.”

The Mayor and council also are named as defendants in the suit.

Pawar was appointed in January by the incoming Mayor as municipal attorney and director of the town legal department, at an annual salary of $95,000. The lawyer said his situation differs from prior town attorneys, and from his assistant town attorney, Elnardo Webster, who were retained as vendors under municipal services contracts.

“I am an employee,” Pawar said. “There is a difference between an employee and retaining a contractor. If somebody gets hired to the (public works department), would they have to fill out a disclosure form? How far do you go?”

The town’s pay-to-play measure bars vendors from doing business with the town for four years if they have donated more than $300 to any municipal candidate or official.

That law is meant to “establish a policy that will avoid the perception of improper influence in local elections” since “large political contributions from those seeking to or performing business with a municipality, raises reasonable concerns on the part of the taxpayers and residents as to their trust in government contracts,” according to the lawsuit, filed by the Florham Park law firm of Azzolini and Benedetti on behalf of Babcock, former GOP council candidate Ed France, Kemesh Patel and Frances Kennedy.

Neither Zakin nor Babcock had any details about Patel or Kennedy.

“This is just a group of folks interested in good government, asking Mr. Pawar to disclose his filings,” said Alan Zakin, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Zakin was ejected from a recent council meeting when he persisted in questioning town officials after the public portion had been closed. The lawyer represented Democratic Councilman Kevin Gsell last year in a dispute over the candidate’s residency.