Morristown’s mayoral candidates pitch substance vs. style in June 8 primary

Democratic rivals: Esperanza Porras-Field and Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty, June 2021.Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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The candidates in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Morristown mayor see it is a referendum on substance vs. style.

If you’re Mayor Tim Dougherty, it’s about your record, which he hopes will earn him a fourth — and he says final — term.

Mayor Tim Dougherty at unveiling of remodeled Pioneer Park, June 3, 2021. Photo by Marion Filler

He points to mostly flat taxes, and to high-profile projects like the M Station office development that proceeded despite a pandemic.

And he points to parks, from the Early Street Community Garden in 2010 to the expanded Foote’s Pond Wood, and new or improved parks for Speedwell Avenue and Headquarters Plaza.

If he wins one more term, Dougherty said his focus will be pushing for redevelopment of empty storefronts fronting the Green on North Park Place, “a dead zone for too long.”

If you are challenger Esperanza Porras-Field, Tuesday is a referendum on character.

The Colombian immigrant views the mayor as a reason for term limits, painting him as  “unethical” and a  “bully” who deserves scrutiny for a pay-to-play probe that implicated his wife.

If elected as Morristown’s first woman mayor and its first Hispanic mayor, Porras-Field promises a town hall that “feels like home,” where phone calls are translated in multiple languages, and visitors are surveyed about their treatment by municipal employees.

Whoever wins on June 8, 2021, likely will become Morristown’s next mayor. No Republicans have filed for the November general election.

‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’

“Elections are term limits,” Dougherty, 62, insisted Sunday during an interview outside SmartWorld Coffee. “I think my record over the last decade speaks for itself.”

His opponent, he said, has offered no ideas about “how she wants to govern. It’s been strictly a smear campaign.”

Mayor Tim Dougherty cuts ribbon at Foote’s Pond, May 8, 2021. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Dougherty said his administration has delivered five years of tax decreases, created 156 units of affordable housing, and completed a landmark tax settlement with the parent of Morristown Medical Center.

The police bureau, which attained accreditation from state chiefs of police this spring, was among New Jersey’s first police departments with body cams.

Morristown has navigated the pandemic with no municipal layoffs. Dougherty also helped start an “Adopt a Business” program. He put the town on the music map with the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, which marks its 10th year in September.

Mayor Tim Dougherty, Freeholder candidate Mary Dougherty, Congressional candidate Mikie Sherrill, and Gov. Phil Murphy at SmartWorld in Morristown, Nov. 5, 2018. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Mayor Tim Dougherty, then-county Commissioner candidate Mary Dougherty, then-Congressional candidate Mikie Sherrill, and Gov. Phil Murphy at SmartWorld in Morristown, Nov. 5, 2018. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

The mayor works for the New Jersey Devils, running mechanical operations at the Prudential Center in Newark. He serves on Morristown’s planning board, and is a former councilman, zoning board member, and Little League coach.

He has endorsements from Gov. Phil Murphy, former Gov. Richard Codey, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Morristown’s career fire officers. The governor has nominated Dougherty’s municipal attorney and friend, Vij Pawar, for a judgeship.

‘WE HAVE TO DEVELOP NEW LEADERS’

“I think I’m the best person to be the mayor of Morristown because I care for Morristown. I’ve raised my children here, and I love this town and the community,” said Porras-Field, a 67-year-old realtor who has made prior runs for Morris County commissioner, the town council and the Morris School District board.

She moved to Morristown in 1989, opened a real estate business, and helped launch the Morris County Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce.   She has served on the town Democratic committee, the planning board, the Morristown Parking Authority and the American Red Cross.

Mayoral candidate Esperanza Porras-Field, center, with ice cream truck outside Ann Street seniors housing, Memorial Day 2021.

Term limits are the centerpiece of her campaign: Porras-Field wants a two-term max, which she says would require a public referendum.

She blames the mayor for at least 15 lawsuits, mainly from developers and bar owners. The litigation is wasting tax dollars, she maintains.

“We have to develop new leaders, get people involved,” said Porras-Field, who has the Morristown PBA’s endorsement.

Porras-Field contends Morristown is becoming overdeveloped. She opposes PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) that enable developers to skip school taxes.

Dougherty counters that PILOTs sometimes are essential for developing otherwise-unbuildable properties, such as the triangular sliver at Market and Bank streets that became home to the Fox Rothschild firm.

As for lawsuits, “developers sue because they don’t get what they want,” Dougherty said. One suit challenges his opposition to five stories of offices proposed above SmartWorld.

“Do you think that’s appropriate for South Street?  I don’t,” he said.

Mayoral candidate Esperanza Porras-Field at backyard campaign event, May 2021. Photo by Bill Lescohier

If elected, Porras-Field said she will seek more shared services with neighboring towns; create a dog park, community center, and bike-sharing program; and scrutinize affordable housing policies that she says favor Newark residents over Morristown applicants.

She said running her HopeSeasons realty company for 15 years and then working as a Coldwell Banker sales agent have prepared her for the mayoralty, a $27,000 part-time job.

“You learn to negotiate. It’s about the meeting of the minds. If you don’t have that, you have nothing,” Porras-Field said Saturday at her kitchen table. Downstairs, volunteers were busy coordinating their final push.

Her campaign has had backyard gatherings, Zoom sessions on autism, and a virtual 5K race. She is running without a council slate.

Supporters at mayoral candidate Esperanza Porras-Field event in Morristown, May 2021. Photo by Bill Lescohier

Dougherty’s running mates, council incumbents Toshiba Foster and David Silva and newcomer Nathan Umbriac, are unopposed in the primary. They have been knocking on doors throughout the spring.

Democratic council hopefuls Kristi Dimogerodakis and Shaan Patel were rejected by the town clerk, citing deficiencies in their nominating petitions.

TWISTS AND TURNS

It’s been a campaign with sharp twists and turns.

Dougherty announced his bid for a fourth term less than a week after his wife was sentenced to probation for a campaign violation in her 2018 run for Morris County commissioner.

That stemmed from a wider state bribery investigation. An anti-Dougherty faction has waged an intense online campaign attempting to connect him to the alleged pay-to-play scheme. The mayor was not named in the investigation and has denied any wrongdoing.

A digital sign, endorsed by the Morristown PBA, blasts development, April 1, 2021. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

But the drumbeat was echoed by the Morristown PBA, which endorsed Porras-Field by a 47-7 vote after blasting the mayor and his wife in digital signs parked downtown.

Dougherty claims that was police payback for his refusal to undermine town Administrator Jillian Barrick in contract talks.

Porras-Field said she is not affiliated with any anti-Dougherty website or with the PBA digital sign campaigns. But the public has a right to ask tough questions about the investigation, she said.

“We’re not talking about a housewife…we’re talking about someone who was involved in politics with him,” Porras-Field said of Mary Dougherty. “How many things can we be blind about?”

Dougherty refused to field any questions related to his wife’s case. In his few public statements on the matter, he has stood by his spouse, whose volunteer work was praised by the judge at her sentencing.

Mayor Tim Dougherty and First Lady Mary Dougherty watch the 2019 Morristown Jazz & Blues Fest. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“I am especially grateful to my wonderful wife Mary, who is a great source of encouragement,” he said at a League of Women Voters virtual candidates forum last month.

Porras-Field’s campaign got off to a bizarre start.

Hours after the April filing deadline, when town hall was closed, her daughter asked a policeman to let her drop off an amended petition bearing the candidate’s signature.

Porras-Field still insists the original documents were properly signed and notarized. She could not drop off the amended form that afternoon, she said, because she was ill from her COVID vaccination.

SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE: April 4, 2021, nominating form received at town hall, stamped 11:29 am, shows mayoral candidate Esperanza Porras-Field signed on the penultimate page (left)…but not on the notarized final page, where “circulator of petition” remains blank. An amended form was submitted that evening, and subsequently certified.

She has clashed with town hall before. In 2006, she and a co-owner were fined $1,899 for allowing “stacking”– overcrowding– of a house on Logan Place.

“That was all politics,” she said, asserting she had been unaware of any illegal tenants.

Election documents show Porras-Field has raised about $16,000 for this race. Her biggest donor is Iron Bar owner Jimmy Cavanaugh — one of the people suing the mayor and town.

Porras-Field said Cavanaugh is a fellow member of the Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce.

How much Dougherty’s team has raised, and from whom, is unclear. A report was due on May 28, but has not been filed, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission website.

“If it isn’t posted, I will make that phone call on Monday” to his campaign treasurer, Dougherty said on Sunday.

Dougherty and his former treasurer, Councilman Michael Elms, were fined $4,790 in 2016 for late filings of contributor details from the 2009 primary and general elections.

FATHER KNOWS BEST

Esperanza Porras-Field was the 10th of 12 children born to entrepreneurial parents. Her father was an industrial chemist and a colonel in the Colombian army; her mother, a lawyer, diplomat, psychologist and journalist, Porras-Field said.

Her father sent her to America to study social sciences at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City for a specific reason:

“I failed English in high school,” Porras-Field said. Her father believed mastering English was crucial for success.

Esperanza Porras-Field with volunteers in her home campaign headquarters , June 5, 2021.Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Porras-Field aspired to a legal career. After marriage, two daughters, and a divorce, however, she became a realtor because it offered flexibility for raising her girls, she said.

They moved to Morristown in 1989. She is proud of her daughters, who attended local schools and now work in the corporate- and fashion worlds.

Porras-Field knows it’s hard to defeat an incumbent–especially in a non-presidential year where primary turnouts historically are low.

Yet she feels she has given this her best effort.

“I have a chance,” Porras-Field said. “People are not happy. Everybody complains. But they don’t vote. You need to go out and vote, or you can’t complain.”

‘THIS IS MY HOME’

As one of nine children in West Orange, Tim Dougherty learned early on about being scrappy, and never giving up.

He rebounded from a heart attack two years ago, making the rounds within days.

Dougherty surmounted personal struggles after moving to Morristown in 1988. He has volunteered at the Market Street Mission, and with an addiction recovery program, he said.

State Sen. Anthony M. Bucco, second from right, thanks Mayor Tim Dougherty, left, at Adopt a Morristown Business announcement, outside SmartWorld Coffee, Nov. 24, 2020. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“I’m there for anybody who needs help to turn their life around, the way I did 33 years ago. I take my life one day at a time, and live my life to the fullest. I’m grateful for everything I have in my life. I’m grateful to serve this community. I look forward to serving there for four more years.”

He remembers finishing seventh in a 10-way race in his first primary. Since then, he has won every mayoral contest by wide margins.

A relentless campaigner, he never takes victory for granted. He knows what can happen to incumbents in primaries. In 2009, he unseated one, Mayor Donald Cresitello — now reportedly mulling a comeback.

“The easy way out for me…is saying, okay, I’ve done enough. I think I’ve helped the town for the future, why not just walk away, and not have to deal with this smear campaign,'” Dougherty said.

“You know what? I’m invested in Morristown. I’m a homeowner in Morristown. My son was raised here in Morristown. My wife is intricately involved in so many things in Morristown. This is our home, and we’re going to invest this time and energy for one more term.”

WHERE TO VOTE

In-person voting is back for the primary. Polls are open from 6 am to 8 pm for registered Democrats and Republicans. Find your polling place here.

Voter casts her ballot outside the Morris County Courthouse, Election Day 2020. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Any registered voter not affiliated with a political party may declare a party affiliation up to and on election day, and then vote. You will be directed to fill out a form declaring yourself as a Republican or Democrat.

Vote-by-Mail ballots must be postmarked on or before 8 pm, June 8, and received by the Morris County Board of Elections on or before June 14, 2021. These ballots also can be placed in the secure drop-box near the Morris County Courthouse on Court Street in Morristown, until 8 pm on June 8.  (They cannot be dropped off at polling places.)

From 8:30 am to 3 pm today, Monday, June 7,  registered voters also can vote in-person, via a paper ballot, at the Morris County Clerk’s office, at 10 Court St., according to the League of Women Voters.

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