WEST NEW YORK — West New York Mayor Silverio “Sal” Vega has announced that he is asking his attorney to file a complaint with Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio and New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram to ask that a criminal investigation be made against a group that handed in petitions last week to recall him.
Dr. Felix Roque and his organization “Together We Can” handed in more than 6,000 signatures seeking a recall election in February that would remove Vega from office. Otherwise, Vega is not up for re-election until 2011.
Through his spokesman Paul Swibinski, Vega stated the reason for the request was for the “alleged cases of fraud and forgery involving recall petitions.”
Yesterday, Town Clerk Carmela Riccie release her report stating that there were blank petitions that were notarized, signatures that didn’t match, and two petitions signed by people who were deceased.
Vega is being represented by William Northgrave, who, according to Vega’s spokesman, is a private attorney representing Vega’s recall defense committee. He is not being paid with taxpayer funds.
In Northgrave’s letter to both Milgram and DeFazio, he mentioned about 10 instances of alleged “forgeries.”