Hayden to sue fellow Sussex County commissioners, others over censure

Sussex County Commissioner William Hayden has filed a notice that he intends to sue fellow commissioners, state legislators and even several citizens over their "organized nature of the effort to force him from office, from his home, from his job, and from Sussex County."

Hayden, who is in his first term on the five-member board, alleges in the suit the defendants had the intent of "slandering, libeling, harassing, distressing, embarrassing, annoying, alarming, threatening and preventing him from engaging in his elected position and have cause (sic) problems in his personal life."

Named in the suit are fellow commissioners, Jill Space, Chris Carney Jack DeGroot and Earl Schick; state Sen. Parker Space and Assembly members Dawn Fantasia and Mike Inganamort; county Republican party officials Joseph Labarbera and Barbara Holstein, Steve Selvaggio and Eugene Wronko, who is also mayor of Stanhope. Citizen Gail Just-Cornelius was also among the speakers during the public session and is named in the lawsuit.

At the start of the Feb. 28 commissioners meeting, Hayden had threatened to sue anyone who spoke out against him during the public session. Among the complaints are of "stolen valor," claims that he has falsely bragged of being a Navy SEAL and even claimed veterans exemption on his state income tax return.

In explaining the causes for action in the lawsuit, Hayden alleges "the board and individuals named below" even "forged his signature" to obtain information, such as his Social Security number, then used that to get his income tax returns and do background checks.

One of those checks, done by the county Republican party, was to ask a private company which specializes in records searches to see if there is any record of Hayden having served in the military. A letter from the nation military records center found no record of Hayden being in the armed services.

He also accused his fellow board members of censuring him when he was absent from that meeting. However, board members said that Hayden was in fact present before the meeting but left after learning of censure motion and finishing his McDonald's order.

Of the five commissioner meetings held this year, Hayden has been marked as absent from three of them. He has also claimed the board members are trying to kick him out of his seat, but there is no state law which would allow the board to take such action.

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Under state law, a "censure" is merely an expression of disapproval by a majority of the board. In this case, Hayden left before the meeting was called to order. The vote on censure was 4-0 in favor.

While the board cannot kick a fellow board member out of office, citizens could use a "recall" petition process to force a special election. Hayden's term of office ends on Dec. 31, 2025.

Hayden also claims that the "stolen" items, which includes his income tax returns "have been distributed publicly and privately throughout New Jersey and other states as well." He does not explain further.

The censure motion approved by the board includes allegations that Hayden.

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Among the "whereas" clauses in the resolution is the statement, "Commissioner Hayden has violated the trust of the citizens of Sussex County by and through his harassing, inflammatory, spurious, surreptitious, and other calculated actions and inactions."

The censure included four specific reasons, including "knowledge of, and failure to notify authorities about threats of physical violence against other elected officials and their family while surreptitiously discussing same with others."

Other causes were that he was engaged "in a relationship with a subordinate employee while an elected officials of Sussex County;" discussed content of an executive session of the commissioners; gave "false and misleading information" about the county's food pantry program.

Those latter claims were that there was money missing. However, that money never existed. The pantry orders food from ShopRite using a donor's credit/debit card. The donor is provided information on what is delivered and pays the bill.

Part of the accusation was that the delivery truck also sometimes made stops at a private home connected to the donor, however those deliveries are apparently separate orders made by the donor.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Sussex County NJ Commissioner Bill Hayden to file lawsuit