What does Paterson's mayor think about new charges against Alex Mendez? He’s not saying

PATERSON — Mayor Andre Sayegh was always quick to criticize Councilman Alex Mendez during the past few years, often with comments laced with rancor and contempt.

The mayor condemned the councilman for having recyclables in his garbage, for buying a Range Rover that had a stolen title, for hosting a Dominican Independence Day event without a city permit, for putting conflicting “paid for” messages on his campaign literature, and for getting indicted on election fraud charges.

Over the years, Sayegh called Mendez a “criminal” and a “scofflaw,” and proclaimed that his longtime political rival engaged in a pattern of “lawlessness.” Sayegh’s camp even tried to stop Mendez from running for mayor last year by filing a lawsuit that said the councilman’s nominating petitions were bogus.

But in the seven days since the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office filed a new set of election fraud charges against Mendez — accusations that are far more robust and damning than the original ones — Sayegh has stayed strangely silent about the councilman’s latest troubles.

The mayor hasn’t made any public comments or issued any statements about the attorney general's new accusations against Mendez, which include allegations that the councilman’s campaign destroyed mail-in ballots cast for other candidates and replaced them with votes for himself. Mendez has said he and his supporters did nothing wrong and that he intends to prevail in court.

Why won't Sayegh speak? 'Politics'

Why has Sayegh kept a low profile on the new Mendez case?

“One word,” Councilwoman Lilisa Mimms said, giving her explanation for Sayegh’s silence. “Politics.”

Mimms said Sayegh needed Mendez’s support to get approvals for various things presented to the City Council. “One day, you’re enemies. The next day, you’re frenemies,” Mimms said of the changing relationship between Sayegh and Mendez.

The mayor, meanwhile, didn’t even offer a one-word answer when asked about his lack of comment on Mendez’s new charges. He simply didn’t respond when a reporter sent a text message asking why he has not spoken out on the situation.

The détente between Sayegh and Mendez seemed to begin in the early summer. That’s when four of Sayegh’s strong allies on the City Council — Al Abdelaziz, Maritza Davila, Shahin Khalique and Luis Velez — threw their support behind Mendez for him to become council president.

"We must leave our philosophical differences in the past and focus on Paterson's future," Sayegh said on the day Mendez became council president.

“He wants to keep the relationship between the council president and the mayor,” Velez said, adding that he thinks everyone should withhold judgment on Mendez until the allegations are resolved in court.

Some council members said Mendez was important to Sayegh because sometimes Mendez may be in position to cast the deciding vote on disputed issues pending before the often-fickle governing body. So far, that has not happened on any major issues.

Other council members talked about the president’s role in having proposals come up for a vote by the governing body. In recent years, Paterson’s council presidents have enjoyed what seems to be an expansion of their powers — the ability to decide unilaterally whether a proposed ordinance or resolution is placed on the business meeting agenda.

New Jersey attorney general: 347 disqualified mail-in ballots in criminal charges against Alex Mendez were not counted

Too much power for council president?

Former Councilman William McKoy, who served for 20 years representing the 3^rd Ward before losing the seat to Mendez in the election that prompted the criminal charges, said the Law Department has vested too much power in the governing body’s president.

“They are moving in a direction that’s not constitutional,” McKoy said.

When asked about Sayegh’s silence on the new Mendez charges, McKoy said it was “puzzling.”

“The way I operate, I’m going to call it as I see it,” McKoy said. “Not everyone is that way.”

McKoy suggested that the mayor’s quiet approach on the new election fraud complaints may stem from the powers Mendez wields as president.

Sayegh’s primary critic on the governing body, Councilman Michael Jackson, predicted the mayor would remain mum on Mendez, just hours after the charges were announced last week.

“It speaks volumes,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who is facing his own election fraud charges, said people shouldn’t expect the Sayegh-Mendez alliance to be a long-lasting one.

“Andre is a weasel,” Jackson said. “He has no allegiance to Mendez. As soon as he doesn’t need him, he’s going to put a knife in Mendez’s back.”

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ mayor mum on new Alex Mendez election fraud charges