Michael Luther

If you have some time next week and want some free entertainment, go to the courthouse in Morristown and watch Angelo Genova and John Carbone duke it out in the case that never ends: a challenge to the 2005 Parsippany mayoral election.  Democrat Michael Luther, who took office two years ago after seemingly defeating Republican Rosemarie Agostini by 39 votes, now faces a court fight to keep his seat as Agostini, who has lost four races for Mayor and lost her Council seat in a GOP primary last year, seeks to become Mayor amidst allegations that several dozen Luther votes were cast by people who did not live in Parsippany.

In Fairfield Township, where Democratic Township Committeeman Albert Beverly lost re-election to Republican Patrick Conahey by just five votes, lawyers for both sides will be before a Cumberland County Superior Court Judge this month to discuss the legal merits of a recount.  Clearly, Beverly wants a recount and Conahey does not. 

Two of New Jerseys most prominent election law experts, Angelo Genova and John Carbone, will face off in a Morristown courtroom on January 8 to decide the November 2005 race for Mayor of Parsippany. Republican Rosemarie Agostini, who lost to Democrat Michael Luther by 39 votes, alleges that as many as 124 voters were either illegally turned away from the polls or voted improperly.

The expedited trial was scheduled after a state appellate panel overturned a Superior Court Judge's denial of Agostini's challenge. Genova, Luther's attorney, has asked the state Supreme Court to issue a stay of the appellate decision. Genova is challenging the constitutionality of a state law that permits elections to be challenged. In that effort, he will be opposed by state Attorney General Stuart Rabner.

The results of two North Jersey mayoral elections are being challenged in court, even though the certified winners will take office on January 1. In Parsippany, a suit alleging voting irregularities filed by Republican Rosemarie Agostini will be heard in Superior Court on January 4. Agostini, a Councilwoman who has run for Mayor four times, lost to Democrat Michael Luther by 40 votes. The case has attracted two high-profile lawyers: John Carbone will represent Agostini and Angelo Genova is Luther's attorney. Former Edison Councilman William Stephens, a Democrat who ran for Mayor as an Independent, say his 270 vote loss to Democrat Jun Choi was also a result of irregularities and campaign finance fraud. A Middlesex County Judge has not yet decided whether to hear Stephens' complaint.