'Sham process': Red Bank Democrat split widens with lawsuit over new councilwoman

RED BANK - Two Red Bank Democrats are suing the local Democratic Municipal Committee and its chairman for allegedly shutting out members from the party for not being “politically aligned” with him. 

Councilwoman Kathy Horgan and Kate Okeson, who is secretary for the Red Bank Democratic Municipal Committee, have brought a lawsuit again the Red Bank government, the local Democratic Municipal Committee, chairman of the committee Ed Zipprich and newly appointed Councilwoman Angela Mirandi. 

Zipprich is also a councilman in Red Bank. He declined to comment, stating he is seeking the counsel of lawyers on behalf of the local Democratic Municipal Committee. 

Mirandi was appointed to the council on Feb. 9 after Erik Yngstrom resigned on Jan. 19 and left a vacant seat. In Yngstrom’s resignation letter, he said the six-member council, which is all Democrats, was too divisive. He said certain individuals “seem more focused on political gains and people trying to keep their perceived political power.” 

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“I am not sure where we went wrong but this divisiveness needs to stop, and the best interests of Red Bank need to be put first,” he wrote. “The best interests of Red Bank should be the only interests that matter.”

Council members Zipprich, Michael Ballard, Jacqueline Sturdivant have formed one faction. And council members Yngstrom, Horgan and Kate Triggiano had formed another. 

The split became more entrenched last year when rival slates duked it out in the Democratic primary, only to have voters pick one from each side — Triggiano and Sturdivant.

Yngstrom predicted that his resignation would cause Zipprich to replace him with a handpicked individual that will cause even more divisions.

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In an event of a resignation, New Jersey law states that the party of the resigning individual gets to nominate three individuals for the vacant seat. The mayor of the municipality then picks an individual for the seat and the council votes to approve or reject the candidate. 

In early February, Mayor Pat Menna was presented three individuals that Zipprich put forth as the party’s recommendations. Stephen Hecht, a staple at borough meetings and a member of the Red Bank Library Board of Trustees, was the mayor’s first choice. 

Horgan made a motion, but the nomination failed as no one seconded the motion. 

“I don’t understand. The municipal chair gave three names to the mayor and he’s not supporting his nominations,” Horgan said at the time, referencing Zipprich.

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Ballard then nominated Mirandi and she became councilwoman after Zipprich, Ballard and Sturdivant voted in support of her. Horgan voted no due to the withholding of her resumé by Zipprich and Triggiano abstained saying, “At the end of the day, I really don’t have a say in who was nominated and we all know that.”

The suit requests that Mirandi be removed from her position, no members of the Red Bank government assist Mirandi in keeping her role and the seat remain unfilled until the November elections, when voters can decide who the next council member will be. 

The suit states that the committee and Zipprich have “deprived Horgan of her statutory right to carry out her role as an elected member.” 

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When Zipprich formed the group to select nominations for a new council member, the suit claims that he "set up a sham 'ad hoc' committee comprised of hand-picked loyalists, many of whom are not even elected to the RBDMC, to select the three names, to the exclusion of RBDMC members that he is not politically aligned with."

Zipprich said in the February meeting that Ed McKenna, former mayor of Red Bank, was the leader of the group tasked with picking a nominee. Zipprich said he removed himself from the process all together. 

The suit claims that McKenna is not an elected member of the local Democratic Municipal Committee and that Zipprich said the three nominees “received 78% support from the RBDMC, which exceeded a purported 75% margin that was required.”

The suit says, “There are no bylaws providing for these thresholds unless they were adopted in a sham process.” 

Okeson, who is an appointed secretary, said she did not receive notice regarding Yngstrom's vacancy. 

The suit further states that at previous votes, the local Democratic Municipal Committee handed out ballots to individual members homes. 

The suit says that since Mirandi’s appointment came about through an illegal process, the seat should remain vacant, “until it can be filled by voters as part of a process that is actually fair, transparent, and open.” 

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This story has been changed to reflect that Okeson is the appointed secretary of the Red Bank Democratic Municipal Committee.