Effort to recall Hayden ends

A committee aiming to recall Sussex County Commissioner William Hayden did not submit a petition containing the signatures of 27,258 registered voters by the Aug. 16 deadline, thereby ending the effort, according to the Sussex County Clerk’s office.

“Our office never received a petition,” said senior deputy clerk Angela Rosa.

A recall committee of county Republicans Joseph Labarbera, Barbara Holstein, Eugene Wronko, James Baldini and William Moratta began the process May 23, according to County Clerk Jeffrey Parrott.

If the petition process was successfully completed, a recall of Hayden would have been part of the Nov. 5 ballot.

Earlier this year, he was accused of stolen valor, or fraudulently claiming to have served in the military. He has denied the accusation.

“This whole undertaking was a fool’s errand,” he said after the deadline for the petition passed. “If he had done his research, Joe Labarbera would have known there was no way they could come up with that many signatures in so little time.”

Multiple attempts to reach Labarbera have been unsuccessful.

Elected to the Board of County Commissioners as a Republican in 2022, Hayden said he will serve all of his three-year term, which expires Dec. 31, 2025.

“It is obvious that they want me gone, but my term does not end until the January after next,” he said. “After that, I am out of there. My family has moved out of the area during this term, and I may not stay in New Jersey.”