EAST ORANGE — East Orange council members today said they were frustrated by being unable to kick-start an investigation into sexual harassment claims filed against Mayor Robert Bowser by a city employee because the mayor has not signed the council resolutions authorizing outside investigative counsel. Bowser left the country on a long-planned trip overseas on Feb. 23, the day...
East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser listens to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speak to the Conference of Mayors Annual Luncheon Meeting, in this April 2010 photo.EAST ORANGE — East Orange council members today said they were frustrated by being unable to kick-start an investigation into sexual harassment claims filed against Mayor Robert Bowser by a city employee because the mayor has not signed the council resolutions authorizing outside investigative counsel.
Bowser left the country on a long-planned trip overseas on Feb. 23, the day after the resolutions were enacted.
"Taxpaying members of the public deserved to know if these allegations are true," Councilman Ted Green said at a press conference in council chambers arranged, they said, to expressly note their inability to move forward.
According to the city code, the resolutions will nonetheless become law on Friday, 10 days after the council vote. The mayor is due back this weekend.
The employee, Corletta Hicks, in November filed a sexual harassment complaint with the city’s department of human resources. She brought her allegations to the city council in January after what she said was a lack of progress.
Council members were careful to say that the investigations could reveal that Bowser did nothing wrong.
"All it is is allegations," council chairwoman Quilla E. Talmadge, said after the press conference. "We just want to get to the bottom of it."
Hicks, 39, was hired three years ago to work in Bowser’s office as a research assistant. She has since been transferred to the municipal court.
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