PATERSON — Assad Akhter, who served five years on the Passaic County Board of Commissioners, is joining the field of high-profile candidates possibly running for Paterson’s 3rd Ward City Council seat.
“People are sick and tired of the same choices they’ve had in the 3rd Ward,” Akhter said in an interview on Friday morning. “It’s time for someone different to run. It’s time for a change.”
Others in the race include 3rd Ward incumbent Alex Mendez, who has served on the council for eight years; former councilman William McKoy, who had held the seat for 20 years; and Board of Education vice president Kenneth Simmons, who has been a school trustee for a dozen years.
None of the other Paterson ward races have as many candidates with political clout and experience in elected office.
Who is Assad Akhter?
Akhter, 43, who works as Gov. Phil Murphy’s senior director of government affairs, said McKoy and Mendez were ineffective in their time representing the 3rd Ward.
He called McKoy “a gentleman,” but said the former councilman had a weak track record on constituent services and making improvements in the 3rd Ward. Assad said Mendez had a “thin list of accomplishments” during his time in office and noted the election fraud indictment clouding the incumbent’s future.
What did other candidates say?
“People in the 3rd Ward pay the highest property taxes and rents in the city,” Akhter said. “But they’re not getting much back in services for what they are paying.”
Mendez, who is currently the council president, did not respond when asked about Akhter’s criticism of him. McKoy, meanwhile, answered a reporter’s inquiry about Akhter’s comments by offering his own condemnation of Mendez.
“The 3rd Ward is facing a crucial time in history,” McKoy said. “The sitting council representative and his campaign workers have been charged by the Attorney General with 10 voter fraud charges, including conspiracy to commit voter fraud in the 2nd degree. He has defrauded the voters and is a threat to our democratic ideals of a fair and free election – honesty, integrity, and trust matter.”
The election fraud charges against Mendez — which involve the city’s 2020 council contests — came in two waves. The first were filed in June 2020 and have been pending ever since. The Attorney General’s Office issued a second batch of charges last fall in an expanded case that also named the councilman’s wife, Yohanny Mendez, and several of his campaign workers as defendants.
Mayor Andre Sayegh backed McKoy in the 2020 race and repeatedly called Mendez a criminal after the criminal charges were filed against him. But Sayegh and Mendez have put aside their longstanding rivalry during the past seven months, striking something of an alliance.
Would Akhter support Sayegh?
Paterson Press asked Akhter whether he would be a Sayegh supporter if he won the election.
“People want independent council members,” Akhter said. “They don’t want yes-people, and they don’t want council members who are just going to criticize the mayor all the time.”
“I will say this about Andre, he has restored integrity and competency to City Hall, after the problems we had,” Akhter added, referring to the 2017 conviction of former mayor Joey Torres.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
