The deadline to submit a widely circulated recall petition targeting Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick expired on Monday without the necessary signatures to trigger a new mayoral election. Rodrick responded to the news by saying that the petition was “a hoax from the start” and fell far short of the number of signatures organizers publicly claimed they had garnered.
“For months, we’ve heard wild claims about a recall effort against my administration, with organizers saying they were close to 17,000 signatures,” Rodrick wrote in a statement to the Toms River Republican Party. “Let me be clear: this effort was a hoax from the start. They never came close to that number.”
Organizers of the petition said they needed 18,464 signatures to trigger a recall election, but fell short.
“To get the facts, I hired and personally paid for a private investigator to attend every signing event,” Rodrick wrote. “His findings were clear: almost no one showed up.”
Rodrick further alleged that recall organizers engaged in improper and potentially illegal practices during the signature-gathering process.
“The organizers were so desperate that they allowed the investigator to sign for people who weren’t present at every location — which is illegal,” Rodrick wrote.
The mayor also said there is video evidence contradicting recall organizers’ public claims.
“There is video evidence of recall committee members admitting they were nowhere near that number of signatures,” Rodrick wrote. “If they had 17,000, they would have had to visit nearly every other house in Toms River. But no one came to your door or mine.”
Rodrick said recall organizers never submitted signatures to the township clerk and claimed, based on statements he attributed to recall committee members, that the total was far lower.
“According to their own members, they had less than 1,000 signatures,” Rodrick wrote.
Rodrick said the recall effort was intended to damage his administration’s credibility.
“This recall was only meant to discredit my administration and create the false impression that we lack public support,” he wrote.
In his statement, Rodrick highlighted accomplishments by his administration, including budget reductions, debt repayment, and changes to zoning and development policy.
“My administration has done what no other governing body has done in NJ,” Rodrick wrote. “We reduced the municipal budget by 9%, cutting $11 million in wasteful spending annually. We paid down millions in debt. We stopped 10-story towers and repealed zoning plans for a city of high-rise apartments downtown.”
Rodrick also pointed to changes to the township’s affordable housing obligations.
“We also achieved a major victory over the State of New Jersey on affordable housing by reducing our new construction requirement to just 184 units, using creative deed restrictions and $9 million from our trust fund,” he wrote, adding that the funds “would have otherwise been seized by the state.”
Rodrick said his administration eliminated the township’s certificate of occupancy ordinance and kept taxes flat.
“As promised, we eliminated the burdensome certificate of occupancy ordinance that was preventing residents from selling their homes,” Rodrick wrote. “We cut red tape, stopped overdevelopment, and have kept taxes flat every year I’ve been in office. Our next budget will also have a flat tax.”
Rodrick also cited polling data to support his claim of public support.
“Recent polls show my administration’s approval rating at 66%, plus or minus 3.5%,” he wrote, though he did not specify which polling firm had conducted such a survey.
In the statement, Rodrick criticized political opponents and media coverage, saying his administration is being targeted because of its policies and approach to governance.
“It is because of these successes that we are under attack — from the liberal media and so-called Republicans from the prior administration who want to regain power,” Rodrick wrote, comparing criticism of his leadership to attacks on President Donald Trump.
“This entire recall has been a hoax, perpetrated to delegitimize our accomplishments and our conservative record,” Rodrick wrote. “I will continue to fight for you and for the truth.”