Two disgraced former Jackson Township officials are trying to get back into the game. Joe Sullivan and Rich Egan, who resigned from their high-level positions in the Jackson government after TLS revealed that they had attended and participated in a CUPON meeting, are now applying for new positions.

But it doesn’t stop there. TLS has obtained Sullivan’s application to the Rent Board and Richard Egan’s application to the Environmental Commission, which show that their references include Mayor Michael Reina, Council President Alex Sauickie, and Councilman Marty Fleming. Not only are these two individuals who have no business being anywhere near a position in which they can make judgments on applications filed by Orthodox Jews trying to get new positions, it appears that they are doing so with the go-ahead of Jackson Township’s highest-ranking elected officials.

So, we ask Mayor Reina, Council President Sauickie, and Councilman Marty Fleming – why do you support Joe Sullivan and Rich Egan for positions in the township? All of you know very well what they were caught doing; you know how they have made it more difficult to promote peace and harmony among Jackson’s residents. Yet you still support their attempts to get back into the government? Jackson Township is already in a heap of legal trouble over actions taken against Orthodox Jews in the township and its blatant discrimination against a religious minority. You claim to want to bridge the gap between faiths and lifestyles in Jackson. Why then are any of you OK with these two individuals – alleged to be anti-Orthodox – getting appointed to any leadership position – so much so that you are listed as references on their applications?

We don’t expect them to answer, but if they agree to their appointments, we already know where Michael Reina, Alex Sauickie, and Marty Fleming stand, and it’s not with their Orthodox Jewish residents.