Irvington mayor defends putting his portrait on new bus, street sweepers

Tony Vauss said no extra taxpayer dollars were used for the images on the vehicles unveiled last month

IRVINGTON - Call it street sweeping with a smile.

Last month, Irvington officials gathered outside Town Hall to unveil a pair of street sweepers and a new senior bus - welcome sights in this perpetually cash-strapped community of 54,000.

The vehicles, however, were not just any additions to the township's fleet. Each of the new purchases is plastered on three sides with shiny portraits of Mayor Tony Vauss, proclaiming that he "cares for our community" and "cares for our seniors."

Vauss defended the decision in an interview Wednesday, saying he was responsible for creating the "Clean Team" - a specialized unit of the Public Works department that cleans up debris or other refuse from the street and abandoned properties - and the replacement of a ramshackle bus that frequently broke down while shuttling seniors around town.

"I was the one who came up with it. It was my idea," he said.

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The decision, however, has not gone unnoticed by a small group of critics including Elouise McDaniel, one of four residents leading a recall effort against the mayor.

"My view is, why are you going to spend up money, tax payer money to plaster your picture all over a senior bus and street sweepers," McDaniel said. "This town does not belong to Mayor Tony Vauss by himself."

Vauss, however, countered that the graphics came at no extra cost, as the vehicles would have already needed to be emblazoned with the township logo and other information.

"The only difference is, Mayor Tony Vauss's Clean Team gives people a feel that things are changing, that something is getting done," he said. "The town is excited. Everybody is happy. It's just them."

North Ward Councilman David Lyons said he and his colleagues on the township's executive body had approved funding for the new vehicles - approximately $375,000 for the street sweepers and $60,000 for the bus - but that there had been no mention of the graphics featuring the mayor.

Even so, the 19-year council veteran said he had no issue with the display given Vauss's accomplishments since taking office last July.

"I've been on the council for 19 years. I've seen the past two mayors. In one year, I have seen more from him than I would have seen from the previous two mayors in their two terms," he said.

"At this point, he's doing a great job if (his pictures are) the only things that people can complain about."

John Weingart, the associate director of Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics, called the display "unusual."

"People in office often have their names on a plaque that says this building gets dedicated at this date, or ground gets broken during some administration. It's common to see in lots of state the governor's name on the signs welcoming you to the state," he said.

However, Weingart noted that those displays typically toe a line between the simple acknowledgment of fact - that a particular official is or was in office - and self-promoting statements more characteristic of a campaign ad.

"This is going a step past that. To say 'the mayor cares for the community' - if there are people in town who don't think he's doing such a good job, it's not an objective conclusion," he said.

"It certainly pushes the line. I guess it's for voters to decide."