Dye should resign NAACP post, Democrats say

While thenNew Jersey NAACP is expected to decide this week whether Jeffrey Dye will be removed from his post as president of the Passaic chapter, several top political leaders think he ought to step down.

“All the years I’ve represented Passaic, Jeffrey Dye is the only guy I’ve come across that has been destructive and critical of any stakeholder who has tried to move the city in the right direction,” said Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge).  “He is a destructive human being.  He should resign.”

Dye was fired from his job at the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development last week, one day after Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration found about a series of anti-Semitic and anti-Latino statements he made on Facebook.

Richard T. Smith, the president of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference and a national board member, told the New Jersey Globe last week that he had instructed Dye to stop his disruptive behavior and was consulting with the national office about a solution.

The state conference has a meeting scheduled for this week.

“To advocate for your own community, you have to be able to work across boundaries, form coalitions, and function as a credible voice,” Passaic Freeholder TJ Best told the Globe.  “What we have learned raises the question.  He should resign.

Freeholder Director John Bartlett also thinks it’s time for the NAACP to sever its ties with the controversial Dye.

“To be an effective advocate for your own community, whether that be an ethnic, religious, or political community, you have to be able to work with others. That takes credibility and a tone of mutual respect,” said Bartlett.  “It’s up to the members and leaders of the NAACP to decide whether his ability to serve is irretrievably tainted by what he has said. I believe it is.”

Dye was hired by the state in February over the strong objections of Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), a longtime target of Dye’s anti-Semitic rhetoric.  Murphy Deputy Chief of Staff Justin Braz, who knew Dye from his tenure on Schaer’s legislative staff, also weighed against Dye’s hiring.

“I stand with Gary Schaer,” Sarlo, who has represented Passaic in the Legislature since 2001, told the Globe.