Controversial Sussex County Commissioner Bill Hayden is leaving the Republican Party after his four GOP colleagues voted to censure him for misconduct and amid allegations of a stolen valor scandal where he claimed to have been a Navy SEAL and Marine.
In an 18-minute recorded telephone call obtained by the New Jersey Globe, Hayden levels a bunch of unhinged and unsubstantiated allegations against party insiders in an expletive-filled conversation.
“I don’t care if you spread this. This is why I’m calling you to that I’m leaving the Republican Party,” Hayden said. “I’m gonna find another party.”
Hayden has taken his complaints to the local Democratic organization, which appears to have no interest in working with him.
“I may need to call you and say, have some Democrats come to the meeting and help be my ally,” he said.
But Hayden did not offer to run as a Democrat when his term is up in 2025.
He’s split with the new Republican county chairman, Joe LaBarbera, and spent time slamming the new county commissioner, Earl Schick.
In the call, Hayden quotes his ally, Bill Winkler, a polemical political consultant on the outs with the other four commissioners and LaBarbera.
“As Winkler said, you’ve become Serpico,” Hayden said about himself.
Republicans are alleging that Hayden and Winkler hijacked the party’s Facebook page and kicked out people authorized to post.
Perhaps most damaging are accusations that Hayden lied about his military service.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request obtained by the New Jersey Globe, the U.S. Navy said they were “unable to identify Mr. Hayden as a member or former member of the U.S. Marine Corps or Marine Corps Reserve. His name does not appear in the SEAL Database.
“William J. Hayden never completed SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a Navy SEAL or a Navy Underwater Demolition Team member,” a retired Navy SEAL who investigates people who make false claims of military service.
Other statements obtained by the New Jersey Globe state that Hayden had told them he was a Navy SEAL, suggesting that he was involved in the killing of drug cartel boss Pablo Escobar and that he was shot multiple times.
“He told me that he didn’t have a Purple Heart because it was a secret mission, and he doesn’t appear on the Internet because of what he did was a secret,” a former girlfriend said in a statement “He told me he was afraid of Escobar’s son, so he liked to keep a low profile.”
His stepson said he and his wife “heard Bill mention on numerous occasions his time in the military. He has mentioned on numerous occasions his time in the SEALS.”
Hayden claimed to have been wounded in combat and said he served during the Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, a onetime friend said.
A veteran who knows Hayden confirmed that the county commissioner told him stories of his exploits as a SEAL team member.
“I have been informed that Bill was never in the Navy or any other armed force of the United States,” the veteran said. “If this is true, he should be ashamed of himself for his stolen valor. If true, the general public should be made aware of these lies, and he should suffer the public shame and humiliation of his wrongdoing.”
The New Jersey Globe is withholding names to protect individuals who came forward from retaliation.
Records show that Hayden took a veterans exemption on his taxes.
Hayden did not immediately respond to a text message on his cell phone or a voice mail message.