Torres' brother won't run for Paterson Council

PATERSON - The brother of Paterson Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres this week said he decided not to run for the Paterson City Council in Ward Two.

Gerardo Torres, the mayor's older brother, who retired as warden of the Passaic County Jail after a 28-year corrections career, said he took out petitions and was set to challenge Councilman Aslon Goow, but took the advice of his wife who told him to stay retired.

"There are other candidates who are running whose views are the same as mine," said Torres. "Elizabeth Rosado has the same views as mine. She doesn't like the attitude of the present councilman."

Elizabeth Rosado is the wife of former Paterson Councilman Jerry Luis Rosado.

Torres said his brother's foe Goow has cost the city money, particularly when he defended the chief of police in a lawsuit that dragged on bitterly until the chief abruptly retired.

"He thinks he's a police officer," Torres said of Goow, a police sergeant in Haledon and private investigator. "He likes to ride around as if he were a police officer. But the people in the Second Ward don't need another police officer. They need a councilman."

Torres, who is one of eight children (four brothers and four sisters), said his family is "very proud" of the family's youngest brother, the mayor of Paterson.

'He's doing an excellent job," Gerardo Torres said of the mayor.

In addition to Torres and Rosado, the following Ward Two residents picked up petitions at City Hall: John Larko, Thomas Silva, Robert Sivori, and Herman C. Vallellanes.