With Dougherty Absent, Township Commissioners Approve Public Defender

The Haddon Township Board of Commissioners appointed a permanent public defender this week with only one vote among its three members.

Charlene Cathcart was appointed with only Commissioner John Foley voting in favor. Commissioner Randy Teague, the mayor, abstained from the vote because Cathcart is his landlord for his law office in Audubon. Commissioner Paul Dougherty was absent for the meeting, which also featured a public hearing on the township's budget. Dougherty is the director of revenue and finance and oversees the budget process.

The public defender appointment had been held up for nearly six months because Dougherty was opposed to Cathcart because he thought it raised a conflict of interest with Teague. But Foley took an opportunity to break the impasse by calling for a vote on the appointment on Tuesday, even though it wasn't on the agenda.

"I added it to the agenda," Foley said after the meeting. "We'll have to draft a resolution for us to sign at the next meeting."

Foley and Teague had previously said they favored Cathcart because her rate was significantly lower than that of Charles Wiggington, who has been the public defender for several years. Cathcart's rate is $150 per court session and Wigginton's is $225.

Teague also previously said the township solicitor had ruled he didn't think there was a conflict of interest with Cathcart.