Former gubernatorial contender and mayor of Glen Ridge, Carl Bergmanson, took to the airwaves to announce his candidacy for the Governor of New Jersey. Appearing on New Jersey 101.5’s Jim Gearhart Show last Friday, Bergmanson expressed his views on the issues facing New Jersey today, the failure of the Democratic base to embrace the only other candidate, and how he plans to defeat Chris Christie this November.

Citing the excessive property taxes and a long running culture of fiscal irresponsibility in Trenton as some of the issues that have motivated him to run, Bergmanson made out his case for bringing a new kind of leadership to the Democratic Party.

"I've decided that I just can’t stand by. So I'm going to run for the Democratic nomination on June 4th against Barbara Buono."

Commenting on Barbara Buono’s candidacy, host Jim Gearhart said "The Democratic political powers in New Jersey are behind her, but they don't seem to have a whole lot of enthusiasm for her. It seems like a last resort since nobody else wanted to run."

Explaining this apparent lack of support, Bergmanson stated "She's not really very credible.  She's done virtually nothing in her time in the legislature, she's done nothing at all about the financial situation. As you know, the state is circling the drain bankruptcy-wise, and those of us who have homes know that property taxes are still completely out of control."

"Whether Senator Buono has enthusiastic support or not," Gearhart pointed out, "she will be getting a substantial amount of money from the Party. That's sort of what goes with it; how do you counter that?"

"I think money only goes so far," Bergmanson responded. "I think that when folks pay their property tax bills - when they think about the issues involved - they really can't support Barbara Buono. So hopefully, they'll look and do some research."

"We're hoping to have more money than we had last time. That was a big problem four years ago. Governor Corzine spent $4.5 million in the primary; we spent a thousand bucks or so. This time, we're going to be spending a lot more, and we'll be able to get our message out."

"Of course, fundraising is a challenge. The way it works in politics is simple. People give you money and they expect something in return. One study showed that, for every dollar a business or an individual gives to a candidate, they get a thousand dollars back in some sort of benefit."

"Well I'm not about that. I'm not going into this to try and get people goodies back home from Trenton. I'm trying to fix the situation. But I'm hoping people have had enough of that nonsense. I'm hoping they're going to say, 'you know what, we're going to give money just so we can fix this problem.'"

"And we have to fix this, Jim. Governor Christie talks about 'New Jersey Comeback'. But the reality is, our property taxes are as high as they've ever been. We've had a very, very slight reduction in the increase, but a lot of that is smoke and mirrors, because a lot of the towns have made temporary cuts, or cuts that they can't possibly sustain. Until we fix the way schools are funded, we will never fix the property tax problem here in New Jersey."

Bergmanson, 52, is a former borough Councilmember and Mayor of Glen Ridge.  He led the campaign in 2008 to recall Governor Jon Corzine and in 2009 took on the incumbent Governor in the Democratic Primary. Although outspent by 1000%, Carl managed to secure over ten votes for every dollar invested into his campaign opposed to the incumbent’s reverse of one vote for every ten dollars.

Carl's platform of fiscal responsibility and social freedom is the only one capable of securing a victory against Chris Christie in November.

Carl is a graduate of California State University, Los Angeles. He lives in Glen Ridge with his wife Ruby and their cat Cubes.

www.BergmansonForGovernor.com