YUDIN RELISHES BERGEN VICTORIES, LOOKS TOWARD BUILDING MOMENTUM FOR 2010

  Hackensack, NJ --  Bergen County Republican Organization Chairman Robert Yudin  said yesterday’s resounding GOP victories in the county were the result of – not just hard fought gubernatorial campaign by governor- elect Christopher Christie, but a solid grass roots rebuilding of the organization in the past year-and-a-half. 

 Yesterday’s poll results saw the GOP capture two freeholder seats and give the Republican Party a presence on the seven member board for the first time since 2004.  

The wins by John Driscoll and Robert Hermansen were all the more remarkable considering how close the gubernatorial race was in the county with Gov. Jon Corzine barely topping Christie by fewer than 4,000 votes. That’s a dramatic turnaround from four years ago when Corzine won the county by 34,000 votes.

Yudin credited the freeholder wins to strong grass roots effort and a message that focused on county taxes, wasteful spending and Democratic Party’s links to corrupt political figures, such as former Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Ferriero.

“Chris Christie erased almost all of a 34,000 vote plurality for Democrats in 2005 and gave our county and municipal organizations the opportunity to focus on local issues -- and that proved to be the winning formula,” said Yudin. 

Yudin said the victories for Republicans are all the more remarkable given how much they were outspent by their Democrat opponents, including Gov. Corzine, who used his personal fortune in an attempt to buy another election.

“Ultimately, the money advantage of the Democrats was overshadowed by their own taxing and spending policies, which have taken a terrible toll on middle class suburban taxpayers. Yudin noted that Corzine cut $3.2 million in state aid from Bergen County towns this year and the Bergen County freeholder board raised county taxes by $114 million since 2003.

“Those facts did not go unnoticed by the voters,” said Yudin.  

Republicans enjoyed broad-based wins in many municipal races and scored impressive victories in a number of towns including North Arlington, Englewood Cliffs, New Milford, River Edge, Rutherford, and Paramus. Republicans held on to their two seats in heavily Democratic Fair Lawn and have won one seat in Wallington.  

Just a year after Republicans nationwide suffered dismal defeats at the hands of President Barrack Obama -- the county and state GOP are now energized, said Yudin. 

“It’s remarkable how much can change in a year,” said Yudin, noting that his party is in a good position to recapture the Bergen County Executive’s seat in 2010. 

Much of the credit, says Yudin, goes to Christie’s win and his single minded focus on taxes.  

“I think Chris Christie has propelled himself into the national spotlight and he now has the opportunity and the difficult task of rolling back the excessive taxes that have plagued New Jersey for too long,” said Yudin.

“He has become a beacon of hope for Republicans in so called Blue States – that are now a little less blue today.”