County committee candidates battle in Bergen

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg insists that the county committee battle between the Real Bergen Democrats and the Bergen County Democratic Organization isn’t a contest of personalities between her and Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero.

“It’s not because they’re affiliated with me. And I know that the press keeps saying this, and I know I’m the face of this movement, but there are hundreds of people who are involved in this, and what they are affiliated with is they don’t like the way our party is operating and how it’s been operating,” she said.

But Weinberg would love to see Ferriero’s dominance of the party diminished, and the Real Bergen Democrats have latched onto his subpoena by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to help their cause. Weinberg allies even recently put out a mailer on the subject.

But many Real Bergen Democrats, an anti-Ferriero group backed by Weinberg, are playing defense today– especially in the 37th district, which Weinberg represents in the legislature. Ferriero took most of the Weinberg loyalist committee members from Englewood, Teaneck and Bergenfield off the county line, replacing them with ones more sympathetic to his leadership.

In all, 190 Real Bergen Democrats are on the ballot for county committee tomorrow. There’s a smattering of Real Bergen Democrats playing offense outside of district 37, however, in Closter, Dumont, Edgewater, Fairlawn, Elmwood Park, Fort Lee, Hasbrouck Heights, Lodi, Washington Township, Park Ridge and Westwood.

The county committee candidates are buried below the freeholder candidacies of Carol Skiba, Carol Hoernlein and newcomer Aishaah Rasul. But those freeholder candidates, who have little money and little chance of ousting the BCDO-backed incumbents, are running mainly to provide a column to put the county committee candidates.

Still, this election will not result in a wholesale change of the county committee. Weinberg said that she doesn’t want to control the county party, and even if all the anti-Ferriero candidates won she wouldn’t be in a position to do so.

“I just want someone there who will follow bylaws, have meetings, not close out conventions after 15 minutes, not sit by while people do forgeries and while we have county committee members who are convicted felons and can’t be voters,” she said.

The towns of Bergenfield, Englewood, Hackensack, Tenafly and Maywood will all host proxy wars between the two factions as well with council primary races.

Bergen County Democratic Organization spokesman Bill Maer said he wouldn’t characterize Ferriero’s decision to kick Weinberg loyalists off the county line as the result of a personal feud between him and Weinberg.

“The candidates for county committee are selected on who would be best to serve the Democratic Party, he said. “The Bergen County Democrats have and will continue to run an aggressive campaign to help all the candidates on its line be successful, from top to bottom.”