Yudin sees opportunity for Bergen GOP

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin admits that, after a decade of Democratic gains, Bergen County will not likely return to the Republican bastion it once was.

His appeal to the voters in the upcoming freeholder and county clerk races is not to start a movement for total Republican control of the county, but to create a two-party system that he feels has been sorely lacking.  That the federal investigation of his Democratic counterpart, Joseph Ferriero, and Democratic lawyer Dennis Oury may have little effect alone on the local races, but that it underscores the need to bring the Republican Party out of the political wilderness.

“I think it’s very, very unfortunate for the people of Bergen County, and it shows what one party rule leads to. The residents of Bergen deserve a two party government and this has underlined how important that is,” he said.   “The corruption, the pay-to-play in Bergen County is systemic, and the only way to change this is to bring back the two party system. Elect republicans to at least share in the running of government.”

Even if he wanted to, Yudin would be hard pressed at this point to make this election a referendum on Ferriero.  Republican consultant Thom Ammirato has polled Ferriero’s name recognition in races past, and it has not exceeded nine percent – despite the Democratic power broker’s huge influence in the every day workings of county government.

But Yudin will make Ferriero a campaign issue, because he believes it’s easy to tie the three Democratic incumbent freeholders who are up for reelection – David Ganz, Bernadette McPherson and Vernon Walton – to the system he’s railing against.  They all owe their political livelihoods to Ferriero, who Yudin believes is still really calling the shots, despite his leave of absence as chairman.

“The three Democratic freeholders are painted with the same brush. It’s not a question of whether Ferriero will be charged.  It’s the three Democratic incumbents who are nothing more than puppets of Ferriero,” he said.  “Those who are apolitical will have a hard time seeing the connection…  It’s the BCRO’s job to try to point the connection out to them. But it’s also the responsibility of the electorate.”

The assault investigation of Ferriero, Yudin said, is off limits.

“It would be improper for me to even talk about it,” he said.

For Ammirato, the corruption issue is a useful campaign tactic insofar as they can tie it into higher taxes.

“The issue, far and way, is taxes and spending. Only to the extent that patronage and corruption, if there is indeed legal corruption, contribute to higher taxes, I think that’s the areas we need to exploit and drive home to people,” he said.

Ganz, an incumbent Freeholder and former Fair Lawn Mayor, said that those who call him a puppet of Ferriero are “on drugs,” and that he’s differed with the party establishment on issues like creating the office of Public Advocate for Land Use.

Ganz said that the investigation of Ferriero is only news to political insiders.  He said it’s far from the minds of most constituents who he’s called on during his door-to-door campaign walks.

“If (Republicans) want to run against Joe Ferriero, good luck to them. I’m unacquainted with any campaign where that’s worked,” said Ganz, who was interviewed by the FBI regarding a contract Fair Lawn had with the Ferriero connected grants writing firm that’s being investigated, but said that they made it clear he is not a target of the probe.

Nevertheless, Ganz sees less than pure motives in Christie’s investigation of the power broker, given the U.S. Attorney’s well publicized possible gubernatorial run.

“It’s unfortunate that we have a U.S. Attorney who has goals and aspirations that are on the front page of newspapers, and that the office has become political.  There’s a very strong assumption of innocence that the law provides, and anybody that forgets that is being un-American,” said Ganz, who added that the FBI agents who interviewed him assured him that they did not leak anything to the press.   “Let us ponder the question that if the FBI says they were not the source of anything that made it into the newspapers, who could the source possibly be?...  I just want to point out that it’s reprehensible to cut people with a thousand cuts when they cannot defend themselves.”

Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray said that an investigation of Ferriero isn’t likely to convince Bergen residents to vote Republican.  Corruption has never been a top polling issue in the Garden State.  But an indictment may have more significant consequences.

“So many people in New Jersey have been under investigation, and that has never stopped anyone from winning an election in this state,” he said.  “It takes an indictment to bring it up to the level of giving it the time of day.”

Murray said the indictment would provide fodder for effective campaign literature.  But a more profound consequence of it would be if a power vacuum was created among the Bergen County Democrats, possibly hurting its famous turnout machine.

“I think the question remains that, without Ferriero at the helm, can that Bergen machine get its get-out-the-vote efforts going as well as it normally does?,” he said.

On the bright side for Democrats, however, is that it’s a presidential year, making voters more aware and enthusiastic, and thus the party’s turnout apparatus less necessary.  Still, Murray said, the loss of Ferriero could impact the U.S. Senate race more than the presidential one, with incumbent Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) looking to rack up huge numbers in his home county.

“Looking at the general outlook of the state with the presidential race, a lot more needs to happen than an indicted party leader,” he said.  “It could have a bigger impact on the Senate race.”