Oury resigns from BCIA; O'Malley says he's not running for chairmanship

By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

Dennis Oury, the powerful Democratic attorney who was indicted on eight corruption counts yesterday, has resigned from his post as chief counsel of the Bergen County Improvement Authority, according to the agency’s chairman, Ron O’Malley.

Oury’s employment with the agency had been a point of contention among some factions of the Bergen County Democratic Party. State Sen. Loretta Weinberg mentioned it as a reason why she would not support O’Malley for county chair if and when Joe Ferriero, who was indicted along with Oury yesterday, resigns. Others, however, said that there was no reason to push Oury out before there was even a formally recognized investigation.

But O’Malley today took his name out of the mix, saying that, even if there is a vacancy, he won’t run. If he became chairman, he would have to step down from his position at the BCIA. O’Malley doesn’t believe this is an opportune time to do that.

“Officially we have no vacancy and I was never officially considering this, I am not going to give any consideration to stepping up. I need to stay at the improvement authority and bring stability at this time,” he said. “I’m so gratified by all the support and calls for encouragement. But I have been at the improvement authority for six years, we have major milestones on the horizon and we just lost our general counsel.”

Matt Friedman is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at matt@politicsnj.com.

Related topics: Joe Ferriero, RON O'MALLEY, Dennis Oury, BCIA, BCDO

If you liked this article, subscribe to The Wake-Up Call. It's FREE!

Email this Article