September 10, 2008 - 2:02pm
News

Rothman: no new chairman until after November 4th

With potential candidates already angling for the job of Bergen County Democratic Chairman, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Englewood) said that there’s no need to elect a new chairman until after the November election.

“Many of us feel that there’s no need to rush to choose a new chairman. We are in the process of finding out the true condition of the party and its finances,” said Rothman, who emphasized that indicted Chairman Joe Ferriero hasn’t even resigned yet.  “And then examining what legal requirements exist with regard to new elections for chairman.” 

Indeed, Democratic Bergenites acknowledge that the party is facing significant debt – a feeling that in recent years has been much more familiar to their Republican counterparts. 

With an election just two months away, Rothman feels that it wouldn’t help the party  to focus on the jockeying and bickering that naturally accompany internal party contests.  For now, he said, the party is in the capable hands of Acting Chairwoman Kay Nest.

“To choose a new chairman would require calling together a convention of over 1,000 county committee people,” said Rothman.  “Frankly, we don’t have that kind of time and energy to devote to that enterprise.  We need to take control of the party’s finances, stop the bleeding and get a responsible group in there to run the campaigns and get our candidates elected.  It would be a tremendous distraction.”

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